Countdown to Putia Christmas 2015

It’s December and it’s countdown to Christmas after an exciting year at Putia preparing delicious food for you to share with your friends, offering new menus every few months to keep our choice of dishes interesting and innovative.

Using local produce is important to us and garden-to-plate is an every day practice picking fresh lettuces, herbs, flowers and vegetables from Putia garden and using them in our kitchen to give those aromatic flavours to our home made drinks and dishes.

2015 Putia highlights were many but some of our favourites were the bespoke themed dinners, going Italian in May, French for Bastille Day dinner in July and then the Pork & Cider degustation in August; the markets hosted by Ideology with Putia’s authentic paella selling out within minutes on each occasion.

Putia will close from Monday the 21st December 2015 and reopen on the 6th January 2016 with a new look Putia courtyard and lane under a cool shady roof. In the New Year, there will be a new outdoor kitchen in Putia garden, a new setting for cooking classes and your special events from informal BBQs to cocktail parties and dreamy weddings.

To all of our social media supporters, this is what you have helped Putia Pure Food Kitchen to achieve this year:
Facebook: 3,637 Likes, 2,409 Check-Ins, 126 Reviews (108 of these reviews are “5 star”)

Trip Advisor: #13 of 3,187 restaurants in Brisbane, with 52 reviews with an “excellent” rating

Instagram: 2,736 followers.

Welcome to Putia’s Advent Calendar for 2015

1st December
“My Taste of Sicily “ cookbook by Chef Dominique Rizzo – for lovers of Italian food this cookbook is a window into the world of Dominique’s Italian heritage and family style cooking. A perfect gift for those you love.
2nd December Putia Cooking Class Voucher for people who have everything but want to update their cooking skills and techniques. The 2016 cooking class schedule has a fabulous range of classes in different cuisines – their choice to use their gift voucher at a French, Italian or Spanish cooking class is only a phone call to Putia away.
3rd December
This is the Christmas Hamper full of the goodies that you would like to receive yourself and so you hint strongly hint for it to be opened straight away, and get into some serious tasting. Food is for sharing after all!

4th December
Saturday night is the night for partying. This is the time to get that work Xmas party happening with the strict rule of “no work talk”, just relax, eat good food, drink cocktails and mingle. Play musical chairs and sit next to people who aren’t your usual coffee time mates. You never know what you might discover about some people.

5th December
Relaxing over a long leisurely breakfast, check your calendar for what’s on. There is a lot happening at this time of year and you discover you have next Saturday free. Book now for dinner next Saturday night, make it a romantic two-some or a laid-back group of six, either way come early and unwind with our cocktail of the week.

6th December
Book in for lunch with your special friends for a Christmas get-together and share some of your favourite lunch dishes like the salad of maple braised pulled pork, the linguini pasta or the very popular grilled plump garlic and chili prawns. Will you share or do you want a dish all to yourself?

7th December
Recipe Xmas: Tortini Di Polenta Datteri Speziati

Ingredients:
• 2/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 2 cloves
• 300g dates
• Finely grated zest of 1 large orange
• 1 star anise
• 165g polenta
• 1 large orange
• 70g maize flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 230g unsoftened butter
• ½ cup (135g) honey
• 3 large eggs
• Finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
Steps:
1. Grease and line the base and two long sides of a 25cmx 17.5cm cake tine with baking paper, leaving the sides overhanging.
2. Place the orange juice, cinnamon, cloves, and star anise in a small saucepan and slowly bring to a simmer over low heat, then simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove the spices, then add the dates and orange zest and poach the dates for 5 minutes or until soft and mushy. Remove from the heat, then mash the dates with the back of a fork and set aside.
3. Place the polenta, maize flour and baking power in a bowl and stir to mix well. Beat the butter and honey in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs one at a time, continuing to beat until the mixture is thick and creamy. Add the lemon zest and beat again. Add the polenta and flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine well.
4. Spoon half of the polenta mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm; this will make it easier to spread the date mixture over. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Spread the date mixture evenly over the polenta mixture. Use a wet spoon or wet hands to spread the remaining polenta mixture over the date mixture and smooth the surface. The date mixture should be completely covered.
5. Bake the polenta and date slice for 40 minutes or until the top is firm to touch. Leave to cool then slice and serve. This will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

8th December
Cooking Class Christmas Baking & Gift Ideas – time to foster that creativity within and make the most charming and individual gifts to put under your Christmas tree this year. Chef Dominique will share with you her favourite festive recipes and gift and table decorating ideas.

