Christmas 2010

So, another Christmas rolls around. Sometimes it's celebrated with friends, sometimes family and sometimes Neil and I find ourselves alone. No problem, we're not really big traditionalists anyway, we don't make things the same way our parents did or grandparents or even the way we did last year, we try something different every time. On Christmas Eve I met a man who redefined my definition of the term 'foodie'. I thought I was one, but after he told me what he had done with his sockeye salmon after gutting it himself, I felt considerably deflated. We're talking about making something with the liver, the heart and using the fish heads in stock. Wow! So, to try and restore my culinary dignity , this year we bought a goose. (More on that later.)

Not being exactly flush with cash this year and the fact that Neil, like most men is very difficult to buy for and the fact that he's been denied some carbohydrate laden treats, I decided to make him some goodies. This recipe for Jamaican Ginger Cake was discovered on a blog called The Caked Crusader. Please click and have a look. It's a great cake too.

In the UK, McVities Jamaican ginger cake was a treat beyond measure. Neil prefers butter or even margarine on his, I am more of a tinned cream girl. Very classy. This version I made was a little drier than the very moist shop bought variety, but still very delicious with ginger inter playing nicely with the sweetness of the molasses, brown sugar and evaporated milk.

Sausage rolls made simply with puff pastry, sausages taken out of their skins and a bit of egg wash, Jamaican Ginger cake and chocolate chip cookies. I think he was very pleased.

So, to the goose. Neil and I toyed with the idea of trying to get hold of one without actually thinking it would ever come to fruition and a duck seemed to be the next best option, when a stall selling goose appeared like magic in the winter market. $55 later, we had our bounty. The lady at the stall suggested cooking it just like a turkey, so I consulted Jamie Oliver and he suggested a clementine, some rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper. It was placed onto a rack over a baking tray, ready to collect all the amazing fat below which the potatoes bathed and cooked in and the remainder stored in a jar, turning into white lard in the fridge, which will be used for duck confit when I remember to get some duck legs.

Another Jamie Oliver recipe, cheesy leeks. Amazing soft, sweet, melting leeks and a lot of Cheddar, Asiago and Parmesan. Perfect with hot gravy to melt the cheese a little more and create little streams of molten cheese on your plate.

A local farm shop that Neil and I drive to to buy some vegetables, was closing on the 23rd December, the season having finished for them until mid-April. The result was more free produce than we can probably eat, the manager (or owner) handing us 3 tarragon bunches, a 4lb bag of potatoes, 2 bunches kale, a bunch of oregano, a box of mandarin oranges and a celery root, all free of charge! Along with the shallots and the tomatoes we picked up, the whole lot cost us only $4! I decided to use the kale, tarragon and oregano in a vegetable side dish with cider and bacon. (Recipe at bottom of page) 

The Goose. I have to say it was good, but not the spectacular yuletide feast we were anticipating. Maybe I did something wrong, but the flesh was dry, the meat very sparse and the taste gamey, almost liver-like. We did enjoy it, and the skin crisped up perfectly, but I don't think I will be cooking it again for Christmas dinner. I have cooked it once before when a friend was given one by a farm friend and passed it onto me. At that time I remember it being a huge success, maybe because it was a new experience but mainly I remember the 4 guys we had invited lining up to salute Neil as they entered the house because he was wearing a camouflage shirt.

The potatoes cooked underneath were given 1 hour to bask in all the goose fat glory. The result was crisped, tasty potatoes, although they did require a little salt to liven them up. (Again, I say, did I do something wrong?)

It looks good enough.

Sides: three types of kale with celery, bacon, onion and cider. Sausages wrapped in bacon. Cheesy leeks. Stuffing and roast potatoes. We also had rutabaga and celery root mash. (Recipes at bottom of page)

I decided to try a little nostalgia of my own and make a trifle for dessert. It turned out to not live up to it's namesake but instead present a labour of love that took 3 days to complete. After much research I decided on making two layers of jello with different flavours and made more trifle like with the addition of sponge cake. For this I needed to make the low-carb almond sponge I usually turn to in situations like this and realised how much work this was going to be as I ground my own almonds up, as there was no almond meal available in the stores. I also decided to try a recipe for strawberry blancmange which turned out to be the trifle's downfall, as it just wouldn't set as well as was required.

