Christmas isn't Christmas without bread sauce

Ingredients
4 oz (110 g) freshly made white breadcrumbs (a two-day-old white loaf with crusts removed will be hard enough to grate, but the best way to make the crumbs is in a liquidiser, if you have one)
1 large onion
15-18 whole cloves or freshly grated nutmeg
1 bay leaf
8 black peppercorns
1 pint (570 ml) breakfast milk
2 oz (50 g) butter
2 tablespoons double cream
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Method

Cut the onion in half and stick the cloves in it – how many you use is a personal matter; I happen to like a pronounced flavour of clove.

If you don't like them at all, you can use some freshly grated nutmeg instead. Place the onion – studded with cloves – plus the bay leaf and the peppercorns, in a saucepan together with the milk. Add some salt then bring everything up to boiling point.

Take off the heat, cover the pan and leave in a warm place for the milk to infuse for two hours or more.When you're ready to make the sauce, remove the onion, bay leaf and peppercorns and keep them on one side.

Stir the breadcrumbs into the milk and add 1 oz (25 g) of the butter. Leave the saucepan on a very low heat, stirring now and then, until the crumbs have swollen and thickened the sauce – about 15 minutes.

Now replace the clove-studded onion, the bay leaf and the peppercorns and again leave the pan in a warm place until the sauce is needed.

Just before serving, remove the onion and spices.

Reheat gently then beat in the remaining butter and the cream and taste to check the seasoning.

Pour into a warm serving jug.

Jamie Oliver Roast chicken with mixed mushroom stuffing

I've never made stuffing before but this was simple and was easy to stuff. If you don't eat pork this was a good alternative.

Ingredients

olive oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced

500 g mixed, interesting mushrooms (such as shiitake, oyster, chestnut etc), cleaned and chopped

1 bunch fresh thyme

1 lemon

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 large handful pine nuts

2 large handfuls fresh white breadcrumbs

1 free-range egg, beaten

1 whole higher-welfare chicken, approximately 1.5kg

Method

Preheat at your oven to 240°C/475°F/gas 9. Heat a good lug of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add your onion and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes until soft, but not coloured. Add the mushrooms with the leaves from a few of your thyme sprigs. Turn the heat up to high and fry for 5 to 10 minutes until the mushrooms go slightly crispy. Remove from the heat, grate in the zest of the lemon and season well. Tip into a bowl and leave to one side to cool. 

Once the mixture has cooled, use clean hands to mix in the pine nuts and breadcrumbs, then add the egg. Carefully, push your fingers between the meat and skin on the top of the chicken then gently create a pocket for the stuffing. Push a quarter of the stuffing into this pocket and roll the remaining mixture into balls and pop to one side. Cut your zested lemon in half and place in the chicken cavity with the remaining thyme sprigs. Pop your chicken in a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 

Place in the preheated oven and turn the heat down to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Cook for 40 minutes, then add your mushroom stuffing balls to the tray. Return to the oven and cook for a further 35 minutes until gorgeous and golden. To check your chicken is cooked, stick a skewer into the fattest part of the thigh – if the juices run clear, your chicken is done. Leave to rest for 10 to 15 minutes, covered loosely with tin foil, then serve with fluffy roast potatoes and seasonal greens.
Read more at http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/roast-chicken-with-mixed-mushroom-stuffing/#KOoAOy50mbM1Bki7.99

Leek and Potato Soup

This Delia Smith recipe for leek and potato soup has to be one of the best.

Ingredients
4 large leeks
1 medium onion, chopped small
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
50g butter
850ml vegetable stock
275 ml milk
salt and freshly milled black pepper
To serve:
2 tablespoons cream or crème fraiche
11/2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives or chopped fresh parsley


Instructions

Begin by trimming the leeks, discarding the tough outer layer.

Now split them in half lengthways and slice them quite finely, then wash them thoroughly in two or three changes of water.

Drain well. In a large, thick-based saucepan, gently melt the butter, then add the leeks, onions and potatoes, stirring them all round with a wooden spoon so they get a nice coating of butter. Season with salt and pepper, then cover and let the vegetables sweat over a very low heat for about 15 minutes.

After that, add the stock and milk, bring to simmering point, cover and let the soup simmer very gently for a further 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft – if you have the heat too high the milk in it may cause it to boil over.

Now you can put the whole lot into a blender – leave it to cool a little first – and blend to a purée. If you have to blend the soup in batches, make sure you have a bowl to hand to put the first batch into.

