French Christmas Menu for Two

Christmas Menu for Two

Aperitif

Tepenade on Toasted Baguette

&

Smoked Salmon with Chive Flavoured Butter

Served with Kir Royale

Entrée
Oysters Served with lime and chilli dressing
Wine: Bordeaux white wine from Graves

Plat
Margret de Canard with Rasberry Sauce 
with Green Beans and Roasted Garlic Potatoes
Wine: Bordeaux Marguex or Malbec Wine

Fromage
Rocamadour served on a bed of lettuce
Wine:  Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc

Dessert
Buche de Noel
Wine: Bordeaux Sauternes

Aperitif

Tepenade 

Tepenade served on toasted baguette slices. 

Ingredients:

2 Cups Pitted Black Olives

2 Tablespoons Capers

1 Clove of Garlic

Drizzle of Olive Oil

Lemon Juice & Pepper to taste

Method:

In a food processor, blend the olives, capers, garlic, a generous drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice and pepper to taste. Serves on slices of toasted baguette.

Smoked Salmon on Chive Flavoured Butter

Smoked Salmon with Chive flavoured butter on toasted baguette slices. 

Ingrediants:

1/2 cup of soft butter

60g finely sliced chives

Smoked Salmon

Method:

Simply mix butter and chives together and spread on toasted baguette, layer smoked salmon on top. 

You can mix the butter with a number of different things such as cheese, anchovy paste, garlic, mustard and then top with all sorts of things like rare roast beef, sardines, caviar, capers or roast capsicum. Mustard butter with rare roast beef is also delicious.

Kir is an aperitif to make mix 1 part Creme de Cassis with 5 parts White Wine.
Kir Royal to make mix 1 part Creme de Cassis with 5 parts Champagne.

Entree

Oysters

Oysters with lime and chilli dressing
Ingredients
1 doz. oysters
1 long red chilli
1 teaspoon of white sugar
a pinch of salt
2 tbsp of lime juice
1 tbsp of fish sauce

Method

For a dozen oysters, seed and finely slice half a long red chilli and combine well with a teaspoon of white sugar, a pinch of salt, 2 tbsp of lime juice and 1 tbsp of fish sauce. Serve each oyster in its shell with a dash of dressing on the top.

If shucking the oysters yourself, add any liquor obtained to the dressing

Of course if raw oysters are not to your liking you try Oysters Kilpatrick - see the recipe on our "Christmas food for a groups" blog

Plat (Main Course)

Margret de Canard with Raspberry Sauce

Margret de Canard with Raspberry Sauce.

Ingredients:

1 Margret de Canard Duck Breast
1 French Shallot
300 ml red wine
100 ml Creme de Cassis
1 Tablespoon Raspberries
50 g Butter

Method: 

The Raspberry Sauce: Bring the wine to the boil and add the shallots. Boil gently until it has reduced by half. Add the creme de cassis and raspberries and reduce again. The sauce should be syrupy. Whisk in the butter.

The Duck: Slash the fatty side of the duck with a sharp knife in a criss-cross pattern. In a hot heavy based pan cook the duck breast fat side down for several minutes until the duck fat is golden and started to render down. Place in a hot oven for 10 minutes - 12 minutes fat side up. This will give you medium rare meat. Serve with green beans and garlic roast potatoes.

Fromage de Rocamadour

Fromage

Serve small rounds of Rocamadour Goats cheese on a bed of lettuce.

Dessert

Buche de Noel

This easy buche de Noel recipe is easy to make. The light, airy vanilla-orange Genoise cake is rolled and filled with classic French-style chocolate butter cream to make a traditional Christmas log.

Buche de Noel Recipe

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Genoise cake batter:

4 eggs (room temperature)

2/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (orange liqueur)

2 teaspoons orange zest

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

Chocolate butter cream:

7 egg whites

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups plus 3 tablespoons butter, softened

Method:

To make the buche de Noel

Preheat the oven to 200°C . Butter a 25 cm (10-inch) by 38 cm (15-inch) baking pan with a 2.5 cm(1-inch lip) (swiss roll pan) and line it with greased baking paper. Set the pan aside.

Beat the eggs for 5 minutes, until they turn thick and foamy. Add the sugar, orange liqueur, orange zest, vanilla extract, and salt to the eggs and continue beating for 2 minutes. Fold the flour, a few tablespoons at a time, into the whipped egg mixture. Once the flour is incorporated into the batter, stop mixing. Do not overmix or the cake have a rough tough texture when finished.

Gently spread the batter into the prepared pan. There will be peaks of batter; gently smooth over them, but do not press the batter down. Bake the cake for 10 minutes, until the cake is just set. Invert the baked cake onto a clean, dry kitchen towel and peel off the baking paper. Wait for 3 minutes and then gently roll the cake, still in the towel, starting at the 10-inch end. Allow it to cool completely.

To make the chocolate butter cream:

In a clean, completely dry bowl beat the egg whites on high until soft peaks form. Set them aside for a moment.

In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and 2/3 cup water to a boil. Allow it boil until it has reduced into a slightly thickened syrup. Begin beating the egg whites on high speed again, and pour the hot sugar syrup into the eggs in a slow, steady stream. Pour the melted chocolate, espresso powder, and vanilla extract into the egg whites and continue beating them until the meringue has cooled completely, about 5 minutes.

Add the softened butter to the meringue, 2 tablespoons at a time, while beating on high speed, until all of the butter is incorporated into the frosting. If the buttercream becomes runny at any time in this process, refrigerate the meringue until it has chilled through and continue the process of beating the butter into the meringue.

To assemble the buche de Noel:

Unroll the cake and set aside the towel. Evenly spread 2 cups (or desired amount) of the chocolate buttercream on the inside of the cake and following its natural curve, gently form it into a cake roll. Cut off the ends of the cake roll on the diagonal and reattach them in the center of the cake with a bit of buttercream to fashion a “branch” coming off the main Yule log.

Spread the exterior of the buche de noel with enough chocolate buttercream to cover it and gently pull a butter knife or small, offset spatula through the frosting to give the appearance of rough tree bark. Add a Pere Noel figure and meringue mushrooms to complete the festive look.

Chill the cake before serving it, and refrigerate any leftovers.

This Yule log recipe makes 14 servings.

Sauternes is a French sweet wine from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux.