Christmas and raspberry trifle

18 December 2023

Introduction

The headline news is that I’m back from Paris to a new oven which has Wi-Fi. I’ve only just learned how to turn it on fan, so switching it on while out the house could be a bit of a stretch. That is, if I ever want to do it at all.  

I’ll write about Paris another time as there’s a lot to say…

Meanwhile my Christmas gift to you is my trifle recipe. In the past, I have bought all the ingredients at the Sainsbury’s on the A1 near Biggleswade when I remembered I had been asked to take a pudding to a family gathering. My husband has made it for thirty people in a mountain hut which does show it’s foolproof. 

Sandwich a pack of trifle sponges or sponge fingers with raspberry jam in the bottom of any dish or bowl. Crumble on amaretti biscuits.  Tip over a pack of frozen raspberries, or should I say, tumble them in. Save a few of the best looking ones back. Pour over some sweet sherry. If you have the time, you can do this the day before but if you’re in a hurry, it’s fine by the time you are ready to eat it. Spread over a pot of ready made luxury custard. Then finish with 300ml softly whipped double cream with the option of a additional spoonful or so of Amaretto. Garnish with whatever you fancy, flaked almonds, cherries or some of the best frozen raspberries which you have judiciously saved. I think it fulfils most of Ottolenghi’s rules for desserts, described below. 

The Cook’s Edit is taking a Christmas break and the next one will be on the 8 January. 

 Recipes

We are gearing up for Christmas dinner in all the papers this week.

I’ve been vindicated with my views on Brussels sprouts by none other than Marcus Wareing in the Times who went online to look how people cook their sprouts.

‘I can’t believe how many recipes there are out there, and most of them are a joke. I love the flavour of sprouts, so why camouflage them? … ‘at home it will be just butter, salt and pepper. Why overthink things?’

He gives Christmas recipes, including turkey crown, sage, onion and sausage-stuffed turkey legs and gravy, pork belly with caramelised pears and onion and pear sauce, and sloe gin gravlax with orange, dill and coriander

And top chefs favourite sides’ where they ignore Marcus and mess about with the sprouts amongst other things. It includes a good mango chutney recipe by Ravinder Bhogal.

Perfect Christmas stuffing by Stephen Harris in the Telegraph with his formula of 50% minced pork, 15% each of breadcrumbs, nuts and fruit and 5 % of cooked onions and herbs.

Three festive alternatives to turkey for Christmas dinner in the Times with Richard Corrigan’s marmalade goose, Paul Ainsworth’s beef wellington and Angela Hartnett’s grilled John Dory with roast squash.

Meat-free festive recipes by Diana Henry in the Telegraph with an aubergine, pumpkin and rice ‘cake’ with saffron butter and harissa yoghurt. It’s flavoured with cinnamon, turmeric and paprika, decorated with pomegranate seeds and its multi-coloured layers make it a great centrepiece. There’s also her cauliflower, Lancashire cheese and nutmeg tart and an upside -down parsnip nut roast which has caramelised parsnips and a spiced cranberry sauce.

Ottolenghi has four rules for festive desserts which are the subject of Guardian Food this week

-‘fruit, in all its forms, is always a splendid idea – poached, crystallised, candied, tinned or dried’

-‘plan a dessert that you can make a good day or so in advance’

- ‘everyone loves a wobble. Jelly! Panna cotta’

-‘if you’re ever in doubt, add, drizzle or drench with booze.’

His recipes are hibiscus -poached pears with toasted coconut custard, pannacotta with Grand Marnier jelly and panettone and walnut tiramisu.

Then there is Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for Campari and fresh orange jelly a fluffy coconut cake and Poire belle hélène by Claire Ptak, and Rachel Roddy’s recipe for bonet, or chocolate and amaretti set pudding. Finally, clementine filo cheesecake pudding by Benjamin Ebuehi which she says is minimal effort which I’m all for at this time of year. The photo of Nigel Slater’s quince tarts on Instagram gave everybody a giggle and he also gave a recipe for goose-fat chicken with thyme, bacon and sweet potato in the Observer.

Mark Hix on Christmas presents in the Telegraph, firstly with a tribute to Russell Norman with Russell’s bottled cherry negroni which includes vermouth, Campari and gin, with a dash of morello cherry liqueur, chocolate panforte and florentines.

Keralan mussels ishtu with rice noodles by Ravinder Bhogal in the FT and brothy aubergine and chickpea pasta with feta from Eleanor Steafel in the Telegraph.

 Books

Easy vegan Christmas by Katy Beskow

Recipes for maple-roasted cauliflower with winter greens and ginger and charred cabbage wedges with chilli, tomatoes and olive amongst others in the Times.

Simple Suppers by Rick Stein with recipes for  roasted  nectarine salad with feta and mint, puff pastry topped fish pie and last -minute cheat’s tiramisu in the Independent

Restaurants

In the FT, Tim Hayward was at Kolae in Borough Market, London SE1 and wrote, Every single dish, I was thinking “God, yes!”

In the Observer, Jay Rayner was at Café Lapérouse, at the Old War Office in London SW1. He said it was ‘eye- wateringly expensive and ‘I have low expectations of spendy London restaurants, and this one lives down to them.’ 

In the Standard, Jimi Famurewa went to Jackson Boxer at The Corner in Selfridges, London W1 and found ‘Boxer’s knack for deftly articulated pleasure and willingness to try things… even if there are issues with the final execution.’

In the Telegraph, William Sitwell was on his home turf in Devon and had Sunday lunch at the the Farmer’s Arms in Woolsery, Devon and said, ‘If this was a space race, The Farmers Arms would have its man on the moon.’

In the Times, Giles Coren went to Sergio, The Hunan Man and Pavyllon, all in London and liked them.

Travel

UK

The Guardian was on the Scottish coast near Berwick.

A weird article on the best 20 National Trust houses in the Telegraph with some questionable choices . My mother-in-law gave us life membership of the NT a long time ago which was a great present and my favourite is Sissinghurst in Kent and all the ones in Somerset, such as Lytes Cary and Tintinhull. They prosaically makes great stop offs off the A303 on the way to Devon or Cornwall . My husband’s favourites are Coleton Fishacre and Greenways in Devon which still have the feel of family houses and beautiful views.

The UK's best dark skies to watch the Geminids meteor shower in the Telegraph; where to go for a nighttime viewing

Europe

Contrasting articles with t Europe’s grassroots fight against over tourism in the Telegraph with reports from Athens, Barcelona, Split, Venice and Amsterdam. And then 25 of the best winter city breaks in the Times including Prague Salzburg, Edinburgh amongst others.   

Readers’ favourite travel discoveries of 2023 in the Guardian and also discoveries by its travel writers.

The Guardian was in Toulouse with a trip provided by the Tourist Board.

Reading the papers

People ask me how I read all the papers. I believe in paying for quality journalism and my husband and I have digital subscriptions to the Times and to the Telegraph. Sometimes my husband buys a Times on Saturdays or I buy a Guardian and I buy the Observer when it’s Observer Food Monthly. Otherwise I rely on what’s online, and on Twitter and Instagram. And occasionally, I ask a friend to save an article for me.

The Times gives you two free articles a week as a registered user and the Telegraph gives you access to one free article each week if you register an account. The FT gives a certain number of free articles

Local public libraries often have Pressreader which gives access to over 7,000 newspapers world wide for free or you can subscribe to it.

Sometimes, I use the recipes for inspiration. If they are from a cookbook, they may be in other publications as well for publicity, and you may find them or a similar version through a quick Google.