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Xmas dinners for one and two people

 
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gil
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

PostPosted: Sun Dec 25, 11 11:14 pm    Post subject: Xmas dinners for one and two people Reply with quote
    

At the other end of the scale from cooking for hordes of people at this time of year, what have those of us Downsizers in small households of singletons or couples without family been cooking for this festive season ?

At Chateau Gil, the menu was :

Starter : no; can't manage 3 courses.

Main course :
pot roast pheasant with streaky bacon on top, with onions, carrots and parsnips
half-roast/half-baked potatoes, onions and garlic with rosemary
sprouts with nutmeg and butter
stuffing (nuts, breadcrumbs, veg including mushrooms)
bread sauce
redcurrant jelly (homemade)

Pudding :
chocolate-coffee brownies
lemon tart

Drinks :
Oloroso sherry
Elderflower 'methode champenoise' i.e. proper alcoholic champagne-style
Amaretto with coffee

There is a lot of everything leftover.

Kenworth



Joined: 04 Apr 2011
Posts: 855
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Sun Dec 25, 11 11:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

DH was grumpy today because he has to be at work at midnight. So, DS and I went to our favorite Chinese resturant, and brought DH some home.

The Chinese family gave a Christmas gift of Jasmine tea to us, a nice surprize, I'm sipping some now. I'm just thinking it would make a fabulous ice tea also!!

Green Rosie



Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France
PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 11 12:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Just realised this is in the wrong thread - moves it to correct place

Last edited by Green Rosie on Mon Dec 26, 11 12:28 am; edited 1 time in total

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 11 1:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yesterday the two of us had venison backstrap, seared then coated with Grey Poupon coarse mustard and bread crumbs. Finished in hot oven.

Veggies were oven roasted parboiled potatoes, braised carrots, asparagus

Homemade bread to fill in the corners, Zinfandel to drink, and my white fruitcake to finish off.

Today we had braised venison (cubed, not a tied roast) with nockerln and braised red cabbage. Dessert was pears poached with white wine, honey, vanila bean. Served cold with a mascarpone sauce.

The fellow who hunts on our property is delivering another half a deer tomorrow. Good thing my Kitchner meat grinder will arrive next week - sausage recipes, anyone?

Bulgarianlily



Joined: 01 Jun 2008
Posts: 1667
Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria
PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 11 6:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Well the two of us cheated and had some argentinian hare ready to cook from Lidl! Very nice too it was, with roast veg and some nut roast donated from the two veggies who are sharing Christmas with us as a stuffing (the roast not the volunteers).

However what I want to share with you is a traditional Bulgarian pudding that we had. Take a nice shaped pumpkin, we used a green skinned one the size of a medium casserole and cut off the stalk end as a lid. Remove seeds and then fill with a mix of soaked dried fruit, breadcrumbs, sugar and we added some brandy, then bake until the pumpkin flesh is soft. This is usually served on Christmas eve here.

LynneA



Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 4893
Location: London N21
PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 11 8:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Roast duck, glazed with salt & Jack Daniels, served with parsnip mash, glazed carrot batons and red Brussels tops, steamed and served like tiny whole cabbages.

Pud was a warmed Echelfechan tart topped with a generous dollop of plum & rum cream I found in Waitrose. Nice stuff. Sending Howard there today to see if they have any reduced.

Should get a couple more meals out of the duck, unless the cat gets her way.

Green Rosie



Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France
PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 11 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Bulgarianlily wrote:

However what I want to share with you is a traditional Bulgarian pudding that we had. Take a nice shaped pumpkin, we used a green skinned one the size of a medium casserole and cut off the stalk end as a lid. Remove seeds and then fill with a mix of soaked dried fruit, breadcrumbs, sugar and we added some brandy, then bake until the pumpkin flesh is soft. This is usually served on Christmas eve here.


