Holiday Ambrosia

When I was an exchange student in America, every potluck function I went to served "ambrosia". It's a little sweet but here's my holiday version that goes well with turkey.

1 packet Port or Blackberry jelly[jello]
1 C boiling water

250gm cream cheese
2 T mayonnaise
3/4 C whole cranberry sauce
1 can crushed pineapple (drained)
1/2C chopped pecans
1 C tiny marshmallows
300 ml cream (whipped)

Pour boiling water over jelly crystals. Whisk to dissolve. Put in fridge to cool but NOT set.

Cream the mayonnaise and cream cheese. Add cranberries, pineapple, pecans and marshmallows and gently mix in cooled jelly mix. Fold in whipped cream and pour into serving dish. Decorate top with marshmallow and pecans. Chill.

Pissaladiere

Apparently this is a Nicoise classic. I'll let you know after we visit the south of France in September. In any event, it's rather tasty (provided you like anchovies).

• 3-4 onions thickly sliced
• 1 sheet puff pastry or David's pizza dough
• 16 anchovies halved lengthwise
• 12 black olives, stoned
  

1. Slowly cook ontion in 2 tablespoons olive oil until very soft.
2. Preheat oven to 220 C,
3. Roll pastry (or pizza dough) out to make a 30cm x 20cm rectangle and transfer to baking tray.
4. Leaving a 1 cm rim, pricky pastry all over with a fork and add a thick layer of onion.
5. Arrange anchovy strips in rows toform large diamonds. Put an olive in the centre of each diamond and drizzle over a little oil. Bake for 20 minutes until pastry/pizza crust is brown and crisp.
6. Serve warm
   

David's Pizza Dough

Here is the basic recipe for David's special Friday night pizza dough:

• 300g bakers flour
• 100g fine semolina
• 1 packet rapid rise dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup warm water
  

1. Measure out flour and semolina in mixing bowl atop scale.
2. Remove bowl from scale and add yeast and salt; mix well.
3. Pour olive oil in measuring cup and fill with warm water. Add to dry ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon.
4. Once roughly combined empty dough onto bench and kneed for about 5 minutes or until surface is smooth and not sticky. Form into ball.
5. Coat large bowl with olive oil, add dough, cover with Glad wrap and place bowl on top of water heater to rise.
6. About 2 hours from when the pizza is to go into the oven remove dough from bowl, spread out over pizza tin, cover with tea towel and return to water heater for 2nd rise.

Quince Paste

Autumn/Easter means quince are around. This recipe is a bit of a chore but it's worth it. Quince paste is great for a cheese platter or an accompaniment for lamb.

8 quinces washed
1 cup water
juice of one lemon
sugar

Cut quinces into chunks and place into a large saucepan with a tight fitting id with water and lemon juice. Cook over a moderate heat for approximate half an hour or until quite tender.

Puree the pulp (I use my hand sieve but you could use a food processor) and weigh puree. Mix puree with three-quarters of its weight of sugar.

Return to wide-based, heavy saucepan and cook over a moderate heat, STIRRING PRETTY MUCH CONSTANTLY!, until the paste leaves the sides of the pan and the colour is a deep red. This takes two hours or more. The mixture gets really thick and becomes hard to push the spoon through.

Cool mixture slightly and pour into and oiled tray lined with greaseproof paper or plastic containers. Dry mixture in a warm place for several days (not that I notice much of a difference). When dry, wrap paste well in greaseproof paper and then in foil. It stores indefinitely in an airtight container.

Cut into slices (or use a biscuit cutter to make a shape) for serving.