December dishes
IN EAST Anglia where I live we get the most beautiful sunsets, especially on those clear, bitterly cold evenings when the sun goes down, almost as if it's in flames, lighting up the sky and casting red and deep pink colours onto cottage walls and windows.
Shops are beginning to look festive and Christmassy, our main High Street is lit up with coloured lights, and at night the village looks like a picture from a Christmas fairytale book, with lights shining into the December darkness.
And it's that time again! Time to forget the diet, hang up the trimmings and get stuck into some really festive cooking. You'll never have a better excuse.
Planning and preparation now starts in earnest, but we still have to eat before the Christmas Day feast begins, so soup is high on my list, and I've included a colourful aromatic one this month, ideal for wintertime.
As a change from the perennial cold turkey at Christmas time, I've included a recipe for spiced beef, and one for tasty sausage rolls, always popular to serve to family and guests at Christmas time. For those who prefer a light course after the main turkey meal, we have an Apple Jelly Mould, and Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a special trifle tucked away in the fridge.
CARROT AND GINGER SOUP
The fresh ginger, curry and carrots make a really aromatic and colourful soup to serve in the wintertime.
Serves 6.
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons vegetable oil. 4 garlic cloves, crushed. 200ml dry white wine. 2 tablespoons lemon juice. 1 large onion, peeled and chopped. 1 litres chicken stock cube. 700g carrots, peeled and chopped. Pinch of curry powder. 25g finely chopped fresh ginger root, salt & pepper to taste.
Method: Melt the oil in a large saucepan over a gentle heat. Add onion, garlic and ginger and fry lightly for about 20 minutes, but do not brown onion. Add stock, wine and carrots and heat to boiling point. Then reduce heat and simmer, covered until carrots are cooked, takes about 35 minutes. Put into blender or food processor and pure. Add salt and pepper, lemon juice and curry powder. Serve piping hot with wedges or wholemeal bread.
SPICED BEEF
Spiced beef is a useful change to have at Christmas, ready to cut out for sandwiches or eat with a salad or a main meal with saut potatoes – delicious!
Serves approximately 8-10.
Ingredients: 1.8kg (4lb) brisket of beef, rolled and secured with meat skewers (your butcher will do this for you). 4 tablespoons salt. 4 tablespoons pickling spice, including a piece of stem ginger, tied up in muslin.
Method: Put the beef joint into a large saucepan, add the salt, and then the spice and ginger in muslin. Cover with cold water then bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 3-4 hours. Remove from hotplate and let the joint remain in the liquid until it's quite cold. It's then ready to serve.
TASTY SAUSAGE ROLLS
I make these sausage rolls with short trust pastry instead of flaky, and find they taste just as good and are very popular at Christmas time to hand round to guests.
Makes about 24.
Ingredients: 225g self-raising flour. 150g margarine and lard mixed. 1 tablespoon water. Filling: 450g sausage meat. 2 teaspoons finely chopped onion. A little marmite stock.
Method: Make short crust pastry and roll out to about 20.5cm x 25.5cm (8 inches x 10") and cut into two pieces. Mix sausage meat with chopped onion and moisten with stock. Make two long sausages of meat mixture and place each roll on right-hand side of each piece of pastry. Fold over left-hand side and press damp edges together. Cut into required sausage roll size to make approximately 24, beginning in the middle, score diagonally. Place on an ungreased baking tray, brush with milk or beaten egg and bake in preheated oven 200C, 400F, Gas Mark 6 for 25-30 minutes.
APPLE JELLY MOULD
A light fruity dessert, which looks attractive when set out on a buffet table for a supper party over the festive season.
Serves 4.
Ingredients: 1 packet lemon jelly. Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon. 2 eating apples, coarsely grated. Glac cherries. 300ml water, 150 double cream, whipped. Whipped cream to decorate.
Method: Dissolve the jelly in water, add lemon juice and grated rind. Be sure to set a little jelly in the bottom of a mould. Stir the lightly whipped cream into the remaining jelly when it has reached the thick and syrupy stage. Now add the grated apple and pour into a mould when the first layer of jelly has set. Turn out when set firm and decorate with whipped cream and glace cherries.
MY CHRISTMAS TRIFLE
It's traditional to make a trifle at Christmas time, and I usually have one ready in my fridge for family or guests and, even after Christmas lunch, almost everyone can manage to eat a helping for tea – but do make the real custard.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients: 175g sponge cake (or 6 trifle sponges). 3 level tablespoons raspberry jam. 4 tablespoons sherry (or fruit juice) 1 x 200g tin of raspberries. For the custard: 3 egg yolks. 3 level tablespoons caster sugar. 2 level tablespoons plain flour. 425ml milk. 300ml whipping cream. 6 ratafia biscuits. 3 glac cherries, halved. 1 piece angelica, cut into 6 diamond shapes.
Method: Cut sponge or sponges in half and sandwich together with raspberry jam, then place at the base of a dish. Sprinkle over the sherry or fruit juice, and spoon over the raspberries and their juice. To make custard: Heat the egg yolks, sugar and flour together, adding a little cold milk to moisten. Meanwhile, heat the remaining milk until boiling, and then pour it over the mixture, stirring constantly. Pour the custard back into the pan and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Boil for one minute to cook the flour, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, and then pour it over the raspberries. Leave in a cool place to set, Whip up the cream until it holds its shape and spread it over the trifle. Decorate with the ratafia biscuits, cherries and angelica.
Note: All these recipes came from my third cookbook 'Step Into My Kitchen Through The Year'.
A quick run-down on what's in season in December.
Meat: Duck, Goose, Grouse, Partridge, Pheasant, Venison and Turkey.
Fruit: Apples, Chestnuts, Clementines. Cranberries, Oranges, Pears, Pomegranate and Quince.
Fish: Brill, Crab, Herring, Mackerel, Monkfish, Mussels, Oysters, Plaice, Scallops and Turbot.
Vegetables: Beetroot, Brussels sprouts, Celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, leeks, Parsnips, Potatoes main crop, Spinach, Swede, Turnips and Watercress.
Wishing all readers who log onto the SFP website, a very happy and peaceful Christmas. Evelyn Curtis.
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Weather for Sudbury
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 13 C to 25 C
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Wind direction: North east
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