Selecting the Recipes
Mum doesn’t really enjoy doing everyday cooking, but she loves to prepare festive meals for celebrations such as birthdays, holidays and especially Christmas dinner.
At least two weeks in advance, she starts to think about the menu. She pulls out her countless recipes, pulls up her press food folder and reviews the dishes that were successful the year before.
Then, as the day approaches, she starts what she calls “the food market survey”. She visits several markets in the area, and if she wants something really special, such as exotic fruits or vegetables or seafood of exceptional quality, she doesn’t hesitate to jump on the metro and go to central Paris. I’m sure these strolls through the markets, among the hundreds of multicoloured stalls, give her as much pleasure as preparing the meal.
Yet, despite all the preparation, she can’t decide in advance which dishes will be included in the menu. I really don’t understand her! My choice would be made in a minute: salmon on creamy toast as the starter and a tender, crispy turkey as the main course with some tasty sauce. And for dessert, the traditional Yule log (bûche de Noël) with triple cream! It’s simple, isn’t it? I really do wonder what all the fuss is about.
But let’s let her do it her way – obviously she finds it more of a pleasure to invest tons of time and effort in a simple dinner than buying a roast chicken at the market and spending the rest of the time playing with us!
This year, mum’s preference is to go for a traditional dinner. It seems to be a general trend. I’ve discussed it with the neighbourhood cats, and their mums also only talk about “tradition” this year. I wonder why that is. It’s in the air, says mum, but I don’t understand it. I mean, I’ve looked up, down and every other way, but I don’t see a thing. As long as we cats can enjoy ourselves, that’s all that matters!
Thankfully, Christmas dinner is only five courses nowadays. In the past, it was divided into two parts: a light supper before going to midnight mass and a much more substantial dinner afterwards. Of course, today no one would think of stuffing themselves with so many calories so late at night.
Let’s Put the Menu Together
French cuisine is seldom simple, the classic Christmas dinner consists of at least five courses:
- Appetisers (Amuse-Bouche)
- Starters (Entrées)
- Main Course (Plat Principal)
- Platter of Cheeses (Plateau de Fromages) usually accompanied by a green salad and a selection of breads
- Desserts (Desserts)
Let’s leave the appetisers aside for now. We’ll come back to them later.
Part 1: Starters
Traditional starters for a Christmas dinner are foie gras, salmon, oysters or scallops. A variation could be a seafood platter, but most families serve that at New Year’s Eve. Mum only prepares a platter when she has a lot of people over. But in those cases, she orders it ready-to-go from the fishmonger.
Foie Gras: The production of foie gras causes immense suffering in ducks and geese. Mum says people should avoid eating it. She banned it from our table a long time ago.
Scallops: Scallops must be bought live and whole (in their shells). It is better to choose them still closed, without any smell other than the iodine of the sea. If the shells are open, make sure they close immediately as you approach as this will guarantee that they are alive. (I know, it sounds scary to me, too!)
Here are three easy scallop recipes:
Scallops with Maple Syrup
SERVES 6 | PREP. TIME 5 min | COOKING TIME 6 min
Ingredients
24 scallops, washed and roe removed
1.7oz (50 g) butter or olive oil
5 tablespoons of maple syrup
6 tablespoons of soy sauce
freshly ground pepper
20 basil leaves
2 tablespoons of black sesame seeds
Method
Melt the butter (or preheat the oil) in a large frying pan and fry the barely salted scallops for 1 minute on each side. Remove them from the pan.
Pour in the syrup, soy sauce and pepper and boil for 3 minutes. Add the basil and scallops for 1 minute, sprinkle with black sesame and serve.
Scallops in Carpaccio with Dill Oil
SERVES 4 | PREP. TIME 25 min
Ingredients
16 large scallops
1 lemon
1 bunch of dill
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 small jar of herring eggs
7 fl oz (200 ml) of grape seed oil
1 small piece of fresh horseradish
a few herbs of your choice
Method
Open the shells, take out the scallops and remove the roe. Rinse the scallops well and pat them dry in a cloth. Set them aside.
