2 lb Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
salt to taste
Boil potatoes until tender, drain well and rice while still hot.
Bring cream and butter to a boil and pour over potatoes
Whisk well and season to taste
Adjust consistency with milk or cream if desired
1 cup cranberry chutney
500g wheel Brie
Pastry
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup cold water
Place flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl
Add butter, and mix in with your fingers until mealy
Add water, knead lightly, cover and allow to rest for 20 minutes
Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured board to a circle18 inches in diameter
Place pastry in a pie pan (it will hang over the edges by 4 inches on each side)
Place wheel of Brie in the centre
Top with chutney, spreading to make a layer evenly covering the Brie
Fold the pastry up around the Brie, and tuck into place over the top.
Bake for 45 minutes, until pastry is golden brown
Cool for 1/2 hour before serving
The flavour of yams baked in their skins and then mashed with brown butter and maple syrup is like caramel candy; nutty, sweet, and delicious. The vegetable referred to as a yam in North America is actually correctly identified as an orange sweet potato. Slaves, on encountering the tubers in the South, were reminded of the true yam, a tuber found in central Africa, and bestowed the name upon the variety of sweet potato they commonly used.
Preheat oven to 375 F
6 medium yams (orange sweet potatoes)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
pinch nutmeg
Bake yams for 1 hour, until tender.
Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then cut in half and scoop flesh from skins and transfer to a bowl
Heat butter until golden brown and pour over yams
Add maple syrup and nutmeg
Mash together until well combined
Season to taste
Nothing can be simpler or more tasty than sweet carrots and parsnips mashed together as an accompaniment to a simple meal. If you want to puree them instead of the more casual mash, that’s fine as well.
2 lb carrots, preferably a sweet variety like Nantes
2 lb parsnips
2 tbsp butter
salt
Wash and peel carrots and parsnips.
Cut roughly into 1 inch pieces and place in a saucepan, cover with cold water and add a healthy pinch of salt.
Bring up to a simmer, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes.
Drain, add butter, and mash together or puree, depending on the consistency you prefer.
Season to taste.
During the summer, we eat salads of crisp raw summer vegetables with great regularity, as the main vegetable portion of the meal, especially if we are cooking outside. A bit of fresh bread and something off the grill rounds out the menu nicely. Cucumbers are a nice addition to this as well, either in as well as or in place of the carrots, in which case I usually serve a creamy dressing instead of the vinaigrette.
1 lb assorted coloured carrots
1 lb assorted coloured peppers
1 lb mixed cherry tomatoes
Vinaigrette
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup basil, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
Wash and peel the carrots and slice thinly on a slight bias.
Wash the peppers, core and seed them, and dice into 1 inch pieces
Wash and stem the cherry tomatoes and halve them if large (1 inch diameter or more)
Combine all vegetables in a bowl and mix well.
Combine all ingredients for the dressing, season to taste, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Toss salad with enough vinaigrette to coat the vegetables lightly and serve immediately.(Any extra dressing may be kept for a few days in the refrigerator)