Christmas Menus

Although my Christmas Menu changes every year, one constant is always Wassail. My mother made it and now I make it. There's nothing that says Christmas to me more than a pot of simmering Wassail that can be spiked with a shot or two of Brandy. 

Wassail

Ever since I was little I could ask for whatever I wanted for dinner on Christmas Eve. A customary occurrence for many people when it's their birthday. Almost always I asked for something elaborate that we wouldn't normally eat. Frequently, it was something French. I think I was six when I asked for Coq au Vin and Beef Bourguignon. Together. My mother never suggested anything different, but rather happily made whatever I requested. I credit her with my love for cooking and food that started in the tiniest of kitchens.

As a grown up I still get to choose the menu for Christmas Eve. Usually, I like to have some kind of theme. Italian, British, Chili. This year I decided to return to my childhood favorite theme of "French Peasant" which meant Coq au Vin, but instead of Beef, we made Mushroom Bourguignon for the vegetarians. I kind of bounced around between two Coq au Vin recipes, but most closely followed this one so that it could sit overnight. On the side we had haricot verts with garlic sautéed in olive oil and mashed potatoes. 

Before the main meal we also had noshies. Theres was a caramelized onion galette and a brie en croute. A cheese board that was garnished with rosemary to look like a wreath. Then there was also roasted broccoli and cauliflower with a quick aioli. 

For dessert there was a Buche de Noel and a Trifle. The recipe for the Buche de Noel was pretty killer. I found it in an old Food and Wine. The only change we made was adding Nutella to the marscapone cream. As far as the trifle, I used a brandy pound cake from King Arthur Flour and then Howard from Bake-Off's creme pat because the recipe was hanging up on the cork board leftover from our Brandy Snaps class a few days before. There was also homemade strawberry jam and that  whipped cream. Someone asked me about a recipe, but I've been playing round with my trifles since I was 20 and I don't really have one. Later that night Watts and I hopped onto the tandem and made our way to the brewery for one little drink. It won't ever be weird not having kids for the whole festive period, but we make do the way we can.

Cheeseboard

Caramelized Onion Galette, Baked Brie, Broccoli and Cauliflower with Aioli

Buche De Noel

Trifle

The next day, Christmas, I had intentions of making pork schnitzel but we had so many leftovers and it was just the two of us so we had our Boxing Day leftovers on Christmas and saved Christmas dinner for the 28th when Miles would return to us. 

For our second Christmas dinner we had pork schnitzel with quick pickles, German potato salad that mostly followed this recipe and green beans. 

German Potato Salad, Green Beans and Quick Pickles

Pork Schnitzel and Ligonberry Jam (Thanks, Ikea)

And, as always, we had millions of cookies and thousands of mince pies. 

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