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Mark Doe
Mark Doe of Just Cooking Cookery School in Firies has some delicious recipes if you’re entertaining during the Christmas period…
Black pudding, blue cheese and apple sausage rolls
Ingredients
1 roll shop bought ready-rolled puff pastry
5 good-quality thick pork sausages
100g black pudding
80g blue cheese
2 tbsp apple sauce
1 small egg, beaten
Sesame seeds
Method
• Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
• Open the pastry and lay the sheet onto a chopping board. Cut into 3 equal sized lengths.
• Cut the sausages in half, making 10 smaller sausages, and then peel away the skins.
• Place the sausages into a bowl and add the black pudding, blue cheese and apple sauce. Mix until smooth.
• Pipe or spoon the sausage mix along the length of the of the pastry pieces.
• Roll the pastry over the sausage, brushing the join with the beaten egg to seal. Cut the sausage rolls into the size that you would like them.
• Place on a greased baking sheet, sealed-side down, and brush them with the remaining egg. • Sprinkle with a few sesame seeds.
• Cook in the oven for 20- 25 minutes until golden and crispy, and eat as soon as they are cool enough or leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
Continued below…
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Smoked salmon pate on crostini with cucumber and pear
Ingredients
pickle
makes 25-30
For the pate
400g cream cheese 300g smoked salmon
2 tbsp horseradish sauce juice ½ lemon
Freshly ground black pepper Crostini (see recipe)
Pickled pear and cucumber (see recipe)
Method
• For the pate, whizz up the all of the ingredients except the chives, in a food processor until smooth.
• Place in a bowl and chill until needed.
• Plipe the pate onto the crostini and top with the cucumber and pear pickle
For the pickle
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
3 teaspoons caster sugar
½ cucumber, peeled into ribbons
1 pear, peeled, cut into matchsticks
• Place the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.
• Allow to cool. Place the cucumber, dill and pear into a bowl and pour over the pickling liquid. Leave for 30 minutes before using, or place in the fridge.
Crostini
Crostini can be served with so many different toppings.
Have the crostini made in advance and store in an air tight container.
If you like, you can warm the crostini through the oven before serving.
Makes approx 30
1 large baguette olive oil
• Pre-heat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6/400f.
• Slice the baguette into ½ inch slices and place into a bowl.
• Drizzle with some olive oil and toss, so that the bread slices are all evenly covered with the oil.
• Place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until crisp and golden, but not too hard (approx 6-8 minutes)
• Leave to cool and then store in an air tight container.
Brie and cranberry crostini
Makes 30 pieces
Ingredients
1 large baguette made into crostini (see recipe)
2 brie wedges cut into 30 small pieces
1 small jar of cranberry sauce
• Top each crostini with a piece of brie and then ½ teaspoon of cranberry sauce.
• Place under a hot grill or into a hot oven to slightly warm the brie until it lightly melts.
Leek and celeriac gratin
Serves 6
Ingredients
25g butter
2 leeks, outer layer removed, washed of any grit and sliced into rings
small handful rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
300ml double cream
300ml milk
1 celeriac (about 500g), peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
100g cheddar or gruyère, coarsely grated
Method
• Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the leeks, rosemary and bay leaf, then cover and cook very gently over a medium-low heat for 15-20 mins until the leeks are soft. Pour over the milk and almost all of the cream, then season and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little, then removeout the bay leaf.
• Pour a little of the leek mixture into an ovenproof gratin dish. Arrange a layer of celeriac in the dish, then season. Spoon over some more of the leek mixture and scatter with a little cheese. Repeat the process, alternating between layers of the leek mixture, cheese and celeriac slices, then finish with a drizzle of cream and the last of the cheese. Can be prepared up to a day ahead and kept in the fridge.
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Bake the gratin for 1 hr-1 hr 15 mins until the top is golden and the celeriac is tender when poked with a knife. If the gratin is browning a little too much, cover the dish in foil. Can be chilled, then reheated in a microwave or oven on a low heat with a drizzle more cream.
Breast of chicken stuffed with cranberries and chestnuts
Serves 6
Ingredients
6 skinless chicken fillets 12 streaky bacon rashers
3 slices white bread, made into breadcrumbs 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
60g dried cranberries 12 cooked chestnuts, chopped
1 tsp dried mixed herbs 1 onion, finely chopped
20g unsalted butter 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper Olive oil for cooking
Method
• To make the stuffing, melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
• Add the chopped onion, dried herbs, garlic, cranberries and garlic.
• Slowly cook the mix, without colour, until the onions are soft (approx 5-7 minutes).
• When the onions are soft, remove from the heat and mix in the bread crumbs and chestnuts.
• Season with a little salt and pepper and mix in the chopped parsley.
• Make a small pocket in each chicken breast.
• Stuff the pocket with the stuffing and then wrap each chicken breast in the streaky bacon rashers.
• To cook the chicken, pre heat your oven to 200c.
• Place a fryingpan on a high heat.
• Add a little olive oil and then place the chicken breasts in the pan.
• Seal each side of the chicken until they are golden all over.
• Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 20-22 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
• Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to rest for 3-4 minutes before serving.
Roast carrots with honey and sesame seeds
Serves 6
Ingredients
2kg carrots 4 tbsp honey
Pinch of dried mixed herbs Salt and pepper
4 tbsp of sunflower or olive oil 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp sesame seeds
Method
• Preheat the oven to 200c fan.
• Cut the carrots into even sized wedges.
• Place in a roasting tray and drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the dried herbs. Stir to coat the coat with the oil.
• Cook in the oven for 30-35 minutes, stirring occasionally until tender.
• Remove from the oven, drizzle with the honey, sesame seeds and balsamic and return to the oven for 2 minutes.
Cinnamon poached pears with Christmas pudding ice cream
Serves 6
Ingredients
For the pears
500ml of water 200g caster sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon 1 cinnamon stick
6 pears, peeled
Method
• Place the lemon juice, zest, sugar, cinnamon and water into a large pan.
• Bring to a gentle simmer until the sugar has dissolved.
• Place the pears in the pan and simmer for 20-25 minutes until soft.
• Remove the pears from the syrup and set aside.
• Increase the heat and let the syrup boil for 8 minutes until it has slightly thickened and reduced by half.
• Strain the syrup over the pears and allow to cool.
For the ice cream
400ml vanilla ice cream
85g Christmas pudding, crumbled into small pieces
2 tbsp brandy
50ml water
• Place the water and brandy in a saucepan and crumb in the Christmas pudding.
• On a medium heat bring the pudding to the boil and cook until mashed up. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
• Allow the ice cream to soften slightly at room temperature.
• When the pudding is fully coolled beat into the ice cream and place back into the freezer
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