A berry merry Xmas
We travel from various parts of the country and the globe to make our way home to the fireside.
Christmas Eve is spent boiling hams, chopping vegetables and, of course, preparing the desserts. Every year we go completely overboard. There is a trifle made by my neighbour Carol, a pavlova made by my mother, I bake a chocolate cake, one of my sisters makes a fruit salad, mince pies are filled by another, and there’s Christmas cake, plum pudding and often much more. The table groans under the weight of the cake stands and plates.
I presume there are plenty of Christmas dessert recipes out there so I have decided to focus instead on the lighter side dishes that accompany the main event, the big, roasted bird. Cranberry is the traditional side so I have included two different ways to use it.
Both are very simple and work a treat. The last recipe was given to me by Monika, our Hungarian baker in work. She calls it Grandpa Vance’s Cherried Cranberry recipe. It seems like Grandpa Vance knows his food.
The recipe really is stunning, you should try it. I was totally surprised how like cherries the cranberries became. I have transcribed his instructions directly with his capital letters used as emphasis.
Harvesting cranberries is a strange and beautiful thing.
The farmer floods the field so all the ripe red berries float to the top creating a lake of perfect crimson. The berries are then corralled as if they were runaway sheep, pulled closer into the centre where they are filtered into the back of a truck. Most of the berries are used for juice but a few are left for us to enjoy in a sauce for our Christmas dinner.
Pomegranate also works well at cutting the richness of the other food.
If cranberries are not your thing, try the pomegranate salsa.
Pomegranates must be one of nature’s most beautiful fruit. The little seeds look like they should be in a jewellery box rather than on a dinner plate.
To make your roast potatoes extra crispy, par boil them and set them aside to cool a little.
Then toss them in a sieve to rough up the edges a bit. Toss them in melted butter or fat and pop them on a roasting tray.
During the summer I made this recipe with nasturtium leaves instead of the parsley and it worked nicely.
They added a nice pepperiness to the dish. A friend who thought me this recipe serves it with a Mexican cheese called Queso Frasca cheese melted on top. You can use haloumi as the other is quiet difficult to get in Ireland.
Just slice your cheese, grill it and place it on a scoop of your pomegranate salsa with a small drizzle of honey over the whole lot. It is amazing.
Seeds of 1 pomegranate
The juice of
½ a lime
¼ tsp of chilli powder
A small bunch of parsley finely chopped
Seasoning
De-seed the pomegranate, stir through the lime juice, chilli and the finely chopped parsley. Season to taste.
These measurements are in cups.
This is an American way of measuring that is really handy. You can buy measuring cups quiet inexpensively in kitchen supply shops. If you do not have them a small teacup is best rather than a mug and use the same cup to measure all of the ingredients.
2 cups of fresh cranberries
1 cup of sugar
½ a cup of water
¼ tsp of salt
1/8 tsp of baking soda
Mix all of your ingredients. DO NOT STIR AGAIN!
Heat in a saucepan and slowly bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover, leave to simmer for 15 minutes.
DO NOT FOR ANY REASON REMOVE THE COVER.
Set aside covered to cool overnight. In the morning it is done, the cranberries will look like Maraschino cherries, and taste like heaven. Serve cold.
This recipe is oh so easy, it takes all the fuss out of making a cranberry sauce. I like to taste the bitterness of cranberries, but add another 100g of sugar if you like yours sweeter.
500g of cranberries
250g caster sugar
50 mls of ruby port
Juice and zest of 1 orange
Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and leave to simmer for about 15 minutes.
I saw this salad being made on The New York Times website and decided to try it with the last of the year’s squash. It is really nice to use butternut squash raw like this, I am much more used to eating it roasted.
1 butternut squash (about 600g in size) peeled, seeded and grated
A small handful of raisins
4 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbs fresh ginger, very finely chopped and then crushed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine the squash, raisins, oil, vinegar and ginger in a salad bowl; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss, then taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to several hours. Some slivered almonds lightly roasted and sprinkled on top work a treat.
IF YOU are lucky enough to live in the beautiful town of Schull in West Cork you probably already know Gwen’s Chocolate Shop (the words chocolate and shop in the one sentence make me go weak).
If you live further afield you can order the chocolates online and get them sent directly to someone special.
Prices start from €10.40 for a box of 14 pieces. For more information check their website www.gwenschocolate.com
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