Christmas Lunch
We spent Christmas with my mum and cooked lunch for the three of us there. As there was only the three of us we had chicken instead of turkey which we prefer anyway.
The chicken was cooked in our usual way, rubbed with oil and salt and pepper and stuffed with herbs, lemon, onion and garlic. Mum made the stuffing which was excellent but sadly lacking in quantity! We had roast potatoes which we roasted in goose fat (the first time I’ve had them cooked this way – they were good but not a huge amount tastier than our normal potatoes I don’t think), roast parsnips, brussels sprouts with chestnuts (tinned this time, I didn’t want to risk blinding someone as a Christmas present!) and Pancetta, carrots, cauliflower and Jamie’s cabbage – three types of cabbage sauteed in herby butter. We also used Jamie’s method to make the gravy; adding the giblets to the roasting tray instead of boiling them seperately.
It was all delicious, I think we all had thirds and still had space for June’s Christmas pudding (my mum’s 80 year old neighbour) later in the day.
Mackerel Tart
On Christmas Eve, we travelled to my mum’s and took along with us the ingredients to make mackerel tart. We forgot the cream though so had to make do with milk which worked ok but resulted in a slightlier runnier tart than normal.
Sweat off some onions and garlic, add mackerel, spinach, Feta, s&p, nutmeg and cream. Add mixture to a lined pastry plate (we used filo pastry) and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
Pre-Christmas Dinner
Yesterday, Kerri and I visited my sister’s family, where we had a sort of pre-Christmas dinner. To start with, my sister cooked some asparagus wrapped in Parma ham. These were cooked in the oven until the ham was just a bit crispy, which turned out rather well.
For main course, we had brought along salmon and salsa verde. We have cooked it before and when we saw Rick Stein recommending it as a possible Christmas dish recently, we thought it would be appropriate. The salsa verde was from Rick Stein’s recipe: parsley, mint, anchovies, capers and garlic. We roasted it on top of sliced tomatoes and more capers, which went very well as an accompaniment when we served it. Also served with new potatoes and broccoli. The salmon was organic salmon from our local fishmonger and the quality was excellent, both in flavour and texture. We presented it in slices, so it looked a little more civilised than our previous attempt linked above.
That was followed by Christmas pudding and brandy sauce, which was really tasty and a fitting end to the meal. Although it wasn’t quite the end because a little later we had some Vacherin, which was of course really brilliant too.
Pork and Paprika Casserole
This was a Spanish-inspired dish, but not made from any particular recipe. Winter has very definitely set in and we have been craving all sorts of comfort stodge, which is unfortunately at odds with our attempts at eating healthily. This dish seemed like it would give us the comfort factor without the calorie-high and vitamin-light qualities of something like sausage (mmmmmmm sausages…) and buttery, mustardy mash (mmmmmmmmm mash…).
What we did was: Browned some diced pork, then removed it from the pan and then put in a large sliced onion, sliced red pepper and two crushed cloves of garlic. After letting these cook down for a while, we added rosemary, bay, parsely stalks and paprika (a whole teaspoon of rather hot paprika which gave it quite a warm kick) and cooked it some more. Then we returned the browned pork to the pan and added chicken stock, tomatoes and olives and put it in the oven at 180 degrees for an hour or so. Ten minutes before the end, we added chopped parsley.
Served with brown rice, this was warm and filling and the flavours had combined very well, but the pork was a bit dry. The pork was diced leg, so if we do it again we’ll try it with a different cut or vary the cooking time. It was lean though and definitely in the healthy eating half of the spectrum. So something to try again with some tweaks.
Chicken and Roasted Vegetables
Stephen bought some chicken legs and thighs for a casserole a couple of weeks ago but we didn’t get round to making it so froze them. In an effort to clear out the fridge before Christmas, we used them up this evening.
We browned the chicken pieces before adding them to some vegetables, wine and stock. They were roasted in the oven for about half an hour before being served with some brown rice. It’s a similar dish to this which we cooked some time ago. It’s quick and reasonably tasty but there’s something missing – not sure what.
Pigeon Casserole
This didn’t turn out brilliantly as we over-cooked the pigeon, shame because everything else was brilliant.
Brown pigeon and remove from the pan (we forgot to do this)
Saute lardons, onions, garlic, celery and carrot
Return browned pigeon to the pan, add red wine, stock and herbs (we used thyme, bay, parsley and parsley stalks)
Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes
We served this with brown basmati rice and some green vegetables.
Oysters and Red Mullet and Clam Casserole
We both felt like fish last night and decided on a fish casserole using red mullet and clams (as you can see from the handy blackboard Stephen made last weekend).
We’ve done various similar things in the past so just did this from memory: sauteed some onions, celery and garlic for about 20 minutes before adding some sliced red pepper and paprika and cooking for another 10 minutes. Add some cherry tomatoes, new potatoes, parsley, sherry and fish stock and cook for a further 15 minutes. Add the red mullet and cook for another five minutes before adding the clams just before the end. Finish with some extra parsley.
The finished dish was really tasty, the paprika gave it a kick but it was otherwise a delicately flavoured and gentle dish.
We also picked up some oysters while we were at the fishmonger and ate those raw with a red onion vinaigrette.
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Wow, it’s been almost a week since we last posted. Combination of lots of things happening this week and eating boring things.
Last night, I cooked spaghetti bolognaise as it was cold and we both felt like something hearty. Served with some interestingly shaped spaghetti I found in the deli. Nothing new or exciting about it but it hit the spot.
Mackerel Salad
To save space for the mince pies and mulled wine, we had salad for lunch 🙂
Mince Pies and Mulled Wine
Today we made mince pies. I can’t remember making my own since I was small but I certainly eat enough of them every year (not until 1 December though).
We made mincemeat to this recipe (which I think is Nigella’s):
Hettie Potter’s suet-free mincemeat
Makes about 2kg
250g soft dark sugar
250ml medium dry cider
1 kg cooking apples, peeled, halved and quartered
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
250g currants
250g raisins
75g glace cherries, roughly chopped
75g blanched almonds, finely chopped
rind and juice of 1/2 lemon
6 tbsp brandy or rum
In large saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the cider over a gentle heat. Add the roughly chopped apples to the saucepan. Add all the ingredients, apart from brandy/rum and simmer for around 30 min until everything has a pulpy consistency. Take off the heat and when it has cooled slightly stir in brandy/rum.
I left out the glace cherries because I don’t like them and just added extra fruit and nuts to make up for it. The end result was really tasty although next time I’ll chop the apples smaller.
With the mice pies we served mulled wine, made to this recipe:
Mulled Wine
750ml red wine
300ml smooth orange juice
150ml brandy
1 tsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp allspice
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp whole cloves
generous pinch of grated nutmeg.
1 sliced lemon
1 sliced orange
1 diced apple
1) Place all ingredients (apart from the fruit) in the saucepan. You can either tie all the spices up in a piece of muslin or strain the wine at the end.
2) Heat gently for about 30 min to let the flavours develop. Don’t boil it. Put in fruit about 10 mins before the end of cooking, this will allow the fuit to absorb the mulled wine but won’t get to mushy. Probably the best bit about mulled wine is fishing out the alcoholic fruit from the bottom of your glass at the end!