Even though the trifle looked pretty, after the initial spoonful was released from the bowl, the whole thing seemed to descend into some kind of custard-y, creamy, soupy madness. 

I'm not going to give you a recipe for the trifle (yet), as it's too much like hard work and too depressing. There are many fine packets of complete trifle mix available and they seem to have just the right consistency to not render your creation down to goo. Buy one of them.

Recipes

The Goose

1 large goose

1 clementine, cut in half

A large handful mixed herbs, I used tarragon, sage, parsley, rosemary and thyme.

4 cloves garlic, unpeeled

salt, pepper

Push the clementine, herbs and garlic into the goose's cavity, season well with salt and pepper and rub with olive oil. Roast on a tray or rack set above a baking tray to catch all the juices and liberal amounts of fat as it cooks for 3 hours at 375oF. One hour before the end of the cooking time, I added 4 peeled and halved potatoes, tossed them well in the hot oil and left them to cook until crispy. Oh, and I added 2 parsnips as well. 

Kale

3 large bunches mixed kale, shredded.

4 slices back bacon, shredded

2 ribs celery, sliced thinly

1 shallot, chopped small

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp oil

1 tsp butter, (I used saffron and Pernod butter from my local artisan market)

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup dry cider

Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan and gently saute the bacon until crispy and golden. 

Add the celery, shallots and garlic and gently fry until soft.

Add the kale, let it wilt slightly in the heat and then add the cider and salt.

Cook gently for about 30 minutes until the cider has evaporated and the kale is soft.

Cheesy Leeks (Adapted from Jamie Oliver magazine)

2 leeks, washed and chopped on an angle

2 sprigs rosemary

1 tsp oil and 1 tsp butter

salt, pepper

1/4 cup cream

1 cup mixed grated cheese. (I used Asiago, Cheddar and Parmesan)

Heat the oil and butter in a heavy saucepan and add the leeks, rosemary and a little salt.

Turn the heat down low, cover and cook gently for about 45 minutes until soft and sweet.

Place the leeks in a baking dish and add the cream and cheese. Give it a few grinds of black pepper and pop in the oven for about 20 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Rutabaga and Celery root mash

1/2 rutabaga, peeled and cut into chunks

1 small celery root, peeled and cut into chunks

1 tbsp butter

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

1/2 cup grated cheese

salt to taste

Boil the rutabaga and celery root in a large saucepan full of boiling, salted water for about 30 minutes or until soft. 

Mash, adding all the other ingredients until it is fairly smooth. (You won't get perfect pureed mash like with potato).

Chipolatas

6 small sausages

6 rashers bacon

Wrap the bacon around the sausages and cook at 375oF for about 25 minutes.

Stuffing

4 large sausages

1 rib celery, sliced fine

1 small onion, minced

10 sage leaves, chopped

1 small bunch tarragon, chopped

10 pistachio nuts, chopped finely

4 rashers back bacon, chopped finely

6 mushrooms, chopped finely

1/2 apple, chopped finely

Remove the skin from the sausages and place the meat in a bowl.

Add all the other ingredients and mix well. 

Spread into a baking dish or form into balls and bake in the oven at 375oF for about 25 minutes until the sausage meat is cooked well.

Gravy

The juices from the goose

1/ 4 cup dry marsala

1/4 cup red wine

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp goose fat

3 cups chicken stock

Heat the 2 tbsp goose fat in a saucepan and add the flour. Stir well and cook for a few minutes to cook out the flour taste. 

Add the marsala and wine and stir well. Add the stock and let it come to a bubble, then reduce the heat and let it simmer gently for 10 minutes or so to mellow the alcohol taste and thicken.

Apple sauce

2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

1 tsp butter

a little sugar to taste

Place the apples and butter in a saucepan and cook gently until the apples begin to break down and form a sauce. Add the sugar and remove from the heat. Allow to cool before serving.