The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater. Read Along Thread 2022

[Dillidilly]

INTRODUCTION

Nigel begins his Chronicles proper on 1st November, but there is a lovely, quite lengthy introduction we can dip into during the second half of October.

Last year, posters were also kind enough to share where they had found cut price copies of CC, so hopefully anyone late to the party still has time to find a copy before we start the first chapter.

I had forgotten the lovely introduction. Together with the beautiful photograph at the very beginning of the book, flipping through it and seeing his headings reminded me of why I loved it so much last year!

13 NOVEMBER
Maple syrup and fig terrine

I agree with Nigel about the garden, I can see all sorts of things going on in ours.

I’m not making mincemeat this year as I picked up some Sainsburys Taste The Difference jars for 8p each after Christmas last year. I do stir in a bit of sherry before using any mincemeat (I make mine with sherry not brandy) and the thing that makes the biggest difference IMO is to use a microplane grater and add a touch of shredded orange or clementine zest to each mince pie before putting the lid on.

I am following a low carb / dairy free diet at the moment so not participating in much seasonal cooking a la Nigel unfortunately. THe recipes are making my mouth water a bit. I will ease off somewhat for Christmas.

I've fallen off the Nige waggon , so apologies , but will catch up today.

Don’t worry Frost I’m Winging it by

relying on last year’s reading
enjoying the thread
keeping the book by the side of my bed

I'm in Paris @Swissnotswiss. Not exactly warm climes, just unseasonably warm at the moment.

This is probably very poor MN form but I’m reposting something I can it on the Poncetastic thread before remembering that the Advent cookbook discussion had been here.

I cooked the Dried Pear Loaf from Advent by Anya Dunk. When I first saw recipe it reminded me of Bara Brith - soak dried fruit in tea, stir in other ingredients and bake. Very easy.

I did panic a bit as there was no butter or egg. I used wholemeal spelt instead of plain flour and dark rye flour. Mixing it I thought it was going to be a fail but then it came together.

it’s served with a cheeseboard in the Tyrol apparently and it is perfect with cheese. It’s dense, very dark and fruity but cuts well. The slices are small. I’ve put a teaspoon in pic for scale.

it has 500g fruit (pears, prunes, figs, raisins, although I used sultanas) and only 150g flour and 60g dark brown sugar (not that it needs much sugar with all that fruit) plus walnuts (I used pecans). Plus cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves.

anyway, she said to leave for at least a week or more before eating but I cut a slice or three once it had cooked. It’s long and thin, the length of a baking tray so I might freeze half.

@HannahDefoesTrenchcoat I kept getting confused between the two threads last year as they do overlap rather a lot! I think in the end I started double posting too.

Oh @HannahDefoesTrenchcoat do you think this would make a good substitute for Christmas cake? I still haven’t decided for certain whether or not I’m going to make one this year...

HannahDefoesTrenchcoat
That's very similar to the Slimming World recipe that I use as a Christmas cake. It has dried fruit soaked in tea, one egg, and flour. It's not as sweet as a standard rich fruit cake.

Don't worry @HannahDefoesTrenchcoat I shamelessly posted about my medlars on the Poncetastic thread lol!

Tbf both of those posts are very poncy! One can’t really be a Nigel aficionado without also having a bit of a poncing streak (or at least an appreciation of artful poncing), I don’t think...

I plumped for a bath before catching up on Christmas Chronicles, so I’ll read back through the thread later.

Hope you all have a peaceful Sunday. 🎄🎄🎄

Catching up reading today as it’s relatively quiet at home. I made mushroom soup earlier with sherry and cream. Not Strictly Nigel, but it did feel very seasonal and soothing.

That sounds lovely-do you have a recipe?

@LillianGish it’s certainly got an autumnal feel here especially first thing and late afternoon. I am now wishing I got the dogs out a little earlier whilst it was nice and warmer rather than walking them in the dark and it feeling chilly.

