Now is the time, ladies and gentlemen to make the difficult phone calls. You need to contact everyone who will be sitting around your table this Christmas and run the menu past them. This is, by no means a resignation that you will be offering them a la carte dinning whilst they are with you, its just useful to know if any of them have allergies or have turned vegetarian in the last 12 months.
There is a wonderful episode of Friends where the gang is forced to stay in New York for Thanksgiving. Monica is to cook the roast. Bit by bit, everyone persuades her to do something particular for the meal. Lies and emotional blackmail are used to ensure that individuals get what they want - do not let this happen to you, but make sure your guests are not likely to grow a second head if they eat Turkey!
Oh, by the way - Have you bought your chestnuts yet?
Showing posts with label Chestnuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chestnuts. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Monday, 1 December 2014
Here we go...
Well the madness has begun. The build up to Christmas is now underway. I have always felt that I didn't like Christmas very much but the truth has only recently become apparent to me - I don't like "Xmas" or, worse than that "Crimbo." The grotesque events of last Friday were ample demonstration of everything that is wrong with a twenty first century Christmas.
The main work of preparing the Christmas Roast usually falls on one person and their day is often far from relaxing; they seem to miss out on the fact that it is a feast day and we should enjoy food and good company on such a day. Over the next few weeks, I shall attempt to write blogs aimed at lessening the load on such people.
So its the 1st December and by now you should have ordered your roast, If you have not, then stop reading now and do it!. The choice of which meat to roast on the day will depend on personal preference, finance and who is coming over on the Big Day (For the record, the Beautiful Wife and I shall be having a duck on the day as there will be only two of us). You also need to by some vacuum packed chestnuts - today. You do not want to be faced with a chestnut crisis on the 24th!
Do not even think about buying cranberry sauce.
Cranberries are a really good foil to most roast meat as the natural acidity cuts through any fat but most commercial sauces are far too sweet and hence, do not offer the acid hit that is required. It could not be simpler than to make your own.
Cranberry Sauce
400gms of Cranberries
Water
250gms of caster sugar
Pop the berries in a pan and add enough water to "cover" (be aware that cranberries float). Boil the berries, they will make a very satisfying soft popping sound as the berries split. You should get it to the point at which you have a sludgy liquid. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve and bring back to the boil. Boil for about 5 minutes, you are not looking to make a jam but you want some thickness. Pot into sterilized jars and put in a safe place to await the big day.
These also make a great present if you are lucky enough to be invited to a Christmas Lunch where you don't have to cook!
The main work of preparing the Christmas Roast usually falls on one person and their day is often far from relaxing; they seem to miss out on the fact that it is a feast day and we should enjoy food and good company on such a day. Over the next few weeks, I shall attempt to write blogs aimed at lessening the load on such people.
So its the 1st December and by now you should have ordered your roast, If you have not, then stop reading now and do it!. The choice of which meat to roast on the day will depend on personal preference, finance and who is coming over on the Big Day (For the record, the Beautiful Wife and I shall be having a duck on the day as there will be only two of us). You also need to by some vacuum packed chestnuts - today. You do not want to be faced with a chestnut crisis on the 24th!
Do not even think about buying cranberry sauce.
Cranberries are a really good foil to most roast meat as the natural acidity cuts through any fat but most commercial sauces are far too sweet and hence, do not offer the acid hit that is required. It could not be simpler than to make your own.
Cranberry Sauce
400gms of Cranberries
Water
250gms of caster sugar
Pop the berries in a pan and add enough water to "cover" (be aware that cranberries float). Boil the berries, they will make a very satisfying soft popping sound as the berries split. You should get it to the point at which you have a sludgy liquid. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve and bring back to the boil. Boil for about 5 minutes, you are not looking to make a jam but you want some thickness. Pot into sterilized jars and put in a safe place to await the big day.
These also make a great present if you are lucky enough to be invited to a Christmas Lunch where you don't have to cook!
 |
| Cranberries and water |
 |
| Boiling the sauce |
 |
| Potted and ready |
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Let the madness begin!