9th December
Hamper – Treat and pamper yourself with a selection of delicious skin care products made with beautiful herbs and fruit such as the Coconut, Zesty, Citrus & Rosemary sea salt scrub, that sounds like a healthy treat to eat rather than a foot scrub. But what a difference the scrub makes to your feet, smooth and soft for strappy summer sandals.

10th December
Voucher for Kids Cooking Class – the best way to get kids interested in cooking is to put them in aprons and get them prepping in our special hands-on classes where they learn to make simple, nutritious meals using all the food groups. Usually the picky eaters amongst them re-discover the taste of vegetables and fruit prepared and presented in such an appealing way. A new world of dishes from brown rice sushi to lamb pita breads opens up to them.

11th December
Indulge in a Ferrero Rocher cocktail or two. The rich creaminess of Baileys Irish Cream, Frangelico and Crème de Cacao is so decadent that you will be savoring every sip of it and quietly ordering a second one just to make sure that it is as good as the first one.

12th December
Give a Gift voucher for dinner for two courses or three courses including a glass of wine or beer to your mum or dad, to your sister and brother or to that special friend. What is your favourite dish that you will recommend as a must at dinner? Perhaps the lamb backstrap with roasted garlic and thyme jus or the gremolata baked chicken breast with baby vegetable warm salad? So much to choose from, so many delicious flavours. And that’s without mentioning the white chocolate hazelnut praline panna cotta, dark chocolate mousse to follow!

13th December
Organize to meet with friends from the gym, yoga and bike riding groups to meet up next Saturday for a healthy brunch with a fabulous Putia special smoothie. Keeping it healthy as we countdown into the last few days before Christmas, because we know how indulgent it gets on Christmas day.

14th December
Add a Putia Hamper of relishes and jams to your shopping list.
There is the most delightful range of specialty goodies from Smoked Chili & Tomato relish to Eggplant pickle, Port & Mango chutney, Guava Jelly and for those who are up to the fiery Lemon ‘n’ Lime Habanero Fire Chutney. One hamper will not be enough, buy a couple and give one to your host on Christmas day and one for another of your best friends.

15th December
Cooking class – Xmas cooking for kids
This is such a fun class because everyone is in the Christmas spirit. Kids love to be involved in designing the Xmas day menu and really get creative when it comes to decorating the table for Xmas lunch. There is no holding back on the inspiration of looking at Christmas through children’s’ eyes.

16th December
Cooking Class – Festive Ideas for table
Today is all about giving your table a welcoming eye-catching look that makes your guests want to hover around it and sit down, chat, nibble and share Xmas stories and delicious roasted maple sweet potato, pumpkin and capsicum vegetables with the ham and turkey and festive pecan crumble desert.

17th December
Recipe Xmas: Healthy Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients:
• 200g dried figs, chopped
• 200g dried dates, chopped
• ¼ cup or rum or brandy (optional)
• 50g sunflower seeds
• 50g pumpkin seeds
• 50g walnuts
• 1 cup natural muesli or oats (optional, you can use almond or nut meal instead)
• 5 tblsp of dutch or raw cocoa (the dutch cocoa is available in the supermarket)
• 1 tblsp vanilla essence
• 3 tblsp of coconut oil
• ½ cup of naked sugar free ginger, diced
• 3 cups of desiccated coconut or extra Dutch cocoa

Steps:
1. Mix the figs and the dates with the brandy and allow them to sit overnight.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine the nuts until a fine meal and set these aside.
3. Place the figs and dates into the food processor and blend until broken up, add in the oats, cocoa, the vanilla essence and the coconut oil and continue to blend. You may need to do this in batches.
4. Add in the nuts and combine again until the mixture really comes together and is quite smooth, when you are almost to the consistency, add in the chopped ginger and pulse again until combined.
5. Store in the fridge or in an airtight container.

18th December 2, 2015
Party, party, party time as many of you have finished work and started the festive holiday break and can forget about work until the new year. Cocktails, and ice buckets of chilled prosecco and white wine is all you need to start the night. The only important decision you have to make is what to order for dinner.

19th December
The Saturday before Christmas is always a particularly nice day to catch up with your favourite aunt and uncle over lunch and share your stories and maybe just a touch of gossip from the year. You know each other so well, you can laugh and cry together as you share the goodness of Putia food with them.

20 December
It’s Putia’s last day for 2015, and we would love to welcome all of you wonderful customers who have supported us in so many ways throughout 2015. Come and celebrate early Xmas breakfast and lunch at Putia with us.