Our Christmas Dinner

Iceberg lettuce with  celeriac remoulade, dressed grated carrot and apple*, radish and tomato

 

Red cabbage with balsamic and apple*

Wild boar and venison goulash with chestnuts*, onions and carrots

Freshly made spätzle

Chestnut jam, chestnut jam glazed mousse topped with crumbled toasted walnuts* and a morceau of orange and almond cake

*all items marked with an asterisk were foraged (mostly from Baden-Baden, Germany)

Chestnut glazed mousse

Chestnut glazed mousse

Chestnut glazed mousse

Ingredients:
350ml crème fraîche
400ml fromage frais
2 tbsp caster sugar (use icing sugar if you prefer a finer mixture)
a vanilla pod


half a jar of homemade chestnut jam

Method:
Whisk together the crème fraîche, fromage frais, caster sugar, and the seeds from the vanilla pod until you have a smooth mixture.
Generously decant into several pots- small jam jars would look nice.

In a small saucepan, heat the jam over a medium heat. When it has melted, pour it over the creamy mixture. However if your chestnut jam is more of a purée, immediately pour over the creamy mixture.

Variations:
For extra lightness, whisk egg whites and add to the mix.
For a richer mixture, replace some of the crème fraîche and fromage frais for double cream.

Orange and Armagnac Scones

Orange and armagnac scones

Ideal as a Christmas Eve treat

Tasty!

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons of armagnac

10 tablespoons of raisins

the zest of two large Valencian oranges

235g plain flour

55g unsalted butter

35g muscovado sugar (caster is fine but muscovado gives a toffee-like flavour)

a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

milk (at least 120 ml)

a beaten egg

Method:

The night before you want* (*aim) to eat the scones, leave the raisins to soak in a cup of armagnac.

The following day, preheat a fan oven to 200°C and grease a baking sheet with a knob of salted butter.

In a reasonably sized bowl, rub together the flour and butter until you have a crumble like mixture.

Mix the sugar and the zest into the flour/butter.

Take the raisins out of the armagnac and gently pat dry- you don't want to squeeze out all of the juice, but you want to get rid of most of it.

Stir the raisins into the mixture, and once thoroughly combined, add the milk slowly.

Whilst you add the milk, continue mixing the scone dough. I use my hands, but its fine to use a spoon.

You want to achieve a soft dough and slightly sticky dough.

On a floured surface, gently tip out the scone mixture.

Roll the dough to an even thickness and use the cutters to press out shapes. Circle cutters are traditionally used, but for a minimalist scone I would suggest square cutters.

On your buttered tray, lay your scone shapes evenly spaced.

Brush your scones with the beaten egg, and bake in the oven for about 14 minutes- or until they have risen and the tops are golden.

Serve warm with marmalade and cream.

Alternatively...

change the unsalted butter and raisins for salted butter, and served with an espresso chantilly

swap the raisins and sugar for manchego and rosemary