Now return the soup to the saucepan and reheat gently, tasting to check the seasoning. Add a swirl of cream or crème fraîche before serving and sprinkle with freshly snipped chives or parsley.

Ponche Navideño

December: the month of posadas. If you have developed a friendship with any catholic families during your time in Xela, you’ll eventually be invited to participate in una posada: a nightly religious street procession in the run up to Christmas which ends with a visit to the home of one of the participating families. Ponche is a popular drink to be served at one of these gatherings. It’s the perfect drink ‘para quitar el frio’. In fact, that makes it perfect for any night in Xela.

Forget the packet version you’ll find in La Despensa. Impress friends in Guate and back home with this Christmas winter warmer. Here’s the alcohol-free version. You get to decide how much Quetzalteca to add!

Ingredients
One ripe pineapple

6 apples (local apples from the market will be fine, but watch out for the worms!)

2 cinnamon sticks

8 onzas of raisons (pasas)

8 onzas of prunes (ciruelas)

4 whole peppercorns (pimientas gordas)

1/8 of a teaspoon of salt

½ cup of sugar

6 cups of water.



All the ingredients can be bought from the market.

Instructions

1. Scrub the whole of the pineapple. Cut off the top and split in two horizontally

2. Finely chop the pineapple inside of the skin by scoring lines one way across then the other. Scrape out the chopped pIneapple and continue to dice into very small cubes. Divide the pineapple skin into four quarters and set aside, these will go into the ponche to add flavor

3. Peel the apples and finely chop avoiding the cores. put into a bowl filled with water to prevent the flesh from browning

4. Quarter the prunes removing any stones. I added whole raisons (they swell when cooked) but you might want to halve or quarter them

5. Add the water to a large pan and bring to boiling point

6. Add all the chopped pineapple (including the skins), the apples, peppercorns, and cinnamon sticks and cook over a fairly low heat until the fruit is just about soft, stirring occasionally

7. Add the remaining ingredients; the prunes, raisons, sugar and salt and cook again until the fruit’s soft (about 5-10 minutes) stirring occasionally

8. When ready remove the pineapple skins and serve hot. This drink gets better over time as the flavors infuse. The fruit absorbs a lot of the water so you may need to keep topping it up with more water before you heat it up. Watch out for the peppercorns and cinnamon when serving.

Enjoy las festividades navideñas a la chapín.

Pea and Watercress Soup

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 1 medium potato, cut into small chunks
• 750ml vegetable stock
• 300g fresh peas (or frozen if out of season)
• 100g watercress
• leaves from 2 mint sprigs, plus extra to garnish
• 
  

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then gently fry the onion and garlic for 5 mins or until soft. Add the potato, stock and 500ml water, then simmer for 7 mins until the potato is just cooked.
2. Scatter in the peas and watercress, stir, cover, then simmer for 3-4 mins. Add the mint leaves and blitz with a hand blender until smooth. Season to taste. Serve ladled into bowls, scattered with more mint, some cracked black pepper and a dollop of cream if desired.

Jane's roasted butternut squash, ginger and parnsip soup

What you'll need

3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium butternut squash

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp of finely grated ginger (about a thumb of ginger)

1 parsnip, peeled and cut into chunks

750ml chicken or vegetable stock

Maldon sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Fresh parsley to garnish

SERVES 4

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/gas 6/400°F. Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds and put into a roasting tin, skin side down. Score the squash and drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil onto the cut side and bake for about 30-40 minutes until soft and caramelised.

Meanwhile, heat a tablespoon of oil in a large heavy-based pan and fry the onion gently until soft for about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, then add the parsnips, seasoning and stock — bring to the boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until tender. Remove the squash from the oven and allow to cool a little before peeling off the skin. Then add to the parsnip mixture and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if too thick add more stock and serve garnished with parsley.

I served with blue cheese, fresh bread and a glass of red wine: the perfect accompaniments. 

Spicy cauliflower soup

• Simple and delicious!
• 
  
• Ingredients
• 1 cauliflower
• 1 large onion 
• butter (a knob of)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric (heaped)
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander (heaped)
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin (heaped)
• 1.5 litres chicken stock (hot)

Method

1. Chop the onion roughly and break the cauliflower into florettes.
2. Melt the butter in a large heavy-based pan over a lowish heat and add the onion and cauliflower, allowing them to soften for a minute or two.
3. Add the turmeric, ground coriander and cumin and stir, cooking for a further minute or two.
4. Pour in the hot stock and allow to simmer for 45 minutes.
5. Blitz with a stick blender or food processor and serve with crusty bread, sour dough bread worked amazingly well.