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Christmas Recipes 2008
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Champagne Soup
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Ingredients:
- 1 bottle of Champagne
- 200 g of fresh raspberries
- 1 glass of Cointreau
- 1 glass of syrup of cane sugar
Preparation:
The day before, mix the raspberries, the glass of Cointreau and the glass of sugar syrup in a salad bowl.
Leave overnight.
Put the bottle of Champagne in the fridge.
Pour it on the mix just before serving and enjoy when it is cold.
Ingredients for 6 people
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 duck magret (300 g)
- 1 piece of fresh foie gras (200 g)
- 1 oak leaves
- 2 carrots
- 4 tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 leek – white part
- 2 chicories
- Salt, pepper, Jerez vinegar and olive oil
Wash and prepare the oak leaves.
Slice and cut the vegetables in julienne or small cubes.
Prepare the magret by gashing a cross on the skin side.
Cook the magret in a frying pan on a high fire. Start cooking the fat side for 4-5 minutes, then turn the magret over and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes; removing the additional fat if required.
The cooking time depends on the tickness of the magret and your own taste.
Slice the magret in small slices and keep it warm.
Cut the foie gras in 4 fillets of identical size.
Heat another frying pan on a medium fire.
Cook the fillets of foie gras one side after the other for 1 minute on each side.
Remove them from the pan and keep the cooking fat.
Place the fillets of foie gras and the slices of magret on plates.
Add 1 or 2 table spoons of olive oil to the cooking fat of the foie gras and 1 or 2 tea spoons of Jerez vinegar.
Season and pour the dressing on the plates.
Ingredients (for 10 people):
- 1 capon of 3 to 4 kg with its liver
- 1 big truffle
- 200 g of foie gras
- 1 table spoon of Cognac
- 1 dl of Madeira wine
- 420 g of butter
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion
- 1 small bouquet garni
- ½ l of chicken stock
- Salt, pepper
For the garnish:
- 8 half apples, fried in butter and stuffed with chestnut mash
- Bluberry jam, slightly sweet, served in a grapefruit skin
- 12 radishes cut in the shape of flowers
- Some mushrooms
- Parsley
Preparation:
Prepare the capon and put thin slices of truffle between its flesh and skin.
Cook the capon liver with 20 g of butter in a frying pan.
Then mix the liver in a food processor with the foie gras, the truffle pieces, the Cognac, some Madeira wine, salt and pepper.
Stuff the capon with this stuffing, attach and season it.
Melt 200 g of butter in a large cast iron casserole.
When it gets dark, place the poultry in this hot butter.
Turn the capon several times in order for all sides to get brown.
Then put the casserole, with its lid, in an oven at 220°C for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
From time to time sprinkle the capon with its cooking juice.
At the end of the cooking time, add the carrots and the onion thinly sliced to the casserole, along with the small bouquet garni.
Cover and continue cooking in the oven for another 20 minutes.
Place the capon on a serving dish.
Add the garnish and keep warm in front of the oven.
Pour the chicken stock and the rest of the Madeira wine in the casserole.
Cook for 5 minutes with the vegetables and then drain all of it in a strainer.
Incorporate the rest of the butter to the sauce with a whisk.
Taste and amend the seasoning.
Pour in a saucer.
Cooking Time: ca. 2 hours
Ingredients (for 10 people):
- 1 turkey
- Chestnuts
- 350 g of bread crumb
- 1 glass of milk
- 1 jar of truffles
- 2 eggs
- Salt, pepper, four spice
- 200 g of shallots
- White wine
- Butter
Put the bread crumb in the milk.
Knead and add the juice of the truffle jar, the truffle or pieces of it, the eggs, salt, pepper and a pinch of 4 spice.
Leave it to swell and add the chopped shallots, previously browned with butter.
Stuff the turkey with this mix, attach it and coat it with butter.
Start cooking (for 2 hours) on a low fire, and when the butter has melted and start getting brown, add the white wine and a little bit of water.
Often baste the turkey during cooking.
Peel the chestnuts and cook them in salted boiling water, but remove them before they are fully cooked.
Drain them and add them to the turkey to finish the cooking.
Serve the turkey along with the chestnuts and pour the sauce in a saucer.
