Main: Roast Chicken with Apricot Cous Cous Stuffing plus Baked Pumpkin with Thyme & Brie
From: Delicious Christmas 2020
Dessert: Raspberry Gingerbread Ice Cream Cake
From: Delicious Christmas 2020
Washed down with Sparkling Watermelon and Basil Mojitos!!
Hi Everyone!
Well, getting in the mood for some Xmas feasting and trying out several recipes from the latest Delicious Christmas Magazine was the order of the day. There were so many fabulous recipes that it was hard to choose so I aimed for the ones that would make Xmas a little less tough on the pocket.
Sometimes I find turkey can get a little dry so I was keen to try the Roast Chicken in this Delicious Mag because it had the most interesting stuffing as well as spectacular butter pushed under the skin. I bought two beautiful little chickens which were on special making this the most cost effective xmas meal I have ever served. Once washed and dried they are stuffed with a delicious couscous, apricot, pistachio, herby stuffing that is so tasty I could easily eat it as a salad on its own.
It had a fresh flavour and even once cooked in the chicken it wasn’t gluggy. However, the absolute joy of this dish is the Pickled Eggplant Butter. Now, before I go on let me say that this butter could be incredibly versatile. It would go with steak, chicken snittys, sausages, ham and the list goes on. Anyway back to the recipe – very simple, once you’ve softened the eggplant (which, by the way is in the Indian section of the grocery store) you just throw it all in the stand mixer and away you go. Make the butter the day before so that it has time to set in the fridge ready for slicing.
I made a gravy from the drippings because MAV cannot live without gravy but just imagine all the juicy bits and the butter drippings that were a part of that. You can tell I really enjoyed this can’t you. This is basically baked chicken with a wonderful modern twist. Hey, I’m going serve it on baked dinner night and not keep it just for Xmas. A unanimous 10/10 for these humble little birds.
Baked Pumpkin with Thyme and Brie just sounds so mouthwatering doesn’t it? Well, I started this recipe and thought to myself the whole time “oh my goodness this is too much work for Xmas morning”.
I wanted to pre-cook it to leave the oven free for the chickens and then I just re-heated it. It is rustic and messy and labour intensive so I was against this dish before I even served it up and then I took a mouthful. It is the most delightful vegetable dish I have cooked in a long time. The flavours of garlic, fennel, thyme, tomato passata mooshed up with brie and comté cheese are insane. Everyone raved about it so, regardless of the effort it took, I’ll definitely do this one again. When you go to buy the cheese for this dish, to reduce the cost, go for an inexpensive brie and perhaps substitute the comté cheese for a hard tasty cheese. 10/10
I added hasselback potatoes and a charred vegetable salad (which I’ve done loads of times before but will include the recipe here again) and Xmas dinner was served.
Dessert was an ice-cream cake which is something I have never done before so was keen to try but in my usual way, not calculating freezer space, there had to be some speedy re-arranging. You will need a decent freezer as this is a large cake and then if you want to do the meringue on the top in advance of your function, you can put it back in the freezer but you will need height space also.
I added extra fruit to this ice cream just because I had berries in the fridge that needed to be used and it worked really well. If you love ginger this is the dessert for you. I am not overly fond of it, however, my guests loved it. I think I would give it another go certainly because it is not a difficult dessert but use lime or lemon instead of ginger. The crust is too thick so don’t feel you need to use all of the madeira cake or use an even larger pan and definitely use a springform one (the recipe doesn’t tell you to do so but really it will be the easiest way to manage it). The Italian style meringue is always a winner. This also received 10/10.
Word of advice – don’t start drinking the mojitos too early or you will not get dinner on the table. Wahoo, they went down very well indeed.
Hope you find something here for your Xmas table. Until next time.
From my table to yours with love x
