In many families, mine included, Christmas can be quite a challenge. Everyone, but everyone has an opinion, and it's often that everything should be exactly the same as it was last year. And the year before that. "We always have turkey/brussels sprouts with chestnuts/parsnips roasted with honey…" come the cries, even from those who never do any of the cooking.
Actually, especially from those who never do any of the cooking. It can be frustrating for those of us who do do the cooking, trying to ring the changes without facing family mutiny at some point between the opening of the presents and the Queen's speech. Or the Bond movie. Or the first howls when it transpires that batteries were not included…
So we cooks need to get a little sneaky to keep things interesting for ourselves, and the two components of the meal that best offer themselves up to changes are the starter and the stuffing. That way, you can serve whatever your family's well-worn formula is for harmonious Christmas feasting while still allowing your creative juices to flow.
Starters need to be fairly light, but still have about them a sense of luxury. Of course, you could do a lot worse than a wonderful platter of oysters alongside a selection of Tabasco, lemon wedges and a little bowl of finely chopped shallot macerated in wine vinegar and a bit of sugar. Or try my recipe for smoked mackerel with horseradish and beetroot from 27 November, so much more original and tasty than smoked salmon. And seeing that we've established we're catering for a bunch of traditionalists, why not go completely retro and serve up crab cocktail? It's astonishingly good, and more sustainable than the standard 70s version using prawns.
Stuffings really allow you to go to town, tweaking the ingredients, playing with the seasoning. For me, they're often the best part of the Christmas meal. I recently challenged River Cottage's head chef Gill Meller to a great stuffing cook-off, and I give you our creations here. Do try our recipes, but do make them your own, too. Substitute apples for pears, say, or hazelnuts for almonds; add a handful of soaked sultanas in place of the dates; have a free hand with the herbs and citrus. Both of our stuffings go very well with turkey, chicken, goose or even with a boned, rolled shoulder of pork.
Christmas is certainly a time for tradition, but it's also a time for creating new traditions, too. And you'll know your attempts at subversive cheffing have been a success when next year the cry goes up, "We always have that stuffing – you know, the one with the pears and celeriac."
Crab cocktail
I love this take on that 70s favourite the prawn cocktail, though I use the more sustainable crab in favour of prawns. Serves four.
3 tbsp good mayonnaise
2 tbsp ketchup
1½ tsp brandy
A dash of Worcestershire sauce
A dash of Tabasco
A pinch of sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
About 500g fresh crab meat, picked over for bits of shell
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4-6 leaves romaine lettuce (iceberg at a push), roughly shredded
1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges
In a bowl, combine the mayo, ketchup, brandy, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and sugar, mix well and season to taste. Lightly toss the crab meat with the olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Line four bowls with shredded lettuce, divide the crab between the bowls and trickle some of the dressing over the top. Serve immediately with the lemon wedges.
Parsnip and date stuffing
This fruity stuffing, devised by Gill Meller in our cook-off, is great with turkey, goose or even roast pork. Serves six to eight.
2 tbsp goose fat or groundnut oil
200g smoked streaky bacon, chopped into 0.5cm pieces
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 parsnips, coarsely grated
1½ tbsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
1 bay leaf, very finely chopped
12 Medjool dates, finely chopped
1 large handful fresh white breadcrumbs
4 juniper berries, finely chopped
½ bunch parsley, tough stalks removed, the rest finely chopped
Zest of ½ orange
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Juice of ½ lemon
Heat the fat or oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bacon and fry gently until it begins to turn golden. Lower the temperature slightly, add the onion and sweat gently, stirring from time to time, until softened – about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the parsnips and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10-15 minutes. Add the thyme and bay, and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat and tip into a large bowl along with the dates, breadcrumbs, juniper, parsley, zest and seasoning. Give everything a stir, check seasoning, add the lemon juice and beaten egg, and mix lightly yet thoroughly until well combined.
You can stuff this mixture under the neck skin of a chicken, turkey or goose, and also put a little inside the cavity of the bird, but don't pack it full because the stuffing will expand and may not cook through properly. Remember to include the weight of the stuffing when calculating the cooking time of your bird. If you have any left over, you can bake it separately in a shallow, buttered dish, or roll it into balls for baking. If you are cooking the stuffing separately, bake it at 190C/375F/gas mark 5 for 35-45 minutes, depending on thickness, or until cooked through and golden.
Pear and celeriac stuffing
This was my contribution to the great River Cottage stuffing cook-off. I'm particularly fond of the combination of earthy celeriac with the sweet pears which, along with the liver from the bird, liven up an otherwise fairly traditional sausagemeat stuffing. Serves six to eight.
2-3 tbsp goose fat or groundnut oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
½ small celeriac, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
3 pears
500g sausagemeat (ideally pork shoulder, coarsely ground)
1 goose or turkey liver, or about 80g chicken livers, finely chopped
100g blanched almonds, finely chopped
1 handful fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tbsp finely chopped sage
1 tsp finely chopped thyme leaves
Pinch ground mace
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the goose fat or oil in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium-low heat, add the onion and cook gently, stirring from time to time, until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the celeriac and cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally.
