Blogmas 11; What is on the menu?
Chez Angel Jem this Yuletide we will be eating;
Christmas breakfast
Stollen (homemade) using either St Delia's recipe or last year's heart throb, Paul Hollywood's recipe.
The rest of the cookies that Santa didn't eat.
Salmon, cream cheese and Sandwich thins.
Mulled wine cupcakes. I saw the recipe in a random Christmas magazine and I will give it a go!
Fruit and Fibre. Because if The Princess decides to make ANYTHING on Christmas Eve, I won't get near the oven long enough to make a blind thing.
The Main Event
No starters... there is already too much food going on!
Turkey cooked a la Delia. She hasn't led me wrong in 21 years of marriage, so I'm not changing the system! Of course, I don't like everything she does, so I'll tweak the recipe and be daring by using smoked streaky bacon instead of plain cured.
Braised red cabbage. I'm putting this on to cook now. Two weeks is just about long enough to soften it up!
Brussels sprouts. I put these on last week. As long as I keep topping up the water they should do quite nicely, thank you until needed. This is advanced preparation at its finest!
Roast potatoes. By which I mean mostly boiled and frantically covered in goose fat that cost more to buy than my best face cream (Aldi; £1.79 a pot, whereas the goose fat is £2.50 from Sainsbury's)and left in the oven that is fighting to get enough gas as everybody else cooks their dinner so that the spuds will be as anaemic as a British computer nerd.
Roast maple parsnips. Mr AJ likes parsnips. I like maple flavour.
Carrots and peas. How can they be more interesting?
Broccoli
Pigs in blankets. Sausages in more bacon. I could miss out the turkey and as long as there were enough of these nobody would complain. I would, the day after Christmas when I need the ready cooked meat to make all the leftover favourites like Turkey and Ham pie or Turkey curry....
Stuffing (from a packet)
Cranberry sauce (from a jar)
Bread sauce (from a packet)
I watched Jamie Oliver's Christmas with bells on, I devoured Nigella's Christmas Kitchen, I indulged in a copy of Delia's classic kitchen and Nigel smoothly undulating his vowels over a pristine duck and then thought "Sod it. Life is really too short to stick cloves in an onion and wait for my bread to stale so I'll get Mr Cross and Blackwell to help out." Genius, really.
Desserts
I will be making a Christmas Pudding Ice Cream bombe (recipe undecided!) because although Mr AJ likes the fruit from a Christmas pudding he finds the whole thing altogether too rich after a big turkey meal. With a thin coating of cream it will be delicious! And if I can get the vodka to flame over it, it will last as long as a tin of Celebrations usually does in our house.
Sliced and fried Aldi's best Christmas Pudding with brandy butter and cream. We have no microwave and I'll be damned if I have hours to spare (or a spare gas ring) to let a pudding merrily steam away on the hob.
Plenty of grapes, satsumas, apples or even a Kiwi. I like fruit at the end of a meal.
A slice of whatever Christmas cake The Princess will make. This will probably be made just before I have planned to put the turkey in to roast, completely inappropriately heating the oven and leaving a fine dusting of caster sugar over the kitchen such that the turkey comes out with a sweet glaze and I shall feel compelled to sprinkle it with Jack Daniels and claim it was always meant to be.
And after all that... I shall sit quietly in a corner with a snowball or a glass of prosecco or an amaretto and coke, sleep a little and perhaps, just perhaps, eat my dark chocolate gingers. I have to have some to remind me of my Nan. If you can't honour those no longer with us at Christmas, then when can you?
Christmas breakfast
Stollen (homemade) using either St Delia's recipe or last year's heart throb, Paul Hollywood's recipe.
The rest of the cookies that Santa didn't eat.
Salmon, cream cheese and Sandwich thins.
Mulled wine cupcakes. I saw the recipe in a random Christmas magazine and I will give it a go!
Fruit and Fibre. Because if The Princess decides to make ANYTHING on Christmas Eve, I won't get near the oven long enough to make a blind thing.
The Main Event
No starters... there is already too much food going on!
Turkey cooked a la Delia. She hasn't led me wrong in 21 years of marriage, so I'm not changing the system! Of course, I don't like everything she does, so I'll tweak the recipe and be daring by using smoked streaky bacon instead of plain cured.
Braised red cabbage. I'm putting this on to cook now. Two weeks is just about long enough to soften it up!
Brussels sprouts. I put these on last week. As long as I keep topping up the water they should do quite nicely, thank you until needed. This is advanced preparation at its finest!
