Christmas Main Courses and two Classic Desserts

Here is my proposal for Christmas dinner with two main courses and two desserts.

Happy reading and happy holidays 🎄

Christmas main courses and two classic desserts

Pork fillet in a 3-pepper sauce.

Caramelised on the surface, tender and juicy inside, laid on a three-pepper sauce with an intense and enveloping flavour.

Ingredients for 4 persons             

• Pork fillet 400g
• Sage 2 leaves
• Butter 30g
• Olive oil 10mL
• Parsley for decoration
• Lemon for decoration
• Rosemary 1 sprig
• Cooking cream 200ml
• Brown sugar 20g
• Whisky 20cl or (Rum or Bourbon )
• Salt and green, black and pink peppercorns

Procedure:

On a wooden chopping board, clean the pork fillet of any fatty or nervous tissue and cut it into 4 equal parts of approx. 100g.

Preparation Sauce:

We put 20 g butter in a steel saucepan, sauté half a chopped white onion and a clove of garlic on the heat, add the three peppers in equal measure about a teaspoonful, deglaze with 20 cl whisky over a high flame, once all the alcohol has evaporated, lower the flame to a minimum, remove the garlic and add 200 ml cooking cream, a sprig of rosemary, 20 g brown sugar, 15 g salt, two sage leaves.

Let it simmer on a very low flame for 10 minutes.

Cooking the fillet:

We heat a well-greased non-stick frying pan over a medium flame, place the pork fillets in it, let them caramelized well on each side, it will take about 3/4 minutes per side.

Add the sauce to the pan with the fillets, lower the heat and cook for a few more minutes.

Bear in mind that pork becomes tough if overcooked.

Salmon in a bread crust

Few ingredients, very quick to prepare but a unique taste... Salmon in a bread crust.

Ingredients for 4 persons 

• Salmon 4 slices of 120/150g
• Grated dry bread 100g
• Olive oil 15ml 
• Parsley 1 tuft
• Garlic 1/2 clove
• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

Portion the slices from a 120/150 g salmon fillet as you wish, we can leave or remove the skin, if removed the salmon will be lighter as the fats in the skin will not melt together.

It is very important to check that there are no bones left in the slices, you can spot them by running your hand over the flesh, we can remove them with tweezers if there are any.

In a bowl, season 100g of breadcrumbs with 15ml of evo oil, chopped parsley and garlic, salt and pepper to taste.

We stir well and sprinkle and compact our salmon slices, trying to make them stick together as much as possible.

We can choose two ways to cook them, the first is in a non-stick frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil, but we must be careful to turn the slices gently because the bread tends to burn easily.

The second is in the oven on a baking tray at 180/200° for about 20/25 minutes depending on the cooking time you wish to obtain, perhaps in ventilated mode, I prefer this type of cooking which is healthier.

We finish this menu with two desserts, one more traditional coffee tiramisu that everyone loves, the other more daring and reworked by me for the occasion.

The Tiramisu ☕️

Ingredients for the mascarpone cream:

• Mascarpone 400g
• Eggs 3
• Sugar 90g
• Rum or Marsala 5g
• Cocoa powder qb
• Savoiardi a packet
• Coffee 50/100ml
• Sugar about 30g
• Walnuts and chocolate chips at will (optional)

Procedure for the mascarpone cream:

Divide the yolks from the egg whites and whip them in two separate, clean bowls with electric whips: whip the egg whites until stiff while whipping the yolks, adding 90g of sugar and a shot glass of rum until frothy.

We add 400 g of mascarpone to the yolk mixture and with a wooden spoon incorporate the whipped egg whites with gentle movements from the bottom to the top.

Now we can compose the tiramisu:

We prepare 5 long, sweetened coffees. 

In a container or in glass monoportions, we alternate layers of ladyfingers soaked in coffee with the mascarpone cream. 

We leave the mascarpone cream as the last layer and sprinkle with bitter cocoa.

Orange Cream and Chantilly Cake

Ingredients for a 26cm cake :

• Flour 00 65g
• Fecola 65g Potato flour
• Eggs 4
• Sugar 100g
• Baking powder 7g (half a sachet)
• Vanillin one sachet
• Salt a pinch 
• Sugar crystals to taste 

For the filling: (or treat to custard)       

• Milk 500mL
• White sugar 130g
• Egg yolks 7 approx. 130g
• Rice starch 40g (potato starch) or (00 flour)
• Orange zest 2
• Orange flavour for desserts qb
• Cream for desserts <30% fat 250g
• For the topping:
• 50% orange juice and water. 
• Liqueur, Amaretto, Gran Marnier, orange juice, water and sugar made into syrup.(alcoholic)

Decoration:

• Sliced orange to taste
• Raspberries to taste
• Dark chocolate chips 100g
• Mini meringues 10

Procedure for the sponge cake

In a bowl we break 4 eggs and with a whisk we start to beat them adding the sugar 100g a little at a time until we have a fluffy froth.

Sift 65 g flour and 65 g starch together with 7 g baking powder and a pinch of salt, add them to the eggs in two batches and mix well with a spatula from the bottom upwards.

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and bake at 180°C for 25 minutes in a hot oven in fan mode.

Procedure for the Orange Cream

We pour 500mL of milk into a saucepan and grate the zest (peel) of two organic oranges into the milk, bring to the boil over a low flame. 

In the meantime, we put 7 egg yolks in a bowl, taking care to separate them well from the whites, 130 g white sugar and 40 g rice starch, and with a whisk we mix the mixture well, eliminating any lumps.

As soon as the milk boils, transfer it to the bowl of egg yolks, filtering it through a strainer to remove the lemon peel.

Melt the two mixtures well and pour them back into the previously used saucepan.

Put a larger pot of water on the stove and place our saucepan inside and continue cooking in a bain-marie stirring until it thickens, at which point we transfer the cream to a clean bowl and place it in the refrigerator to chill for a couple of hours.

Chantilly cream:

In a clean bowl we whip the 250g cream with the whisk until it is puffy and firm, at which point we mix the orange cream with the cream using a rubber spatula with gentle movements from the bottom to the top so as not to disassemble the mixture.

Composition of the dish:

In the centre of the plate make a quenelle of Chantilly cream and place a cube of pre-cut sponge cake on top, repeat the same operation on top of the first cube or to the side of the first as you prefer.

Decorate the dish with cream, perhaps making a sort of comma.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips, place raspberries and garnish with a slice of orange.

Leave your imagination free to compose the dish...

I wish you a Merry Christmas and leave you with a recipe for an alternative cream to the classic mascarpone cream for Pandoro or Panettone.

• Crispy Cream       
• Mascarpone 250g
• Fresh cream 100ml
• Icing sugar 40g
• Pralined almonds 70g
• Liquor 5cc (amaretto/rum/marsala) optional

Procedure for the  Crispy cream:

Finely chop 70g pralined almonds (caramelised) with a blender and add them to the cream last.

In a bowl we whip the 100ml cream with a whisk, add 40g of icing sugar and 250g of mascarpone and a tablespoon of liqueur (optional) add the powdered almonds and mix everything together.

We say...Buone feste e Buon natale🎄