An Early Christmas with a Basque Twist

Before we left for America for Christmas, we had a Spanish workaway volunteer staying with us called Elias.  He was from the Basque country in the north of Spain and assisted us in stripping wallpaper and sanding doors in our new home.  In return we put him up, fed him and helped him to improve his English - a challenge for us at times!  (Try explaining the difference between a floors and stories after a long day at work!)

As Elias would be spending Christmas in a flat in London with his girlfriend who would fly over to join him, we decided to have an early Christmas dinner on his last Saturday with us.  We also asked him if he would like to cook something that he would traditionally have at home at Christmas.

While our contribution wasn't quite the full-fat, guns blazing, frills and bells that we would normally have at Christmas, we pulled off a lovely roast chicken dinner for our main.  I took the opportunity to make some progress with my challenge and pulled all of the Christmas recipe books off the shelf.

We started with a Champagne cocktail courtesy of the Ritz.  The 'Christmas Carol' put a decadent spin on the traditional Bucks Fizz with the addition of Grand Marnier and Fraise de Bordeuax (or Chambourd in my case).  The Ritz London Book of Christmas was also an interesting read, providing insight into the history of Christmas and its traditions, as well as painting an enticing picture of the holiday for guests of the Ritz (one day...!)

Our cocktails were accompanied with canapes - Vermouth Scallops with Green Olive Tapanade from Party Bites.  I really like this book.  I love canapes, so it was always going to be a winner!  From this book, I've previously made Caesar Salad Tartlets; Fillet Steak on Toast with Mustard and Rocket; Warm Spice-Rubbed Potatoes with Rosemary Mayonnaise; Butternut Sqush Hot Shots; Coconut and Cardamom Chicken; Manchego Marinated with Thyme and Jumiper; and Flash-Seared Tuna on Rye with Horseradish and Tarragon Cream.  Yep, that's right, you've missed some gooooooood parties!

Scallops and chorizo are a classic combo and the tapanade was a nice addition.  It was a bit heavy on the garlic, which is fine if you want a kick, but you may want to tone it down.

I then spruced up our roast dinner with Chestnut and Sausage Stuffing, a recipe for which I found in Marks and Spencer Christmas.  The stuffing was made with pork sausage meat, chestnut puree (which was quite hard to find - perhaps I should have tried M&S!), walnuts, dried apricots and sage.  It was really delicious and added an extra dimension to the dish.  Although we had it with chicken, I think it would work well with turkey and, of course, pork.

For dessert, Elias prepared stewed apples for us.  A tonne (not literally) of tart apples, red wine, sultanas and a couple of figs, stewed for about an hour (with the lid on) and then cooled.  Elias had made so much of it that he ate it for breakfast for the rest of the week.  He was a little disappointed that the apples had broken down so much, but it was a very refreshing dessert following a rich meal.  And it was nice to have a taste of the north of Spain to add bring another dimension to our Christmas dinner.