December 6, 2008

Recipe News: Christmas diner starters

OVER the next three Sundays, we'll show you how to make a magnificent Cook School Christmas dinner. The menu for this modern four-course festive feast is as follows: rillette of smoked, poached and hot-smoked salmon; white bean, bacon and chorizo soup; roast partridge with caramelised apples, chestnuts and cider; Helston pudding and Cook School custard. The only thing you really need to order is a couple of partridges from your butcher – the rest of the ingredients are all widely available. Partridges are also fairly easy to get hold of, but it's better to be safe than sorry at Christmas. We've usedADVERTISEMENT
estate-reared red-legged partridges. The wild birds are grey-legged and just as good, but are more difficult to find.

We begin this week with the two starters. Each would work perfectly well alone, but why not do both? It is Christmas, after all. First off is the rillette of smoked, poached and hot-smoked salmon. Rillette is a bit like pâté, but much lighter. For this, almost everything can be done in advance, with just a quick mix at the last minute.

Includes recipes for:

RILLETTE OF SMOKED, POACHED AND HOT-SMOKED SALMON

WHITE BEAN, BACON AND CHORIZO SOUP

Full article here.