It’s December, Christmas entertaining is in full swing and we’ve pulled together some of our favourite festive food recipes from Gourmet Traveller to get you inspired in the kitchen. Say goodbye to 2020 and toast to the year ahead!
Gourmet Traveller. Photo: William Meppem
White Christmas with sour cherries, almonds and Grand Marnier
INGREDIENTS
50 gm natural almonds
150 ml pouring cream
40 ml Grand Marnier
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon and ½ orange
600 gm couverture white chocolate, finely chopped (see note)
100 gm rice puffs
60 gm dried sour cherries (see note)
50 gm glacé orange, diced
METHOD
1) Preheat oven to 180C and line a 13cm x 23cm cake tin with baking paper. Spread almonds on an oven tray and roast until darkened (4-5 minutes), cool to room temperature, then coarsely chop and set aside.
2) Bring cream, Grand Marnier and rinds just to the boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, add chocolate and stand for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. Combine rice puffs, sour cherries, almonds and ½ tsp sea salt in a bowl, add chocolate mixture and combine well, then spoon into cake tin, press top to smooth and refrigerate until set (1 hour). Cut into pieces with a hot, wet knife and store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a month.
Gourmet Traveller. Photo: Ben Dearnley
White fish crudo with avocado, herbs and cucumber-lime dressing
INGREDIENTS
300 gm sashimi-grade white fish, such as kingfish, bream or snapper, thinly sliced
1½ golden shallots, thinly sliced
1 avocado, diced into 2cm pieces
½ long green chilli, thinly sliced
Torn coriander, mint and basil leaves, and extra-virgin olive oil, to serve
Cucumber-lime dressing
⅓ telegraph cucumber, half-peeled
Juice of 2 juicy limes
1 tbsp coarsely chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp honey
METHOD
1) For cucumber dressing, process ingredients in a blender until smooth, then strain through a coarse sieve.
2) Combine fish, shallot, avocado and chilli in a bowl, toss lightly, then transfer to serving bowls. Spoon on dressing, top with herbs, season to taste, drizzle with a little olive oil and serve.
Gourmet Traveller. Photo: John Paul Urizar
Dark-chocolate and sour-cherry panforte
INGREDIENTS
225 gm blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
150 gm blanched hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
100 gm each dried figs and dried sour cherries, coarsely chopped
30 gm dark chocolate (64% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
20 gm Dutch-process cocoa, sieved, plus 25gm extra for dusting
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground white pepper
175 gm honey
75 gm caster sugar
METHOD
1) Preheat oven to 190C. Use one large sheet of baking paper to line the base and sides of a 22cm-diameter cake tin, so that there are no gaps (don’t worry about creases). Combine nuts, figs, sour cherries, chocolate and cocoa with half the cinnamon and ½ tsp ground white pepper in a bowl.
2) Stir honey and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then cook without boiling until syrupy (2-3 minutes).
3) Working quickly, pour honey mixture over nut mixture and mix well to combine, then spoon into prepared cake tin, presssing well into tin and smooth top with a hot, wet spatula. Bake until
dark and glossy (35-40 minutes). Cool completely in tin (3-4 hours).
4) Combine extra cocoa with remaining cinnamon, remove panforte from tin and dust top with cocoa. Wrap tightly in baking paper, then in wrapping of your choice. The flavour of panforte will develop over time so it’s best eaten after a few days; it will keep wrapped for up to a month.
Gourmet Traveller. Photo: Con Poulos
Fig, prosciutto, pear and witlof salad with pomegranate vinaigrette
INGREDIENTS
3 sensation pears, quartered, cored and placed in acidulated water
3 small heads each of white and red witlof, leaves separated
6 figs, quartered
12 slices of prosciutto
Pomegranate vinaigrette
1 large pomegranate, seeds removed
As required: extra-virgin olive oil
METHOD
1) For pomegranate vinaigrette, reserve 1/3 cup seeds, then place remaining seeds in a heavy sieve over a bowl and, using a wooden rolling pin, crush other seeds to extract as much juice as possible then discard solids. Combine pomegranate juice with an equal quantity of extra-virgin olive oil.
2) Drain pears, then thinly slice lengthways. Alternatively lay witlof, figs, prosciutto and pears in a large shallow bowl, scatter with reserved pomegranate seeds and pour vinaigrette over. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper and serve immediately.
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