December 2007   
                                                                                                  

This Month:                                                                                         

Seasonal Recipes - Sage Shortbread with Goat's Curd & Cranberry and Seared Venison with Honey Soy Vinaigrette in Chicory Leaves

Cooking Classes - New Year Classes 

Spice of the Month - Cinnamon & Cassia

Welcome to the Love to Cook December newsletter.  The main thing on everyone's mind this month is Christmas.  It's such a wonderful time to entertain, go to parties and eat out.  If you are cooking, try to shop and plan ahead as much as possible.  A lot of recipe components can be prepared ahead of time and sometimes even frozen.. remember, you want to have a good time too!  I'm giving you two lovely festive canape recipes this month and a mulled wine recipe guaranteed to get the party going.

Seasonal Recipes

Sage Shortbread with Goat's Curd & Cranberry

This is the perfect festive canapé, and can be stored in an airtight container for a couple of weeks and you can freeze the dough before cooking which is also handy.  Once you’ve made your own cranberry sauce you’ll never buy it in a jar again!

150g butter
100g blue cheese
180g plain flour, sifted
3 tablespoons fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
60g pecans, chopped
100g fresh goat's curd or soft goat’s cheese, to serve
4 tablespoons cranberry sauce (below), to serve

Blend butter, blue cheese, flour and sage in a food processor until a sticky dough forms.  Turn out and work pecans into dough. Divide into two and roll into logs, about 5cm diameter.  Wrap very tightly in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes until very firm (or you can freeze at this point).  Preheat oven to 180C.  Remove cling film and with a sharp knife cut into 5mm pieces and play on a baking tray, leaving 5cm space between biscuits.  Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden.  Remove gently to a wire rack and they will get firm as they cool.  To serve, top each shortbread with some goat's cheese/curd and a tiny dollop of cranberry sauce.

Cranberry sauce:
200g cranberries
125ml red wine
pinch of ground cinnamon
zest and juice of ½ small orange
½ small red chilli, finely chopped
5-8 tablespoons brown sugar (to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a pan and bring slowly to the boil.  Simmer until cranberries split, taste for seasoning and reduce to a jammy consistency.  Allow to cool then store in an airtight container or jar in the fridge.

Seared Venison with Honey Soy Vinaigrette in Chicory Leaves

This is a classy canape that's very easy to make. Chicory makes a great carrier for a canape and I like the fact it's carb-free.  Canape parties should be carefully thought out and have a nice balance of ingredients and flavours.  If you can't get venison, you can substitute with pieces of gently poached chicken.