Squeeze the juice of the lemon and mix it with the olive oil.
Wash the dill and remove most of the stalks with a knife. Put the dill in a blender and blend strongly with the grape seed oil. Strain the oil and set aside.
Cut the scallops into thin strips and arrange them on 4 plates. Brush the strips with olive oil and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the herring eggs around the scallops. Arrange a few herb shoots and finish by sprinkling with dill oil and a little grated horseradish.
Scallops, Endives and Gingerbread
SERVES 4 | PREP. TIME 40 min | COOKING TIME 60 min
Ingredients
16 beautiful scallop
12 mini-endives
35 fl oz (1 L) clementine juice
3.5 fl oz (1dl) liquid cream
1.4 oz (40 g) butter
1 slice of gingerbread
Method
3 days before making the recipe, air dry the gingerbread slice.
2. Open the shells, take out the scallops and remove the roe. Rinse the nuts well and pat them dry in a cloth. Set them aside.
3. Blend the gingerbread slice and keep it dry.
4. Clean the mini-endives and place them in a casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper, add the clementine juice and cook for about 45 minutes.
Remove the endives and reduce the clementine juice to an almost syrupy consistency. Pour the cream into the reduction, add the butter, mix to finish the sauce and put the endives back into the pot, keep warm.
6. Heat a steamer, add salt and pepper to the scallops. Place the scallops in the steamer for 2 minutes, then add them to the sauce with the endives. Sprinkle with a little gingerbread and serve.
Salmon: Another quick and easy starter is salmon.
Everyone in our family loves salmon, which makes mum happy as it is easy to prepare. My favourite recipe – and I think mum’s too – is smoked salmon with “Brittany” blinis, that is, made with buckwheat flour. But first you have to choose a good smoked salmon. Here are some tips from mum:
Aroma: Good salmon has a pleasant marine smell and is finely iodised. Avoid salmon with rancid, metallic, pungent or sour smells.
Colour: Whether light or dark, its colour should be clear, even and slightly shiny all over. The slices may be streaked with small, well-defined white lines, but they should not be too wide, which is a sign that the fish is too fatty.
Texture: The slices should be wide, which indicates that the fish has had time to grow, and above all, there should be no brown spots (brown muscle residue). The edges should not be dry, yellow or brown. When lifted, the slice should stand up well.
Taste: The salmon flavours dominate, so the salt should not take over. The smoked taste should remain discreet.
Blinis with Buckwheat Flour, Smoked Salmon and Chive Cream
SERVES 4 | PREP. TIME 15 min | COOKING TIME 3 min per blinis
Ingredients
2.5 oz (70 g) wheat flour
2.5 oz (70 g) buckwheat flour
1 sachet of baking powder
6.8 fl oz (2 dl) oz milk
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon(s) of salt
butter
For the side dish
8 small slices of smoked salmon
3.5 oz (100g) g double cream
1 tablespoon of chopped chive (or dill)
1 lemon
Method
Prepare the blinis:
Warm the milk in a pan.
Sift the 2 flours and the baking powder into a bowl. Pour in the warm milk and mix well. Leave to rise for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Beat the egg whites until stiff with the salt, then fold them into the blini batter with a spatula, lifting the batter so as not to break the whites.
In a small frying pan, melt a little butter, pour in a small ladleful of batter and fry the blinis for 2 or 3 minutes, turning them over halfway through cooking.
5. Meanwhile, mix the double cream with the chive or dill. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Place 1 thin slice of salmon on each blini and top the salmon with the cream.
7. Serve with thin slices of lemon.
A fun to make and very good salmon recipe is salmon steaks with watercress. I'd like to help Mum when she makes them but she doesn't agree. I have absolutely no idea why!
Salmon Steaks with Watercress
SERVES 6 | PREP TIME 15 min | COOKING TIME 10 min
Ingredients
6 salmon steaks, 6.5 oz (180 g) each
1 bunch of watercress
1 tablespoon(s) of olive oil
1 lemon
salt, pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180° C (th. 6). Sort, wash and spin-dry the watercress.
