I hate to mention Christmas, but?

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Uschi, I hadn't thought of that aspect of a toned down Christmas season. There may be a glut of larger birds. I do hope that farmers don't lose out and that no meat is wasted.

jeral- in Reading there is a lovely pie shop called Sweeny Todd's where you can eat in or take away. We went there for our work Christmas once and they served Christmas pies crammed with things you might eat at Christmas. Turkey, sausage, stuffing, cranberry sauce etc. It was delicious and I have often made a similar pie using cold cooked Christmas leftovers since then which can even be frozen and used a bit later rather than fresh meat from the freezer. The odd splurge of bread sauce cranberry sauce is surprisingly good. It works with or without gravy but is nice with. I love the sound of the pithivier effect. I've never seen ready rolled round pastry for sale.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

They do sound good.

On the "pie" theme, my usual sausage roll is Ainsley's croissant sausage rolls. They are delicious.

Pilsbury croissant dough from the cold counter
Small sausages
Tomato sauce & horseradish sauce. Or variations such as cranberry.

Par cook your sausages (not in the recipe but I always do for sausage rolls). Cut out croissant triangles along the prepared dotted line, and spread your sauces.
Add a sausage and roll them up. Bake!

[Pepper Pig Profile]

It's a funny thing about Ainsley, I love him to bits and have met him a few times - he's lovely by the way - but he comes in for an awful lot of snide criticism. And yet his recipes are really, really good. His Barbecue Bible is terrific. It kind of makes you wonder if a bit of casual or not so casual racism is involved doesn't it?

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Lucky you meeting him.
My only qualm on Ready Steady was he seemed to get really close to people - you know when they talk too near your face and you back off, and they move in again.
I notice it with Angela Ripoff too.

I've got his Express book, with cracking recipes in it.

[Sakkarin Profile]

you know when they talk too near your face and you back off

I once went on an "assertiveness training" course, and the lady who ran it claimed to be able to read people's comfort zones, the distance she could approach them before they felt uncomfortable. She was staggeringly accurate, I think mine was about a metre, one person she could go right up to their face, but the most surprising one was a girl who she correctly assessed as being uncomfortable even from 5 or 6 feet away.

Sorry, back to Christmas, even though you're not allowed to mention it till at least mid-November.

[aero280 Profile]

I once worked with a man who had to look you in the eye when holding a conversation. If you looked away from his face in any way, he would move so that he was in your line of sight again.

You could tell when he was holding a conversation, because he sort of danced around the other person. Naturally, he was very uncomfortable in a meeting where everyone was seated, but if he was talking to you, he would stare straight at you. If you glanced away, he would stop speaking until you looked at him again.

It was most disconcerting!

[WWordsworth Profile]

Uschi, would I have been served apple sauce with goose?
It was in Frankfurt in the 80s and I was the guest of a German colleague.

[Uschi Profile]

Uschi, would I have been served apple sauce with goose?
It was in Frankfurt in the 80s and I was the guest of a German colleague.

Yes, apple sauce with a good hint of cinnamon would feature, too. I forgot that.
Some do a baked apple, often filled with marzipan instead, some serve pears stewed in red wine or cranberry sauce. But something fruity never goes amiss.
All of these combinations work for duck, too.

The red cabbage is usually spiced with cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves and often contains apple pieces, too. And, as the final touch, a spoonful of neutral oil for a nice gloss.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Mmmmmm I do like a goose even tho' they're a pita to cook with all the fat drainage, but lovely meat - apple sauce is lovely with it to cut the richness, as is quince & all that fat keeps for ages in the freezer for future roasties.

Ainsley's in-your-face is a big turn off for me - I've watched him give food to people on his shows & his face is so close to their mouths he's one step away from having his tongue down their throat..........!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I have never met an Ainsley recipe that didn’t work as written- he must test and test, the BBQ Bible is brilliant

[ZeroCook Profile]

Now that we have a "lockdown light" and no restaurants open all November the venerable tradition of eating "St Martin's goose" usually with dumplings and either red cabbage or sometimes kale, but always with lashings of gravy is going down the drain this year. I do wonder what will happen to the thousands of geese that will not be needed now. Most people will not bother with a whole goose at home ...

Would love a goose glut and would happily stash a freezer with a spare one.

That was the favoured Xmas bird growing up. Chestnut stuffing plus roasted stuff goose neck, fresh cranberry sauce or morello cherry sauce (frozen from the garden tree) and all the trimmings plus Xmas pud of course.

Yay, Clive - that's such a long wait to see them. Stuck in Spain had you said? Long flight .... One of those years ...

Good midwinter food and cooking needed to help banish the blues.

Prawn Patia perhaps, Gill? A fave among faves in my list.

Greetings Wic.

.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

In Berlin I once ordered "the best part of the goose" - three different parts of the anatomy (breast & leg meat and a wing portion crisp outside & moist inside )

It came with little baked apples filled with macaroon crumbs and possibly a bit of marzipan, as tit wasn't dry

My grandfather used to have goose at Easter - perhaps because we were there, but knowing him because one of his regulars was selling off geese that survived Christmas and New Year before starting breeding again

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I was over in Germany one November for W*** and our hosts took us out to a restaurant at Martinmas. Roast goose is probably my favourite dinner, it was a lovely meal. However, the party included folk from the USA and Australia. They all had steak...

[WWordsworth Profile]

They are just weird

[Hickybank Profile]

They are just weird

Second that

[MagicMarmite Profile]

Christmas day will just be me for the third year running.
I don't mind at all now, I'm used to it.
I'm going to have Chinese takeaway and watch crap telly.
Bliss.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

watch crap telly

There's plenty of that at Christmas!

Zero?
Is the prawn patia sweet and spicy? I won't be able to get a sweetness element past Tony He's also developed a recent need to scrutinise labels for their natural sugar content in particular. It really is a thing with him!

But I'd like to try a prawn patia out soon if I can get around this.
Always on the look out for new spicy recipes.

PP & Sue?
Is his bbq bible really for bbqs. It's not really my way of cooking, but if it can be adapted to kitchen cooking, I wouldn't mind asking for another Ainsley book as a present.

[Uschi Profile]

The small baked apples filled with either a mix of cinnamon, sugar, butter,raisins and almonds or a marzipan mixture containing the former and a good bit of amaretto are a lovely touch.
They are festive and wintry and whether you have them with your main course or as a dessert with a boozy custard sauce does not really matter.

The trick with the marzipan-amaretto filling is to start it off early. The two refuse to mix unless you give them some time. Best start the process now with a bigger portion than needed, pluck the marzipan into small bits put them into a small glass jar or any other container with a tight fitting lid, douse with amaretto and shake well.
Take the jar out of the fridge from time to time and use a fork to mash the mix about a bit (don't forget to sample) and after a while you will have a smooth paste which you can pipe into the apples. This paste will infuse the apples so much better with that marzipany-boozy flavour than just adding a slosh to the filling.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I seldom BBQ but I use the book for sides, starters, and marinades and of course there are desserts and drinks

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I'll get it then. Thanks for the recommendation.

Hi Uschi.
You'll be busy getting ready for your Christmas baking marathons.