Nigella Christmas

Christmas Puddini Bonbons

It was with much excitement that I received Nigella Christmas (by Nigella Lawson) last month! How lucky we are to get a new Nigella book two years in a row. It’s a bigger book in format than her others, very glossy and so many pictures all the way through. There are some recipes that have appeared in print before, but I’m ok with this as I know what I cook on Christmas Day is more or less the same every year; it’s all the surrounding satellite cooking and entertaining that changes for me. Having said that though there are a lot of new ones as well, my favourite chapter is Come On Over, I’d like to cook the whole chapter =)

There are many recipes I’d like to try, and I have made a start, my question for myself in relation to the blog was ‘Would I make a ‘project’ of it?’ I’ve decided to make a mini project of it, much the same as the Nigella Express project from last year, but on a smaller scale in the run up to Christmas itself. Same format as last time, many pictures with the just a few recipes.

Some new purchases have been made after seeing Nigella Christmas: some pretty pink pots (the ones that the chocolate chestnut pots are pictured served in in the book, a couple of liqueurs, lychee and peppermint schnapps, PX sherry and an amazing cake tin, which is very pretty in itself.

Parsley-ed Fish Gratin
My first make wasn’t sweet – I could hardly believe it myself! I made the Parsley-ed Fish Gratin, which I changed only a bit by using half the parsley, this wasn’t a conscious decision, I just didn’t buy enough! It was lovely, the crispy potatoes on top were gorgeous too. I also used 50/50 smoked and unsmoked fish.

Chocolate Chestnut Pots
Next were Chocolate Chestnut Pots, I made these before buying the pink pots, but they are lovely, extremely rich in taste due to the sweetened chestnut puree.

Christmas Puddini Bonbons
Christmas Puddini Bonbons, from the minute I saw these in the book, I knew I had to make them, they are just so cute. Well, this coupled with the fact I have a real liking for Thorntons chocolates shaped like Christmas puddings. They were everything I hoped they’d be, and just on or two is a real little feast in itself, mmmm. I bought the Pedro Ximenez sherry for this, and it’s a gorgeous drink, I reckon you’d like it if you like sherry, marsala, madeira or any of the sweet dessert wines. It has an incredible taste of raisins. I found the mixture quite fiddly to roll into, extremely sticky (!) but definitely worth the effort.