A Simple Light Starter for the Christmas Menu
We didn’t have Starters back home – at least not in our house. I’m sure my parents – or at least my mother – would enjoy the full three course meal at the Bank functions they had to attend a couple of times a year, but it never filtered through to our more simple and homely menu.
We don’t have starters as a rule here in Church House either, and there’s never room for pudding till much later in the day – and by that time it’s time for the next meal – so the pudding gets left behind. My other half often enjoys his Christmas pudding at the end of the Christmas season, rather than on Christmas Day itself. However, with a lighter choice of menu – such as this one – I think there’s ample room for both starter and dessert.
Portobello Mushroom with Spinach Starter
This recipe serves 2. Just double the quantities to serve 4.
2 Portobello Mushrooms (make sure they’re nicely rounded)
1 white or red onion, finely sliced
Enough finely chopped spinach for two mushrooms. If you use frozen spinach, use 3 ‘portions’.
40 g (1 ½ oz) grated hard, creamy goats cheese
Parmezano (lactose free version of Parmesan cheese) to sprinkle
A little lemon juice
Seasoning to taste
1 tsp sugar
Remove stalk from mushrooms. Steam spinach till softened, or add a little water and cook for 4 minutes on full power (from frozen) in the microwave. Make sure you squeeze the spinach well to get rid of excess water, before adding a dash of fresh lemon juice to taste – and seasoning if required (I didn’t add any).
Fry onions until tender in a little olive oil. Add 1 tsp sugar and continue to cook until slightly caramelised.
Divide the caramelised onion between the two mushrooms, followed by the spinach. Top with grated goats cheese and sprinkle with Parmezano (or Parmesan).
Place in oven proof ceramic dish in pre-heated oven. 180C if fan assisted. Cook until cheese is lightly browned.
A light and tasty starter, leaving ample room for the Main Course.
Tip: A muffin tray/pan is just the right size if cooking 4 mushrooms.
Did you know that… Portobello Mushroom is just the mature version of the common closed cup cultivated mushroom, after it has turned brown and opened up?
Another interesting fact, and one to note, is that edible mushrooms, when raw, contains certain carcinogenic properties/derivatives. These compounds are fortunately reduced significantly when cooked.
A daily portion of fresh, cooked mushrooms have also been shown to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer (despite the above statement), and also to have possible immune enhancing properties.
A Tasty Main Course for the Non-Meat Eater: The Nut Roast
The Nut Roast may seem like a fairly new arrival on the menu, but it’s not as new as all that. Growing up in a mainly vegetarian household, you’d have thought I would have been aware of this culinary delight – but not so. My mother could make wonderful dishes with the more common vegetables, but my father’s first taste of nut roast was on a visit to us, here in Wales. Here he had his first vege burgers, too, and cauliflower grills, but it wasn’t long before they became commonly available back home, too.
So when did Nut Roast enter the scene? I have tried to trace its roots (picking the odd ground-nut as I did!), but I can’t find any references to it beyond a century or so ago. I’m sure if I dug deeper, I would find some reference way back in history – at least I would be surprised not to – but we have to suffice with the knowledge that it became a common dish because of rationing, and the lack of meat – as well as little money – after the First World War.
Nut Roast
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 small courgette, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 ½ tsp brown gluten free flour, or rye flour
150 ml (1/4 pint) vegetable stock
1 ½ tsp yeast extract (such as Marmite)
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
75g (3 oz) ground almonds
75g (3 oz) cashew nut butter (or peanut butter)
100 g (4 oz) gluten free bread crumbs, or gluten free oat flakes
Season if required. I don’t think it’s needed, because of the strong taste of the Marmite.
Preheat oven to 180C (fan assisted). Grease a 1 lb loaf tin (line if not non-stick).
Melt butter in medium sized, thick bottomed saucepan. Gently fry onions in butter until softened, then add chopped courgette and tomato. Continue to cook until the courgette begins to soften, too. Add tomato purée, stir. Sprinkle on flour, cook while stirring for a further minute, then add stock and bring to the boil. Stir, then simmer until the mixture thickens nicely. Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients, combining well.
Turn into the greased loaf tin and bake for 45-60 minutes, until firm when the top is pressed, and slightly crisped on top. Done!
Tip: Add an egg to the mixture and use to make nut balls for spag bol dishes. The nut loaf is delicious cold, sliced and used with tomato sauce atop a slice of home made gluten free bread.
It also makes a great addition to the traditional Christmas Dinner, as a portion of alternative stuffing, as my family can attest to.
Did you know that… John Kellogg (one of the brothers Kellogg of Kelloggs Corn Flakes fame) believed that nuts would save mankind as food supplies dwindled? Some of the food products they sold included nut cutlets and nut-based roasts.
