Friday, Cooking, Oktoberfest.

I decided to make some soup for this evening. I ended up with beans (black and white) with spinach and tomatoes and chucked in a handful of basil. Obviously onions, garlic and chicken bouillon were in the mix. It tastes very good. Maybe not totally appropriate for the weather, but…. Matt says if it’s too warm we can turn on the air, true I guess. We certainly have been getting some lovely weather. Later: The soup was very good. Now have some in the freezer.

Whilst waiting for the soup to cook I looked at my email and found a flyer from Zehrs, our local grocery

store. Lo and behold, beef rib roasts at half price. I couldn’t go out so Matt went down and got a couple of nice looking roasts which we double wrapped and put in the freezer. Just what I need for my new horseradish. Won't be eating either of them for a while though, turkey first.

The dicky bird (turkey breast) is out and defrosting  I always cook it in an oven bag - so much easier. I have never cooked a whole turkey in an oven bag, but done a few turkey breasts and they turn out very well. Maybe not as brown as if cooked the regular way. I guess I could unbag it and brown it off in the oven for a while, but I have never bothered. Under normal circumstances we would have roast potatoes, but I don’t really want to bust my diet that much and Matt is just as happy with a baked potato with butter in it. We make our roast potatoes by parboiling peeled potatoes, draining them, and then cooking them in the oven in hot fat. If you scratch the potatoes with a fork before roasting, they come out extra crispy.
For those of you seriously thinking about making bread sauce, there is a better description of how to make it in this blog.
Our radio is blaring out polkas today, it’s the beginning of Oktoberfest and they “tapped the keg” in downtown Kitchener this afternoon. This music will be played a lot during the next week and Matt hates it so he is going to be out of luck. Something we have always avoided. Neither of us is good with crowds. I have mentioned before that this is the biggest Oktoberfest celebration outside of Munich. Many Germans settled in this area which gave impetus to the occasion at the beginning.

I thought this pudding looked delicious and it will certainly be on my menu in the near future. I found it at Cooking.com

Buttermilk Puddings with Mango Sauce

Source: Dessert - The Grand Finale
Serves 2

INGREDIENTS
Puddings
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/6 oz gelatine
1 tablespoon water
1/2 vanilla bean
1 cup buttermilk
Mango Sauce
1 mango, peeled and pitted
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS
Puddings:
Combine 1/4 cup of the cream with the sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boiling point. Remove from heat.
Dissolve the gelatine in the water. Stir into the cream mixture and mix well. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the buttermilk. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the pudding. Refrigerate for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Whip the remaining 3 tablespoons of the cream and fold into the mixture. Pour into 2 lightly oiled 1-cup metal moulds. Fill each mould right to the top. Wrap with plastic; refrigerate for 2 hours.
Mango Sauce:
Place the mango flesh and sugar in a food processor. Puree. Strain through a sieve. Unmould each pudding and serve with Mango Sauce.

Have a great holiday weekend – well it is for Canadians. I should say Gemütlichkeit.