A birthday feast

The annual birthday feast for M and his family took place yesterday.  

We ate smoked trout souffles and salad,  lamb stuffed with fruit, rice and spices, pommes dauphinoise, carrots, peas, ratatouille, and that nice fractal vegetable, whose name I have forgotten.



This one!

Then we had one pudding - I made the executive decision to just do one, it was some fantastic hazelnut and cinnamon merginues with home made ice cream and chocolate sauce.

There was mild consternation when Tom and Mark went to help themselves to second helpings, saw the chocolate sauce and thought it was gravy and poured it over their veg.   I don't think I would ever make such thick dark gravy under any circumstances.   There was still plenty left over for the pudding.

Christmas Food

Christmas food is taking up a lot of time at present.  Our Christmas is spectacularly difficult, because we have Mark's birthday as well - and that requires a separate feast to cope with.  And this year I am going in to hospital on 23rd for the day - so I need to be especially organised as I will not be allowed to cook for 48 hours.

It is tradition for my family to eat cold ham and turkey on Christmas Day for breakfast, but I think that will have to be changed this year.  We then have turkey and everything else, followed by Christmas pudding and an alternative pudding for the boys.   Last year I didn't make a Christmas pudding as it was just us, we had homemade sticky toffee pudding instead, which was very good.   This year we will have Christmas pudding and chocolate roulade (chocolate log) for the boys. 

There are two types of stuffing: sausage and chestnut - which is frozen and ready in advance, and "the other one" - which depends on what I feel like - sometimes I make a rice/fruit/nut and spice one, sometimes it's a lemony one, sometimes it's just veggies - this is meant to keep the turkey moist.   We usually have potatoes, sprouts, carrots, peas, parsnips and red cabbage.  And bread sauce and cranberry sauce, and sausages and bacon rolls.  So far, so traditional.

On Boxing Day my youngest brother and sister-in-law are coming.  This year I think we'll have the ham hot, with pommes dauphinoise, more red cabbage and salads.   Followed by: tiramisu or trifle, more chocolate log, cheese...

I was very shocked yesterday when I went shopping - we seemed to have spent more on food than anything else, yet I bought few obviously extravagant items - however, I have got just about everything except the turkey, and of course we'll need more fruit and veg.   I didn't see any lychees.  I love lychees and feel deprived without them, no one else does.

How it went

Today’s Book Group lunch was really nice – although I have learned some lessons.  The first is, the new gravadlax recipe I used isn’t as good as the old one (which I think involved brandy or vodka as part of the cure).  Also, I think using gros sel de Guerande was a mistake – it’s just too gros and didn’t dissolve (should have used more dill too – but that’s Ocado’s fault).

The caraway seeds in the bread were good.   The lamb was good, but I seem to have got into the habit of not putting enough salt into things.  So needed salt.  Veg fine, the veggie alternative seemed OK – plenty of it left – so that’s supper sorted out!

Puddings; liked the orange brulee very much – but should have put a lot more icing sugar on the top and had more of a crust.  Chocolate cake good – but I think it would have been better if I’d put marsala in it – don’t think the coffee liqueur idea is that great – as I didn’t have any I used a mix of instant coffee, brandy and arack (a flavourless liquor from Sri Lanka which I have had a bottle of for years.  My in-laws gave it to me and I never drink it, just use it where I need a bit of booze.  The cake was meant to be a tiramisu thing, but I’ m sure marsala would be more appropriate.

Now I have to plan mark’s birthday feast for my in-laws – when asked what he wants, he usually says “Steak and kidney pudding and brown bread ice cream.”  This is a fine meal, but we can’t do it every year.... also, I am keen to find a better ice cream recipe.

One of the great mysteries about recipes is how more ingredients don’t necessarily improve the dish – but I think the BB ice cream needs something more – bread crumbs, sugar and cream are good – I think rum may have been mentioned as a remarkably versatile flavour enhancer for sweet things.  In Italy they sell a wonderful thing called rhum alla fantasia – they sell it in 75 cl bottles, but it’s actually just rum flavouring, not alcoholic at all.

The Book Group Lunch

To,orrow is the book group annual Christ#as lunch - which I host every year.  It has a si#ilar for#at each years - a starter, a #ain course with several vegetables, a vegetarian alternative and 2-3 puddings.

