Many of you have been asking for ideas for Christmas meals so we’ve put together a couple of menus to help you with your planning.
Most of the elements of our menus can either be prepared the day before, or even a few days before or quickly thrown together on Christmas Day. We think our menus resist the usual.
Here’s our first Christmas Menu. We’ll post the second on Monday.
Entrée:
Chilled Smoked Salmon Lasagne
Main Course:
Marinated Duck Breasts with Pickled Rhubarb, Fennel and Orange Salad and Ginger Rice Noodle Rolls.
Dessert:
Coffee Ice Cream and Mascarpone Sorbet Cake with Muscatels in Vanilla and Muscat Syrup
Extras:
Christmas Mince tarts and Christmas Cake (gluten-free of course).
The smoked salmon lasagne, served chilled, is a favourite oldie but a goodie recipe from Steve Manfreddi which we have adapted by using gluten-free lasagne sheets for the coeliacs amongst us but it works equally as well with wheat pasta. The tomato sauces and parsley and garlic salsa can be made two days ahead and the whole lasagne compiled and refrigerated the day before.
The duck breasts are very quick and easy to prepare. All the components for the salad can be prepared the day before and tossed together at the last minute and the rice noodle rolls sautéed while the duck is resting.
The ice cream cake can be prepared up to a week beforehand as can the muscatels to garnish. Un-mould the cake before your guests arrive and return it to the freezer ready to whip out and top with the muscatels before serving.
Just in case anyone's still hungry, our Christmas Mince Tarts and Christmas cake can be prepared well ahead. These two recipes are in earlier blogs.
Rosie
CHILLED SMOKED SALMON LASAGNE
Serves 8
Tomato and Olive Oil Salsa
2 kg ripe tomatoes, peeled then pureed in a blender
125 ml extra virgin olive oil
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pass the tomatoes through a mouli into a saucepan. Bring almost to the boil and remove from the heat. Whisk in the olive oil a little at a time until all is incorporated. Allow to cool. Refrigerate until ready to use
Tomato Sauce
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
80 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 kg ripe tomatoes, roughly pureed
¼ bunch fresh basil leaves, chopped
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Saute the onion, carrot, celery and garlic in the olive oil until softened. Add the pureed tomatoes and basil and simmer until the liquid has evaporated and you have a thick unctuous sauce. Season to taste.
Parsley and Garlic Salsa
1 large bunch flat leaf parsley
3 loves garlic, minced
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Place the parsley and garlic into food processor. Process while drizzling the olive oil in until you have a textured but runny salsa. Season to taste.
To Assemble
Extra virgin olive oil
6 sheets cooked, gluten-free pasta (we use Casalare brand) cut exactly to the size of the base of terrine mould
500 gm smoked salmon
100 gm wild rocket
Line a flat sided terrine mould, 26cm x 8.5cm x 7.5cm deep (or similar) with baking paper. Brush the base with olive oil. Place a sheet of pasta on the bottom. Spoon some parsley and garlic salsa over the pasta sheet, spreading it evenly with the back of a spoon. Place one third of the smoked salmon evenly over the parsley and garlic salsa so that it is covered completely. Place a sheet of pasta over the smoked salmon and generously spoon the tomato sauce over. Cover this with half the rocket leaves.
Repeat this sequence of layers until you have used up all the pasta sheets. There should be two layers of the greens and three layers of the smoked salmon. Place the last pasta sheet on top and oil the top. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
To serve, turn the lasagne out onto a flat tray or board and slice. Spoon some Tomato and Olive Oil Salsa onto each plate and place a slice of the lasagne in the centre. Serve.
STAR ANISE DUCK BREASTS WITH PICKLED RHUBARB, FENNEL AND ORANGE SALAD
Serves 8
Duck
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
4 star anise
1.5 teaspoons salt flakes
50 gm fresh ginger
8 duck breasts, around 200g each
Grind peppercorns, fennel seeds and star anise in a spice grinder. Add the salt. Peel and finely grate the ginger, squeeze over a small bowl to remove all the juice. Reserve the juice and discard the pulp.
Trim the duck breasts as needed and slash the skin at 1/2 cm intervals being careful not to cut the flesh. Rub the ginger juice over each breast followed by the ground spices and salt mix. Allow to marinate 4-6 hours or overnight.
When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180°. Line one or two baking trays with baking paper.
Heat two large frying pans over medium heat and fry duck breasts, skin side down until golden brown. Transfer, skin side up, to prepared baking trays. Reserve 3-4 tablespoons duck fat in which to saute the rice noodle rolls. Bake duck for 8-10 minutes or until it is rosy pink in the centre. Allow to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, arrange some salad on each of 10 plates. Slice the duck breasts on the diagonal and arrange on top of the salad.