It is that time of year again, we are less than a month away from the Christmas dinner! A host (some heavenly some not) of food writers will be tell us how to have a stress free Christmas day with their easy recipes and methods. So here's the truth. Christmas dinner is just a roast dinner on a slightly larger scale. It may require a little more planning than your average Sunday fare but lets not get things out of all proportion here.
However it would be remiss of me not to offer some advice on how to produce the Yule feast in a relatively stress free way and on a reasonable budget.
So today I have two bits of advice for you:
1. If you have a lot of guests for the big day, order your meat now. Many years ago, the Beautiful Wife and I were planning to have a duck for the roast. I left it till the 24th to buy the bird and found myself trouping round the whole of North London to find one - not a particularly pleasant occupation on Christmas Eve,
2. Buy chestnuts now. They will be sold out when you go on the 20th to do your last shop. The vacuum packed ones are fine for the purpose of sprout re-invention.
However it would be remiss of me not to offer some advice on how to produce the Yule feast in a relatively stress free way and on a reasonable budget.
So today I have two bits of advice for you:
1. If you have a lot of guests for the big day, order your meat now. Many years ago, the Beautiful Wife and I were planning to have a duck for the roast. I left it till the 24th to buy the bird and found myself trouping round the whole of North London to find one - not a particularly pleasant occupation on Christmas Eve,
2. Buy chestnuts now. They will be sold out when you go on the 20th to do your last shop. The vacuum packed ones are fine for the purpose of sprout re-invention.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
...and the goose is getting fat....
Last year I started to write about how to organise the perfect Christmas without all the cheffy rubbish and was planning a gloriously simple Christmas feast for the Beautiful wife and I. Alas my Christmas fell apart and I was unable to finish blogging up to the big day. This year's Christmas will be a very quiet one and hopefully, one without any unpleasant issues.
My Father lost his battle with Leukemia early in November so there will not be wild celebrations this year. He was a truly great man in all the small but very important ways. He was, however, the hardest man on earth to feed. This was a man who "hated" ginger in anything yet his favourite tipple was Whisky and dry ginger! He hated fish, but loved salmon or prawns. He detested garlic but would steal a slice of garlic bread before it left the kitchen. We all miss him very much.
As I sit here on this chilly Sunday evening our little house is filled with the warm winter smell of braising red cabbage. Get this done now as it freezes perfectly well and its another job you don't have to do on the day. The cabbages came in the veg box we get from Abel and Cole - one of them came last week and was the size of a football. Four or five batches of cabbage will soon be in my freezer! (Recipe below)
Now I began to talk about this last year but is stands repeating - On the way home from work tomorrow you need (and I do mean "NEED") to buy your chestnuts - you will not feel at all full of Christmas cheer when on the eve of the big day you are charging round every shop and supermarket trying to find some.
The other thing I must nag about is ordering your meat. It doesn't really matter how many you are feeding on the 25th but it is important to make sure you have the meat you want. On this note why not try something different this year: A rib of beef perhaps, a roast goose might be nice (fine roasties here) or a loin of pork, maybe a leg of lamb, you could even go completely of script and poach a salmon! If you are having turkey please, please make sure it is Free Range and preferably raised to very high welfare and feed standards too. Yes, yes I know times are hard but this is a once a year meal - shouldn't we head towards 2012 with good intentions and actions.
Braised Red Cabbage
1 medium sized red cabbage, shredded
1 large white onion, sliced
1 large apple (Bramley ideal, but any really) peeled, cored and chopped
Glug of Cider vinegar
Wine glass of Dry cider
Butter
Salt and pepper
Melt a large knob of butter in a large casserole on the hob and add the onions and apple. As the apple is softening, add the cabbage and stir to give a fine coat of butter on everything. Pour in the vinegar and the cider and stir some more. Place the lid on and pop the dish into a pre-heated, medium oven for about 45 minutes. Take out the casserole carefully and give the cabbage a really good stir. Add more cider if needed; it doesn't need a swimming pool in the bottom but neither should it be dry. Pop it back in the oven for another 45 minutes. Remove and season to taste. Serve immediately or allow to cool and freeze in bags, portioned according to your family size. This dish happily re-heats in the oven or in the microwave, simply add a little butter to give a gloss before serving. If you want to be a bit or adventurous add some cloves or a stick of cinnamon during cooking.
