Plans fallen through? Invitation cancelled? Decided to stay home instead of going to Prague? You suddenly find that you are expected to pull Christmas dinner out of a hat, as it were. And you haven’t ordered a turkey or baked a Christmas cake or done a single thing that the glossies tell you to do in their ‘countdown to Christmas’ features.

As long as the shops are still open, here is a menu that will satisfy the most discerning guest. It is not cheap, but impromptu often isn’t. There is, however, plenty of glamour and luxury. It has the benefit of not being too Christmassy, which means you can serve it for other winter dinner parties. Not a sprout or chipolata in sight.

On the subject of glamorous and luxury food, did my French colleagues have a collective crise de foie last Christmas or had their editors issued sumptuary laws of a gastronomic nature? Mussels instead of oysters from one. Foie gras? “Bah humbug”, from another. Forget about the Kir royale and snackies and go straight to the main course, was the advice from the esteemed François Simon, much missed writer in Le Figaro.

An idea for a large gathering is the turducken, a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, all boned, ready to roast and easy to slice

If you must have foie gras, let it be the best and make it the main course with a well-dressed salad. A salad for a French Réveillon? What were they thinking? And I lost count of the number of citrus salads being proposed instead of the traditional bûche de Nöel. Oysters, foe gras, capon, cheese, bûche? Surely not, that is soooo XXth century, seemed to be the message.

But a recent visit to Paris revealed all the usual seasonal treats. La Valette, www.valette.com, where I buy my fresh foie gras to make terrines, was full of all manner of delicious preparations, including a foie gras terrine with a thin layer of caviar in the middle, which would be a lovely contrast of sweet and salt. Their confit figs stuffed with duck foie gras is something I have already tried at home. It is very easy.

Soak some dried figs in Monbazillac or other sweet wine. Carefully open down one side and generously fill with foie gras from a jar, a tin or home-made. Serve a couple as a first course with a rocket salad and a sherry gastrique which you make by boiling 200ml sherry vinegar with two tablespoons sugar. Or carefully cut the figs in quarters, spike on wooden cocktail sticks and serve with an aperitif.

An idea for a large gathering, with a good deal of advance planning is, of course, the turducken, a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, all boned, ready to roast and easy to slice. Heal Farm in Devon, from whom I have often bought an excellent whole ham, has a ‘True Love’ 12-bird roast.

This has the breasts of 37 birds – with a bird for each day of Christmas, chicken, duck, guinea fowl, pheasant, partridge, pigeon, all encased in the large boned turkey with eight different stuffings, the whole weighing 25 kilos, and requiring 10 hours cooking time. This will feed 120, so a perfect idea for a restaurant, but in between, there are many variations on the multi-bird roast, itself based on the magnificent dishes that were served at medieval feasts.

What follows are ideas for a rather more modest feast. And if you do not even have time to make a first course, a jar of foie gras and toast and a platter of oysters on crushed ice is the way to go.

Champagne or your favourite fizz will accompany everything, but if you want to take the time to really treat your family and friends, hunt out a sweet wine for the pud, either a rich and silky sweet wine from France such as a Sauternes or a Barsac, a sticky from Australia or at the other end of the scale, a delicate, low in alcohol and refreshing sparkler such as a Moscato d’Asti.

Oysters in lemon vodka jelly

(Serves 6)

12 oysters
6 shot glasses
1 large unsprayed lemon
1 sheet gelatine
150ml vodka

Carefully open the oysters and strain the juice through muslin into a jug. Put two oysters in each shot glass.

Remove thin shavings of lemon zest, chop finely and blanch in boiling water for two minutes. Put to one side. Soften the gelatine in a dish of cold water. Boil the vodka for two minutes and add the softened gelatine, drained. Stir until dissolved.

Add some of the lemon zest, a teaspoon or two of juice, according to taste, and the strained oyster juice. Pour the liquid into the shot glasses over the oysters and leave to set in the refrigerator for about two hours before serving. Decorate with the remaining lemon zest. A few grains of caviar or trout roe will also decorate the glasses very nicely.

Iced vacherin

(Serves 10 to 12)

1l caramel ice cream
1l vanilla ice cream
250g small meringues
100g toasted caramelised hazelnuts, roughly crushed

Remove the ice cream from the freezer for 20 minutes before starting preparation. Take a supple silicone cake mould, or loose-bottomed cake tin lined with cling film. Spoon the caramel ice cream in the bottom and spread it smooth. Break up half of the meringues and cover the surface with half of them, pressing well into the ice cream. Sprinkle on half the nuts.

Spread the vanilla ice cream on top with the rest of the crushed meringues well mixed in. Freeze for at least three hours. When ready to serve, turn out the vacherin, sprinkle the remaining hazelnuts on top and decorate with the remaining meringues, round the side and on top.

Cook’s note:

Other ice cream flavours can be used according to taste.

Chocolate and orange works well, as does coffee and vanilla.

Other nuts can be used, as can other decorations, according to the ice cream flavours you choose, such as chocolate-dipped crystallised orange zest with a chocolate and orange vacherin.

Chocolate, chestnut and mandarin

(Serves 6)

200g sweet chestnut purée
200g 70 per cent chocolate, melted
Zest of 2 mandarins
Juice of ½ mandarin
200ml cream, whipped
6 heaped tbsp coarsely crushed meringues

Garnish – crystallised orange zest, melted chocolate, cream, chocolate curls, physallis

I spoon this very easy dessert in Martini glasses, custard cups or old-fashioned trifle dishes. The idea came to me from making Eton Mess in summer, with cream, strawberries and meringues. Here, I wanted to combine traditional Christmas flavours.

Stir together the chocolate and the chestnut purée, together with the mandarin zest and juice, then lightly fold in the cream and meringues. Spoon into glasses and top with your chosen garnish. I like to swirl a little cream, then some melted chocolate on top.

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