Blue cheese and preserved plums

A lovely serving suggestion from Trine Hahnemann's inviting book Scandinavian Christmas. The preserved plums couldn't be simpler.

Trine says: "The perfect end to a lovely meal. You simply have to drink port with it! Choose plums with sweetness and tender flesh."

Serves 8

For the preserved plums

500g plums

1 vanilla pod

200g caster sugar

50ml dark rum

To serve

250g Danish Blue, or any blue cheese (I would serve them with Stilton FB)

rye wafers (see picture)

Rinse and halve the plums and remove their stones. Divide them between sterilised jars.

Divide the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds.

Mix 500ml of water, the sugar, vanilla seeds and pod in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, then add the rum and pour over the plums. Each jar must be filled to the top. Seal the jars immediately.

The plums will be best after four or five days. (Stored in the fridge or a dark, cool place, they will keep for two or three months.) Before you serve them, bring them to room temperature.

Place the cheese on a platter with a jar of preserved plums and provide plenty of rye wafers. Serve with port. (I would choose a Late Bottled Vintage port with this)

This recipe comes from Scandinavian Christmas by Trine Hahnemann, published by Quadrille Publishing. RRP £16.99 Photography by Lars Ranek

 

Beetroot latkes: the perfect recipe for Thanksgivukkah

The idea of Thanksgivukkah - a once-in-a-lifetime simultaneous celebration of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah - has really caught on. Caterer Elly Curshen of Bristol's Pear Café comes up with her perfect starter.

Elly writes: "This year, the first day of Hanukkah and the American holiday of Thanksgiving fall on the same day.

Because the Gregorian and Jewish calendars are worked out in different ways, and have slightly different average year lengths, over time they drift out of sync with each other. Thanksgiving Day will not fall entirely within the eight days of Hanukkah again in any of our lifetimes (It has been calculated that, if the Jewish calendar is not revised, Thursday, November 28 will not fall during Hanukkah again for another 77,798 years!).

Both these holidays are basically incredibly food-centred so for a once in a lifetime event, what do you serve?

North American/Thanksgiving favourites such as pumpkin, cranberries, sweet potatoes and turkey can happily appear on Thanksgivukkah menus alongside the Hanukkah essentials.

According to my grandma Angela, for a traditional Hanukkah dinner latkes [think of them as Jewish hash browns!] and doughnuts are a must. Anything else is up to you'. Basically the Jewish festival of lights calls for fried stuff. Suits me.

Due to it being such a rare occasion, celebrating Thanksgivukkah is a chance to create new 'classics' - there's no right or wrong here. Doughnuts with a spiced pumpkin filling? Sweet potato latkes with apple sauce? Turkey with challah stuffing? YES to all of it!

Here are a couple of ideas if you fancy celebrating. Any excuse for fried things and booze, in my opinion.

Beetroot latkes with horseradish sour cream, smoked salmon, red onion and rocket

Makes 12 canapé-sized latkes, or 6 bigger starter-sized ones.

Peel and grate a largish raw beetroot and a largish raw potato using a food processor or by hand.

Squeeze out as much liquid as possible. When you think you're done, squeeze the rest out. You want the mixture as dry as possible.

Put into a large bowl and add salt, pepper, one beaten egg and enough cornflour so that you have a stiffish mixture. About half a cup as a guide.

Leave for 10 to 20 minutes and then using a spoon, dollop piles of the mixture into hot oil, 1cm deep. You can make them mini, canapé sized or larger - don't go bigger than the size of your palm though or they won't cook through.

Flatten them down in the pan and flip over when well browned. Cook on both sides then drain on kitchen roll. Serve hot, topped with horseradish flavoured sour cream, smoked salmon, very finely sliced red onion and a bit of rocket.

Variations:

* Use sweet potato instead of the beetroot/potato mix. This won't need to be squeezed as much as it is naturally a lot drier. Add some very finely diced red onion to tone down the sweetness and season very well with salt and black pepper.

* Try topping with apple sauce (chopped Bramley apple, a little water, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, a little sugar, slowly cooked down over a low heat) and sour cream.

And how about making doughnuts and dusting them with granulated sugar and the traditional pumpkin pie spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice) while still hot? My friend Sig (aka Signe Johansen of Scandilicious) has a great recipe. Just make up your own spiced sugar mix to taste.

What to drink with the latkes: Fried stuff calls for chilled fino sherry in Elly's and my book but I know that's not to everyone's taste. A sparkling wine like cava or prosecco or even champagne would be great as would a crisp Sauvignon Blanc or the Barkan Fusion White 2012, a zesty blend of Sauvignon, Colombard and Chardonnay from Israel (£9.49 Marks & Spencer) FB

Chocolate and cherry roulade

To celebrate Chocolate Week here's one of my favourite recipes for a chocolate and cherry roulade which comes from my book An Appetite for Ale. Unusually it contains two different types of beer! You can obviously leave one of them out though a cherry beer is the perfect pairing with it.

