The Holiday Season Is Coming

[mrdee 1]

Since the festive season is on its way, I thought it might be a good idea to post some special recipes, some ideas to make the season that bit more festive.

 

Let us begin with (how appropriate ) a nice starter for that festive meal:

 

Starter for a festive meal.

 

PUFF PASTRY PARCEL WITH SMOKED SALMON< APPLE AND HERBAL CHEESE.

 

Ingredients:

Puff pastry (sheets of about 5 inches)

Smoked salmon

Apples (eg. pink ladies)

Herbal cheese (Boursin)

Method:

 

Cut the apple in brunoise (small cubes) and mix with the cheese.

On a sheet of pastry, put down smoked salmon, from halfway to about half an inch of the border.

Add a spoonful (dessert spoon) of the apple mix on top and fold the sheet into a parcel.

 

Press the edges shut with a fork and rub them in with beaten egg (whole egg).

Bake in the oven on 180 to 200 degrees Centigrade for about 15 minutes (You will easily see yourself whether or not the pastry is properly cooked).

 

Serve on a heated plate and garnish with some lettuce and tomatoes or as you see fit.

 

Caution

 

Do not prepare this too long in advance or the liquid of the apple could make your pastry soggy.

Best to prepare while the oven is pre-heating, since the starter is ready ever so quickly.

 

Since I am in a good mood, I might as well give the recipe for another lovely starter, based on seafood.

 

SEAFOOD COCKTAIL

 

Ingedients:

A tin of salmon

Some peeled shrimps (prawns)

Some crabstick meat

A hard boiled egg

A few leaves of lettuce

A tomato

A lemon

Mayonnaise

Ketchup

1 fl. oz of whisky

Method:

 

Use a large, deep glass.

On the bottom of a glass, put down a leaf of lettuce and a quarter of a tomato on top of that.

Put down a quarter of a hard boiled egg on the lettuce.

 

Distribute the crab meat around the lettuce and put a chunk of the salmon in the middle.

Put the shrimps on top.

 

Making the cocktail sauce:

 

Mix mayonnaise with ketchup to get a nice pink complexion, add the whisky and stir well.

 

Put the cocktail sauce on top of the contents of the glass.

Finish off with putting a quarter of a lemon on the edge of the glass (the lemon can be squeezed over the contents).

 

Garnish the top of the glass with some more shrimps and some chopped parsley.

 

Put into the fridge and serve cold.