Christmas Recipe Ideas
Appetizers to get you started.
The festive season is a time to enjoy a warm and festive meal with family and friends. With only a few days left before Christmas, it's time for you to think about what you want to cook for D-Day! To prepare your menu, there is nothing better than to start cooking small appetizers to wait for the rest of the meal. In addition to the traditional foie gras toasts, shellfish dishes, it is both good and fun to enjoy some nice verrines. These Christmas verrines will bring a nice look to your table presentation. To do so, this year, we propose you to make salmon and avocado verrines. In order to realize them, you will need:
-1 ripe avocado
-2 slices salmon
-100 g of fresh cheese
-1/2 lemon
-50 g of garlic and herbs cheese
-Chives
-1 jar of trout eggs
-1 batch Verrines
First, start by crushing the avocado pulp in a bowl. Add a little salt, pepper and lemon. Then put a little bit of the preparation in each bowl. In a bowl, mix the fromage frais and the garlic and herbs cheese with 1 tablespoon of water to make it more fluid. Put this second layer in the verrines. Cut the slices of smoked salmon into small pieces, distribute them in the verrines and put them in the fridge. Just before serving, decorate your verrines with a few trout eggs, sprigs of chives, a lemon fillet and a turn of 5-berry pepper mill. This little decoration will bring this side at the same time crunchy and melting in the mouth.
A good festive dish!
What would a Christmas meal be without a good hot dish? You may be in the habit of preparing a tender and tasty turkey for your guests every year, accompanied by its melting vegetables. In this article, we propose you to honor the duck in your plates that will leave your guests blissful. To make this marvellous duck with honey cooked in the oven for 4 persons you will need :
-2 duck breasts of 350 g
-3 tablespoons of liquid honey
-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
-1 tsp powdered cinnamon
-1 tsp. cumin powder
-half tsp. coriander seeds
-half tsp. Szechuan pepper
-1 pinch of salt
First of all to anticipate your preparation, preheat the oven to 230 °C th 8. In the meantime, crush the coriander and Sichuan pepper seeds in a mortar. Lightly caramelize the honey over high heat in a saucepan for 3 min. Add the red wine vinaigrette and stir until the honey is completely dissolved. Stir in the powdered cinnamon, cumin, pepper and coriander. For 5 min, reduce the heat to low. Carry out crossings on the skin of the duck breasts using a knife. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange them skin-side down in a cast iron casserole dish. To cook them properly, sprinkle with the honey-spice mixture and put your duck recipe in the oven for 10 min. Turn the duck breasts over and let them simmer for 3 min. Put them under the oven grill for 1 min. Then let them rest for 5 minutes in a warm place. In 25 minutes, your duck breast is ready to be eaten. Serve your duck breast with potatoes.
Sweetness to finish!
A Christmas without little sweets is not a real Christmas! The traditional cookie tin is empty? Don't panic, it's time for you to bake wonderful little shortbread in the shape of a fir tree, little men or snowflakes. Very delicious, preparing these little shortbread cookies in family with the children will amuse the little ones as well as the big ones and will allow you to wait for the D-day in the best way. To make these cookies for 6 people, you will need :
-250 g of flour
-100 g softened butter
-125 g of sugar
-50 g of almond powder
-1 egg
-1 teaspoon of yeast
For the glaze :
-250 g powdered sugar
-1 egg white
-food coloring
-lemon
To make these wonderful cookies, first preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Then mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and almond powder in a large bowl. In a small ramekin, break the whole egg and beat it lightly to relax it. Add the egg and butter to the mixture and start mixing gently. Then, with your hands, the idea is to knead the mixture until a ball of dough is formed. Once your dough is ready, put a little bit of flour on your work surface so that your dough doesn't stick. Then, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough. Then it is time for you to form your cookies with cookie cutters in the shape you want to remind you of Christmas (tree, star, flake, moon...). Remove the excess dough and place your creations on a baking tray with baking paper. Bake your cookies in the oven for 10 minutes.
To make the icing, mix the powdered sugar and egg white in a large bowl and add the lemon. If you wish to colour your icing, you can add food colouring for a fancy touch to your cookies. To apply the icing precisely, form a cone with baking paper and fill it with icing. All you have to do is decorate your cookies and you're done!
