Like every year, I look forward to bringing the whole family together for Christmas.
Well, when I say,"the whole family", it does not go very far since we are only 9 and a half people, the half being my little one-month-old Princess who is not yet concerned with what we are going to eat!!
But even though we may not be many, it is a real headache to put together a menu that everyone likes. Indeed, between those who do not like shellfish, those who cannot digest foie gras, those who hate game and those who are allergic to this or that, it quickly becomes complicated!!!
You have to stay in the nails, that is to say not to be too bizarre, and at the same time think outside the box of the eternal Christmas menus composed of oysters, foie gras, lobster etc ...
Or do a bit of both, and that's what I intend to do!
So, I'm not going to shine with my originality this year, but as the Chefs say, simple things are often the best, especially when the basic product is of high quality!
As a starter, I therefore decided to prepare them a carpaccio of scallops with exotic fruits. I'm lucky all kids love raw fish but since my mom hates it, there will also be semi-cooked foie gras with toasted gingerbread and onion jam.
As a main course, it will be a stuffed guinea fowl flambé with Calvados accompanied by a duo of apples and potatoes.
And for dessert, I'm going to make a frozen nougat with a red fruit coulis that I'm going to try to make in the shape of a log (this will be a first, so I don't know if I'll be successful !!).
For the carpaccio of Saint-Jacques with exotic fruits you will need:
Scallops (count 3 nuts per person)
Two mangoes
The juice of 3 limes and two oranges
3 ripes passion fruits
Olive oïl
Espelette Pepper
Fleur de sel
This is a super easy and quick recipe to prepare but one that requires serving at the plate because it looks so much nicer.
- After cleaning and draining the scallops well, place them in the freezer for 30 minutes to facilitate slicing.
- Meanwhile, combine the lime juice, orange juice and olive oil.
- Cut the mango into thin slices, trying to make fairly round slices of the same diameter as the scallops.
- Cut each nut into 4 not too thin slices, you need to have a little material to bite into! If it's too thin, it's too soft!
- Oil each plate delicately with a little olive oil.
- Alternate a slice of mango and a slice of scallops, forming a rosette.
- Add the vinaigrette
- Lastly, add the passion fruit pulp and Espelette pepper.
- Place the plates in the refrigerator for about 3 minutes. If you live in a cold country, you can also place them on a windowsill. That's what I do because my fridge is always packed!!!
For the stuffed guinea fowl flambéed with calvados, you will need:
A 1.5 kg guinea fowl for 4
7 apples
7 potatoes
A little butter and olive oil
A small ladle of Calvados
3 tablespoons of crème fraiche (optional)
A glass of chicken broth
Salt, pepper
A little thyme
- Peel 3 apples and cut them into pieces.
- Stuff the guinea fowl with the apples
- Put it in an ovenproof dish, salt and pepper
- Add two teaspoons of butter on each wing and three teaspoons of butter in the dish.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 190 ° C (374 ° Farenheit) for 75 minutes, basting with the chicken stock regularly.
- Meanwhile, in a sauté pan, brown the potatoes in butter, salt and pepper.
- After thirty minutes, add the apples that you have peeled and cut into pieces, and add the thyme. Simmer until tender.
- Before serving, heat the calvados in a small saucepan, pour it over the guinea fowl out of the oven, flambé everything. You can deglaze with the crème fraiche, it's a treat!!
- Serve with the potato / apple mixture.
For the frozen nougat for 4 people, you will need:
150 g almonds
75 g pistachios
120 g sugar
100 g of acacia honey
3 eggs
40 cl of whipping cream
Frozen red fruits to make a coulis
- Toast the almonds and pistachios in a pan and sprinkle them with sugar to caramelize them.
- Heat the honey
- Separate the whites from the yolks and beat the whites until stiff.
- Add very hot honey.
- Whip the rest of the sugar with the yolks and incorporate the mixture into the egg whites.
- Whip the cream to make a Chantilly cream and add it delicately to the mixture.
- Coarsely crush the almonds and the caramelized pistachios and add them to the mixture.
- Put in a cake mold previously wrapped with cling film in order to unmold the nougat more easily.
- Put in the freezer and take out 5 minutes before serving with a red fruit coulis.
Hope you like this menu. I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year's Eve!!