It’s that time of year again when we are well in to planning our Christmas cooking and entertaining, each family with its own traditions, joined to the age-old universal rituals. I know one tampers with tradition at one’s peril, but I often think that traditional dishes can actually be improved on.
A case in point is bread and butter pudding, which is even nicer when made with panettone, of which there is always an abundance at this time of year. Use the standard bread and butter pudding recipe, but you can leave out any added dried fruit, as there is plenty in the panettone.
The same panettone can also be used to make pain perdu and its different versions, dipping the bread variously in wine, honey, almond milk and beaten eggs and serving it with caramel sauce, preserved oranges and almond or caramel ice cream. I particularly like the version from Jerez, which is traditionally served on Christmas Eve. All of these are simply posh versions of French toast.
Even mince pies can be improved. I now make mine with a pâte sablée, the classic French sweet, buttery shortcrust pastry, into which I grate the zest of a mandarin, and, if liquid is needed to bind the pastry, I use some of the mandarin juice or a splash of orange flower water. Once I have filled the tarts with mincemeat, instead of a pastry lid, I top them with a Christmassy shape stamped out of rolled-out marzipan.
On the subject of mandarins, what about the festive imbuljuta trio of chocolate, chestnut and mandarin? I make a very rich sweetmeat with these; a chocolate and chestnut terrine scented with mandarin. A little goes a very long way. It does not look particularly exciting but is very toothsome. You can also use the same mixture to make delightful chocolate and chestnut truffles, simply rolling the chilled mixture into balls and then dusting with cocoa or icing sugar, or, if you have the time, dip them in melted chocolate and let them set.
Poultry and feathered game are classics at this time of year and are increasingly available in the Maltese islands, albeit often frozen. They have the advantage of not leaving you with a heap of leftovers. Consider serving as an alternative to the Christmas turkey, partridge with buttered cabbage, spatchcocked lemon poussins, chicken with figs, quails stuffed with foie gras (mixed with crumbled cooked plain chestnuts), sweet and sour duck breasts, guinea fowl en cocotte with mixed woodland mushrooms, pigeon en cocotte with olives and orange... endless possibilities there.
I like to serve a roast duck just for the two of us, and even that leaves me with plenty of meat leftover.
Whichever bird or birds you serve, any of them can be used in my day-after-Christmas pie, which is something of an à la carte recipe, using whatever you have in the fridge, fruit bowl and cupboard.
Our Christmas will start with a glass of bubbly, pomegranate and prosecco, perhaps, using the excellent Maltese pomegranate liqueur, or with a 2009 Cassar de Malte, of which we still have a few bottles.
A Barolo with some bottle age will match the pie. Vin Santo from Tuscany would be appropriate with panettone bread and butter pudding, but if you opt for the Jerezano version, look for a Pedro Ximenez sherry.
It will also be very good indeed with the chocolate and chestnut terrine. By the way, the last of my trio of articles on easy entertaining, desserts will appear in the New Year. And finally, I wish you all a happy and festive Christmas.
Day-after-Christmas pie
(Serves 6)
50g diced pancetta
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
250g button or closed cup mushrooms, sliced
2 celery stalks, trimmed and diced
2 shallots, peeled and diced
600g cooked duck, goose, turkey or pheasant
200g figs, dates or apricots, chopped
1 grated apple or pear
1.5 eggs beaten with 100ml gravy
½ tsp ground cardamom, cloves and ginger
100g baby spinach, roughly chopped
Seasoning
400g puff, flaky or shortcrust pastry
½ an egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk
Preheat the oven to 200˚C/gas mark 6. In a skillet fry the pancetta until the fat runs; add the olive oil and the celery shallots and mushrooms; cook and stir until translucent. Remove from heat.
Apart from the pastry, mix the remaining ingredients with the fried items. Allow to cool. Divide the pastry in two and roll out two rounds, one to fit a pie dish and one for the lid. Line the pie dish, leaving a narrow overhang of pastry. Pile in the filling and cover with the lid.
Seal the edges together and make a hole in the centre for the steam to escape. Brush with the egg and milk glaze and bake in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes. Turn down the heat to 180˚C/gas mark 4, and continue cooking for a further 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve with an orange, olive and onion salad and a green salad of rocket, lamb’s lettuce and chicory.
Jerezano bread pudding
(Serves 6 to 8)
12 slices bread
200ml Fino or Amontillado sherry
3 eggs, lightly beaten
60g unsalted butter or 4 tbsp olive oil
To serve: icing sugar, honey or Pedro Ximenez sherry
Trim the crust from the bread, and cut into triangles. Dip each slice into the sherry and then into the beaten egg. Heat the butter or oil in a skillet and fry the bread until golden brown on both sides.
The bread can also be deep-fried. Drain the slices on paper towels and serve piled high on a serving dish, sifted with icing sugar and with some honey or the rich, dark, grapey-sweet sherry trickled over the bread. Serve very hot.
Chocolate, mandarin and chestnut terrine
You can make the terrine several days in advance, and it is worth making a large one, as it will see you through large-scale entertaining. It also freezes well, either whole or individual slices wrapped in cling film.
(Serves 10)
400g can unsweetened chestnut purée, at room temperature
400g plain chocolate, melted
100g unsalted butter, softened but not melted
100g to 200g icing sugar or to taste
Finely grated zest of one or two mandarins
To decorate: candied or crystallised mandarin segments and zest, crumbled marrons glacés.
Break up the purée with a fork, and mix all the ingredients in the food processor. Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if necessary. Line a 1kg terrine with cling film and spoon in the mixture. Bang the terrine to settle the mixture into the corners and smoothen the top. Cover with cling film, place a piece of cardboard on top, cut to fit (the card from chocolate bars is useful for this) and place a can or two on top to weight the mixture.
Chill for several hours until firm, then turn out and slice. This looks good simply dusted with icing sugar if you do not have the other decorations.
As an accompaniment, I sometimes serve a compôte of dried fruit I would have cooked in orange juice or red wine, with star anise and cinnamon sticks.
You can also flavour the terrine with a dash or two of rum or Amaretto. You can also add finely chopped crystallised tangerine to the mixture before chilling it, in which case, a measure of Grand Marnier can also be added.
Toasted flaked almonds are another possibility. But on the whole, I like this as dark and plain as possible. The mixture can also be spooned into custard glasses instead of a terrine.
If you prefer, use sweetened chestnut purée, but omit the sugar, and chocolate with 85 per cent cocoa. Vacuum-packed, peeled chestnuts or cooked, dried chestnuts can also be used, but require a little more work. They should be processed and sieved first to make them smooth, then put back in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients.