Month: December 2021

We live next door to the local church and like to attend the ‘Christingle’ service. What’s not to love about a church service that combines live animals, children and fire? The adults do the Christmas story (with animals) but every child is given an orange with sweets on toothpicks and a candle. Then all the candles are lit…..we’ve never seen any accidents but there are usually some near misses and once or twice the smell of singed hair has floated through the church.

We stroll home and have soup and my world famous toasted cheese sandwiches after which we play a board game (preferably a new one), put on our Christmas pyjamas and work on the Christmas jigsaw. One of my sisters sends us a jigsaw puzzle every year – some of them so fiendishly difficult that I wonder if she really likes us or the puzzle is very sophisticated trolling.

Everyone puts out their Christmas stocking and then looks the other way while family members stuff things in them. This is still relatively new for me: I used to buy things for my own stocking, wrap them and then open them the next morning. (My period as a single mom).

Oh, rule in our house – you can have your stocking when you get up but no ‘big’ gifts until after breakfast. As we are all adults now, at least in chronological age, it can be 11 am before this condition is achieved. My youngest (23) still remembers the ‘old days’ when he had a giant Christmas stocking, designed to keep him occupied until at least 8 am. This was seldom achieved but good for him anyway.

Suggested menu below!

Christmas Eve Menu

Simple crudité – carrots, celery, raw cauliflower, raw broccoli, bell pepper strips, radishes

Corn chips

Hummus

Optional for the adults: oysters (on the shell if you like them) don’t eat ’em raw – try this recipe for simple baked oysters

Potato & carrot soup with grated cheddar cheese on top

World famous toasted cheese sandwiches (grilled cheese for you Americans)

This is an interesting menu to pair with wine. Personally, I’ll drink champagne with anything except Oreo cookies (don’t ask) and it’s highest and best use may well be with oysters. However, beer is also a good choice or a light red wine.

Prep Ahead Tips & Timing

1. Buy good quality sliced white bread and sliced cheese of your choice for the toasted cheese. It’s Christmas, everyone is busy, even I buy (some) bread this time of year. Look for good quality sliced cheese; cheddar, Swiss, Emmental are all good choices. Put the butter out to soften well ahead.
   
2. Prep your crudité the day before. Store in tightly sealed plastic bags with a damp piece of kitchen towel to keep them moist but crunchy.
   
3. Make the soup up to three days before. Grate your cheese for topping on the day.
   
4. Prep your oysters (either on crushed ice or pop them in the oven.
   
5. Get your soup warming, put out the crudité, chips and hummus.
   
6. Do your sandwiches up and serve everything.

Thanks for reading the blog, cooking the recipes and commenting. I hope your holidays are spent with people you love.

Toasted cheese sandwiches are part of our traditional Christmas Eve supper. Kids love them and served warm, adults can’t say no either. Two secrets to these world famous (just kidding) sandwiches; butter both sides of the bread and use a flat crepe pan or griddle for cooking.

Ingredients for this recipe are fairly obvious – bread, butter and sliced cheese. I serve these with soup and one sandwich each seems to be enough.

It’s okay to use good quality store bought white bread for this recipe. Might seem like heresy from someone who makes all her own bread but home made bread is denser and it’s difficult to get even slices. You want good quality white bread because it needs to carry a fair amount of butter without tearing.

Put good quality salted butter out to soften well before you’re planning to make the sandwiches. It’s Christmas so I like to use butter from Normandy ‘Isigny Ste Mere’; but any good quality salted makes a difference. Do not use margarine or ‘spread’. It’s a crime against sandwiches and you’re reading the wrong blog if you’re afraid of butter.

The eternal question for toasted cheese sandwiches: what type of cheese? If you’re feeding a crowd, then I recommend aged medium cheddar but most cheeses will do. If you’re feeding a few close friends (grown ups) it might be worth investing in some Comté or Jarlsberg. You can use hard or crumbly cheese if you want; grate it in advance and apply to the bottom half of the sandwiches once they’re on the pan.

Ingredients: sliced white bread, sliced or grated cheese of your choice and room temperature butter.

1. Put your pan on the heat to warm up. No need to apply butter or oil.
2. Put your oven on to warm, say 100C, prep an oven proof plate with a clean tea towel.
3. Butter both sides of each piece of bread. It’s a bit messy but absolutely worth it.
4. When the pan is hot, carefully place pre-buttered bread slices on the griddle and apply cheese to each slice. Place another pre-buttered bread slice on top of each. When the bottom is golden brown and toasted (3 to 4 minutes), flip each sandwich. The second side takes about half the time so keep an eye on it. The cheese might not be completely melted but don’t worry.
5. Transfer the sandwiches to the plate in the oven and cover them with the tea towel and leave them in gentle oven. They’ll be perfect by the time you’ve finished making all the sandwiches and are ready to serve up.

Get busy toasting! Thank you for reading the blog, cooking the recipes, sharing and commenting. Tag me @mamadolson on Instagram and Twitter if you’re posting photos.

Merry Christmas.

This is one of our favourite winter soups; traditionally we have this on Christmas Eve with the world’s greatest toasted cheese sandwiches. This recipe is based on one from the original Silver Palate cookbook. I’ve adjusted the seasoning and changed how the cheese is incorporated. The soup keeps much better when the cheese is added as a topping when serving it. Also – cheese can curdle unpredictably. Nothing like making a big vat of soup and then ruining it at the list minute.

Making this soup is easy, especially if you have a quality stick blender. I have a commercial standard one that could double as an outboard motor – if I could only find someplace to plug it in.

Another useful gadget is a handheld mandolin slicer; I slice the onions and the carrots straight into the pot with mine. Be careful – until you get used to the mandolin, you may lose the skin on the ends of your fingers. Several times in my case.

Easy to make a vegan version of this soup – substitute a light vegetable or nut oil for the butter and be careful with your vegetable stock. Remember that many commercial stock cubes are not vegan or even vegetarian (even vegetable stock).

Let’s get straight to the recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 85 grams unsalted butter
• 150 grams chopped or sliced onions
• 350 grams chopped or sliced carrots
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 2 litres vegetable stock, divided
• 900 grams of potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
• salt and pepper to taste
• Cheddar cheese for grating to serve.

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a deep stock pot.
2. Add the onions and the carrots, cook over a low heat until these are tender and lightly coloured, about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the pot so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom.
3. Add the parsley, 1.5 litres of the stock and the potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until potatoes are very tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Puree the soup; easiest in the pot using a stick blender. Also can be done in a blender or a food processor. Separate the stock and the vegetables, retaining the stock. Put the softened vegetables in the blender or food processor, add enough stock to moisten (300 mls) and puree. Return the pureed soup to the pot.
5. Adjust the consistency using the extra stock if necessary. It will thicken as it cools. Taste for salt and pepper and season as necessary.
6. The soup will keep at this point for 3 days in the refrigerator; remove and heat up to serve.
7. Grate enough cheddar cheese to allow for a generous topping for everyone’s soup.
   
   

I’m trying to post all of my festive period menus and recipes. More coming soon.