Candied Orange Garnish for Duck (optional)
4 Oranges, washed, dried
225 gm caster sugar
125 mls water
Zest oranges keeping strips as long as possible. Dissolve 1/2 the caster sugar in the water over a low heat then simmer for 2 minutes. Add the orange zest and simmer for around 10 minutes until the sugar syrup has become thick and syrupy and the zest is becoming translucent. Have the remaining sugar on a piece of baking paper on a flat surface. Strain the orange zest discarding the syrup. With gloved hands, very quickly and gently toss the hot orange zest through the sugar to coat and separate each strip. When cold gently sift away any excess sugar. Store the candied orange in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Salad
3 oranges
2 heads fennel
2 bunches flat leaf parsley, leaves only
2 cups pickled rhubarb (see below)
2 heads witlof, leaves separated
Extra virgin olive oil
Good quality Red wine vinegar
Salt flakes to taste
Peel oranges, removing all the pith as you go. Segment the oranges, cutting in between each membrane so you have completely ‘nude’ segments.
Trim the fennel and just before serving shave finely on a mandoline. Combine all ingredients and gently toss with olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt to taste.
Pickled Rhubarb
2 golden shallots, finely sliced
1 bunch rhubarb, cut into julienne then into 1cm lengths
50 gm fresh ginger, in fine julienne
300 mls Japanese rice vinegar
200 gm caster sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
Toss shallots, rhubarb and ginger together in a heat proof bowl. Place the vinegar, caster sugar and salt in a small saucepan, allow the sugar to dissolve over a low heat then bring to a simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes the immediately pour over the rhubarb mix. Strain the liquid back into the saucepan and bring to the boil again. Pour over the rhubarb mix and allow to stand, tossing from time to time until cold. Transfer to a non corrosive container and allow to stand for 4-6 hours unrefrigerated. Store in the fridge.
SAUTEED FRESH RICE NOODLES WITH GINGER AND SHALLOTS
Serves 8
750 gm fresh rice noodle rolls
3 tablespoons reserved duck fat
½ bunch green onions, finely sliced
40 gm fresh ginger, in fine julienne
1 tablespoon shoyu (or gluten-free soy sauce)
Cut the fresh rice noodle rolls in half widthways. Heat the oil in a frying pan large enough to hold the rice noodle rolls without over crowding. If you don’t have one pan large enough, use two.
Over a medium/high heat add the green onions and ginger and saute half a minute. Add the shoyu then the rice noodle rolls and toss to coat. Cook until coloured and heated through. Serve immediately.
COFFEE ICE CREAM AND MASCARPONE SORBET CAKE WITH MUSCATELS IN VANILLA AND MUSCAT SYRUP
Serves 8-10
Start this layered cake a few days or up to a week before required.
Prepare an 18cm diameter x 8cm deep round cake tin: Take an 18cm x 44cm piece of baking paper and fold it over lengthwise 3 times to make a 6cm x 44cm strip. Place this across the base and up the sides of the tin so that the ends extend well beyond the rim of the tin. This will help with removing the frozen cake when required. Next, line the base of the tin, over the folded strip, with a double round of baking paper.
Mascarpone Sorbet
225 gm sugar
180 ml water
30 gm liquid glucose
400 gm mascarpone
A few drops of vanilla essence
A squeeze of lime juice
Make some syrup by stirring the sugar, water and glucose together over a medium heat until well blended. Bring to the boil for 1 minute. Strain and chill. Whisk the mascarpone, vanilla, juice and 240ml of the syrup together and churn in an ice cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Spread the sorbet into the base of the container. Cover and freeze.
Coffee Ice Cream
625 ml cream
125 ml milk
165 gm sugar
4 egg yolks (Keep the whites for the walnut base.)
100 ml fresh espresso or decaffeinated espresso (Add up to 50ml more coffee for a stronger flavour.)
Heat the cream, milk and sugar in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Place the yolks in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the warm cream mix over the yolks, whisking to combine. Pour the combined yolks and cream mix into a clean saucepan. Continue to stir over a medium heat until the cream thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the coffee. Strain and chill. Churn in an ice cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Spoon the ice cream onto the frozen mascarpone sorbet layer and smooth the surface. Cover and return the container to the freezer.
Walnut Orange Base
210 gm fine walnut meal
110 gm caster sugar
1/2 orange, zest only
Pinch of cream of tartar
4 egg whites
Heat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a Swiss roll cake pan approximately 35cm x 25cm.Mix walnuts, sugar and zest in a large bowl. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff.Fold the walnut mix into the egg whites.Spread the mix evenly into the pan and bake for 20 minutes.Cool and then cut a shape from the baked base to closely fit the shape of the top of the coffee ice cream layer. Press it onto the ice cream, cover and return to the freezer.
Muscatels in Vanilla and Muscat Syrup
250 gm brown sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or a split vanilla bean
1/2 cup muscat (Save the rest of the bottle to serve with the dessert.)
400 gm muscatels still on the vine
Bring the sugar, water, vanilla and Muscat to the boil. Add the muscatels, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Cool, then refrigerate for up to a week.
To Serve:
In preparation for serving, place a presentation platter and the serving plates in the fridge to chill them.
Take the tin out of the freezer. Remove the top layer of paper. Carefully run a thin palette knife around the wall of the cake. Invert the tin onto the chilled presentation platter, leaving it for a few minutes to allow gravity to work a bit and then gently pull the paper ends outwards, effectively pulling the tin up and off the cake. Smooth the wall of the cake if required.
Just before presenting the cake to the table, take the muscatels out of the syrup and arrange the cluster on top of the cake. Pour some of the remaining syrup over the cake.
Serve the portions with some of the muscatels cut from the cluster and some syrup.