Roast potatoes. By which I mean mostly boiled and frantically covered in goose fat that cost more to buy than my best face cream (Aldi; £1.79 a pot, whereas the goose fat is £2.50 from Sainsbury's)and left in the oven that is fighting to get enough gas as everybody else cooks their dinner so that the spuds will be as anaemic as a British computer nerd.
Roast maple parsnips. Mr AJ likes parsnips. I like maple flavour.
Carrots and peas. How can they be more interesting?
Broccoli
Pigs in blankets. Sausages in more bacon. I could miss out the turkey and as long as there were enough of these nobody would complain. I would, the day after Christmas when I need the ready cooked meat to make all the leftover favourites like Turkey and Ham pie or Turkey curry....
Stuffing (from a packet)
Cranberry sauce (from a jar)
Bread sauce (from a packet)
I watched Jamie Oliver's Christmas with bells on, I devoured Nigella's Christmas Kitchen, I indulged in a copy of Delia's classic kitchen and Nigel smoothly undulating his vowels over a pristine duck and then thought "Sod it. Life is really too short to stick cloves in an onion and wait for my bread to stale so I'll get Mr Cross and Blackwell to help out." Genius, really.
Desserts
I will be making a Christmas Pudding Ice Cream bombe (recipe undecided!) because although Mr AJ likes the fruit from a Christmas pudding he finds the whole thing altogether too rich after a big turkey meal. With a thin coating of cream it will be delicious! And if I can get the vodka to flame over it, it will last as long as a tin of Celebrations usually does in our house.
Sliced and fried Aldi's best Christmas Pudding with brandy butter and cream. We have no microwave and I'll be damned if I have hours to spare (or a spare gas ring) to let a pudding merrily steam away on the hob.
Plenty of grapes, satsumas, apples or even a Kiwi. I like fruit at the end of a meal.
A slice of whatever Christmas cake The Princess will make. This will probably be made just before I have planned to put the turkey in to roast, completely inappropriately heating the oven and leaving a fine dusting of caster sugar over the kitchen such that the turkey comes out with a sweet glaze and I shall feel compelled to sprinkle it with Jack Daniels and claim it was always meant to be.
And after all that... I shall sit quietly in a corner with a snowball or a glass of prosecco or an amaretto and coke, sleep a little and perhaps, just perhaps, eat my dark chocolate gingers. I have to have some to remind me of my Nan. If you can't honour those no longer with us at Christmas, then when can you?
Brilliant!!!! It all sounds delicious and a wonderful attitude towards it all!!!!! xx
ReplyDeleteThank you. ~I learned long ago to release any desire for a perfect Christmas dinner; especially if I'm cooking!
DeleteWe're the other way round to you, we have starters but rarely a dessert. It will be prawn cocktail (my mum and dad's favourite) and pate (Mick's favourite) for starters followed by turkey, beef, pigs in blankets, sprouts, carrots, parsnips and another veg which I've yet to decide on, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing (pork and chestnut from the butchers, yum yum), cranberry sauce (from a jar) and Yorkshire puddings (it's very rare we'd ever have a roast dinner without Yorkshire puddings). No one ever has room for dessert and we don't like Christmas pudding, Christmas cake or mince pies, so there will be plenty of sweet things in the house but we'll get to them later in the day.
ReplyDeleteThat's proper Yorkshire to have Yorkshire puddings with every roast! I love it. Our sweet thing this year may well be Mary Berry's chocolate mousse cake from her latest show!
DeleteIt all sounds divine! Scrumptious tidings to you and yours :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love Christmas dinner!
DeleteOoohhhh I love Delia and Paul Hollywood. Everything sounds sooooooo good, loved the way you presented your menu :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. St Delia has been my guide since I married, and someone gave me a copy of her complete cookery course!
DeleteWow! Sounds like an amazing menu! And I love the private toasting loved ones moment. Sounds like it will be perfect end to great day.
ReplyDeleteAmen! I hope so. There's something special about a great feast with the ones we love (and the ones we put up with because our loved ones love them!)
DeleteAnd so many people have friends missing that they need to remember, one way or another. Food is a good way.
Your post made me laugh! You are so funny! (I was slightly disturbed, however, as I thought, for some reason, that you had a cleaver in your hand in the first photo!)...oh my....dark chocolate gingers......yum yum yum.....(they remind me of my Grandad...he loved them!)
ReplyDeleteI would be good with a cleaver, as well! Thank you for enjoying and commenting. I'm really loving this Blogmas! Why did I never do it before?
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