Christmas Cooking

Christmas Biscuits

It is a family joke that I am a staunch traditionalist when it comes to Christmas. Every decoration has to go in the same place, and all the eating options have to be the same. I think I have mellowed a bit now and am starting to build some traditions of my own. However, there are some things that are so good that there is no point in change for changes sake. Homemade mince pies are a must, as they are so much better than shop-bought. We also do a dessert tray, which involves piling a tray with apples, clementines, nuts and an array of chocolates and sweets, both what people have been given and homemade. It makes an impressive set piece, and means there is always an instant pudding.

I put myself in charge of the fudge and truffles this year, and although there were some moments when I regretted it due to timing issues, the results were definitely worth it.

Gluten-free mince pies

200g gluten-free flour (I used Doves)
100g butter
100g lard
4 tbsp cold water

Put the flour and fats in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and pulse again until the dough begins to come together. Form into a ball and wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.

I found it easiest to roll out half the dough at a time, and then I filled a muffin tin with circles of dough, added a spoonful of mincemeat (Nigella’s cranberry) and then topped them with a star. Baked for 20 minutes at 200C these were light and crunchy. They freeze well too, so you can stock up the freezer.

Vanilla Fudge

900g granulated sugar
300ml water
Large tin condensed milk
50g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt

Put the sugar and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Add the condensed milk, butter, vanilla and salt and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for about 30 minutes, until it reaches the soft-ball stage (or 116C on a sugar thermometer), stirring regularly and scraping down the sides. Once it has reached this stage turn off the heat. Beat well as it cools, and it should go slightly grainy. Pour into a well greased baking tray and leave until set, then turn out and cut into small squares. Warning – it is very rich! It keeps very well in an airtight container, although I don’t know how long for as it does not last long in our household.

Chocolate truffles

These truffles are a family favourite, but I do recommend making them small as they are quite intense. In the picture below the cocoa covered ones have brandy in them, and the chocolate coated ones have Grand Marnier.

Chocolate Truffles

450g good quality dark chocolate
275ml double cream
1 tbsp brandy (or Grand Marnier, or any other liqueur you fancy)
Cocoa powder

Chop the chocolate into small pieces, or whizz in a food processor, then put in a bowl Heat the cream gently until bubbles start to appear around the edge of the pan, and then pour over the chocolate. The heat of the cream should melt the chocolate. Add the liqueur and stir well to combine. Leave to cool and then refrigerate.

Sift some cocoa powder onto a small plate. Roll the truffles into balls with your hands, and then roll in the cocoa powder while they are still slightly tacky from the heat of your hands. Or you can dip the balls into some melted chocolate and leave to set on greaseproof paper.

Christmas Biscuits

This recipe is based on Nigella's recipe for cut-out butter biscuits. To cut out shapes like the ones above you need a recipe that doesn't spread as it cooks, and this one works perfectly. I added the ground ginger to make them more Christmassy.

175g butter
200g caster sugar
2 large eggs
400g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger

Cream the butter and sugar, and then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one is added. Then switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the dry ingredients. Form into two balls and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Roll out the dough using flour to stop it sticking, and then cut out your shapes. Put on a greased baking tray and then bake for 8-12 minutes, until the edges are golden. The amount of time needed depends on the shapes you have used so keep an eye on them. Put them on a rack to cool.

Now is the time to get creative. I didn't measure the ingredients for the icing, just sieved some icing sugar into a bowl and then added very small quantities of water until it was the consistency I was looking for. If you overdo the water you can add more icing sugar, but you could end up with a lot of icing this way!

I find the easiest way to spread the icing is with the back of a teaspoon. You can make a slightly thicker icing and pipe the edges for neatness, but I didn't have the time or inclination! You need to put your decorations on while the icing is still wet, so that they stick. I bought all of mine from Jane Asher, who have a shop in Chelsea. Then leave out to dry before storing in a tin, or wrapping in cellophane for presents.

The Lone Star, Barbados

We’ve just come back from a really lovely holiday in Barbados. It is a huge treat to go away somewhere hot at this time of year, and we have come back refreshed and ready for Christmas.

I don’t think I have ever eaten so much fish and shellfish, but it seemed a shame not to when it was clearly so fresh. Most meat at the hotels and restaurants is imported, so hopefully it lowered the food miles a bit too!

