Alternative Christmas Dinner

[prison break fan]

Thankyou Susie! pbf.

[Millymollymandy]

Wow, from me too - camping at Xmas!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Hmmmmmmm interesting replies, I'm beginning to feel a little more inspired. Keep the ideas coming folks! Oh, and I'd be very interested in the game pie recipe too please

Raised Game Pie

This looks a lot more difficult than it actually is, but you don’t have to tell any admiring house guests that!

It is a hot water crust pasty recipe, and this is something that does need to be worked quite quickly and not left to go cold. You will need a 20cm hinged cake tin (about 5cm or so deep), greased and lined on the bottom with grease proof paper, plus an oven pre-heated to 200°C.

For the pastry:

350g plain flour
A teaspoon of salt
125g lard
150ml water
1 egg

For the filling:
500g any odd bits game, furred or feathered, finely chopped;
250g minced fat pork (belly is good)
125g sausage meat
A finely chopped shallot
A teaspoon redcurrent jelly
A pinch of allspice
A pinch of powdered bay
Salt & papper

For the jelly:
300ml of rich stock (game preferably, but chicken or veal is fine)
10g gelatine
A tablespoon of Madeira or sweet sherry or white port


Mix thoroughly all the filling ingredients plus a little of the stock to moisten.

For the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a warmed bowl. Melt the lard in a sauce pan (gently), then add the water and bring to the boil. Make a well in the flour, pour in the hot liquid and combine with a wooden spoon. Tip it out on to a floured board and kneed until smooth. Divide into two and keep one half warm somewhere.

Use the other half to line the tin: put the pasty on the base, flatten it out, and work it up the sides. This needs to be done quickly. You might like to make 50% extra just in case you have to start again (or do some patching!) – it can always be used to make decorative pastry leaves or something.

Put the filling into the case, then brush the rim of pastry with beaten egg. Roll out the other half of the pastry to make a lid and lay over, joining it to the sides by pressing with your thumb. Make a hole in the middle of the lid and insert a little funnel made from cardboard. Then add any decoration you fancy – perhaps your version of the bas relief from the Acropolis formed in leftover pastry, whatever – and brush with egg.

Cook at 200°C for 30 minutes, then drop the temperature to 180°C and cook for a further hour. If the top looks to be scorching, cover it with a round of greaseproof paper.

Allow to cool slightly, then dissolve the gelatine in the warmed Madeira, and add to the warm stock. Let the mixture cool just a little until it shows signs of thickening, then fill the pie vie the funnel.

Eat at room temperature.

[Biscombe]

The other half make us a chestnut loaf for our Christmas dinner, we make sure we gather enough chestnuts this time of year to do us over Christmas.

[prison break fan]

Millymollymandy, we are in the south of England so hopefully it won't be cold. We have done it once before, but I was 10 years younger then! pbf.

[spider8]

Many years ago Dave and I had a Christmas by ourselves (we don't have any children) away in our caravan on a campsite that was only ten miles from home but it was lovely, just getting away from the phone and TV. Everything went well and I cooked the full dinner only to have Dave say 'I'm feeling ill' and he came down with a migraine and couldn't eat a thing . Mind you, the dog was happy. Even so, being away from the enforced Christmas cheer, just sitting watching the wild birds and the horses in the field was lovely.

[pelmetman]

We had a wonderful Christmas in the campervan in Somerset a few years ago. Everyone on the camp site had decorated their vans with lights etc. it was lovely, had turkey with all the trimmings (well it was Xmas ).

Lots of years we have rented a Gite in France with the family, found this way every one mucked in with cooking etc. rather than the ones who were doing the hosting, find the capons over there are very tasty.

Sue

[Chickie2378]

We have 2 holidays close together. Thanksgiving is turkey or (sometimes ham). So no way I want turkey for Christmas.

We decided long ago Christmas dinner was going to be 'whatever we are in the mood for, something we haven't eaten in a bit so it is not a repeat, and easy to cook.

This year is steaks on the grill and lasagna with crusty garlic bread. Yup. Way off froma traditional meal, but our family tradition is not to eat a traditional meal for Christmas :)

Anything you love to eat, haven't had in a while is great for Christmas dinner!

[contadina]

The meat eaters will be having peahen (any cooking instructions will be much appreciated) and I'll also make a roast parsnip, sprouts, cranberry and chestnut bubble and stilton rarebit cake. I got the recipe from Good Housekeeping many years ago and it both looks and tastes great and best of all you can make the rarebit up to a week in advance and roast the parsnips the day before before layering it and cooking on the day.

[Graye]

"roast parsnip, sprouts, cranberry and chestnut bubble and stilton rarebit cake"

Any chance of a recipe, that sounds lovely!

[MKG]

Christmas - bugger my principles for the rest of the year time!

We will be having a 4-rib beef joint. The thought of that would frighten me at any other time of the year. At Christmas, I anaesthetise myself with homebrew, spend the money whilst scrunching up my eyes, then relax completely as Christmas Eve draws to an end - there's nothing more you can do at that point. After that, Christmas Day is just a relaxation. And that beef is LOADS better than a bloody turkey. It will be just the two of us plus the aged Mama - so plenty of beef for all.

Oh - tell the truth - plenty of beef for ME!!!!!!!

I could get to like Christmas.

Mike

[contadina]

For Graye. Luckily someone else must have bought that particular issue of Good Housekeeping as the recipe is here http://www.food.com/recipe/roast-parsni ... bit-193059 I'll try and remember to take a picture of it this year as it really does make a nice centrepiece :-)

[Keaniebean]

I haven't any inspirational ideas I'm afraid as Christmas dinner is always at my mums house so I have never been able to spread my culinary wings in that way.

I did have to have a little giggle at your Fidget Pies SusieGee. Our dog is called Fidget, and we are constantly threatening to stick him on the BBQ as he's a real pain in the posterior, so maybe next year when he's weed up the sofa for the squillionth time we might just have to make some 'Fidget pies' too

I did once make a really tasty pork in a creamy cider dish though, although I can't for the life of me remember where I even got the recipe from, but it was basically lots of cider, lots of garlic and lots of cream thickened up with pork cubes in it. Simple but tasty and it would lend itself to being inside a pie for certain - unlike my dog

[MuddyWitch]

We have our 'big' meal on Boxing day & we're quite tradtional 'cos we have a goose. It comes from the farm about two miles away & we can have it live, freshly killed, just plucked or fully prepared. (It'll be the full monty this year).

MW