Slice the lemon into six rounds. Lightly oil six rectangles of baking paper with a brush and place a salmon steak in the centre of each rectangle of paper, along with a bunch of watercress and a slice of lemon. Fold the paper over to enclose the fish. You can tie the two ends of the wrappers with string. Place the papillotes on the baking tray. Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Open each papillote. Add salt and pepper.
Recipe Tip:
You can grill thin slices of smoked bacon in a pan and place them on the fish steaks.
Oysters. How to select them, how to store them. Two easy oysters recipes.
To ensure they do not lose their water, oysters should never be turned over. They should be kept in a cool place between 5°C and 15°C, away from light (they die if the temperature is too cold). They can be kept for 4–5 days provided they are laid flat. It’s recommended that they be opened just before eating them.
On opening, the oyster should contain sea water (referred to as the first water), which should be discarded. The animal then produces a second water, which has a finer taste than the first water.
To check if an oyster is fresh, you have to prick it with the tip of a knife or put a drop of lemon in it: it should shrink a little. If it shrinks a lot, it means that it is dehydrated. If the oyster does not shrink, it is dead. It is therefore no longer fit for consumption. Never buy an oyster that “yawns” (opens spontaneously).
Their taste of the oysters will depend on where they were farmed. They are classified by size – the smaller the number, the larger the size of the oyster. The calibre (size) of an oyster is graded from 0 to 5 for hollow oysters (from 000 to 6 for flat oysters). The preferred sizes in France are 4, 3 and 2.
If you plan to cook oysters, choose hollow ones; the best are from Brittany as they are farmed in deep water. They are meaty and very tasty. On a personal note, I would like to add that we cats don’t like them. But mum’s guests appreciate them very much, especially when she makes one of the two recipes that follow. “Classy” starters, they say. . . Ah, who will ever understand human tastebuds!
Huîtres Rockefeller
SERVES 6 | PREP. TIME 20 min | COOKING TIME 17 min
Ingredients
18 good-sized oysters
52 oz (1,5 kg) of coarse salt
1 clove of garlic
1/2 small white onion
5.3 oz (150 g) butter
0.5 oz (15 g) parsley
0.4 oz (10 g) of chives
1.8 oz (50 g) rocket (or watercress)
1.4 oz (40 g) breadcrumbs
1.8 oz (50 g) grated parmesan
To serve: 1 lemon, sliced . Tabasco sauce
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 250°C (th. 8-9).
2. Spread the coarse salt on a baking tray. Open the oysters and place them on top.
3. Prepare the green sauce. Peel and chop the garlic and onion. Rinse, pat dry and chop the parsley, chives and rocket. Fry the garlic and onion for 5 minutes in 1.7 (50 g) of butter. Add the herbs and rocket. Heat gently for 2 minutes, then blend in a food processor.
4. Mix the remaining butter with the breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan in a bowl.
5. Place 1 tbsp. of green sauce and 1/2 tbsp. of parmesan butter on each oyster.
6. Bake the oysters for 10 minutes. Serve with the lemon slices and Tabasco sauce.
Hot Oysters with Herb Butter and Lemon Confit
SERVES 4 | PREP. TIME 10 min | COOKING TIME 3 min
Ingredients
16 small oysters
1/4 candied lemon
3.5 oz (100 g) soft butter
12 sprigs of coriander
12 sprigs of chives
1 shallot
1 pinch of ground pepper
Method
Preheat the oven - grill setting. Carefully open the oysters, drain the first water and place them on an ovenproof tray.
Chop the preserved lemon, coriander, chives and shallot. Mix with the soft butter and pepper.
Place 1 tsp of herb butter on each oyster and place under the grill for 3 minutes. Serve immediately.
Mum says she hasn’t made up her mind yet which starter she will make this year: scallops, oysters or salmon. But I know what I’m in the mood for – what we all want: that good organic Connemara salmon, smoked in a small smokehouse near Paris – the same as we had last year. However, we will demand more cream on our blinis this year, at least one double portion! Do you hear us, mum?
Part 2: Main Course (see below)