A simply delicious Christmas
"Come on Mum, any inspiration?" A tall order since they want maximum impact for minimum effort. We have another glass of wine, and it's funny how ideas start to flow...
Five brilliant ideas that cost nothing at all include gift vouchers for washing-up; ironing; valeting the car; doing the food shopping; babysitting for your adorable nieces and nephews.
Five brilliant ideas that cost nothing now, but will require a few bob when redeemed:
1 Gift voucher to dig a piece of the garden in March and sow four different vegetables
2 Gift voucher for a pancake party, which could be postponed until Shrove Tuesday
3 Gift voucher for breakfast in bed, which might include champagne and freshly squeezed orange juice. It could be a fry, but how about softly scrambled egg with smoked salmon, or eggs Benedict, freshly toasted Arbutus bread, homemade jams, a chunky dark marmalade and some local honey. A big cafetière of coffee or a pot of Barry's Tea and don't forget a posy of flowers on the tray.
4 Gift voucher for a posh dinner party for eight, which includes all food, laying table, funky flowers and washing up. Two or three siblings or pals could cooperate for this event.
5 A gift voucher for a cooking class teach your pals how to make 3 or 4 dishes.
Pressies for foodies with green fingers:
1 Promise to plant a herb garden in March, to include flat parsley, thyme, chives, mint, tarragon, rosemary, sage and annuals like sweet marjoram and coriander. Search your local garden centre for a lemon grass plant, a lemon tree, a kaffir lime tree, a chilli bush, a banana tree, or a grape vine Muscat de Alexandria or Black Hamburg do particularly well in our climate, best in a greenhouse though.
2 Apple trees from Irish Seedsavers, and a promise to plant them! Tel: 061-921866.
Some gourmet treats:
1 Homemade salami from Frank Krycwzk. Tel: 028-28579.
2 A Vacherin Mont d'Or cheese and a bottle of Kirsch.
3 A dozen quail's eggs from Coturnix Quail (Tel: 087 2065067) with some home-made Dukkah (see recipe below).
6 A gorgeous Pannetone wrapped in gold paper with a big red bow, Panforte de Siena, Figgy pudding.
7 Hamper of Christmas goodies: Cranberry sauce or chutney, Brandy butter, Mulled wine spices tied up in muslin with a bottle of wine.
For wine buffs:
1 Hamper of Irish farmhouse cheese from Sheridans in Dublin or Galway, or Iago in Cork Market, or Peter Ward in Nenagh.
2 Some Reidel glasses (a must-have for serious wine lovers) and a Screwpull corkscrew.
3 Mary Dowey's invaluable book, Food & Wine Matching Made Simple, published by Ryland, Peters and Small.
4 A mixed case of organic wine from Mary Pawle. Tel: 064-41443.
5 A bottle of bubbly or Prosecca from Bubble Brothers in Cork or Dún Laoighre.
Additions to the foodie library:
This Christmas the hottest cookbooks in our shops are those written by Irish chefs.
1 Neven Cooks, with a selection of his best loved recipes, by Neven Maguire of RTÉ's Open House fame and McNean Bistro in Blacklion, Co Cavan, published by Poolbeg.
2 The Avoca Café Cookbook by Hugo Arnold and Leylie Hayes of Avoca Handweavers. Their second one is just coming into the shops and is expected to be do well.
3 My own Ballymaloe Cookery Course, published by Gill & Macmillan which accompanies the television series currently on RTÉ1.
4 Foodalicious, by Marie McGuirk, the popular cookery lecturer at An Grianán Adult Education College, and well-known from Live at Three.
It is available by post from An Grianán, Termonfeckin, Co Louth. Send cheque for 14, payable to Marie McGuirk.
5 You might also pick up some of the McKennas Bridgestone Irish Food Guides, or Georgina Campbell's Jameson Irish Food Guide.
6 From the UK comes Delia Smith's latest Delia's Vegetarian Collection, published by BBC.
7 Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Kitchen, published by Penguin, is another good bet.
8 Not strictly cookery books but extremely popular are Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour, both published by Bloomsbury.
9 To finish off, an off-the-wall package for a truly dedicated foodie. The book is Small Scale Poultry-keeping, by R Feltwell, published by Faber & Faber and with it, five or six hens, and a little henhouse. Surprise!
This is my favourite roast stuffed turkey recipe.
You may think the stuffing seems dull because it doesn't include exotic-sounding ingredients like chestnuts and spiced sausage meat, but in fact it is moist and full of the flavour of fresh herbs and the turkey juices.
Cook a chicken in exactly the same way but use one-quarter of the stuffing quantity given.
