Catherine's Kitchen

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Catherine's Kitchen

Catherine Manning

Another Year Gone By

I'M SORRY, I've neglected the column but seems I've had very little time to think; also I had a bit of 'block' so let it go for a while. The trouble is that everything I do takes time, whether it's the actual cooking, or the packaging which takes even longer, a real pain but necessary. Natalie gave me a birthday present of eight weeks of Yoga to get me back into it and to relieve the stress and I must say I've gone (missed two) and it's helped for at least two hours! No just joking, it has helped, I don't blow off so easily, but I need to keep up on a regular basis. If I could just get away from the ten dogs who think I'm playing!

This started as the November column, then it got changed to December now it's January 2002, so I've had to rewrite again. Another year gone by and very quickly. I forgot Nat and Gerry's first anniversary on Dec 30th... she wasn't happy! No offspring yet and I'm not holding my breath, but it would be nice sometime.

I had a very busy Christmas; I mean busy as in working, not socially, and on top of everything I had the family lunch. Though that was not as large as usual as several were out of the island, it was still the usual turkey, ham, pork, pepperpot, candied sweet potatoes, yam pie, etc! I didn't eat, gave away all the leftovers and then wished I hadn't as I was hungry that night!

The turkey was very tender and juicy and full of flavour. It was one that my sister had in her freezer for three years and every year we've meant to cook it but somebody else did one instead, so I was a bit dubious about the condition, but it was fine.

I had it defrosted by the night of the 23rd, rubbed it well with lime and salt inside and out and left it soaking in the fridge overnight. On Christmas eve morning I washed it off and seasoned it well with my seasoning (see April 2000) and as it wasn't butter-basted, I lifted the skin and rubbed the breast well with garlic butter (low-fat marge), getting that and the seasoning into the joints as well. At this point I took my kitchen scissors and cut around the ends of the drumsticks, about an inch and a half in, to loosen the tendons which are such a nuisance when carving. When the turkey is cooked and being carved, those tendons will pull out very easily with the help of a pliers or I used the scissors.

After seasoning it in the fridge all day, I stuffed it and put it breast side down on the rack and covered it with foil. It was a 20 lb. turkey, so I set the oven at 225F, put it in at 10 pm. and went to bed. I woke up at 4 am. took off the foil so it would brown and went back to bed and sleep! At 8 am. it was perfectly done, tender, moist and melt-in-the-mouth. I am not really a turkey lover as too often it is dried out, but I find cooking it this way is the best and most flavourful.

Pepperpot is another traditional dish at Christmas, but is complicated so I'll deal with that another time.

My very slim, diet-conscious, exercise freak of a daughter Natalie, has gone on a diet. She says she has fat to lose. I'm not quite sure where it is; however I know that I do, so will try again to diet. She is going on a diet course, but I won't do that, I'll just do what she does and see what happens. Hence the ham and split soup that I'm making has me very hungry and this diet is one that you have to count everything, so I'm not sure it's the right thing to make now, but it does taste good and I had the ham bone with quite a bit of meat still on it, so...

I usually make a very large soup and since it was a big bone, I used 6 pound of split peas; either yellow or green are ok. Also, because I like my soup fairly thick, I don't put in all the water at once, but adjust it when the soup is nearly done. If you don't have a ham bone, ham hocks will do as well. For this quantity about 4-6 would be sufficient depending on how meaty you like your soup.

HAM & SPLIT PEA SOUP

Ham bone or 4-6 ham hocks
6 pounds split peas rinsed
3 onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
Bunch of chive, chopped
Hot pepper
8-9 quarts of water
Salt, lemon pepper, herbs of your choice.

Add to ham bone in very large saucepan, 8 quarts of water, rinsed split peas, bring to boil and simmer over a low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Chop onions, garlic and chive and add during the cooking. Season with salt and lemon pepper and I throw in a couple of scotch bonnet peppers till I get the heat I want and then take them out. Simmer till the split peas are mushy, remove ham bone, cut up ham and add to the soup with more water if needed. Adjust seasoning and eat. Freeze any excess for another day. This made about 2-1/2 gallons which might be too much for you but I sell it, so you can halve the recipe if needed.

I had made a Christmas cake so didn't bother with mince pies, didn't have the time, but made some lime ice-cream instead which came out quite well, considering it was made with lime marmalade that didn't set! It was different but tasted really good. I used an ice-cream maker.

LIME ICE-CREAM

For the custard:

2 tins evaporated milk un-diluted
4 eggs
1 pack gelatin
Sugar to taste
lime skin
vanilla essence. (I used vanilla rum which I made with fresh vanilla pods in 1995, it continues to become more potent. I still have 1/2 gallon left , luckily.)
3 bottles marmalade or to taste. (I ended up with a bit more than the machine could hold but I wanted to get a strong flavour.)

Make custard. Scald milk with a piece of lime skin, don't allow to boil. Beat eggs, add a little milk to the eggs, beating all the time. Remove milk from stove and add egg mixture, stirring all the time. Return to heat and cook gently for one minute, stirring to prevent curdling. Remove from heat, add sugar, gelatin dissolved in a little water and vanilla; stir well. If the custard does curdle it doesn't really matter as making the ice-cream will sort that out. Strain, cool and add marmalade to taste. I put mine in the freezer as I want it cold for the ice-cream maker.

Make ice-cream according to machine instructions.

Bon Appetit
Cath