Did you also know that… George Bernard Shaw turned vegetarian at the age of 25? Until he was 42 (in 1848) he survived on the vegetable side dishes served with his mother’s meat dishes, which couldn’t have been very inspiring. But – in 1848 he met and married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, who for the next 45 years prepared wonderful vegetarian meals for him, including nut cutlets and nut roasts.
‘The strongest animals, such as the bull, are vegetarians,’ Shaw said. ‘Look at me. I have ten times as much good health and energy as a meat eater.’
When Shaw was 87, Charlotte died, but Charlotte’s nurse. Mrs Alice Laden, stayed on as his housekeeper. In 1971, 21 years after Shaw died, Alice Laden and R J Minney published The George Bernard Shaw Vegetarian Cook Book.
I’d love to get my hands on a copy.
…and then for some Mulled Wine
I’m a not quite teetotaller. At Christmas I like a little something, and what’s more Christmassy than a glass of mulled wine? A little snow on the ground outside, happy voices and children playing, and Christmas is complete.
Take one bottle of Red Wine (a cheap one will do)
100g (4 oz) brown sugar
Juice of two oranges, plus the peel (wash oranges first)
2 cinnamon sticks
½ tsp nutmeg
1 apple (red) sliced in thin slices
A drop of water
In a thick bottomed pan (not aluminium!), bring sugar, orange juice and peel, cinnamon, nutmeg and a drop of water to the boil and simmer gently for about ten minutes. Add the wine and the apple slices and bring back to the boil. Remove from heat and serve hot.
Cheers!
Christmas Day Dessert: A Taste of Nordic Tradition
Back home in Norway we had a particular dessert every Christmas. Not for us the British Christmas Pudding, but the much lighter Rice Cream (not to be confused with creamed rice). The tradition is to make rice porridge the day before Christmas Eve – the day of the Norwegian celebration - and to make a generous portion. One portion for the Christmas dessert and one generous helping for the resident ‘Nissen’ (every farm had one living in their barn), who according to old folk lore had to be given his fair share or he’d turn evil and create havoc and cause bad luck for the farmer and his family. So a big bowl of rice porridge would be left on the step outside the barn, and as they say – the proof of the pudding is in the eating – or the proof that ‘Nissen’ was real, was that the bowl was found licked clean the next day!
You’d never get away from ‘Nissen’ – he’d hitch a ride with your belongings if you tried to move.
‘Nissen’ goes way back in old literature, and was probably originally and elf and part of mythology. At some time during the 19th century he became part and parcel of Christmas and has stayed so ever since. It’s surprising how many non-Christian traditions have become part of the modern Christmas. The Vikings decorated a tree outside their homes at Winter Solstice, long before the country was converted to Christianity.
We didn’t have a farm, or a barn, or a resident ‘Nissen’ to be appeased, but my mother still made rice porridge the day before Christmas Eve – just enough for the dessert after Christmas dinner. I have made this recipe up to serve 4, with a moderate portion for each. My mother served hers with homemade raspberry syrup – I decided to update it and use caramelised pineapple.
So, what’s the difference between rice porridge and rice pudding? Rice porridge is made in a saucepan on the hob and is not as stodgy as rice pudding, but I suppose it’s just a matter of different culinary traditions.
Rice Cream Dessert
Serves 4
Tip: make it the day before Christmas, to save time on the day.
Preparation time negligible. Cooking time: 15-20 minutes.
1 cup pudding rice
3 cups semi-skimmed milk
Sugar to taste
For the Cream: 200-250 ml (1/2 pint pot) of whipping cream
4-5 tsp sugar
To decorate:
4 pineapple rings
Demerara sugar
A little butter or margarine
Bring rice and milk to the boil, turn down heat and simmer for about 15 minutes – or until rice is tender – before adding a little sugar. Don’t make it too sweet, as there is sweetness in the cream and the fruit, too.
Tip: use a larger saucepan than seemingly necessary, to avoid it boiling over if you’re distracted for a moment. It happens!
Set aside to cool, and then chill overnight.
Another tip: sprinkle a little sugar on the top to avoid a ‘skin’ forming, and cover.
On Christmas Day Morning, whip the cream with the sugar till it forms soft peaks (too little whipping and it becomes too runny, too much and it will resemble butter) and put in the fridge to chill, then fry the pineapple rings slightly in the butter/margarine before adding about a tablespoonful of Demerara sugar, sprinkling it over the rings. Continue to fry gently, turning frequently until the rings are nicely caramelised. Cut into small pieces and set aside. For a richer, more decadent flavour, add more butter/margarine and Demerara sugar to the pan and make a caramel sauce to pour over the dessert. Too rich for me, but very nice.
Just before serving give the rice porridge a good stir before carefully combining whipped cream and porridge. Spoon into serving dishes, sundae glasses – or as I did, into red wine glasses – and top with the chopped pineapple.
Serve and enjoy!
