I'm going back and getting my food faves from my old blog for those who haven't read it. It's also a chance to let the food shine without the rest of the lifestyle waffle so enjoy and there's more recipe recycling to come before I present you with the fresh ideas I've been working on!
This was my Christmas dinner and left overs for a few days after.
Smoked Salmon salad with sour creme ramoulade
There wasn't any cooking involved in this dish which is why I chose it. I didn't want to add a complex starter when I was doing four courses on borrowed energy amidst a recovery and ongoing symptoms from the list of ailments I'm daily kicking butt. The only recipe here is for the spicy sauce and it was:
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
1 tbsp dill
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp chives
2 tbsp spring onions
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp habanero hot sauce (more to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix everything and get right balance of herbs-sour cream-salt-spicy
Adjust accordingly. Put in bowl to serve with the salad and garnish with a splash of hot sauce and chopped chives.
Main: Turkey/ Salmon Encroute with red wine and cinnamon red cabbage, crushed and herbed new potatoes, creamed leeks and cranberry sauce
We had two mains, a side of salmon encroute mainly for my pescetarian self and a crown of turkey for the meat eaters. Whereas there's no one standard recipe for turkey I have tips to keep it moist and give it more flavour!
Turkey tip1- for extra flavour add herbs to the butter before you put it under the skin for the turkey baste itself when cooking. I used thyme, rosemary, chives, garlic and a bit of paprika alongside salt and pepper
Turkey tip2- since it was just a crown I cooked our turkey for the recommended 1hr 45min with an extra ten minutes just to be safe even when the juices were running clear (to check if poultry is cooked when roasting- pierce with a knife, press it against flesh and let the juices run, if cloudy it's not cooked yet and if clear it's cooked)
Turkey tip3- cover with foil for half the cooking time and then took it off to brown and crisp up. a) it makes sure it's cooked on the inside by keeping the heat from escaping
b) it stops any garnish (bacon, herbs etc) from burning prematurely and being wasted
Turkey tip4: Make a vegetable trivet ( veg between turkey and oven dish) from root veg. I used quartered onions, potatoes, carrots, celery and parsnip. The tip to this tip is to keep the veg cut very big so it's doesn't disintegrate when cooking. Try and and achieve a uniform cut so they cook evenly. These veg not only get all the flavour from the turkey and taste good but also if left in the oven for 10 minutes to crisp up, they can make a good garnish for your bird!
In the left corner we had the salmon encroute which was every bit tasty and tantalising. This can be made all year round for dinner parties, gatherings and such. I didn't make my own pastry on account of life being too short to make your own pastry for a four course dinner and I refuse to go into Tachycardia on Christmas Day from all the stress. Ready rolled pastry had to suffice and it actually worked well. I also made another short cut by asking for the fishmonger to take the skin off the salmon for me since my knife set containing my filleting knives hadn't been touched since the day I gracefully bowed out from my position as Commis chef at Brasserie Blanc; it made sense and it was free!
To prepare it I greased a large, square oven dish.
Placed one sheet of ready rolled pastry.
Added the raw side of salmon on top
Topped with leeks (sautéed with garlic, dill, parsley and stirred in Philly cheese)
Applied egg wash to the sides
Added top pastry
Folded in edges tightly, scored the top with a knife to let air out and brushed with egg wash.
Cooked for 45 mins- 1hr on gas mark 6
Mains went with creamed leeks and red cabbage. I did the traditional creamed leeks. For the red cabbage:
Sautée cabbage with red onion and add cinnamon stalk. Add red wine and then cook in the oven with the rest of the food for 25 mins. I prefer to make a cartouche out of grease proof paper instead of a lid. That's how we did it in chef school and that's how it stuck!
Instead of roasting potatoes I boiled mine (baby potatoes) whole with skins on. Crushed and added sour cream, chives, spring onions, salt and pepper
Dessert and cheese courses: Christmas pudding, Ice cream, chocolate mousse and profiteroles cake,cheese and fruit platter plus coffee, port and baileys
This colourful feast fit for Roman gods was easy as 123 to assemble. I bought a variety of cheeses including Cheddar, Red Leicester, Brie, Stilton and Wensledale with cranberries. In lieu of my French culinary training where cheese is usually served with walnuts and dried apricots etc I went for grapes, crackers, breadsticks and persimmons which worked well. Try Stilton with crackers and persimmons, it's amazing! I totally mellows out the sharp notes in the Stilton, rounds the flavour up with a creamy finish!
The filtered coffee ended up making Irish coffee with the baileys with a hint of cinnamon which went well with the cheeses and desserts.
The Christmas pudding was the best I've ever had thanks to Harrods, the profiterole chocolate mousse cake was also a shop bought delight which only required putting on a platter and dusting with icing sugar! Usually don't take this many shortcuts but I've been unwell and on bed rest since coming out of hospital.
Leftover Makeover: Leftover Birdie Pie
The next morning the unexpected happened, I felt hungry again! After the big feast the day before I never thought I'd want for another morsel of food but lo and behold, the whole household woke up ravenous!! Overwhelmed with the amount of leftovers also nursing a slight hangover I came up with what I feel will be a tradition in my house for years to come! I made Left Over Birdie Pie!
Shredded the turkey
Put it in an large oven dish alongside some left over veg for texture, turkey bechamel sauce from the night before, paprika, dill and parsley and mixed
Topped it with breadcrumbs and browned in the oven for 45 minutes. Served with left over red cabbage and a selection of salads (beet, coleslaw and green salads)
It went well with both red and white wine suprisingly!
Deserted dessert:
Again I still had some leftover dessert and decided to do a frothy baileys custard and topped it with left over Christmas pudding crumbs, served with the profiterole mousse cake and Irish coffees ......And that is you keep on gaining weight, even the day after Christmas!
The night after two nights before:
The day after Boxing Day I still hadn't used the left over potatoes and for dinner I made quorn cakes with a Brie cheese center.
I added flaked quorn chicken, spices and herbs (paprika, chives with salt and pepper) bound with an egg. Placed Brie slice in the middle of the patties. Baked for 25 minutes turning halfway though and served with a (mayo, honey, Dijon mustard and lemon dressing) salad and Shiraz.
Enjoy! And thanks for stopping by!
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