Getting Ready For Christmas

           Every year I started preparing my Christmas lunch as late as the 22^nd December.  I always found very good excuses for the delay:  too much work or indisposition or sickness or the false belief that dishes cooked the last moment are the tastiest, including cakes, puddings and preserves.

         This year I have already baked a Christmas cake and started the puddings.   I also made a new recipe that I was given by a friend, for chestnuts simmered in simple syrup with brandy and rum, a pomegranate syrup and pickled beetroots.  

        I’ll be giving you the recipes every week, I hope, with all the details, until just before I start tossing the salad on Christmas day!  That’s a hyperbole of course, but why not.

RENEE’S CHRISTMAS CAKE

              This recipe has changed considerably over the years, mostly by using different fruits and alcohol.    My family and friends say they enjoy it, but as hard as I try, it will never quite reach the nostalgic aroma and taste of my Mother’s Christmas cakes.

Fruit:

150 g (5 oz) prunes finely chopped

250 g (½ lb) raisins

250 g (½ lb) sultanas chopped

60 g (2 oz) bergamot spoon sweet, rinsed and finely chopped

210 g (7 oz) glace' cherries, cut in fourths

60 g (2 oz) Seville orange spoon sweet, rinsed and finely chopped

30g (1 oz) ginger root in syrup, finely chopped

150 g (5 oz) fresh apple, cubed

120 g (4 oz) almonds and pistachios, chopped

2 tbsp honey mixed with

150 ml (5 oz) dark Jamaican rum

250 g (1 packet) butter, at room temperature

390 g (13 oz) sugar

5 medium-sized eggs

250 g (8 oz + 2 tbsp) self raising flour, add

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt or more

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp cloves

½ tsp ginger powder

½ a nutmeg finely grated

30 ml (1oz) white rum

60 ml (2 oz) brandy

90 ml (3 oz) mavrodaphne or port

(Stirred together)

             Mix all the fruits, nuts and the rum mixture well together. Cover and leave to macerate overnight.  Next day, simmer for 15 minutes and leave to cool.

            Beat butter and sugar well together until pale and fluffy.   Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Sift in the flour mixture, in three portions alternately with the rum-macerated fruit.  Mix thoroughly until very well combined.

            Butter a spring-form cake tin and line the bottom and sides with a double layer of buttered baking parchment.  Spoon the batter into the tin, and even the surface. Cover the bottom and sides of the tin, with tin foil.    Bake the cake in an oven, preheated to 160 C (320 F), for about 2 hours.  After 1½ hours, check with a skewer every 20 minutes, until the skewer comes out clean.

            Remove the cake from the oven and pierce it all over, with a skewer.   Pour the alcohol mixture, evenly, over the cake.   Leave the cake in the tin for 3 hours, before reversing on to a dish.   When completely cold cover the cake with cling film and place in a dark cupboard until a few days before Christmas.

(I’ll give you the icing and marzipan recipes early next week)

CHESTNUTS IN SYRUP AND RUM

           Zena Patelis, a dear friend gave me this lovely recipe.  

1½ chestnut, parboiled with a tsp of salt and a lemon peel and peeled

2 cups sugar

2½ cups water

1 vanilla bean

½ tsp salt

1 cup dark Jamaican rum

          In a large saucepan place the sugar and water and simmer stirring until the sugar melts.   Add the parboiled chestnuts and slit the vanilla pot and place over the

chestnuts.   Gently simmer for about 15 minutes, then remove from the fire, cover the saucepan and set aside for 12 hours, at least.

        The next day, remove the chestnuts with a slotted spoon, and simmer the syrup for 15 minutes to thicken it.  Place the chestnuts back into saucepan and simmer very, very gently for 12 minutes more.  Check a chestnut. It should be quite soft, but not falling apart.  Remove from the fire, cover the sauce pan and set aside overnight.

      At last, on the third day remove the chestnuts, with a slotted spoon, and place them, by the spoonful into prepared jars.  Pour the equal amount of rum over the chestnuts and cover with them with syrup.  Cover tightly and refrigerate. 

POMEGRANATE SYRUP

Pomegranates make a lovely, translucent and ruby-coloured syrup.  As for the taste it’s fruity, and mellow and fresh.  Serve it with ice-cream or yogurt, sprinkle it over crepes or pancakes and use it in salad dressings.

500 ml (2 cups) pomegranate juice, strained

400 g (2 cups) caster sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

Bring the juice and sugar to the boil.  Stir until the sugar melts and skim when necessary.  Lower the heat and simmer until thick. Add the lemon juice and simmer for 10 minutes more.   Cool the syrup, pour into prepared bottles and store in the fridge.