The festive period is now upon us and it’s the best time to have friends and family around. But it doesn’t have to be reserved for Christmas Day. Here I’ve offered a four-course menu where you can be a king or queen of the kitchen and impress your guests. These dishes take some planning so don’t leave to the last minute.
Entreating guests is my favourite thing, hence why I am a chef, but my wife, Rachel, and I love doing it at home too. I will be really busy working all through December so my time to catch up with friends will come in the new year.
Here are some decedent dishes for you to try. Chicken liver parfait is rich and smooth -and may I suggest you pair this with a medium wine like a Gewurztraminer. The cod, because it’s steamed is so delicate - this could go with a chardonnay like a Macon Villages or a Sancerre. The pork has some elements we do at the Tickled Trout but to give a little festive feel to the dish I’ve added our stuffing recipe. The pork will be beautiful with a new world Pinot Noir or a Crianza.
This time of year is all about puddings and they can be heavy so I’ve gone for a wildcard here and am showcasing a Spoom that we do occasionally at the pub. A spoom is a hybrid dessert that combines a fruit sorbet and Italian meringue. If you’re brave enough to make a sorbet and have an ice cream machine here is a great recipe - otherwise buy a really good one from you local farm shop or deli. It’s so light and refreshing and different. I wouldn’t suggest a wine here, save yourself for some cheese and port afterwards!
A lot of my recipes can be found on my Instagram or Tik Tok so have a look and give me a follow @chrisjmapp / @cookingwithchris. Have a lovely Christmas and New Year.
Chicken liver parfait recipe
Ingredients
500g butter
4 small shallots
1 clove garlic
3 thyme stalks
500 chicken livers
12g fine sea salt
6g sea flakes
3g white pepper
4 eggs
100ml Madeira
100ml port
10ml brandy
Method
Break the egg in a bowl, dice the butter, soak the livers in milk and allow to come to room temperature, for around one hour.
Sauté the shallots, garlic, thyme until softened without colouring, add the alcohol and reduce to syrup. Blend livers with syrupy reduction, slowly add the eggs, one at a time, then butter, again slowly until fully combined.
Pass through a fine sieve, now either you can set these in a ramekin or a larger container. Cook in the oven at 100°c for about 15 minutes until just cooked (a slight wobble).
We serve this either in a small dish with a jelly on top or a spoonful like in the picture, we have added a slight port reduction and some pickles and it sits on some homemade ginger bread.
Steamed Cod, mussel cream sauce, Fowey mussels, kale and sea herbs recipe
Ingredients
2 shallots, finely sliced
100ml vermouth
100ml white wine
200ml fish stock
200ml double cream
6 mussels per portion
200g kale
Sea herbs (optional)
Method
It’s best to brine the cod loins first to get flavour into the meat. I suggest a 10% solution for 40 minutes.
Pat them dry and then roll into thick sausages with cling film and let them set in the fridge overnight. When you’re ready to cook, cut into portions and remove the cling film and steam in a Chinese bamboo basket for approx. 8 minutes or until it reaches 48 – 50°c if you have a thermometer probe.
To make the sauce, sweat the shallots and thyme in knob of butter and a large pinch of salt, until translucent. Add the wine, reduce to, syrup. Then add vermouth, reduce to syrup. Then the stock, reduce by half, then the cream, reduce by half. Check you’re happy with the seasoning.
It will be easier to buy some quality cooked mussels from your fishmonger and add them to the sauce when reheating for your guests. We like to add an extra flavour with a dill oil. We are lucky enough to have foraged sea herbs, but some beautiful buttered English kale will suffice.
Cote de Porc with seasonal trimmings recipe
For the pork brine
Ingredients
2kg water
100g salt
40g sugar
Star anise, thyme, rosemary, fennel seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds, garlic
For the pork sauce
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
2 large banana shallots thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves
50g smoked bacon trimmings
1 star anise
8 white peppercorns
1 Bramley apple, diced, skin on
100 calvados
1 small thyme chopped
2 bay leaves
500 chicken stock
300 beef stock
500 – 1kg pork belly bones, pre roasted to brown colour
50ml sherry vinegar
For the jacket potato mash
3 large baking potatoes
1 block salted butter (room temperature)
Method
For the pork brine
Brine the pork chops for 24hrs
For the pork sauce
In a heavy based saucepan roast the bacon trimmings. Add the shallots, veg, apple and aromatics and caramelise well. Deglaze with sherry vinegar, add the calvados to syrup, add the roasted pork bones, beef and chicken stock and bring to simmer.
Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface. Cook at a simmer, skimming regularly for 35-40 minutes, pass through a fine sieve and reduce to desired consistency.
For the jacket potato mash
Rub the skins with a little oil and roll in table salt and bake at 180c for 1hr30 mins or until completely cook through. Allow to cool to the point that you can handle them, slice in half and scoop put the flesh with a spoon.
Put in a potato ricer and whatever the weight of the potato add a 1/3 of the weight in butter - 1kg mash needs 333g of butter, for instance. Then add some warmed double cream to bind it together and salt if needed. Add a spoonful of quality wholegrain mustard to taste to finish if you like.
For the date and chestnut stuffing
1kg quality sausage meat
200g Paxo stuffing
75f chopped dates
75g chopped cooked chestnuts
For the date and chestnut stuffing
Make the Paxo as per instructions to the recipe weight, mix into the sausage meat with the dates and chestnuts and roll into sausages about 2inches wide.
Wrap in foil and bake in the oven at 170 for about 1hr or until it is cooked through, allow to chill and then slice into discs and these can be grilled or roasted to warm through.
To assemble
Allow the pork to come to room temperature, if you have a griddle pan use this and sear the pork chops with a little veg oil and turn them so they have crossed bar marks on them. If not just use a normal pan but get some nice colour on them, add some butter if you like.
These need cooking for approximately 8 minutes (4 mins each side). Allow them to rest and when resting brush with a little marmite butter (50g of marmite to 250g butter).
Put the warm mash on the plate, slice the pork in half and add with the buttered vegetable and drizzle the rich pork sauce all over, this is a lovely treat and something a little different from turkey to surprise you guests.
Chef’s tip: Why not add a few festive little extra treats to the dish with the stuffing, like English buttered sprouts, pigs in blankets, roasted rosemary carrots and some amazing kalettes that are in season right now.
Spoom recipe
Ingredients
400g raspberry puree
125g sugar
150g water
For the Italian meringue
150g caster sugar
4 egg whites
Method
Boil the sugar and water and add to the puree, put into an ice cream make and churn, then store in the freezer.
For the Italian meringue
Cover the sugar with a little water and bring to the boil, meanwhile start whisking your egg whites with a pinch of salt. They should become fluffy quit quickly. Using a sugar thermometer bring the syrup up to 118°c, at this point slowly drizzle over the whipping whites and keep whipping until the meringue is cool enough to touch the bowl.
To make the spoom, literally mix the sorbet and meringue 50/50, put in a piping bag and into the freezer until ready to use. Decorate it how you wish with lots of sprinkles, brandy snaps like in our picture and some raspberry jam.
