Christmas Dinner

For as many years as I can remember, Rosie and I have made Christmas Dinner in advance of the day.  Originally, it was to take our vegetarian options to our parents house ready cooked.  Then to relatives, though the last couple of Christmas days we have stayed at home, still cooking the main ingredients in advance.  This year we cooked on the day. - Well, we did make the pudding a month ago as that takes 5 hours to cook.

The main ingredient was a pie based on the Rose Elliot recipe for Chestnut and Red Wine Pate en Croute.  This is in her Vegetarian Christmas book from 1992 - using smaller portions and small pie cases of puff pastry, and oven baking for 20 minutes only.

The first job is to prep all of the food, ready for the oven.  This took about 2 hours, including the clean up prior to baking.

The Christmas pudding was set to steam before the start of the prep, so that it would be ready by the end of the main course.

OK.  Everything is ready to go into the oven and the work surfaces are clean and tidy.  The cooking sequence is written down on a time line to make sure that it all comes out cooked at the same time.  The bread sauce is ready to cook at the last 5 minutes.

Just Rosie and me for dinner this year, so its a small and intimate table for 2, with carols playing on the radio and lights on the tree.

It's great to cook and serve your own food - there are no left-overs to throw away.

After a short rest, the pudding is popped onto a plate and brandy sauce warmed in the pan.  Home made and light in texture, the pudding was the ideal end to the meal - and still lots left to use tomorrow.
Coffee and chocolate next I think - and no washing up for the cook.....

Merry Christmas