@HannahDefoesTrenchcoat that looks interesting.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

Very autumnal here too. Just drove back from a shopping park and as we approached our village, it was being enveloped in mist which you could actually see rolling across the fields from the sea. As we scurried into the house, the smell of wood smoke was hanging on the air. It's 13 degrees here, but some folk must be lighting their fires and stoves. It's the darkness, I think. It feels really late already. Still adjusting to the clocks having gone back.

I'm going to have a lie on my bed and listen to Nigel on Audible. DD asked me last night why his is the only voice she ever hears coming from my iPad. Truth is, it's the only audible book I own and I listen to him a lot at this time of year. To me, it's like meditation.

Sue Here you go!

1oz butter
1lb ish whatever mix of mushrooms
handful dried shrooms (rehydrated in hot water)
medium onion
2 or 3 celery sticks
small glass sherry or Marsala
glug of double cream
thyme or sage
2 cloves garlic
1 litre stock

sweat down finely chopped onion and celery gently in the melted butter. Add crushed garlic and roughly chopped shrooms (including rehydrated dried ones) and soften for 5 mins.
Pour in sherry and bring up to boil. Add herbs and stock (including water from rehydrated shrooms). Season and simmer gently for 20 minutes until celery soft.
whizz with blender and stir in cream.

Ahhhh, I can finally join you all. I couldn’t find my Nigel when I started looking during the holidays then I developed pneumonia so let it slide. Last night, when coughing up my lungs, I had a Nigel Epiphany and have now got my hands on him 😂😂😂 I love a cheesy soup, so I’m going to do todays soup tomorrow evening I think.

It was strange reading about his garden though. My dahlias are still flowering, and as I’ve lost track of time a bit the last couple of weeks I hadn’t really taken in how bizarre the weather/garden is. I haven’t planted out my spring bulbs yet (cf pneumonia), but the cold snap still seems miles off this year.

(I also had my first mini panic about Christmas food planning. Normally I’d have a fairly solid outline of my festive meals by now. I’m starting to get anxious.) but anxiety is not very Nigel, clearly I need a sherry 😃

I usually lurk on this thread each year, but just wanted to pop by tonight and tell you that reading this thread is as lovely as reading Nigel.
I love hearing about your traditions, what you are cooking and making. It has also helped me to spread out reading CC because I tend to open it at the end of Oct and finish it before middle of November!

@ImNotOnTwitterButMySupportGoldfinchTweets I've had pneumonia and it was terrible. Please take it easy and enjoy your soup

Today was my middle daughter’s birthday which means (a) it is exactly 6 weeks to Christmas and (b) my house is now at liberty to start thinking about Christmas. That is the rule.

I've just caught up with both CC and this thread. Nice way to round off a productive Sunday!

I made today's soup with dd1 last year & have just reminded her about it, so we're probably going to make it again one night this week.

I've actually had a QN (quite Nigel) day today - I cleared and cleaned half my pantry, and my chest freezer. I try to keep on top of them so there wasn't anything much to go apart from some very freezer burned mince that I didn't like the look of, and some frozen fresh pasta I had forgotten about that was growing icicles 🙈 There is however, a small leg of lamb in there that has been there for a couple of years now. I keep putting it back but in reality, I have no idea whether to keep it or chuck it.

I also checked my Christmas food shop list & marked off what I've already bought. Most of the packet stuff is in hand (extra tea and coffee, soft drinks, trifle sponges type things), so my shop will be mostly fresh and the majority from the market.

I'm feeling rather festive already 😊

I am not sure I liked the cleaning the kitchen cupboards as it was reminder of what I need to get on with!

I guess I could find some treasures 😃

Evening all. I had a QN day and finally got around to making mincemeat (his recipe, obviously). I enjoyed in today's entry how Nigel referred to the fig dish as "an ice". I'm not sure even the King would refer to ice-cream an ice anymore.

Looking forward to Nigel's candle recommendations tomorrow, which I shall read accompanied by some NVN IKEA bonfire-scented tealights in old jam jars.

Reading today's entry reminded me that I made the soup last year and loved it. I've got lots of cheese to use up so will aim to make it again this week.

A photo of last year's effort.