Christmas Fireside Stories
Page 20
The scent of the meadow on that Sunday afternoon when they’d picnicked filled her nostrils. Was it last week? Her mind gave her the moment she’d said, ‘Look, Jacques is sleeping. We have tired him out.’ Laughing, Pierre had picked a buttercup and she saw in her mind’s eye how the sun had reflected the gold of the flower as she’d held it under his chin. His giggle at her funny British custom tinkled in her ears. ‘Ma chérie, how can a reflection tell if I like butter or no?’
Explaining how the myth amused children in England on sunny picnic outings had brought a happiness into her as she’d thought of her and Terence, but, as always, thinking of him had prickled her conscience. For hadn’t they tainted such innocent moments?
Pierre left her no time to let her thoughts drift to those painful parts of her inner self as he’d gently laid her back onto the soft grass and lifted her face to his. ‘Let me show you a good French tradition, ma chérie.’ His kisses had reeled her senses. Her body had yielded to his with a passion that released her very soul from the shackles that held it. But something gave her the truth of the moment and brought her back to now, and she knew it hadn’t stayed free for long.
Diane Allen’s Sherry Trifle
Serves 6
160 g (6 oz) jam Swiss roll, cut into thick slices, or 160 g (6 oz) packet of trifle sponges
5 tablespoons sweet sherry
1 x 135 g (5 oz) block of raspberry jelly, made up to ¾ pint (425 ml) following the packet instructions
280 g (10 oz) of fresh raspberries and a few extra for decoration
500 ml (18 fl. oz) of home-made custard (see below) or 1 packet of ready-made custard
500 ml (18 fl. oz) of whipping cream, softly whipped
Handful of flaked almonds
The trifle can be made in one large dish or in individual glasses.
Line the bottom of the dish or glasses with the cake slices or trifle sponges. Sprinkle with the sherry and leave to soak for 5 minutes.
Lay the raspberries over the cake and press lightly to release the juices. Pour the liquid jelly over the sponge and fruit and place in a refrigerator until the jelly is set.
Once set, spoon over the semi-cold custard, making a thick layer.
Finally, finish with a thick layer of whipped cream, either spooned or piped using a piping bag. Decorate with raspberries and flaked almonds.
Custard Sauce Recipe
140 ml (5 fl. oz) milk
240 ml (8.5 fl. oz) double cream
50 g (2 oz) caster sugar
6 large egg yolks
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds removed
Place the milk and cream and one teaspoon of the sugar into a pan. Bring to a gentle simmer: once simmering, turn the heat to its lowest.
In a large heatproof bowl, place the remaining sugar and the egg yolks and whisk until light, creamy and pale in colour.
Slowly whisking by hand, pour the warmed milk into the egg mixture.
Add the seeds from the vanilla pod and then return the custard to the saucepan and stir constantly over a low heat until it thickens. Do not rush this process, or the custard will curdle or, even worse, burn.
Finally, once thickened, remove from heat and pass through a sieve, then leave until needed.
Rita Bradshaw’s Christmas Cake Recipe
Christmas cake is universal, I know, but this particular Durham recipe is a north-east special and once sampled is impossible to resist.
170 g (6 oz) butter
170 g (6 oz) lard
170 g (6 oz) soft brown sugar
170 g (6 oz) caster sugar
6 eggs
1 tbsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
340 g (12 oz) plain flour
225 g (8 oz) each of sultanas, currants and raisins
85 g (3 oz) each of glacé cherries, mixed peel, chopped walnuts and ground almonds
1 tbsp black treacle
1 bottle of Guinness
Also prepare: 23-cm / 9-inch cake tin lined with three layers of greaseproof paper.
Cream together the butter, lard, brown sugar and caster sugar for at least 10 minutes – preferably 15, if you can manage it. Add the eggs, beating well between each addition.
Sieve the flour with the spices and fold into the butter mixture.
Add the fruit, peel and walnuts and mix well before adding the ground almonds. Fold these in and distribute evenly. Stir in the treacle, and enough Guinness to make a soft dropping consistency. Have a good sniff – Christmas in a bowl!
Put the mixture into the cake tin and drop the tin sharply onto a hard surface to knock out any air pockets. Don’t forget to do this.
Tie six thicknesses of brown paper round the outside of the cake tin, leaving the top uncovered. Place the tin on the bottom shelf of the oven and bake for 1½ hours at gas mark 3,160°C, then for a further 2-2½ hours on gas mark 2,140°C.
Begin testing the cake mixture after 3½ hours; a skewer inserted carefully into the middle of the cake should come out clean.
Once removed from the oven, leave the cake to cool and turn out of the tin only when cold. Add marzipan and icing sugar if desired, but delicious perfectly naked (the cake, not you!).
Margaret Dickinson’s Plum Pudding Recipe
This plum pudding recipe was originally made by my grandmother and has been passed down the family. I still use this recipe every year – and it has become a firm favourite!
2 lb finely grated carrot
2 lb fine breadcrumbs
2 lb finely chopped suet
2 lb moist sugar
2 lb sultanas
2 lb Valencia raisins
2 lb currants
¼ lb lemon and citrus peel (mixed)
2 oz sweet almonds
3 tbsp marmalade
5 eggs, beaten
Mix carrot, breadcrumbs, suet and sugar together and leave to moisten for 24 hours
Wash and dry and seed raisins, then wash and stalk the other fruit before mixing all the ingredients together – with the beaten eggs to be added last.
Grease 5 or 6 pudding bowls and fill three-quarters of the way up.
Steam for 2 hours.
