Week 52: Eggnog

Eggnog has (as far as I know) never been a tradition in Denmark, so apart from an Eggnog Latte at Starbucks in London a couple of years ago, I've never had it. I got talking with a friend of mine about that the other day, and decided to hunt up recipes. Reading through them, I realized that it was basically pre-frozen homemade ice cream with alcohol added! As I was making homemade ice cream yesterday anyway, and thus had all the ingredients at hand, I figured I'd give it a try.

I know there are as many recipes for eggnog as there are households. This is the one I used. It was supposed to have both nutmeg and cinnamon in as well, but I'm not a fan of either, so left them out. If you have other recipes for eggnog that you'd recommend, I'd love to hear it :)

The Recipe
(Serves 2)
1 egg
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp cream
2dl (200ml) milk
3 tbsp rum, bourbon or similar

Whisk the egg with sugar and vanilla until white and frothy. Add cream and whisk a bit more - not enough to whip the cream, but just to add some froth.
Pour into a glass and add milk and alcohol. Stir and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the ingredients to meld properly.

Enjoy cold.

The Verdict
Very rich, very sweet, very yummy :) A very successful first attempt that I'll definitely try again. Next time possibly with slightly less vanilla, as I did find that somewhat overpowering... but that may just have been because I just whipped it in with the rest, instead of infusing the milk with it. I was too lazy to attempt any such thing ;)

I can easily see how it wouldn't be for everybody though. It's almost like drinking liquid ice cream.

Week 50: Crockpot Chicken with Cashews

The Recipe
400g chicken breast, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
8-10 cherry tomatoes
1 small can of corn (~140g)
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp pepper
1-2 clove garlic, minced
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet chili
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ginger
chili flakes
salt
cashews

Put chicken and cornstarch into a freezer bag, and shake until chicken is coated. Heat oil in a pan over medium/high heat and cook the chicken for 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a crockpot and add bell pepper, tomatoes, corn and garlic.

Mix together soy sauce, sweeti chili, ketchup, vinegar, ginger, sugar and chili flakes in a small bowl and pour over the chicken. Season with salt according to taste. Stir to mix thoroughly, cover and cook on LOW for 2 hours. Add cashews and cook for another 2 hours.

Server over rice.

The Verdict
The sauce was a tad tangy, so I need to cut down on either the vinegar or the ketchup. I think I might try it without the vinegar next time. Apart from that it was really delicious though! The chicken definitely needed to be precooked to get the full benefit of the cornstarch (I love meat cooked in any kind of flour), and anything with cashews is a-ok with me :)

Definitely something I'll be making again. Despite it only being my husband and me, we barely had any leftovers at all.