THe December BOX
BREAKDOWN
Fennel Jam: for your seasonal cheeseboard, also great with pork
Green Harissa: for roasted carrots or spooned through bulgar wheat, topping a roasted cauli
Mustard Marmalade: for Gammon or Pork Sausages. Also great on sandwiches and other meats.
Poppy Seed Dressing: an excellent and versatile dressing (recipe included)
Teriyaki Fig Glaze: wonderful on aubergines, fish, anything really, even with stir fries. Use it to baste chicken or turkey.
Wicked Horseradish Sesame Dressing: for leaves and all vegetables and fantastic for a Duck Salad
Dry Brine for Birds: a brine that guarantees a juicy and flavourful bird – recipe below (glaze with the teriyaki fig!)
Green Goddess Mayo: a classic – versatile as a dressing, dip, mayo. Thin down with yoghurt or a little water for a dressing.
Squidgy Date Cake: Can be served warm and optimal with ice cream or brandy butter!
RECIPES
Green Harissa Carrots
20g Italian parsley, roughly chopped
3 T olive oil
Salt and black pepper
300g small carrots with tops trimmed to 2 cm, thoroughly washed and scrubbed or 300g large carrots cut into 7cm batons
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ c Green Harissa paste
For Assembling the dish
½ cup full cream yoghurt
2 tsp freshly grated lemon or orange zest
A drizzle of honey (optional)
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
On a large baking paper lined baking sheet, pour on the 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Toss the carrots in the oil on the baking sheet and then toss with the spice mix. Spread the carrots out on the baking tray so that they are more-or-less in a single layer. If your tray looks too loaded, spread some carrots to another tray. Roast in the hot oven for 15 – 20 minutes until just tender and deeply coloured in places. (If you like, you could also fry the carrots in a cast iron pan in 2 batches until they are cooked and deep brown in places, about 6-8 minutes for each round).
In a large mixing bowl, gently toss together the carrots with ¼ cup (or more) Green Harissa Paste. Season with salt and black pepper.
To assemble, spread the yoghurt over the middle of your serving platter. Arrange the green harissa carrots over the yoghurt allowing some yoghurt to show. Sprinkle over the chopped parsley and season with some Maldon Sea Salt and a squeeze of lemon. Scatter lemon or orange zest over the dish and it is ready to serve, warm (the carrots just out the oven) or at room temperature.
Spinach Pecan Cranberry Salad
Serves 8
400g baby spinach
¾ cup pecans, toasted
1 cup dried cranberries
Poppyseed Dressing
Tip the baby spinach onto a serving platter. Sprinkle generously with the toasted pecans and cranberries. Pull up the leaves here and there so as not to have a flattened salad. Just before serving, drizzle the dressing over the leaves. The salad will toss as people help themselves.
Poppy Seed Coin Salad
200g radishes (if you are lucky enough to find a selection of these, bravo!)
200g carrots (jeweled carrots make for great coins!)
200g beetroot, peeled or scrubbed
Maldon Sea Salt
Slice the beetroot very thinly and spread them out on a plate. Drizzle with a few teaspoons of the poppy seed dressing. Slice the radishes very finely too and spread them over the beetroot. Reserve a few slices for garnish. Scrub the carrots and slice them thinly into coins. Arrange these coins on top of the other vegetables so that you see some of the other layers beneath. Drizzle with more poppy seed dressing. Finish with a few slices of radish and a last drizzle of dressing, a squeeze of lemon and a good sprinkle of flaked sea salt. You will, in effect, have a vegetable poppy seed carpaccio!
Green Harissa Bulgar Wheat with Avo and Peas
¾ cup bulgar wheat
½ cup green harissa paste
1 cup blanched peas
1 - 2 avocados, peeled and cut into chunks
4 spring onions, sliced finely on the diagonal
1 large handful of baby spinach
Bring a deep pot of water to the boil and boil the bulgar wheat for 9 minutes. Drain carefully in a small-holed colander or sieve and rinse with cold water to arrest the cooling process. Blanche the peas in boiling water for 1 minute. Rinse with cold water and set aside. To assemble the salad: Stir ½ cup of Green Harissa paste through the bulgar wheat and season with salt and black pepper. Gently toss the peas, spring onions, avo and baby spinach through the bulgar, reserving a little of each ingredient to garnish the top of the salad. Arrange the green pile on a beautiful platter.
How TO PREPARE a dry brined bird
Place your bird on a in a large roasting pan. Pack the dry brine all over bird, inside and out, squashing some into areas where the skin naturally separates from the bird, such as around the neck and top of the breast and between the legs and breast. Chill, uncovered, at least 12 hours and up to 2 days.
If you’re doing a turkey, place oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 200°C. Rinse the bird thoroughly of all the dry brine and pat dry. Rinse the roasting pan too. Place the bird, breast side up, on rack in roasting pan and pour 1 cup water into pan. This will prevent drippings from burning. Roast your turkey or chicken, rotating pan back to front halfway through and adding more water by ½-cupfuls as needed to maintain some liquid in the pan, until skin is browned all over, 35–45 minutes.
Make a basting sauce for your bird using butter and maple syrup (great for turkey) or butter and soya sauce or use Karen’s Teriyaki Glaze! Warm gently over medium heat.
After the initial 35 mins, reduce your oven temperature to 180° and continue to roast the bird, basting with butter mixture or glaze every 10–15 minutes and rotating pan every 30 minutes to ensure even browning, 40 (chicken) –60 minutes longer.
I usually figure on 75 – 90 mins for a chicken and 90 mins for a turkey. Transfer the bird to a cutting board and let rest at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour before carving.