An Alternative Christmas Menu

If you still need some inspiration for the festive period, our Deputy Head Chef Ian Howell has some recipe suggestions for you:

Baked local Cambridge blue cheese soufflé

Duck leg confit with flageolet beans

Chocolate fudge cake with cherries in red wine

Cambridge blue cheese soufflé

Serves 6

Ingredients

45g butter

45g plain flour

100g Cambridge blue cheese

250ml Milk

3 egg yolks

4 egg whites

100g diced blue cheese diced

A small handful of bread crumbs (if you want, you can put some nuts into the breadcrumbs)

Method

Pre-prepare your ramekins by buttering the sides, then adding the bread crumbs.

Bring the milk to a simmer. In a separate pan melt the butter, then add flour and cook through until it has a biscuit crumb texture.

Gradually add the warm milk to the flour mixture, while continually stirring so no lumps appear. This will take about 20 minutes.

Leave it to cool, then add the cheese and egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper.

Whisk the egg whites and fold half of them into the cheese mix. After this is incorporated add the rest, but be careful not to over whisk as you don’t want to break down the air in the egg whites.

Add the soufflé mix to the moulds - about halfway up - then sprinkle in the remaining cheese. Top with the rest of the soufflé mix.

Cook in the oven, in a water bath, at 120C for 20 minutes, until light brown.

Duck leg confit

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 large duck legs

30g rock salt

1tbsp black peppercorns, crushed

4 garlic cloves

2 bay leaves sliced

4 sprigs of thyme

800g duck fat, melted

For the flageolet beans:

1 can pre-cooked flageolet beans

½ onion, finely sliced

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

100g smoked streaky bacon, diced

2 bay leaves

Water

Extra virgin olive oil

Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method

First, cure the duck legs. Lay them on a baking tray and cover them with the dry ingredients. Then cover with cling film and refrigerate for 24 hours. The following day, take them out, rinse off the salt mix and pat dry with a cloth.

Preheat the oven to 140C. Put the duck legs in a large flame-proof casserole, cover with the melted fat on a gentle heat bring the fat to just below bubbling point pop in the legs and then into the oven for about 2 and a half hours until tender.

Leave to cool and put them into the fridge. These can be left in the fat for 2 to 3 days to improve the flavour.

Open and drain the beans. In a pan gently sauté down the onions until cooked, adding the garlic 5 minutes before the end of cooking, at this point also add the diced bacon and continue to cook. Add to this the beans and bay leaves with a cup or two of water and simmer away for 40 minutes or so then add the chopped parsley at the end.

When you have put these on to simmer remove the legs from the fat and put into a dry frying pan, crisp both sides and colour slightly then place into the oven to continue to heat all the way through.

To serve: spoon the flageolet beans onto a deep-sided plate and then place a leg on top of them then finish with a drizzle of olive oil and enjoy.

Chocolate fudge cake

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the chocolate ganache:

100ml double cream

50g dark bitter chocolate 85% cocoa solids, roughly chopped

For the cherries:

50ml red wine

50g sugar

1tsp vanilla essence

100g fresh cherries, halved and stoned.

For the chocolate fudge cakes:

25g cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting

75g unsalted butter

75g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1 egg

100g caster sugar

50 g plain flour

Pinch of sea salt

Method

Prepare the cherries - it is best to do this a day in advance. Place all the ingredients into a small pan but not the cherries at this point. Bring the liquid to a boil, then down to a simmer and reduce until a nice syrupy texture. Pour this over the prepared cherries and leave out to cool them refrigerate them until ready to serve.

Make the ganache by bringing the cream to the boil, remove from the heat then add the chocolate and stir until it has all melted. Then place into the fridge to set, at least 6 hours in advance.

For the fudge cakes, preheat your oven to 180C.

Grease four 8cm x 3 cm round cake moulds or tins, dust them with cocoa powder. Melt the butter in a pan, then remove from heat, add the chocolate and stir until its completely melted, set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Put the eggs and the sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk for 7-8 minutes until thick and fluffy. With the mixture running on a low speed add the cooled melted butter and chocolate mixture and whisk for 2 minutes, sift in the flour and cocoa powder and salt. Gently fold the sifted flour mixture into the egg and chocolate mixture until well incorporated.

Spoon this mixture into the prepared moulds and bake in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes or until they are just cooked.

Carefully turn out each warm cake on to a suitable serving plate. Place a spoonful of the cherries on top of each cake, place a quenelle (spoonful) of the chocolate ganache on top of the cherries and drizzle with a little of the red wine syrup and then enjoy!

Credits:

Cheese soufflé - Alison Pang on Unsplash

Duck confit - Stuart Spivak on Wikimedia Commons

Chocolate fudge cake with cherries in red wine - The British Larder on  https://www.britishlarder.co.uk/