Making a roulade might sound daunting but is actually no more difficult than making a chocolate mousse providing you have the right kit (see below)

For the roulade

175g Belgian dark luxury chocolate*

2 tbsp stout, porter or black coffee

5 large eggs, separated

125g caster sugar

For the filling

350g pitted morello cherries or stoned fresh, black cherries

2 tbsp Kriek or other cherry beer or cherry juice

1 tbsp kirsch (optional)

284ml carton double cream

1-2 tbsp caster sugar

To assemble

Icing sugar

You will need a 33cm x 23cm shallow rectangular ‘swiss roll’ tin, some non-stick baking parchment, several large bowls and an electric hand whisk

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Lightly grease the baking tin and line with a piece of non-stick baking parchment.

Break up the chocolate and put it in a bowl with the stout, porter or coffee. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the base of the pan doesn’t touch the water. Leave to melt, stir once to amalgamate and take off the heat.

Put the eggs and sugar in another bowl and whisk together for a couple of minutes until light and moussey. Fold in the chocolate mixture with a large spoon.

In another bowl - and a clean whisk - whisk the egg whites until they just hold their shape. Add a couple of tablespoons of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture to lighten it then fold in the rest of the egg whites lightly without overmixing.

Tip the chocolate mixture gently into the baking tin and lightly and evenly spread it over the base of the tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until the top is risen and firm to the touch.

Leave the roulade in the tin, cover with another sheet of baking parchment and lay a damp teatowel over the top. Leave for at least 3 hours. Meanwhile drain the cherries, if bottled or stone them if fresh, halving or quartering them if they’re particularly large. Put them in a bowl, with the kriek and a few drops of kirsch and refrigerate.

To assemble the roulade lay a large piece of baking parchment on your work surface and dust it with sifted icing sugar. Carefully tip the roulade onto the paper. Peel away the baking parchment off the base of the roulade and trim the edges.

Strain the cherries, reserving the juice. Lightly whip the cream until just holding its shape, fold in the kriek or cherry juice and sweeten to taste. Spread the cream over the roulade leaving a space round the edges and scatter the cherries on top. Using the paper roll the roulade up like a Swiss roll (don’t worry if it cracks), carefully transfer to a serving plate and sift over a little extra icing sugar.

* you don’t want chocolate that is too high in cocoa solids for this recipe. Choose one of about 55-60% cocoa solids (available in the baking section of supermarkets)

What to drink: As I said this was originally intended to go with cherry beer but a chocolate stout or a sweet red wine like a Recioto della Valpolicella would work well too. Serve the cherry beer in a champagne flute - it looks amazing!

Photos © Vanessa Courtier

Andhra Curry-leaf Chicken

When I met Christine Manfield a while ago I gave her the impossible task of picking one recipe out of her stunning book Tasting India. This was the one she chose.

It comes from the southern state of Karnataka, the former state of Mysore and is typical of the surprising straightforwardness of the recipes in the book.

Andhra Curry-leaf Chicken
For me, this is one of the enduring tastes of Karnataka. I never imagined I would come across something so completely delicious served unadorned on a small plate as a pub snack – this recipe comes from Bangalore’s Windsor Pub.

SERVES 4
1.2 kg chicken thigh fillets, cut into 4 cm chunks
4 tablespoons cashew paste*
2 large dried red chillies
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons shredded curry leaves
2 tablespoons fried curry leaves **

MARINADE
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 large dried red chilli, broken into small pieces
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste ***
3 tomatoes, chopped
150g thick plain yoghurt

To make the marinade, combine all the ingredients. Add the chicken and mix to coat. Marinate for 10 minutes.

Tip the chicken and its marinade into a large frying pan and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 10 minutes. It should not be too wet?–?the marinade should have reduced and coated the chicken. Add the cashew paste, chillies, salt and shredded curry leaves and stir. Cook for another few minutes. Remove from the heat and sprinkle over the fried curry leaves to serve.

* To make the cashew paste blend raw cashews with an equal volume of water in a food processor to make a thick paste

** To fry curry leaves heat some vegetable oil to 170°C and fry fresh curry leaves in small batches for 20 seconds until their colour darkens. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Store in an airtight container

*** To make Garlic Ginger Paste blend 10 large roughly chopped garlic cloves in a food processor with a roughly chopped 8-10cm piece of ginger (equivalent to 3 tbsp chopped ginger) and a little water or pound with a mortar and pestle until you have a smooth paste

Tasting India by Christine Manfield is published by Conran Octopus at £40

What to drink: I haven't yet made this but can tell it's going to be quite hot and spicy, a challenging dish to pair with wine. I think I'd probably go for a strong dry(ish) ros from Portugal or Chile. A lager would also be an option but I'm not sure that I don't fancy one of the delicious non-alcoholic drinks that Christine has in the book such as Ginger Lime Soda which is made like a mojito with ginger. Or just a straight mojito, come to that.