A Christmas feast from Eunice Power and Belling.

Ingredients

Starter: Traditional Mushroom Vol Au Vents
These very traditional Christmas starters never seem to go out of fashion!

  • 6 large frozen vol au vents
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 25g Butter
  • 400g mushrooms sliced, button mushrooms are fine but if you can incorporate another variety it will contribute to the flavour.
  • 1 Large clove of garlic finely grated
  • 175ml cream
  • A tablespoon of finely chopped Parsley
  • Salt and pepper

Main Dish: Christmas Pork Steak with Cranberry & Port Relish
This dish can be prepared the day before and wrapped and left in the fridge. If you are not going to cook immediately allow the sausage meat stuffing to cool before stuffing the pork fillet. This stuffing recipe can be served with Turkey. I usually double the recipe and bake it in a lined loaf tin, covered with some tin foil, it will take about 40 minutes at 180c

Serves 4

  • 1 pork fillets, trimmed, sinew removed (approx. 700g)
  • 30g butter
  • 1 Stick of celery, finely chopped
  • 1/2 Small leek, finely chopped
  • 1/2 medium onion finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 200g sausage meat
  • I orange, zested
  • 3 Tablespoons of orange juice
  • 25g Dried Cranberries
  • 25g Pistachios nuts
  • 160g pack of Streaky Bacon
  • Salt and Pepper

Cranberry & Port Relish

  • 450g cranberries
  • Rind and juice of one orange
  • 1 teaspoon for freshly grated ginger
  • 75g caster sugar
  • A piece of cinnamon bark
  • 4 cloves
  • 3 Tablespoons of port

Dessert: Christmas Sherry Trifle

For the Custard

  • 4 egg yolks
  • I tbsp of cornflour
  • I teaspoon of vanilla extract or paste
  • 125h caster sugar
  • 600ml milk

For the filling

  • 6 trifle sponges
  • 3 Tablespoons of raspberry jam
  • 175ml of sherry
  • 500g frozen raspberries
  • 3 dessert spoons of caster sugar

To finish

  • 200 ml whipped cream
  • 2 Tablespoons of crème fraiche
  • A handful of toasted almonds

Method

Starter: Traditional Mushroom Vol Au Vents

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C
  2. Place the frozen vol au vents on a baking tray at least 2.5cm apart. Brush the vol au vents with beaten egg yolk and place in the oven. The Vol au Vents will take about 15 minutes to cook, check halfway through cooking and turn the tray halfway though cooking. Allow to cook slightly, then using a sharp knife cut out the 'lids' on top as set aside.
  3. To make the filling, melt the butter in a largish frying pan over medium heat, Add the mushrooms and fry, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic, cook for another minute, pour in the cream, and allow to bubble coating the mushrooms, season to taste.
  4. Divide the mixture between the 6 vol au vent cases, pop the lid on top and serve.

Main Dish: Christmas Pork Steak with Cranberry & Port Relish

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c
  2. Soak the cranberries in the orange juice.
  3. Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat and add the celery, leek, onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes until softened. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sausage meat, orange zest, pistachios and cranberries soaked in orange juice season with salt and pepper.
  4. Lay the pork fillet on a chopping board and using a sharp knife remove the white sinew. It is very important to do this, if you don’t the sinew will shrink and the pork will be tough. The butterfly by slicing lengthways to open the fillet. Lay a piece of cling film over the fillet and using a rolling pin bash the pork so that it is the same thickness all over.
  5. Prepare on a work surface 2 layers of cling film and layer the streaky bacon beside each other to fit the length of the pork fillet. I usually give these a little bash with the rolling pin so that they stretch out a little bit. Place the butterflied pork fillet in the centre of the streaky bacon and add the stuffing in the middle. Using the cling film to help, fold the pork fillet and streaky bacon over to enclose the stuffing completely. Then transfer to a roasting dish, place in the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes or until the bacon is crisp and the pork is cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave aside to settle for a few minutes.

Cranberry & Port Relish

  1. Blitz the cranberries in a food processor the put them in a saucepan, add all the ingredients except the port to the pan and bring to a simmer, simmer for about 5 minutes.
  2. Then remove the pan from the heat and stir in the port.
  3. Allow to cool, pick out the cloves and cinnamon.
  4. This can be stored in the fridge for two weeks.

Dessert: Christmas Sherry Trifle

  1. Mix a dash of sherry with the raspberry jam. Cut the sponges lengthways and spread one side with jam, sandwich together each one into 3 pieces. Line the bottom and sides of the bowl with the sponge sandwiches. Drizzle the rest of the sherry over the sponge.
  2. Next, make the custard, whisk the egg yolk with corn flour, vanilla sugar and 2 tbsp of sugar in a bowl. Put the remaining milk in a saucepan and slowly bring it to a boil. Pour onto the egg mixture whisking constantly, then return to the ban. Cook gently over low heat until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Pour into a bowl and cover the surface with greaseproof paper to prevent a skin, forming and allow to cool.
  3. Place the frozen raspberries in a saucepan with the sugar. Then cook over a gentle heat giving them a gentle stir until they have collapsed, and juices start to run, this will take about five minutes. Allow to cool.
  4. To assemble, pour the raspberries over the sponge, followed by the custard. Finally, whip the cream and fold in the crème fraiche, then spread over the top and scatter the almonds.