Annie Murray’s Celery, Apricot and Walnut Stuffing
My mum always had the ambition to be a cook, but having left school at fourteen during the Depression of the 1930s and being one of six children, it was straight into a Coventry factory as a filing clerk for her. In the 1970s, she spotted the fact that the French cookery school Cordon Bleu were offering a course, week by week, in magazines you could buy at the newsagent’s. This was her kind of creativity and off she went! Our diet swiftly became more interesting. This turkey stuffing is a recipe she has used ever since and which I now use myself – it is one of the tastes of Christmas for me. It’s easy to make and very handy if you have a vegetarian in the family, as it also makes a very tasty veggie bake.
50 g (2 oz) dried apricots (soaked overnight)
40 g (1½ oz) butter
2 onions, chopped finely
1 small head of celery (thinly sliced)
115 g (4 oz) walnuts, chopped
1½ teacups breadcrumbs
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
Drain apricots and cut each half into 3–4 pieces.
Melt butter in a pan, add the onions, then cover and cook until soft. Add the celery, apricots and walnuts. Cook for about 4 minutes over a brisk heat, stirring continuously, then turn into a bowl. When cool, add the breadcrumbs and parsley. Season to taste.
When ready, insert into turkey!
Mince Pies – Recommended by Pam Weaver
I am what my mother used to call a ‘plain cook’. I’m not interested in pretty-looking food but I love good taste. For some years I have made my own mincemeat for mince pies, and although it may not look the way we expect in the jar, the taste is amazing.
225 g (8 oz) cooking apples
225 g (8 oz) currants
225 g (8 oz) sultanas
110 g (4 oz) glacé cherries
110 g (4 oz) candied peel
110 g (4 oz) chopped walnuts
225 g (8 oz) unsalted butter
450 g (1 lb) demerara sugar
2 tsp mixed spice
150 ml (4 fl. oz) brandy (I usually measure this ingredient with a shaky hand!)
Peel and core the apples and cut into small chunks. Add to all the other ingredients (holding back the brandy) in a large bowl and mix together. Stir in the brandy and mix well. Put into clean jars* and cover as for jam.
Leave for 2–3 weeks before using and stir well when you open. A liquid forms at the bottom of the jar, so I suggest tipping it up once a week to make sure all the fruit is covered. When you open the jar to use the mincemeat, give it a good stir. It will keep for up to 3 months if you can manage to fight off the requests for more.
* I use my daughter’s old bottle sterilizer to make sure my jars are thoroughly clean. It works with steam and only takes a few minutes.
Mary Wood’s Favourite Christmas Recipe – Smoked Salmon and Tuna Mayonnaise Parcels Served on a Crisp Rosti
I’m all for the simple life touched by a little luxury that doesn’t cost the earth. My Christmas lunch begins with a starter that I can prepare on Christmas Eve and refrigerate till needed, with very little to do on the day, and it really does fit the remit of simple yet luxurious.
Serves 4
Parcels:
4 slices of smoked salmon, at least 5 cm (2 in.) wide and 15 cm (6 in.) long (you can buy a packet from the deli and cut these yourself, or ask the fishmonger at your local store to do it for you)
1 medium-size tin of tuna in brine, drained till very dry
Mayonnaise
For the rosti:
2 large fluffy potatoes
2 tablespoons of virgin olive oil
Accompaniments and garnish:
1 lemon cut in 4 wedges
4 sprigs of fresh parsley
Cheats’ Melba toast to accompany (cheats’ because I buy a box of ready-made toast)
Butter to serve with toast
As long as you have room in your fridge you can prepare the parcels on Christmas Eve:
Mix the tuna and mayonnaise together, trying not to make the mixture too moist.
Lay out the smoked salmon. Put a heaped dessertspoon (or more) of the tuna mixture onto the end of the smoked salmon and roll. Neaten edges and refrigerate.
Rostis can also be prepared the evening before:
Peel the potatoes and grate them onto a clean tea towel. Roll up the tea towel and squeeze to get the potato as dry as possible. Divide into 4 portions and press each one into a rounded shape. Wrap tightly in clingfilm and refrigerate.
Cook and assemble on Christmas morning:
Fry the rostis in the olive oil for 3 to 4 minutes each side until crisp and golden. Leave to one side. Then just before serving reheat in microwave and place each one on a small plate.
The parcels do not need to be cooked. Take from refrigerator just before serving and place one on top of each rosti. Decorate with lemon wedges and parsley, and serve with Melba toast and butter.
First published 2014 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2014 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-7682-1
‘Christmas at Briar Farm’; ‘Uncle Percy – A Christmas Memory’; For A Father’s Pride; ‘Diane Allen’s Sherry Trifle’ © Diane Allen 2014. ‘Kate’s Miracle’; ‘A Christmas Tradition in the Bradshaw Household’; Beyond the Veil of Tears; ‘Rita Bradshaw’s Christmas Cake Recipe’ © Rita Bradshaw 2014. ‘The Gift’; Fairfield Hall; ‘Margaret Dickinson’s Plum Pudding Recipe’ © Margaret Dickinson 2014. ‘Christmas at Thalstead Halt’; ‘A Railway Christmas’; Meet Me Under the Clock; ‘Annie Murray’s Celery, Apricot and Walnut Stuffing’© Annie Murray 2014. ‘You’ll Never Know Just How Much I Love You’; ‘My Favourite Christmas Memory’; ‘Mince Pies – Recommended by Pam Weaver’ © Pam Weaver 2014. ‘A Wounded Christmas’; ‘A Childhood Christmas Eve Memory’; ‘Mary Wood’s Favourite Christmas Recipe’© Mary Wood 2014. Time Passes Time © Mary Wood 2013
Illustrations copyright © Moreno Chiacciera, Beehive Illustration
The rights of Diane Allen, Rita Bradshaw, Margaret Dickinson, Annie Murray, Pam Weaver and Mary Wood to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used ficticiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.