Traditions in Food & Family

I take some liberties with my blog when I don't have access to fresh grown/CSA veggies that I had during the growing season. Instead of farm, I will share some family.

Christmas. Not so long ago I celebrated Christmas with my family and new wife. For the first time in many years my family enjoyed Christmas morning all together, my parents, my brother and sister. Although I have known my wife for 12 years, this is the first Christmas morning we woke up to celebrate together.

She brought with her a family food tradition to share with my family and my family shared ours. I was raised in a household rich in Irish and Italian heritage. On Christmas Eve we enjoyed the feast of seven fishes, including; smelt, scallops, calamari, bacalla (salted cod), salmon and more, all prepared by my mom. Christmas day offered the opportunity for a hearty and lovingly prepared breakfast of Irish steel cut oatmeal and dried fruit made by my parents and coffeecake prepared by my wife (a Betty Crocker recipe her family has made for ~20 years).

Irish Oatmeal Recipe
Irish steel cut oats
water
dried fruit & nuts
honey or maple syrup

Boil water, add oats, simmer for ~30 minutes. Add fruit towards the end. Reheat for late arrivals, add a little water if dry. My dad made oatmeal with fresh sliced bananas which get sweet when they are heated. You can't go wrong, unless you under cook it.

Betty Crocker Candy Cane Coffee Cake
(makes 3, 1 for the table, 2 for gifts or whatever)

For Sour Cream Yeast Dough:
2 cups sour cream
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
6 cups all-purpose flour, about

Option 1 Filling for cake (from original recipe)
1 1/2 cups finely chopped dried apricots
1 1/2 cups finely chopped maraschino cherries
soft butter or margarine

Option 2 Filling for cake (my wife's experimental cinnamon bun version)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 stick melted butter
chopped nuts
1 tbsp cinnamon

Thin Icing:
2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons water

Heat sour cream over low heat just until lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Stir in sour cream, butter, sugar, salt, eggs and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make it easy to handle.Turn dough onto well-floured board. Knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl. Turn once to bring greased side up. Cover. Let rise in warm place until double, about 1 hour. To test for rising, stick two fingers in dough. If holes remain but top stays smooth, dough is ready.

Make cake:
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Punch down dough. Divide into three equal parts. Roll each part into a rectangle, 15 x 6 inches. Place on greased baking sheet. With scissors, make 2-inch cuts at 1/2-inch intervals on both long sides of the rectangles. Combine apricots and cherries. Spread 1/3 of the fruit mixture down the center of each of the rectangles. Crisscross strips over the filling, pinching strips together in the center. (One bread always looks a little funny, she gives away the 'prettiest one' we ate the funny looking one see photo right). Stretch dough to 22 inches. Curve to form a "cane." Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. While warm, brush with butter and drizzle canes with Thin Icing. If desired, decorate with cherry halves or pieces.

For thin icing: Blend 2 cups powdered sugar with about 2 tablespoons water. If icing is too stiff, add water a drop at a time. If too thin, add more powdered sugar a little at a time.

(Does not contain candy cane or coffee. FYI this is the old version of the recipe, from a duct taped together, falling apart Betty Crocker cookbook - the Betty Crocker website offers a new take on this recipe which we won't try for the sake of nostalgia. Add to this to oatmeal, scrambled eggs and a sausage ring, found in Joy of Cooking, throw in a few presents, and you have a Flanagan/Rankin family Christmas and a full belly.)