My Father lost his battle with Leukemia early in November so there will not be wild celebrations this year. He was a truly great man in all the small but very important ways. He was, however, the hardest man on earth to feed. This was a man who "hated" ginger in anything yet his favourite tipple was Whisky and dry ginger! He hated fish, but loved salmon or prawns. He detested garlic but would steal a slice of garlic bread before it left the kitchen. We all miss him very much.
As I sit here on this chilly Sunday evening our little house is filled with the warm winter smell of braising red cabbage. Get this done now as it freezes perfectly well and its another job you don't have to do on the day. The cabbages came in the veg box we get from Abel and Cole - one of them came last week and was the size of a football. Four or five batches of cabbage will soon be in my freezer! (Recipe below)
Now I began to talk about this last year but is stands repeating - On the way home from work tomorrow you need (and I do mean "NEED") to buy your chestnuts - you will not feel at all full of Christmas cheer when on the eve of the big day you are charging round every shop and supermarket trying to find some.
The other thing I must nag about is ordering your meat. It doesn't really matter how many you are feeding on the 25th but it is important to make sure you have the meat you want. On this note why not try something different this year: A rib of beef perhaps, a roast goose might be nice (fine roasties here) or a loin of pork, maybe a leg of lamb, you could even go completely of script and poach a salmon! If you are having turkey please, please make sure it is Free Range and preferably raised to very high welfare and feed standards too. Yes, yes I know times are hard but this is a once a year meal - shouldn't we head towards 2012 with good intentions and actions.
Braised Red Cabbage
1 medium sized red cabbage, shredded
1 large white onion, sliced
1 large apple (Bramley ideal, but any really) peeled, cored and chopped
Glug of Cider vinegar
Wine glass of Dry cider
Butter
Salt and pepper
Melt a large knob of butter in a large casserole on the hob and add the onions and apple. As the apple is softening, add the cabbage and stir to give a fine coat of butter on everything. Pour in the vinegar and the cider and stir some more. Place the lid on and pop the dish into a pre-heated, medium oven for about 45 minutes. Take out the casserole carefully and give the cabbage a really good stir. Add more cider if needed; it doesn't need a swimming pool in the bottom but neither should it be dry. Pop it back in the oven for another 45 minutes. Remove and season to taste. Serve immediately or allow to cool and freeze in bags, portioned according to your family size. This dish happily re-heats in the oven or in the microwave, simply add a little butter to give a gloss before serving. If you want to be a bit or adventurous add some cloves or a stick of cinnamon during cooking.
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Countdown to Christmas 1
So here we go then - let the madness and the nonsense begin!
Today you need to buy chestnuts - no I don't mean this weekend I mean today, on your way home and make sure you buy two packs. If you leave it too late they will be sold out and all it needs is a Nigella or a Rick to suggest a stuffing full of chestnuts and there will be none left in Europe. (Remember Delia and "The Great Christmas Cranberry crisis").
Your first pack is for your stuffing. This can be made any time this week, then frozen. All you have to do is then move it from the freezer to the fridge on Christmas Eve then into the oven for the last 40 minutes of cooking the roast.
Stuffing
Everyone has a recipe for "The best ever stuffing" but for goodness sake people - KEEP IT SIMPLE! All the volumes are general here as there is so much personal preference involved in this.
Your favourite Butchers sausages (taken out of their skins)
One pack of Chestnuts
A handful of breadcrumbs (three slices of bread in a low oven for 40 minutes then blitzed)
A large egg
Herbs (especially sage)
One large onion
Salt and Pepper
Finely chop the onion and very gently fry in a little oil. When the onion is just about to take some colour take it off the heat and pop it in a bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly (hands really are your best tool for this). Smooth the mix into a shallow oven proof dish cover and freeze.
