christmas – Cook and Drink

Smoked Salmon and Egg Salad

26 December 2024

The joy of preparing food together, the joy of eating tasty and simple food, the joy of sharing. It’s one of the themes of Together: Our Community Kitchen, our suggestion for this year’s Christmas cookery book. It was written by a group of residents, gathering in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire in London. They began cooking food for their families, friends and neighbours. Food that helped restore hope and provided a sense of home.

The recipe for this tasty salad is simple, quick and fun to make. It is rich, with warm flavours, a bold structure and of course lots of salmon. The egg yolks are set, but only just, adding to the great mouthfeel. Take some crusted bread, put the salad on top of it, perhaps a bit extra?, and enjoy!

Wine Pairing

A glass of dry sparkling wine will be great. A glass of Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay will also fine, as long as the wine is acidic enough to balance the fat from the fish and the egg. We enjoyed a glass of Sicilian white wine made by Baglio di Grìsi with the local grillo-grape. This full-bodied wine has the right level of acidity and minerality. Excellent with the salmon and the egg.

What you need

2 Organic (or Demeter) Eggs
100 grams organic Smoked Salmon
Chives
Mayonnaise
Crème Fraîche
Mustard
Lemon
Black pepper

What You Do

Boil the eggs until slightly set. Peel and let cool. Coarsely slice the salmon. Same with the eggs. Chop the chives. Combine one tablespoon of mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons of crème fraîche, 1 teaspoon of mustard, chives, a few drops of lemon and black pepper. Add the salmon and combine. Add the egg and gently combine. Now it’s a matter of tasting. Perhaps you want to add more mayonnaise, crème fraîche or lemon. Let cool and serve with crusted bread.

We wish you a wonderful 2025 with lots of culinary adventures!
Mr. Cook and Mr. Drink

Season’s Greetings

19 December 2021

Perhaps you’re looking for some extra inspiration menu-wise for the Holiday Season? Let us help you with a few suggestions.

Apéretif

It’s of course great to serve a glass of Champagne, but why not start with a glass of Crémant de Bourgogne or Alsace? Or a Spanish Cava? The fun is that you can buy a slightly more expensive Crémant or Cava and enjoy a refined sparkling wine. Serve with Terrine de Foie Gras on toast or with a small prawn cocktail, served in a peeled tomato.

Starter

Scallops with fluffy cauliflower purée is a wonderful combination of flavours. The practical advantage is that you can prepare the purée a day ahead and grilling the pancetta is also something you can do in advance. Serve with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Dry, some acidity, touch of fruit.

Main Course

Canard à l’Orange, served with steamed Brussels sprouts and potatoes fried in butter: a dish that supports the festive character of your evening: sweetness, a touch of bitterness and crispy, rich potatoes. Enjoy with a beautiful Bordeaux. In general you’re looking for a powerful red wine, with aromas of berries and a touch of oak. The flavour must be round and long with subtle tannins.

Cheese

We tend to go for the classic combination of Stilton and Port. Spend some money and buy a Late Bottled Vintage Port.

Dessert

Continue the British tradition and enjoy a slice of Christmas Pudding with a coffee and a glass of Cognac or Calvados. No need to serve the pudding with brandy butter.

Roulade of Turkey with Chestnuts, served with Brussels Sprouts and Madeira Sauce

25 December 2018

Time to start cooking for friends!

This exciting dish is a combination of classic ingredients, things you love to eat in December: turkey, Brussels Sprouts and Chestnuts. Our version of Roulade of Turkey with Chestnuts, served with Brussels Sprouts and a Madeira Sauce is tasty, tender and juicy. The pancetta and the chestnuts in the roulade combine extremely well with the sprouts (tip of the day: steam Brussels sprouts, let cool and set aside. Warm butter gently in a skillet and add sprouts, crumbled chestnuts and slices of bacon or pancetta. Bit of nutmeg on top and a it’s ready to serve.)
The dish does require a bit of preparation, so make sure you start early or even better, start the day before.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our roulade with a bottle of 2016 Malbec, produced by Kaiken, Argentina. The wine comes with a hint of plum. It is soft, intense purple-red, has velvety tannins and is round in its taste. This combines very well with the sweetness of the chestnuts and the Madeira. In general you are looking for an intense but not overpowering red wine, one that is both soft and present.

What you need (Chestnut Butter)

250 grams of fresh Chestnuts
Butter

With a sharp knife make a cross in the chestnuts. It doesn’t really matter where you do this; it’s just to help you remove the outer shell later on. Wash the chestnuts and cook them for 10 minutes or so. Cool and remove the shell. Transfer back to a pan of water and cook them for another 30 minutes or so. Let cool and peel of the skin of the chestnuts. This requires patience! Blender half of the chestnuts with some butter until you have a nice, tasty chestnut butter.

What you need (filling)

350 grams of Chestnut Mushrooms
Olive Oil
Butter
50 grams of Pancetta
Cognac
Chestnut butter
Chestnuts

Clean the mushrooms and cut into smaller chunks. Fry the mushrooms for a few minutes and then add the very thinly sliced pancetta. Fry for another few minutes. Add the cognac and allow for the alcohol to evaporate. Crumble the chestnuts. Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl and combine with the chestnut butter and the crumbled chestnuts. Season with a bit of pepper. You will now have a dough like mixture of mushrooms and chestnuts. Let cool before using it.

What you need (Roulade of Turkey)

Two whole legs of Turkey
Pancetta
Filling
Kitchen twine and needle

Remove the bone from the legs and ‘unfold’ the meat, making it longer. Combine the two parts into one, making sure they are overlapping and that the meat on the outside is covered with skin. This can be a bit of a puzzle! Make a strip of pancetta from left to right, one-third from the bottom. Put the filling on top of the strip and then spread it out, making sure the top and bottom are not covered. Put 4 or 6 strings of kitchen twine underneath the roulade and start rolling. Not too tight. We closed the two sides of the roulade using a meat-stitching needle. After all, the filling needs to be inside the roulade. Wrap the roulade in plastic foil and keep in the refrigerator for 6 hours minimum.
Ready to cook? Fry the roulade to give it a nice colour and then transfer to an 180˚ Celsius oven. It’s ready when the centre has reached a temperature of 80˚ Celsius. Leave to rest for 30 minutes. In the mean time gently fry the steamed Brussels sprouts and in parallel create the Madeira sauce.

What you need (Madeira Sauce)

Chicken stock
Carrot
Thyme
Rosemary
Bay leaf
Madeira (medium dry Madeira is fine. Keep the dry Madeira as an aperitif)

Creating a true Madeira sauce actually requires a Sauce Espagnol (which is funny because Madeira is part of Portugal) but we take a short cut by pimping chicken stock. Cook the stock with a few slices of carrot, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf. After 30 minutes you will have the most powerful chicken stock ever. Pass through a sieve. Combine Madeira, stock and the juices of the cooked Turkey in a pan, reduce the liquid for 10 minutes or so and then stir in two or three lumps of very cold butter.

Serve two slices of Turkey Roulade per person with the sauce and some Brussels sprouts. A touch of black pepper on the turkey and some fresh nutmeg (from Sri Lanka, of course!) on the sprouts.