My old friend Welsh Dog asks (in his comment on my post below) about our Christmas dinner. I have to confess that no boats were rocked this year. There was prawn cocktail to start, gravy accompanied the turkey, and Christmas pudding was served at the conclusion, duly flamed in brandy. (The presence of my Mother at the Christmas board is now conditional on all three, after the infamous "No Gravy?" complaint of 2005)
My country cousin Stewart made the prawn cocktail dressing, mixing worcestershire, sweet chilli sauce and nutmeg into a chiffonade of lettuce and fennel in a style which was casual but dedicated. I have to say that prawn cocktail is practically the only dish that I ever allow the dreaded Iceberg lettuce anywhere near. (Apart, maybe, from in tortillas with chilli, cheese and guacamole.)
Our turkey, a free-range bronze, was supplied by Godfrey's of Highbury. Reared in Berkshire by Copas, it was delicious. Once again the highlight was the leg meat; rich, gamey, moist, almost like duck. If Copas could breed an octopod turkey with breasts like Twiggy I for one would be well happy.
A quick mention for the pudding is also deserved. It came from Duchy Originals, and was quite simply the best any of the eight of us had ever tasted. It was light, fruitfull, and moreish. At least half of us had seconds. The homemade rum and raisin ice cream never made a return journey to the freezer either.
All in all, a lovely meal. No photos though, just warm memories of a job well done.
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2 comments:
Your meal sounds really pleasant! How many of you were there? Sounds as though at least four... but maybe a long way short of our eleven?
As you'll have perhaps seen from my blog I abandoned a large part of the planned meal (or perhaps I didn't write that part up fully?) because of the uncertainty over who had agreed to do what.
Despite my insistence on 'buffet' style meals on Xmas Day, this year I rediscovered the utility of having a specific menu prepared for and presented at a specific time. Because of the numbers our meal would have been far easier to prepare had I gone down that path.
As for content, I confess I've few qualms over using iceberg lettuce, especially in mixed salad dishes. Despite an amazing lack of flavour it does at least add texture to 'green' salads... unless of course it's spent several days (or weeks?) languishing at the bottom of the fridge awaiting it's date with destiny and the chopping board. Then I agree it *is* quite gross.
Over the years I've become less and less enamoured with turkey and it's now on the table simply for tradition. Possibly this is as much to do with the heat here over Xmas and the perceived need, in previous years, to have a running buffet rather than a sit-down lunch/dinner. Pork is also becoming a quite depressing meat to eat so, pro tem, we have become a 'ham family'.
Next year I may well experiment with some exotic alternatives!?! :)
Finally... we still have our Xmas puddings in the pantry! Sadly nobody, apart from myself, seemed at all interested in them and so they weren't warmed, flamed *or* even surreptitiously consumed at midnight with lashings of cream.
Neither wife nor children like those dense, heavy, peculiarly British, fruit cakes or puddings and so it falls to me to preserve these descendants of the old 'frumenty'!!
Come hell or high water, on *that* score... I'll do my part. :)
Kind words as always.
There were eight of us for dinner this year. (Not including our visiting cats Tigger and Bernard. {They were as good as gold, sleeping quietly in our sitting room whilst our country cousins with cat allergies dined, sneeze-free, next door. They got diced raw turkey liver, chopped gizzard and giblet gravy as a reward for their patience.})
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