Chocolate Mousse with Marrons Glacés
Ingredients:
- 1 l of milk
- 250 g of sugar
- 8 egg yolks
- 250 g of chocolate with at least 60% of cocoa
- 150 g of marrons glacés – glazed chetnuts (ca. 8 chetnuts)
- 50 g of maïzena or flour
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- 1 table spoon of grilled almonds
- 3 tea spoons of chestnut powder
Preparation:
Mix the egg yolks with the maïzena (or flour) and a little bit of milk in a salad bowl, in order to get a homogeneous and smooth mix.
Heat the rest of the milk with sugar and the cinnamon in a sauce pan.
When this mix start to boil, remove from the fire and pour on the egg yolk mix. Beat with a whisk and pour all of it in the sauce pan. Cook on a low fire stirring continuously with a spoon until the cream coats the spoon.
In the meantime, melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. Add it to the cream at the end of the cooking time. Mix. Crush the dried fruits and the marrons glacés coarsely. Add them to the mousse. Pour this mix into individual cups and place them in the fridge.
Take the cups out of the fridge about 10 minutes before enjoying the mousse. You can, if you wish, decorate each cup with a whole marron glacé.
Pumpkin
& Chestnut soup
Ingredients
- 1 Delica pumpkin or butternut squash – peeled and diced
- 1 Yellow onion – finely chopped
- 250gr Chestnuts – roasted and peeled
- 1 Fresh chilli (dried chilies or hot paprika work well)
- 1/3 Bottle of white wine
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper
Method
In a large casserole or pot heat a few tablespoons
of olive oil, when the oil is hot add a few pinches each of
cumin and cinnamon and the chili; stir and add the chopped
onions, a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper.
Cook gently for a few minutes until the onion is translucent,
and then add the diced pumpkin. Cook for a good ten minutes,
the pumpkin will slowly begin to break down around the edges.
Now add the white wine and cook for a few minutes making sure
to scrape the bottom of the casserole with a wooden spoon.
Add a few cups of water and cook, uncovered for twenty to
thirty minutes, until the pumpkin is cooked through. Now add
the roasted and peeled chestnuts and using a hand blender
puree.
Taste and correct for seasoning, add water to get the soup
to the desired consistency. It should be thick but not too
much. To serve, place in a bowl and add a dollop of crème
fraiche in the centre plus some chopped chives on top.
LENTIL AND BLACK CABBAGE SOUP
Ingredients
- 500gr dry lentils
- 500gr black cabbage
- 1 large onion
- 2 carrots
- 1 celery stalk
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 1 small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
- Chicken stock to cover
- 1 thick slice of pancetta, chopped
- 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 20gr butter, unsalted
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Rinse the lentils in cold running water. Finely chop onion, carrots and celery and sauté with the thyme and the pancetta until the onion is soft, about 5 min. Add the garlic, cook for another couple of minutes. Add lentils, bay leaves. Cover with stock and bring to a boil. Simmer the soup for about 20 minutes; add the coarsely chopped black cabbage and cook on low fire for another 15-20 minutes, or until the lentils are ready. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil, and some good bread.
Roast Red Mullet & Clementines
Ingredients
- 2 Red Mullet– or 4 fillets
- Olive oil
- 250g Clementines
- 1 Shallot
- 30cl White wine
- 15cl Fish Stock
- 60gr Butter - unsalted
- salt and pepper
Method
Finely dice the shallot. Add 20gr of butter to a sauce pan and on medium to low heat sauté the shallots for 6 to 8 minutes; make sure they turn translucent avoiding any coloration. Now add the Clementine juice, fish stock and white wine. Cook on a low simmer until reduced to 1/3; strain through a fine sieve to remove the shallots and place back into a clean pan.
Slice the fennel across through the root in order to get thin slices which are attached at the root end. In a hot pan add 20gr of butter and sauté the fennel until just golden around the edges, turn and repeat.
Season the red mullet fillets with a little bit of olive oil, place in an oven tray and cook under the broiler for two, maximum three minutes. If using the oven, heat to 200º C. The skin should crisp, and the fish should be barely cooked through. While the red mullet is in the oven, heat the sauce and gradually incorporate the remaining butter on high heat.
To serve, place the fennel on the plate, add the red mullet, sprinkle some sea salt and freshly ground pepper and dress with some of the sauce.