Comforting And Festive Food

 In years past December meant rush. A rush at the office to get things done and out by year's end. A rush for holiday parties<A rush for shopping. Cooking and even baking was literally put on a back burner. Not this year. We have time to cook leisurely comfort foods  - foods that we can actually sit down and enjoy.

Susan Spungen, a cook and food stylist wrote an article about this in Wednesday's New York Times Food section. She gives three relatively easy and long cooking recipes. One is a spice rubbed braised brisket with a really interesting mix of spices and the addition of finely ground coffee.There is a blend of coriander, garlic powder, and cinnamon for the rub and then the brisket is marinated in pomegranate juice, dry red wine and chicken stock or water.Cipollini onions are cooked with it. The whole process takes close to an hour.It's served with lemon juice, pomegranate seeds and parsley with stems. Ms. Spungen suggests serving it with mashed potatoes but roasted ones would work nicely . Another dinner, lunch breakfast or brunch dish is caramelized sheet pan French toast.As with any French toast it is a lush mix of egg , whole cream and bread. There's also sugar, cardamon and vanilla to give it more flavor. The bread is soaked in the egg mixture for more than eight hours in the fridge. The sugar coated slices are cooked in a 345 degree F oven for fourteen to eighteen minutes on a buttered sheet or skillet. The French toast is served with homemade berry compote and maple syrup. This takes about eighteen minutes to bake.

A perfect holiday dessert is ginger chocolate cake with clementine confit.The slow cooking comes from the clementines where they're soaked in a simple syrup and then into the 275 degree F oven for two to three hours. The result is a complex, chewy  and fancy fruit, right in line with holiday fruits of years past. The cake itself is a heady mix of fresh and ground ginger and Dutch cocoa along with a stick and half of butter and bittersweet chocolate.It's given airiness by whipping six egg yolks and whites separately. Creme fraiche give some tang. As with any holiday cake it gets a good shot of Cognac or a ginger liqueur such as King's Ginger Liqueur or Domaine de Canton. The cake is baked for forty to forty-five minutes in a 350 degree F oven. Used a well buttered springform pan for this. Ms. Spungen also suggests subbing in sour creme for the creme fraiche. The clementines and creme fraiche are spooned on top of the cake but you can also use freshly whipped cream too.

This holiday season you have time to cook and bake. These recipes are perfect for passing the time while providing delicious flavors. They're a great way to unwind in the kitchen.