That sounds absolutely FABULOUS - may have to try that very soon. Roughly what percentage of fruit to breadcrumbs do you use?

mousjoos



Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 1986
Location: VERY Sunny SW France
PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 11 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Being very newly single, & not wanting to attempt anything too adventurous (an attitude I can see continuing........) I plumped for chicken curry, peshwari naan (freshly imported from UK by a friend), mince pies made by an english client in the village, & about 4 gallons of PG....Wonder Dog was less than enthusiastic about the curry, so had a king-size Jumbone.

I had alerted the poisons unit in Toulouse of my intentions, but they have since been stood down

Bulgarianlily



Joined: 01 Jun 2008
Posts: 1667
Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria
PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 11 11:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

about a quarter of breadcrumbs, and we used apricots, cranberries raisins and sultanas.

pricey



Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

PostPosted: Tue Dec 27, 11 7:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Bulgarianlily wrote:
about a quarter of breadcrumbs, and we used apricots, cranberries raisins and sultanas.


Come on dont tease how much sugar etc... got to make it.

T.G



Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 7280
Location: Somewhere you're not
PostPosted: Tue Dec 27, 11 9:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Green Rosie wrote:
Bulgarianlily wrote:

However what I want to share with you is a traditional Bulgarian pudding that we had. Take a nice shaped pumpkin, we used a green skinned one the size of a medium casserole and cut off the stalk end as a lid. Remove seeds and then fill with a mix of soaked dried fruit, breadcrumbs, sugar and we added some brandy, then bake until the pumpkin flesh is soft. This is usually served on Christmas eve here.


That sounds absolutely FABULOUS - may have to try that very soon. Roughly what percentage of fruit to breadcrumbs do you use?


It does read rather delicious.. details Lily please

Bulgarianlily



Joined: 01 Jun 2008
Posts: 1667
Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria
PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 11 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Enough to sweeten it.... given the sweetness of the fruit and that I find baked pumpkin sweet, not a lot! I just looked at it and then chucked some sugar at it, ditto brandy. Oh and I chopped the fruit up a bit, but not enough that you couldn't recognise what it was.

Nicky cigreen



Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9702
Location: Devon, uk
PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 11 12:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

that sounds really nice BL - i need more squash recipes

re the meals for 1 or 2 - when it was just me and my little boy, I still cooked the big turkey dinner - just a smaller bird etc.

Mustang



Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 768
Location: Sunny Suffolk
PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 11 12:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

When I cook for 1 or 2, I still cook for 4, 5 or 6 as it's easier.

I freeze / preserve the left overs for meals later.

Your menu sounds very nice. Love the lemon tart to counter the pheasant course, and you can't go wrong with chocolate-coffee brownies (recipe for that please )

gil
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 11 6:42 pm    Post subject: Gil's version of Penny's recipe for Brownies Reply with quote
    

The recipe for the brownies is already in the DS Recipe Database !

It's Penny's recipe for brownies, based on Nigella's (?), and I added 2 tsps of instant freeze-dried coffee dissolved in a slosh of boiling water, with about 1oz ground almonds to compensate for that extra liquid [you could also add a wee bit more flour].

I use half-quantities of the recipe, which works out to

150g dark chocolate
6oz marge or butter
3 eggs
9 oz sugar, whatever kind you have
2 tsps coffee, dissolved in a wee bit of boiling water
4 oz SR flour
1oz ground almonds or 1oz more flour

1. Melt choc and sugar together in a bowl over simmering water
2. Eggs beaten till fluffy
3. Sugar added to eggs and beaten in till pale and fluffy
4. Fold in the melted choc and marge, and mix
5. add coffee to the mix
6. Sieve flour into bowl, add almonds if using, and stir to mix well.
7. Pour into a greased baking tin / small roasting tin about 10"x7" or 9"x6", lined with greaseproof, and bake at 180C for 20-25 mins.

To my mind, the beauty of this recipe is that yes, you can make it with really expensive chocolate, and good butter, and your own eggs, and dark muscovado sugar, and yes, it's very very yummy, BUT SO IT SHOULD BE. You can also make it with Ingredients of Shame*, and it is still remarkably nice.

*[size=9]Supermarket economy everything, and Stork[/size].

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