January 8th to 14th National Food Holidays

Welcome back!  I hope you enjoyed the first week of this National Food Holidays Blog and tried one of the recipes.  This week's Food Holidays are:

January 8th -- English Toffee Day

January 9th -- National Apricot Day

January 10th -- Bittersweet Chocolate Day

January 11th -- National Hot Toddy Day

January 12th -- Curried Chicken Day

January 13th -- National Peach Melba Day

January 14th -- National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day

And here are the recipes for each day...

January 8th:  English Toffee Day 

What we Americans consider toffee and what the English consider toffee are quite different.  The truth is that authentic English Toffee does not have chocolate on it.  Sometimes nuts are added.  Even though I'm not much of a candy maker except for fudge, I'm game to make a simple toffee.  Here's an authentic toffee recipe.  Watch for a post later this week with a description of my exploits at my attempt to make English toffee. 

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups thin cream (18% to 20% fat) **
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

** You can substitute half milk and half 40% heavy whipping cream

Put sugar, syrup, cream and salt in saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Cook until temperature is 250° or until able to form ball in cold water. Stir often to prevent burning. Add butter and cook to 250° or hard ball stage in water. Add vanilla. Pour in thin layer on buttered sheets. When cold break in pieces. Yield: 2 pounds of toffee.

January 9th:  National Apricot Day 

Here's a recipe for glazed apricots.  They're great for just snacking or can be added to fruit salads or pastries.

Ingredients

• 1½ lbs of dried apricots
• 1½ cups of fresh orange juice
• 4 cinnamon sticks

Directions:

1. Place apricots in a large saucepan and insert the 4 cinnamon sticks throughout.
2. Pour the orange juice over the apricots to cover. Bring to a boil, and turn down to simmer.
3. Cook for 30 minutes on low or until juice has almost evaporated and glaze is thickened and apricots are coated.
4. Allow to cool and store in clean glass jars or plastic container in the refrigerator.

January 10th:  Bittersweet Chocolate Day 

I love dark chocolate!  And yes, that's what bittersweet chocolate is.  Maybe the best way to enjoy bittersweet chocolate is to make bittersweet chocolate sauce.

Ingredients:

1 cup of whipping cream

2 tablespoons of sugar

4 ounces of *bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

Directions:  Combine the cream and sugar in a small saucepan and heat to a boil. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Stir until completely melted and smooth.  Strain through a fine wire mesh strainer into a serving bowl. Serve warm.  Refrigerate unused sauce and reheat over a double boiler.

*If you can't find bittersweet chocolate, substitute semi-sweet chocolate.

Use this sauce on ice cream, éclairs, or anything else that you like chocolate sauce on!

January 11th:  National Hot Toddy Day 

January is a great time to have a hot toddy to warm you up on a cold winter day or stave off the winter flu season.  Here's a basic recipe for a classic hot toddy:  1½ ounce of brandy, whiskey or rum; 1 tablespoon honey; ½ ounce lemon juice, and 1 cup hot water.  Combine these four ingredients in a mug and garnish with a cinnamon stick, if desired.

Enjoy!

January 12th:  Curried Chicken Day

Since it's Curried Chicken Day, why don't we make our own curry powder that can be used not just to make curried chicken but anything curried.  Here's a simple recipe for curry powder that you can make up and store in an air-tight container to use whenever you need it.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground fennel seed
2 teaspoons ground yellow or brown mustard
2 teaspoons ground red pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

January 13th:  National Peach Melba Day 

Peach Melba is a dessert that was created in the summer of 1892 at the Savoy Hotel in London, England.  It honored the renowned Australian soprano, Dame Nellie Melba.  (Melba toast was also named after Dame Melba.)  It is made of peaches, raspberries, and vanilla ice cream -- very simple, but elegant.  Here's an easy recipe to assemble Peach Melba -- even in the winter when fresh peaches are unavailable.

In the bottom of a martini or margarita glass, place a peach half (canned in light or heavy syrup, your choice) cut side up.  Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the peach half.  Drizzle with seedless raspberry syrup and garnish with whipped cream & toasted almonds if desired.  Frozen raspberries can also be added to the glass with the peach.

January 14th:  National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day 

Mmmm!  Hot Pastrami Sandwiches!  New York Delis!  Can you smell the food and see the line of people gathered around the deli waiting for their turn to order one of these delicious, iconic sandwiches?

Try this recipe to put a little twist on this iconic sandwich by making a "New Yorker" -- a Reuben sandwich that substitutes pastrami for corned beef:

Purchase a good quality Jewish rye bread.  To make the sandwich, spread 1 teaspoon of coarse-grain mustard on the bottom slice of bread and layer 1/4 pound pastrami followed by 2 ounces Swiss cheese and 2 ounces sauerkraut.  Spread the top slice of bread with 1 tablespoon of Russian dressing and place the dressing side of the bread on top of the sauerkraut.  Toast the sandwich by melting butter into a pan and grilling each side of the sandwich about 3 to 5 minutes on each side until golden brown.

To make your own Russian dressing, combine half a cup mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons of ketchup, 2 tablespoons of sweet pickle relish, and 1 tablespoon of prepared white horseradish.  Refrigerate for up to 4 days. 

Follow me on Facebook for updates during the week.  And I'd love to see pictures of your creations & your comments!  Enjoy!

Happy Baking!