Usually the #ain course is the least interesting part of the #eal, although the Sal#on en croute with crea# and herb sauce is very popular.  I have done this every year since 2004 I think.  It's always easy to find lots of starters and puddings, but #ain courses are difficult so#ehow - there was a very good ga#e pie a couple of years ago, I have done venison in the past, a stuffed pork was quite nice, but I rather fear that the dish I will be cooking to#orrow is one I have done before - Agnello al agrodolce - I do it because it is reliably delicious and what #ore can one ask for - unless of course one is one of the people who finds la#b indigestible because of the fat - this is usual because your bile ducts are under-producing!   Anyway, there is a veggie alternative, leek and fennel tart (i.e. a quiche).   #ashed potatoes, green beans and squash cooked with cina#on and chilies.   The puddings are both new this year - a chocolate cake with a sort of tira#isu topping - and an orange tarte with a brulee topping.     But the thing I a# looking forward to #ost is the gravadlax - this is one of #y favourite things - it is so delicious.  I've #ade so#e bread with caraway seeds in to eat with it, and the fa#ous sauce. 

Tonight I have the tart - but not the brulee topping, the la#b, the sal#on, and the cake ready - but a lot of asse#bly work, and tidying up to#orrow #orning!

A joke about Chocolate Mousse

"My wife made chocolate mousse for dessert last week - I nearly choked on an antler!"

I thank you!

Chocolate mousse

I made this yesterday.  I think I may have mis-remembered the recipe - which I saw in something over the weekend.   It was delicious - but so thick...

250g dark chocolate, 40g butter, 4 eggs, a tbsp rum, 2 tbsps sugar.
Melt chocolate and butter, without stirring them - separate eggs, beat whites until stiff, beat sugar and rum with egg yolks - add melted chocolate to the yolks, then fold in whites.

This makes enough for 6 ramekins... but it was so thick that I'm not sure I'd make it again - the texture was more like a ganache or truffle.  It needed quite a lot of whipped cream to "dilute" it - so I think I'd try to make it with 6 eggs next time - or less chocolate.  Or maybe it should be used as the basis for truffles?


I also made pasta e fagioli again - this one was really nice.  I used borlotti beans - soaked over night and cooked them.   I then fried bacon, onions, celery and carrot - quite a lot of bacon - 100-150g - more than they tell you.  When it was soft, added the cooked beans and their liqud plus chopped parsley stalks and more water and a stock cube.   Cooked slowly for about 40 mins - left it to stand - then brought back to the boil and added lots of pasta (fusilli al radiatore seemed good) - also a bit more water.     Salt and pepper, but no other herbs etc.

It was very good - served with parmigiano - but actually the bacon was enough of a flavouring.  I think they wouldn't use smoked bacon in Italy - but I think that was what gave it such a good flavour.  Last time I made it I think I added some tomato puree or passata - didn't bother this time.  Really proper solid flavour, not at all thin.  Must do it again - only Ned doesn't "do beans".

Quince Cheese

I finally got around to making quince cheese.  It was a great delight to have about a dozen decent quinces this year - I made an initial batch of jelly with about 3 large ones - and it was regrettable to throw away all that wonderful quince material, but I did.   With the second batch of quinces I made about 9 small pots of jelly (it goes to nothing) and then used the quince pulp to make quince cheese.  To do this, you take the pulp - pips, skin and all and the recipes say to put it through a fine sieve - well, if you have all the time in the world, but I used my mouli-legumes and although it doesn't sieve that fine, it got rid of the worst of the lumps.  The resulting mash is boiled up with equal amounts of sugar until thick.   Of course the definition of what "thick" means is a dark art.   After about an hour of slow cooking the mixture was thick and bubbling like a sort of terracotta coloured polenta - large volcanic bubble burst into the air above the saucepan, scalding you as you stirred.   Ned came into the kitchen and looked at the bubbling pot with horror.   I stirred sporadically, it wasn't sticking, but it was thick. 

I poured it into plastic takeaway trays - so it can be turned out in a nice rectangle when needed.  When it cooled it could be cut into slices, but they are rather soft slices and don't completely hold their shape - so I think rather than cook until "thick" the instruction should be cook until the spoon meets resistance.   This would give a tougher, more membrillo like product.    Membrillo is more jellly like - perhaps they cook the entire quince jelly and all into membrillo.  Should have had a look for a recipe.  And now I wish I'd made apple cheese too.   However, the quince cheese is very nice and good with cheese and cold meat etc.   It does have a rather grainy texture like the fruit itself, but I am delighted with it, and hope it will make a good Christmas present.

Serving suggestions:  Apple cheese used to be served as part of a desert course - something I really like in winter - and it was studded with hazelnuts and covered with whipped cream.  I am sure something similar could be done with quince cheese - but I think walnuts might be nicer - very good combination with blue cheese.  I suppose one could use the q.c. to add to casseroles (good with pheasant or g.fowl or poultry generally).