Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day celebration started as normal with afternoon tea and christmas cake or mince pies - always delicious and I was allowed to make the cake this year. I followed the secret family recipe and the difference is that there is no marzipan or icing but the cake is made in November and fed every week with brandy (or anything else you fancy...)
Then we did a bit of prep for dinner, peeling potatoes, prepping veg etc and followed that up with PRESENT TIME! To accompany presents we had a cocktail maison - confit orange rind with campari and sparkling wine - I invented it after I had left over confit orange from my cupcake extravaganza, yummy. Then we all sat in the living room and opened our presents. I received some fabulous ones including an ice cream maker with built in freezer unit and Ripailles, a new book by Stéphane Reynaud and it is fabulous - I recommend it.

Now on to the important bit. For dinner we had a starter of Scallops on Black Pudding with a Jurançon Reduction. The black pudding was sliced into discs and then panfried in a little oil to get a crispy outside. The scallops were simply panfried for a couple of minutes on wither side and finished with butter and seasoning before being placed on the black pudding slices, around some mixed leaves. The reduction was made ahead of time by reducing a bottle of jurançon doux to a few tablespoons and then adding some stock and bringing it down again. The sauce was thickened by whisking in lumps of butter and seasoned to taste. Lemon juice should be added if needed. This was drizzled on the plates.

For main, we had roasted shoulder of wild boar, which had been marinated in rosemary, salt, pepper, a few juniper berries and red wine for a few days. That was served with celeriac and apple purée, shallots and potatoes roasted in duck fat and cavalo nero. The boar has a deeper and more intense flavour than pork and made an interesting alternative.

I had then decided that we should have a Grand Dessert to round things off (obviously I enlisted much help for this!) It comprised a passion fruit curd tart, an iced raspberry soufflé and a moelleux au noisette. This last was a variation on the often seen chocolate version, which I can't have, so I messed around with the recipe to great effect I may add.

All in all a delicious end to a wonderful day so thank you to all for my lovely presents and your scintillating company.