Squeeze the lemon juice into a large mixing bowl. Peel and core the pears, then dice the fruit directly into the bowl. Toss it in the lemon juice to stop it discolouring. Add the remaining ingredients, then the cooked onion and celeriac, and give the whole lot a good stir. Season generously.
Cook as for the parsnip and date stuffing, and add the weight of the stuffing to that of the bird when calculating the cooking time if you are not cooking it separately
• The River Cottage Everyday iPhone App, featuring seasonal recipes, tips and videos, is now available to download from iTunes; rivercottage.net for details.
Comments in chronological order (Total 16 comments)
18 December 2010 10:17AM
Is this a picture of the crab cocktail looking its absolute best?
18 December 2010 11:18AM
Given that anything in sauce Marie Rose looks as if it's been eaten once already, then probably yes (though the photos accompanying HF-W's recipes do, rather often, tend to look like roadkill for some reason). And the "arty" blob of sauce on the tablecloth adds nothing to the picture at all and has clearly been placed there as neither dish is dribbling.
I'd take issue with that sauce, by the way, as ketchup is an extremely dominant flavouring, and I reckon an additional tablespoon of mayo would have been fine.
18 December 2010 11:20AM
It’s not prawn cocktail, but then neither is Hugh’s, but how about this as an improvement
Green pepper, celery, onion, garlic, finely chopped and sauté in the smallest amount of oil. Omit the Tabasco but add diced chillies [I used preserved ones as I grow my own, you could use the ones in jars from the supermarket or, if fresh, then add them to the green peppers before the pan sees them].
Forget ketchup and mayo, this isn’t Burger King, try sour cream, tomato puree and a sweet mustard. It seems to work OK with most seafood- the observant will notice the Cajun influence.
18 December 2010 11:30AM
I forgot, consider one of the winter lettuces as 'cups' to contain the said creation; I like Chicory, also if you can get your hands on good tomatoes at this time of year... but next I will be trying to say Santa is real.
Incidentally, I really wish we could have a backlash against Mayo, an abhorrence first created to mask food unfit for human consumption, hence its appearance in seafood and egg dishes. Once the Anglo tradition gets hold of the concept we get things like ketchup and Mayo being acceptable on all manner of things.
18 December 2010 1:13PM
Did a crab deserve to die to be slathered in ketchup, mayonnaise and tabasco.
Vomit inducing and looks like vomit already
18 December 2010 3:00PM
I'm a H F-W fan but his dirty lemon actually made me think I had a speck on my laptop and I tried to rub it off. This peculiar phenomenon has not happened in 15 years of devoted internet surfing. Shame on Hugh...or Ghost Writing/Photographer Hugh.
18 December 2010 8:57PM
how about fresh spider crab legs shelled and eaten with your fingers, and served simply with good mayonnaise and/or lemons? absolutely heavenly and no need for all the fussy extra bits...
that will be the highlight of our seafood extravaganza on christmas eve, along with oysters with lemons or finely chopped shallots in cider vinegar, and langoustines baked in garlic butter...
oh and GALLONS of fizzy! god i can't wait!
19 December 2010 9:13AM
Wouldn't have killed the stylist to put a bit of parsley on top, or a couple of slices through a red chilli. Unappetising looking dish.
19 December 2010 9:57AM
There really are some miserable people on this community. Lighten up, geez!
19 December 2010 11:29AM
The general idea is nice enough though I'd tone down the ketchup if preparing a seafood cocktail thing with a crab. (The picture is a bit funny - 'dirty lemon' indeed -sounds like a techno band!) Actually, I'd really like some of this right now, for lunch. Need something a bit bright and refreshing after a little too much wine last night!
19 December 2010 11:33AM
Sparebulb, could you support your contention that 'Mayo was devised to mask...?'
Real home-made mayonnaise raises the status of many a humble ingredient - a boiled egg, for example. Using lemon juice instead of vinegar and avoiding the really peppery kinds of olive oil, even using some sunflower oil instead, renders it fitter to serve alongside a more delicate flavoured main course?
19 December 2010 4:00PM
Christmas Eve menus should always be kept light and refreshing, in anticipation of the huge meal the next day. One of my favourites is to put out a platter - cold cuts, anti pasti, hunks of sour dough or whole grain bread, apples, cheeses, crudites, olives, and some good home made dips - guacamole, pate, hummous
mackerel pate - keep life simple by buying ready to eat smoked mackerels, light grill, flake, process with ricotta, sour cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, maybe a few capers, and cayenne pepper or paprika
I also do a roast pepper and tomato salsa - roast tomatoes and red and yellow peppers with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and herbs, - whiz them with some olive oil and maybe a touch of lemon juice - stays for a few days in the fridge and you can serve this with anything from fish to steaks to cold cuts or even on naan, chapatis, bread, or even mixed in with some pasta or rice
19 December 2010 4:18PM
I like much of what Hurgly Furgly-Wurgly does but I have to say I'm with the majority on this one as far as presentation is concerned.
It looks like pavement pizza in a sundae dish.
19 December 2010 4:48PM
I only need to point you towards the receipt above, which drenches the sweet flavour of crabmeat in ketchup and mayo- like some pre-digested crab- burger.
19 December 2010 5:57PM
@sparebulb
Fixed that for you.
19 December 2010 6:31PM
@Toadjuggler;
I'd have garnished it with a very intricate rainbow trout replica.