1 x 10-12 lbs (4.5-5.4kg) free range, preferably organic, turkey with neck and giblets
Fresh Herb Stuffing
6oz (170g) butter
12oz (340g) chopped onions
14-16oz (400-500g) soft breadcrumbs
2oz (50g) freshly chopped herbs for example: parsley, thyme, chives, marjoram, savoury, and lemon balm
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Stock
Neck, gizzard, heart, wishbone and wingtips of turkey
2 sliced carrots
2 sliced onions
1 stick celery
Bouquet garni
3 or 4 peppercorns
For Basting the Turkey:
8oz (225g)
butter
Large square of muslin (optional)
Garnish:
Large sprigs of fresh parsley or watercress
Remove the wishbone from the neck end of the turkey, for ease of carving later. Make a turkey stock by covering with cold water the neck, gizzard, heart, wishbone, wingtips, vegetables and bouquet garni. (Keep the liver for Smooth Turkey Liver Pate).
Bring to the boil and simmer while the turkey is being prepared and cooked, 3 hours approx. To make the fresh herb stuffing: Sweat the onions gently in the butter until soft, for 10 minutes approx., then stir in the crumbs, herbs and a little salt and pepper to taste. Allow it to get quite cold. If necessary, wash and dry the cavity of the bird, then season and half-fill with cold stuffing. Put the remainder of the stuffing into the crop at the neck end.
Weigh the turkey and calculate the cooking time. Allow 15 minutes approx. per lb (450g) and 15 minutes over. Melt 8oz (225g) butter and soak a large piece of good quality muslin in the melted butter; cover the turkey completely with the muslin and roast in a preheated moderate oven, 180ºC/regulo 4, for 3-3½ hours. There is no need to baste it because of the butter-soaked muslin. The turkey browns beautifully, but if you like it even browner, remove the muslin 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
Alternatively, smear the breast, legs and crop well with soft butter, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. If the turkey is not covered with butter-soaked muslin then it is a good idea to cover the whole dish with tin foil. However, your turkey will then be semi-steamed, not roasted in the traditional sense of the word. The turkey is cooked when the juices run clear. To test, prick the thickest part at the base of the thigh and examine the juices: they should be clear.
Remove the turkey to a carving dish, keep it warm and allow it to rest while you make the gravy. Cover loosely with greaseproof paper and roast in a preheated moderate oven 180ºC/regulo 4 for 1-1½ hours. The turkey is done when the juices run clear. To test, prick the thickest part at the base of the thigh and examine the juices, they should be clear.
Remove the turkey to a carving dish, keep it warm and allow it to rest while you make the gravy as follows: Spoon off surplus fat from roasting pan. De-glaze pan juices with fat-free stock from giblets and bones. Using a whisk, stir and scrape well to dissolve caramelised meat juices from the roasting pan. Boil it up well, season and thicken with a little roux if you like. Taste and correct the seasoning. Serve in a hot gravy boat. If possible, present the turkey on your largest serving dish, surrounded by crispy roast potatoes, and garnished with large sprigs of parsley or watercress and maybe a sprig of holly. Make sure no one eats the berries. Serve with Cranberry Sauce.
Cranberry Sauce
Serves 6 approx.
6oz (170g) fresh cranberries
4 tablespoons (60ml) water
3oz (85g) granulated sugar
Put the fresh cranberries in a heavy-based stainless steel or cast-iron saucepan with the water don't add the sugar yet as it tends to toughen the skins. Bring them to the boil, cover and simmer until the cranberries 'pop' and soften, about seven minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Serve warm or cold.
Note: Cranberry Sauce will keep in your fridge for a week to 10 days.
A delicious, spicy dip to serve with crudities, warm Pitta and olive oil. Guests dip a piece of crisp vegetable, or strip of bread, into the olive oil and then into the dukkah. Store the remainder in a screw-top jar. Dukkah is delicious when combined with a number of dishes, even hard-boiled eggs. Sprinkle over grilled meats as seasoning.
1oz (30g) hazelnuts
4 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
12 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
2 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼-½ teaspoon salt
Roast the hazelnuts and chop finely. Heat a small, heavy frying pan over a medium heat, and add the sesame seeds. Shake gently, until they turn darker and smell nutty. Tip into a bowl.
Repeat with the coriander and cumin seeds. Place the roast spices, sesame, and peppercorns in a clean spice or coffee grinder and whiz quickly to give a coarse, dry powder.
Mix with the cinnamon and salt. Chop the hazelnuts finely, or whiz them for a few seconds in a spice grinder, or food processor (do not over-process, or the nuts will blend into a paste).
Mix in the chopped nuts, and taste. Pack into jam jars or plastic boxes, and package with tissue and bows.
