Gamers Christmas...

[Sarlon]

dessert is covered....I need main course ideas. Which I have several of thank you guys ^^

[ralerin]

I woke up to the sweet, sweet smell of pork pie being cooked this morning. Here's my great-grandmother's recipe, along with her notes. Mom usually quintuples the recipe to make 5 pies so we have plenty for the holidays and into January.

"Tortiere"/Traditional French Canadian Pork Pie

Makes an 8 inch pie; for a 9-10 inch pie, you will need to add in about 1/2-1lb more meat.

Two boxes prepared pie crust. I'm sure you could use frozen, but this is a 2 crust pie-one on top, one on bottom. So use whatever recipe you're comfortable with. The frozen pie crust has to be thawed to use.
1 tablespoon lard or unflavored vegetable shortening, or
1 teaspoon butter, or
Drizzle olive oil.
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon celery leaves finely chopped (Believe it or not there's lots of flavor in those suckers). Mum says "LEAVES ONLY, NOT REGULAR CELERY"
1/2 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2-3 raw potatoes, peeled
Bay leaves to taste (approx. 1-2)
Salt and pepper to taste
For every 4 pies, add in 1/8th teaspoon cinnamon & clove; so for one, use a pinch of both. It adds a world of difference.


In a large pot over low heat brown your onion with the lard, butter or oil (Mum used all 3 this year) for approximately 3 minutes, then add in the celery and bay leaves.
Add meat, cook until meat is browned. STIR IT OFTEN. It will be watery.
Take your raw potatoes, put them into a meat grinder until they're finely minced, then add to meat mixture. Add in salt, pepper, cinnamon and clove. Cook half an hour more until potatoes are tender. Set mixture aside to get cooled.
Prepare your pie crust according to package directions. Make 2 crusts, and don't forget to prick the bottom crust with a fork or else you'll have a giant pastry bubble that'll explode.
Take out bay leaves, pour in meat mixture, put top crust on pie.
Cook at 450 for 15 minutes, 375 for 40 minutes. If crust gets too brown, lower the heat. CHECK IT OFTEN, it will burn if you are not careful. Burnt pork pie =awful eats.

This is a great "make ahead" pie, and freezes well.

[Barracuda]

Dessert ideas:


Luscious Chocolate Truffles

1 bag (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1/4 whipping (heavy) cream
2 tbsp liqueur (almond, cherry, coffee, hazelnut, Irish cream, orange, raspberry, etc.) if desired
1 tbsp shortening
1/4 cup powdered sugar, if desired
1/2 tsp milk if desired

1. Line cookie sheet with foil.

2. In heavy 2 quart saucepan, melt 1 cup of the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Stir in butter. Stir in whipping cream and liqueur. (At this step, you may also stir in either 3 tbsp chopped chocolate covered toffee candy or chopped white chocolate baking bar to make flavored truffles if desired.) Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently, just until thick enough to hold a shape.

3. On cookie sheet, drop mixture by teaspoonfuls. Shape into balls. (If too sticky, refrigerate until firmer.) Freeze 30 minutes.

4. In 1 quart sacepan, heat shortening and remaining chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth; remove from heat. Using fork, dip truffles, one at a time, into chocolate. Return to foil covered cookie sheet. Immediately sprinkle some truffles with chopped favorite nuts if desired. Refrigerate about 10 minutes or until coating is set.

5. In small bowl, stir powdered sugar and milk together until smooth. Drizzle over some of the truffles as desired. Refrigerate until truffles have just set. Store in airtight containers in refrigerator. Serve truffles at room temp by removing from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to serving.

Divinity

2 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
2 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1 or 2 drops food color if desired
2/3 cup coarsely chopped nuts if desired

1. In 2-quart saucepan, cook sugar, corn syrup and water (use 1 tbsp less water on humid days,)over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Cook about 20 minutes, without stirring, to 260 F on candy thermometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a hard ball that holds it shape but is pliable.

2. In medium bowl, beat eggwhites with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. (For best results, use electric stand mixer, not hand mixer.) Gently transfer egg whites to large bowl. Continue beating constantly on medium speed while pouring hot syrup in a thin stream into egg whites. Add vanilla and food color. Beat, scraping bowl occasionally until mixture holds its shape and becomes slightly dull. (If mixture becomes too stiff for mixer, continue beating with a wooden spoon.)* Stir in nuts.

3. On waxed paper, quickly drop heaping teaspoons of mixture from buttered spoon. Let stand uncovered at room temperature at least 4 hours but no longer than 12 hours until candies feel firm and are dry to the touch. Store in airtight container.

*Beating this to the right stage is the trick. Drop a spoonful of mixture onto waxed paper. If it stays in a mound, it is perfect. If it flattens out, beat 30 seconds and check again. If too stiff to spoon, beat in a few drops of hot water at a time until better consistency. If made on a humid day, you will need to beat longer to make it mound up.

Peppermint Bark

1 package (16 oz) vanilla flavored candy coating (almond bark) broken into pieces
24 hard peppermint candies

1. Cover cookie sheet with waxed paper, foil or cooking parchment paper. In 8 cup microwavable measuring cup or 2 quart microwavable
casserole, place candy coating. Microwave uncovered on High 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until almost melted. Stir until smooth.

2. Place peppermint candies in heavy plastic bag; crush with rolling pin or bottom of small heavy saucepan. Pour crushed candies into wire strainer. Shake strainer over melted coating until all of the smallest candy pieces fall into the coating; reserve the larger candy pieces. Stir coating to mix evenly. (Note: You may substitute crused red and green ring shaped hard candies, or 1/2 cup each of cranberries and chopped almonds, or 1/2 cup each of chocolate covered coffee beans and chopped hazelnuts instead of peppermint candies. You may also, for a Christmas treat, stir 1/2 cup each of Christmas M&Ms into mixture and omit the peppermint.)

3. On cookie sheet, spread coating evenly. Sprinkle evenly with remaining candy pieces. Let stand about 1 hour or until cool and hardened. Break into pieces and serve.