Choc-chip Cookies in a Jar

Tomorrow at work we are doing a Secret Santa. The way that it works is that each of us has to bring a gift  and then we each get a number and then, according to number, each person chooses a gift.

If you don't like your gift, you can swap it with those that have chosen something before you. So essentially number one has to stick with what they have unless number two or above wants what they have. The last number is best off because they have the most choice. They can swap with anyone.

I love this idea, but the limit on what we could spend, to make it fair to everyone, was R50. Now there is not a great deal that you can buy for that apart from some shower gel and half a sponge - and really what are you going to do with half a sponge?


As everyone knows, Santa Clause loves cookies, and as part of my Christmas baking, I've been looking up lots and lots of biscuit recipes. But alas, I just haven't had the time to make them. Coming to the end of the year and, along with that, the end of our project, the mere fact of trying to gather all the ingredients, let alone make said cookies just seemed impossible to fit in. If only all of the ingredients were in one place....

Then one morning it dawned on me, a premix would be the perfect gift! If someone doesn't have the time or the inclination to really bake, then this is perfect for them. Show me a person who doesn't think that fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies isn't a nice thing to have in the house over the holidays!

Ha! I thought not!

The instructions are really simple and all the dry ingredients are in one place. One needs only add melted butter, a beaten egg and a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

Voila, there they are for you to put out with a glass of milk for Santa.

Even more fun: Make them with the kids!

Superb Seafood at Sydney Fish Market

 So there we were, my sister and I, bright and early on a December Sydney morning, and about to tackle the Sydney Fish Market. (Which has a wonderful view - see below) It was Christmas eve and the Sydneysiders, or the Australians as a whole, I believe, like to have a prawn on the barbie, by way of traditional Christmas fare.

Well, it is certainly a bit on the warm side for all the English Traditional trimmings. Well we still had a turkey on Christmas eve, which is when we were celebrating.... but really who can pass up a chance at having a turkey - it only happens once a year!

None the less, we were at the market to buy an ocean trout for the following (Christmas day).

As a foodie, I definitely recommend that you go and check out the market. Unfortunately, one of our Christmas party is allergic to seafood so we didn't indulge in all the other wonderful things that were at our disposal to buy. But I took lots of pics to remind me of the inspiration I felt while I was there. The range and quality of seafood and fish that is available is phenomenal.

And the ocean trout that we had the following day was absolutely delicious and done to perfection - on the barbie, of course!

Festive Roast Chicken with sage stuffing, roast potatoes and sautéed green beans

Monday night was always a night for roasts in our household. Being a family that placed a lot of store by food, I think it came from the school of thought that if you started the week off with a good , sturdy roast, then you were more or less set, what ever events would unfold themselves later on in the week.

This Monday proved to be rather a different reason than the fact that the frivolities of the weekend had  passed and that we were now firmly ensconced in the working week. Truth be told there seems to be very little work to do and since it is the festive season, but more so this Monday was a day to celebrate because my sister had arrived from Oz and one of my best friends had arrived from London.

So there we are, when we celebrate, we eat and this Monday called for more than just an ordinary roast chicken, but a festive one.

A note on roast chicken: It is the easiest thing in the world to cook. Once it is in the oven, your work is done. 

One of the flavours that rings true of festivities and the Christmas season has to be a sage stuffing. I love sage, I have to say and have been planning a blog on the herb for some time – oh, how evert-day life gets in the way! -– because it can be used in so many dishes to impart its somewhat fresh but earthy flavour. And where better to start than in a sage stuffing?

So for the stuffing:

2 thick slices of seed bread.

1 celery stalk

¼ onion

2 rahsers of bacon

1 T lemon zest

1 T dried sage

salt and pepper

This is easy, easy easy:

Make breadcrumbs out of the two slices of bread in a blender and pour them into a bowl

Zap up the onion and celery and add that to the breadcrumbs. Do the same with the bacon.

Season with salt and pepper and add the sage and lemon zest. Mix the whole lot up and then put ¾ of the stuffing into the cavity of the chicken and then place the last quarter carefully under the skin that covers the chicken breasts. Be careful not to break the skin as you pack the stuffing. Putting the stuffing here not only creates additional basting for the white meat that can dry out, it also provides extra flavouring.

Place the bird in a roasting dish. Roughly chop up the rest of the onion and place around the chicken. Cook at 180 degrees for about ½ hour.

For the rest: As many carrots and potatoes as you need

In the mean-time, peel as many potatoes that you may need and then proportionately same amount of carrots. After the ½ hour, throw these into the same baking pan, adding a few glugs of olive oil and a generous grinding of salt and black pepper and some sprigs of rosemary. Return to the oven and allow to cook for another hour at 180 degrees.

For the beans:

1 pkt green beans

1 truss vine baby tomatoes

5 T sunflower seeds or flaked almonds

1 t mustard seeds

2 T butter

1 T olive oil

In a pan, toast the sunflower and mustard seeds. Add the tomatoes, and then the butter and the olive oil.  Add the beans and toss. Season with salt and pepper and toss again. Remove from the heat.

To check that the chicken is cooked make a small incision between the thigh and the body and if the juices run clear then the chicken is done.

Lay the beans on a platter. Then put the chicken in the center and surround with the veggies that you've just roasted.

I always make the gravy in the roasting pan that I made the chicken and the veg in. For one thing there are all the spices and the drippings and the flavour of those now wonderfully caramalised onions!

Carve the chicken and voilá!

Oh, a note on the wine:  we started on a nice bottle of bubbly with a little bit of finger food. There must be Mediterranean blood in me because we ended up eating at 9:30 pm - but that is no matter because we were chatting and there were hors d'ouvres. We opened a bottle of merlot to have with the dish and it went down extremely well even though we were eating white meat. Sage is quite a strong flavour and so it compliments reds quite well.  You don't always have to follow the white wine / white meat rule!