One of my favourite threads! NYD is a day I traditionally cook and we have 14 this year. This is one of my 'can do' meals, which harks back to my French heritage. Several courses, but they tend to be small; less is more after all.
Aperitif - Home made sourdough toast with home made mackerel pate, or soft sheep cheese & sundried tomatoes, or softly fried radishes and salt, Champagne and cassis.
Starter 1- Chestnut soup with rosemary and chardonnay.
Starter 2 - Langoustine, with homemade butter and walnut bread.
Mains - Confit duck leg, celeriac remoulade, black kale and crispy potato rosti. Side salad of Red Frills, soft endives and oil.
Dessert - Hunza apricots, soaked in orange juice and brandy overnight, small hint of ginger, creme fraiche.
French and English cheeses, figs, dates and a sour cherry pickle. Brandy snaps (shop bought) on the side.
I especially love preparing this meal which I have already started today because a lot of the ingredients are home grown: tomatoes, blackcurrants (cassis), chestnuts, rosemary, celeriac, kale, potatoes, Red Frills, endives and the sour cherries (picked in 2021 and preserved in brandy). Vegetables grown in England may not always be as perfect as the shop bought ones. It is hit and miss from year to year, but it is the satisfaction of nurturing so much home grown produce that I love. My sun dried tomatoes are too floury. But the flavour of the celeriac, blackcurrants and the black kale is far superior to shop bought and it is still growing outside today. I am lucky to have inherited a sweet chestnut tree when we moved in though sadly half fell down since (it is old), otherwise I would get tins of chestnuts. Sadly, my radishes were a disaster from October onwards so it is Sainsbury's variety packs which are quite presentable as crunchy and juicy. The cheeses are local (south midlands) as is the duck.
For white wine I am serving Picpoul and an English Bacchus. There is some excellent English wine now and two vineyards in particular are little gems. Red wine I let people choose, I find it works better that way, but I prefer old vine Sangiovese.
I cannot cook a steak pie like I have had in Scotland, nor the shepherds pie they cook there too. Best shepherd's pie of anywhere. I may have to wait until the 6th January for that.
Bonne Année !