Allow to thoroughly defrost before cooking in the oven at a medium heat for 40 minutes.
There is so much scope for putting your own touches in this dish - dried fruit, garlic, chili, and any spices you fancy.
"So" I hear you ask " why use sausages and not just buy sausage meat? Well if you have found a sausage you like (In my case Newitt's Oxfordshire) then why take the risk of some random sausage meat going into your stuffing? You need to be aware that, for a lot of people, Christmas Lunch is all about the stuffing!
This brings us to the other pack of chestnuts. These are for your Brussels Sprouts.
Early on "the day" cook your sprouts in boiling water till they still have a bit of resistance to biting. (Incidentally don't ever, EVER, EVER cut silly little crosses in the base of each sprout - it will simply turn your sprouts into watery fart bombs). When the sprouts are cooked, refresh them under cold water until quite chilled. 5 minutes before serving pop a couple of rashers of chopped streaky bacon into a frying pan and allow to cook. When the bacon is almost to your liking add a big lump of butter (50gms) your sprouts and your chestnuts. Warm them all through and serve as normal.
Packs of Chestnuts are available vacuum packed in every large supermarket or Deli. Some Supermarkets are now selling them from the freezer counter too.
Stop laughing I'm really serious about doing this today - Don't come crying to me if you're foraging around on Christmas eve with no ingredients.
Today you need to buy chestnuts - no I don't mean this weekend I mean today, on your way home and make sure you buy two packs. If you leave it too late they will be sold out and all it needs is a Nigella or a Rick to suggest a stuffing full of chestnuts and there will be none left in Europe. (Remember Delia and "The Great Christmas Cranberry crisis").
Your first pack is for your stuffing. This can be made any time this week, then frozen. All you have to do is then move it from the freezer to the fridge on Christmas Eve then into the oven for the last 40 minutes of cooking the roast.
Stuffing
Everyone has a recipe for "The best ever stuffing" but for goodness sake people - KEEP IT SIMPLE! All the volumes are general here as there is so much personal preference involved in this.
Your favourite Butchers sausages (taken out of their skins)
One pack of Chestnuts
A handful of breadcrumbs (three slices of bread in a low oven for 40 minutes then blitzed)
A large egg
Herbs (especially sage)
One large onion
Salt and Pepper
Finely chop the onion and very gently fry in a little oil. When the onion is just about to take some colour take it off the heat and pop it in a bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly (hands really are your best tool for this). Smooth the mix into a shallow oven proof dish cover and freeze.
Allow to thoroughly defrost before cooking in the oven at a medium heat for 40 minutes.
There is so much scope for putting your own touches in this dish - dried fruit, garlic, chili, and any spices you fancy.
"So" I hear you ask " why use sausages and not just buy sausage meat? Well if you have found a sausage you like (In my case Newitt's Oxfordshire) then why take the risk of some random sausage meat going into your stuffing? You need to be aware that, for a lot of people, Christmas Lunch is all about the stuffing!
This brings us to the other pack of chestnuts. These are for your Brussels Sprouts.
Early on "the day" cook your sprouts in boiling water till they still have a bit of resistance to biting. (Incidentally don't ever, EVER, EVER cut silly little crosses in the base of each sprout - it will simply turn your sprouts into watery fart bombs). When the sprouts are cooked, refresh them under cold water until quite chilled. 5 minutes before serving pop a couple of rashers of chopped streaky bacon into a frying pan and allow to cook. When the bacon is almost to your liking add a big lump of butter (50gms) your sprouts and your chestnuts. Warm them all through and serve as normal.
Packs of Chestnuts are available vacuum packed in every large supermarket or Deli. Some Supermarkets are now selling them from the freezer counter too.
Stop laughing I'm really serious about doing this today - Don't come crying to me if you're foraging around on Christmas eve with no ingredients.
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