Wordless Wednesday

Breakfast Burger

At about noon on Christmas Day, we were peckish. We'd decided to have our festive main meal in the evening, so we needed something substantial to carry us through for brunch.

A couple of sausage patties (good-quality pork sausages removed from the skins and patted into shape). Eggs, fried in rings to get the right shape and size. A slice of smoked cheese and a good dollop of Gran Luchito smoked chilli ketchup. A toasted demi-brioche bun. It definitely kept us going for the rest of the day!

Christmas Canapes

I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas, with congenial company, good food and manageable amounts of credit card debt.

Ours was low-key but extremely pleasant. All the people we would usually enjoy seeing over the Christmas period are in other countries this year, so it was just us and the cat. The company was definitely congenial.

The food was good too. On Christmas Eve we had drinks and substantial nibbles, and a roast on Christmas Day.

I was feeling like I'd fallen into a bit of a rut with my Christmas nibbles - I've been doing blue cheese mousse with brandied figs, and cauliflower puree with salmon roe for years, it seems. I mixed it up a little bit, without branching out too far.

We had Peter's Yard rye crispbreads with smoked salmon, horseradish cream and some chopped cornichon and capers.

I couldn't completely abandon the blue cheese and brandied figs, so I put them in little puff pastry parcels, along with some pistachios for crunch.

I borrowed Diana Henry's idea for pea pancakes with crab salad, but went much more Asian in the flavourings, seasoning them with coriander, shallots and lime juice.

And I filled little croustade cups with taramasalata and a pile of finely-diced cucumber salad, topping them with seared scallops. We drank delicious English sparkling wine and watched a Harry Potter movie. For me, the ideal Christmas Eve.

Do note the little curl of steam off the middle scallop. Paul is extremely proud of that photo

Merry Christmas - sgroppino al ciliegia

My last Christmassy cocktail is a festive take on the Italian sgroppino - prosecco with lemon sorbet. It uses some of the boozy cherries I preserved in the summer, but at this time of year boozy fruit seems quite easily available. And by tomorrow it should be heavily discounted.

Sgroppino al Ciliegia (with apologies to the Italians if I've got the gender of the words confused)

For each glass:

1 scoop Black Vanilla black cherry sorbetto
2-3 boozy cherries
Dry sparkling wine

Place the sorbetto and boozy cherries in a glass and carefully top up with the sparkling wine.

I hope all my readers have a very merry Christmas, in whatever form they celebrate it.

Sausage, roast squash and chestnut salad for IHCC potluck

The picture ain't pretty, but this warm salad from Diana Henry was a very tasty dish! I didn't have any leftover roast pork, so I used extra sausages. And I simplified the method a little bit, starting the squash off in the oven, and then adding the apples, chestnuts and sausages, roasting it all together before tossing it through the leaves and dressing.

It's definitely one to keep in mind if you have leftover pork after Christmas! And a perfect potluck dish for this week's IHCC.

A brace of Christmas cocktails

"Except at times of special revelry, I am exceedingly moderate in my potations. A brace of cocktails, a glass of wine at dinner and possibly a liqueur with the coffee – that is Bertram Wooster." 

- P.G Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters.

I've finalised the Christmas feasting menu. I think. Mostly. Anyway, we are again going to have snacky canapes and drinks on one day, and a big roast on another day, so that we can eat lots of festive food without  stuffing ourselves like foie gras geese.

As well as the food menu (which I am quite proud of and will be posting about next week), I've been working on developing a couple of Christmassy drinks - after all, Christmas is a time of special revelry, so making a bit of effort with the brace of cocktails is called for.

Coconut rum punch (serves 2)

This is a lighter, spicier version of the Brazilian batida de coco cocktail - creamy, but not as heavy as eggnog. It's quite sweet, so might be best as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, or instead of dessert.

50ml coconut rum
50ml spiced rum
125ml coconut water
75ml condensed milk

Shaken on ice, garnished with nutmeg or cinnamon.

Duffel Coat (serves 2)

It's warmingly alcoholic and flavoured with Paddington's favourite. Even the Campari naysayers will be seduced, because it just adds a little interesting bitterness to cut through the sweetness and makes it a very pretty colour.

50ml Campari
50ml The Kings Ginger
75ml Marmalade vodka

Shaken on ice, topped up with Fever Tree Naturally Lighter ginger beer

Duck hash

I read this post of Danny's, on the duck hash he'd had at Clerkenwell Kitchen, and it struck me as an astonishingly good idea.

I think, in its most perfect form, it would have consisted mostly of leftovers. And indeed, I am hoping to have some leftover goose after Christmas to make it again. But for this one, I roasted a couple of duck breasts.

Then the rest was quick and easy. I sauteed onion and garlic in the fat that had rendered out of the duck breasts while they roasted. I added shredded spring greens, the chopped duck, and some par-boiled potatoes. I seasoned with shreds of spiced pickled oranges, and a good splash of Worcestershire sauce, and a lot of black pepper. I pressed down on it with a spatula to encourage it to meld together and form a bit of a crust on the bottom. And then, because this sort of dish is always better with an egg, I topped each portion with a fried egg and some sliced spring onions.