Festive Feasting

Fond foodie memories are held of the meals we ate this Christmas Day; photos are above and descriptions below:

Breakfast was scrambled egg and smoked salmon (seasoned with punchy black peppercorns and pungeant juniper berries) on toasted soda bread; having wholemeal meant that our first meal was easily digested during the morning in preparation for...

Lunch, where we swayed slightly from the traditional by serving roasted duck (which in my opinion has the crispiest and most delicious skin of all birds) along with a platter of curly Cumberland sausages and stuffed chicken thighs wrapped in crispy dry-cured bacon. Golden roasties, a colourful array of vegetables and flavoursome home-made condiments completed the spread. We served two desserts: an apple and mincemeat tart filled generously with sweet, spicy fruit as well as a rich chocolate log (thoroughly cracked and dusted with seasonal sugar-snow), after which...

Well, we all just about collapsed from cooking/eating such a lot, curing post-break peckishness by picking from whatever was in reaching distance (i.e. the annual Celebrations box). Altogether a culinary triumph; I hope that you, too, enjoyed your Christmas meal and, what's more, reap the benefits of all the leftovers for the next few days!

An Unopened Present

A very Merry Christmas to all the readers of my blog! Of course, I'll soon post pictures of the food we've eaten today, but first I'd like to share a Christmas message that I received this morning...

So, have you opened all of your Christmas presents already? Whether or not it's bare under the tree, there may be a Christmas present that remains unopened. The Lord God offers each one of us the most precious Christmas gift of new life in His Son, Jesus (you know, the guy whose birthday it is today), and it's certainly not one to be left in paper and ribbon. This Christmas time, contemplate what is being offered to you by the birth of Jesus, and don't leave the greatest gift of all unopened!

Enjoy the festivities, everyone.

Christmas day came early for us this lunchtime, as we sat down to enjoy this year's festive family meal (on the 25th we will be one member short). We ate roasted duck confit (whose meat had been cooked slowly in duck fat beforehand, thus giving it a richer flavour and wonderful tenderness). The fat from the confit was used again, this time in cooking rustic little roast potatoes (smaller chunks= larger total surface area= more crispy bits), and alongside these we served up sweet and tangy stewed red cabbage, brussel spouts and bread sauce.

I didn't have bags of time to make dessert, but it's amazing what you can come up with in under ten minutes using an egg, caster sugar, dark rum, Bourbon brandy, a jug of cream and the culinary instructions of Nigella Lawson. Tiny coffee-cupfuls of eggnog syllabub made a delightful end to the meal, giving us something sweet to finish off with no more strain on the stomach.

Now normally, I am all about the food, yet it must be shared that the real treat of today was the magic of gushing snowfall outside. It certainly gave the meal a special, festive touch...that, and having the whole family together for one of the last times this year.

The countdown to Christmas continues and there will be further festive foodie fun to be had this coming week...so who's game?!

Christmas Lunch Prep.

This duck confit, above, is the starting point of our family Christmas lunch, being eaten today as this is the only weekend that we shall all be together. Roasted limbs half-buried in fat sounds (and looks) a little gruesome, but this is a method of preserving which will give the meat a wonderful buttery taste and unbeatable tenderness.

This will also be the first meal cooked by our new oven, which arrived yesterday. After 25 years of faithful service by our old Cannon cooker, we've upgraded to a shiny black (still gas-run, 'cause it's the best way) Hotpoint. So far, it's taken Mum fifteen minutes to work out how to power up the hob and, having used only four front knobs and no digital timer with the Cannon, I think we're all a little bit daunted by its technology. Nevertheless, we hope to come up with a nice festive meal in the next few hours, of which I'll post some pictures once it's made.

Suet-crust Pie and Christmas Cakes

Sunday lunch this week was a proper hearty lamb pie. Hearty because it was packed full of slow-cooked meat, root vegetables, potatoes and pearl barley (if you haven't yet caught the buzz of this medieval grain, you're missing out). To top it all off (quite literally), a suet-pastry crust that was just the right balance of crispy and crumbly; so good, we now want to suet-crust everything we eat- suet-crusted pasties, suet-crusted apples, suet-crusted turkey on Christmas day...(joke).

Speaking of Christmas- excitement, excitement- festive food preparation has kicked off in our kitchen, involving lots of lovely ingredients that come together to create those unmistakable December smells. Already this week I've come home to a batch of stewed red cabbage, fragrant with apples, raisins and mixed spice; this will be stored away in the freezer to be reheated for Christmas dinner (if not before). Today, a bowl stood on the kitchen-top filled with the magical mixture of dried fruit, orange zest and spices all steeped in rum...I'm afraid I couldn't resist a healthy spoonful straight away! What was left has since been made into mother-and-child-esque Christmas cakes (above right), which shall be wrapped up and fed regularly with further rum, ready to be served in fat slices alongside hot cups of tea.

Ah, the Christmas spirit is upon me, and I won't resist it any longer!