There are two stand-out eating moments though. The first was after the ‘boys’ (R, my father and my brothers) went on a fishing trip. R caught the biggest fish, but only on the evidence of the tail, as a shark pinched the rest (not kidding!). It was therefore C’s kingfish that made it back to the hotel. There the chef was kind enough to cook it for us for lunch. About three hours from sea to plate, this couldn’t have been any fresher. It was blackened for us, and served with salad, and really could not have been any better.

The second was lunch at the Lone Star. The meal got off to a pretty good start as we arrived at the restaurant in a speed boat! It felt pretty swish stepping off the boat, rinsing our feet and then settling into the restaurant. Pity there weren’t more people there to witness it! It is in the most fabulous location on the beach, and definitely worth a trip for lunch rather than dinner so that you can enjoy the view.

Tuna tartare with mango salsa

I shared a starter, the tuna tartare with mango salsa. I couldn’t eat the salsa, which was getting rave reviews around the table, but the tuna itself was basically perfect. It was cut into slightly larger pieces than you customarily get with tartare, which gave it a bit more texture, and the sweet fish was perfectly offset by a hint of sesame oil. Other hits in the starters included R’s polenta coated calamari. I was particularly pleased he ordered this as I have missed out on calamari since I went gluten-free. The polenta worked really well as a coating as it gave it some extra crunch. My mother’s kingfish, which had been briefly seared, was also lovely, with the fish really being allowed to shine.

My main course was king prawns and scallops with thai red sauce and coriander mash. Again this was beautifully executed. The seafood was perfectly cooked, the sauce a lovely balance of spice and creamy coconut, and even the mash, which I was skeptical about, brought the whole thing together. My brother’s mussels were beautifully cooked, with an incredibly rich creamy sauce which was perfect for dipping chips in. The spicy pasta with mussels and prawns also elicited moans of pleasure around the table!

I justified a pudding to myself as I had been playing two hours of tennis every day, and so I went for the chocolate and pistachio mousse. This was very pretty, with its green and brown layers, but was a bit disappointing after what had gone before. It was served a bit too cold, which muted the flavours, and the texture was a bit too light for my taste.

Paradise

I have been dreaming about this meal ever since we came back, and have already started saving my pennies so that I can return!

The Bolingbroke, Battersea

I was really looking forward to date night with R in the Bolingbroke. We were a bit early for our reservation, so we started with a drink in the Draft House just down the road. It was a bit busy in there, and until we managed to nab a barstool was rather uncomfortable, Another minus point as they didn’t have any ginger beer, but I still like what they are doing, so will give them another chance. It was primetime on a Friday night.

So then on to the Bolingbroke. This is the far end of Northcote Road from Clapham Junction, and is a decent sized space, although with quite a short bar. We went straight through to our table, which was at the back. Once we had negotiated ourselves away from the table with the howling draft we settled back to peruse the menu. I had also managed to get a voucher for a free glass of wine with each main course, so that set us off well.

The menu read really well, and I could have chosen pretty much anything. Having had a quick look at the menu online I decided to forgo a starter so that I would have room for pudding. R, being a sucker for anything that involves warm cheese, had a blue cheese and onion tart. This was an individual tart served with a salad, and certainly looked the part. Good reports came from the other side of the table, in particular the pastry was beautifully short and buttery.

Onto the mains. I had gone for the sea bass wrapped in pancetta, with risotto. The sea bass was well cooked, and not too dry, and the pancetta was crispy. However I found it odd that the fish had not been skinned, and so there was some rather flabby and unappetizing skin. The risotto was OK, but didn’t have much flavour to it, and really was just a pile of rice. Nothing seemed to have been seasoned much, and I had no vegetables at all.

R had gone for the guinea fowl. I only tried a little bit, but again it was massively underseasoned. Both dishes looked good, but the taste just did not match up. There wasn’t anything wrong per se, they just were not that good.

The final straw was when the pudding menu arrived and there was nothing on it that didn’t have gluten in it. We decided to cut our losses and get the bill, which luckily was pretty good value given the free wine.

In all this was really disappointing, since the menu looked really good, and it felt like with more care the food could have lived up to its billing. The service was great, and just the right level of attentiveness with out being too intrusive.