Cracking Christmas Recipes
Recipes courtesy of, and reproduced by kind permission of, Helen Peacocke and Eynsham Online (eynsham-pc.gov.uk ). To view the latest selection of tasty seasonal recipes from the Eynsham Online website, please click here.
SPICED CHRISTMAS PEARS IN RED WINE
This is one of those dishes that can be served hot or cold. It requires just a bit of effort and a really sharp little knife to create an attractive pattern on the pear – but this is the time of the year when it is worth putting yourself out to ensure the food you serve not only tastes great, but looks good too. If you need a really sharp knife that will tackle this job easily, go and speak to Corin at the Emporium, she’s got some great little knives in stock at the moment. They even come in Christmas colours!
For 4 people you will need:
4 firm even-sized pears
Half pint (300ml) red wine
4oz (125g) caster sugar
One cinnamon stick
3 cloves
Grated rind of one orange
Small piece of ginger the size of a walnut, grated fine
Generous dash brandy (optional but nice)
Method:
* Find a saucepan large enough to hold all the pears standing upright and fill it with the wine, caster sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, grated orange rind and grated ginger.
* Bring the wine slowly to a reasonably high heat to dissolve the sugar, then let it simmer gently for about five minutes while you peel the pears.
* First make a mark on each pear to show where the decoration should be (as pictured), then carefully cut away the rest of the skin. Leave the stalk on, but take just a sliver of pear from the bottom to enable it to stand firm.
* Place the pears carefully into the wine mixture, check that they are all standing upright, place a lid on the pan and allow to cook gently for at least half an hour.
* The cooking time for pears can vary a great deal, depending on how firm they were in the first place, so at this point check they are done by inserting a skewer into one of the pears to see if they are soft enough.
* Take the pears out of the pot using a slotted spoon and place in serving bowl.
* Raise the heat of the wine and allow it to boil rapidly without a lid until it begins to thicken a little and is reduced in volume by at least two thirds.
* Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, adding a little brandy for extra taste if you are feeling festive.
* Pour the sauce over the pears or serve them with a little of the sauce (as pictured) placing the rest in a jug so that people can add more if they wish.
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ROAST PUMPKIN AND APPLE
With Halloween over, bonfire night too, there’s a surplus of pumpkins on sale at bargain prices, so now is the time to make the most of this versatile winter vegetable. But not just because they are cheap – they are easy to cook and really do provide a wonderful vehicle for other flavours.
Adding small cubes of pumpkin to a vegetable curry is one very tasty way of incorporating them into a meal; they are great in stir-fries too. This pumpkin and apple dish is easy to make and can be served as an extra vegetable or vegetarian main dish if served with green vegetables.
For 4 people you will need:
1lb (500g) prepared pumpkin flesh in reasonably large chunks
1 large Bramley apple – peeled and sliced
12 shallots – peeled but left whole
Handful fresh herbs including marjoram – chopped fine
20z (50g) butter
Dash of vegetable oil
2oz pine nuts
Salt and freshly ground black peppercorns to season
Method:
* Prepare pumpkin, apple, herbs and shallots.
* Heat the butter together with a dash of vegetable oil in a large heavy bottomed frying pan until it begins to sizzle.
* Add the pumpkin, apple and shallots and fry at a temperature that keeps the butter bubbling but not burning.
* When the pumpkin, apple and shallots begin to brown, stir the pine nuts and herbs.
* Season, then place a lid on the pan, turn down the heat and allow to continue cooking gently for about ten minutes until the pumpkin, shallots and apple are a golden brown and fairly soft.
NOTE: I added a couple of rashers of bacon, cooked crisp and chopped into this dish once and it worked really well. You can add chopped garlic too.
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WALNUTS
From Peggy Trowbridge Walnut recipes 
According to Roman lore, the gods feasted on walnuts while their lowly subjects subsisted on lesser nuts such as acorns, beechnuts, and chestnuts. Walnuts were thrown to Roman wedding guests by the groom to bring good health, to ward off disease and increase fertility. Young boys eagerly scrambled for the tossed walnuts, as the groom's gesture indicated his passage into manhood. In Rome, the walnut was thought to enhance fertility, yet in Romania, a bride would place one roasted walnut in her bodice for every year she wished to remain childless. During the Middle Ages, Europeans believed walnuts would ward off fevers, witchcraft, epileptic fits, the evil eye, and even lightning. The Chinese believe crickets to be a creature of good omen, and would often carry musically-trained crickets in walnut shells covered with intricately-carved patterns.
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STUFFED BAKED SQUASH
If you have a basket of small round squash that have survived the early frosts, that you don’t know what to do with, worry not. You can turn them into a fantastic main course if you are prepared to use your imagination. As they are difficult to peel, by cooking them whole, having spooned out the pips in the centre and then stuffing the cavity with a mixture of vegetables and rice, you have a very easy-to-prepare dish which even the children will enjoy. I am not going to give a list of ingredients for this dish. Instead I am going to advise you to look in the vegetable box of the refrigerator and see just what you have got lurking there that can be used for the filling. If you have a few: tomatoes, mushrooms, leeks, celery and herbs, you are off to a flying start.
Method:
* Cut the top off the squash, and carefully spoon out pips and soft flesh from the centre.
* Boil the squash and their tops in salted water until they begin to soften (this will probably take about 10 minutes), remove from the water with a slotted spoon and allow to cool upside down to drain off the cooking fluid.
* Using a spoon, remove some of the cooked flesh, chop it into chunks along with all the other vegetables that you want to use up.
* Pour a little vegetable oil to a large frying pan and add the chopped vegetables and a dessertspoon of Basmati rice, along with chopped garlic and a few fresh herbs if you have them to hand.
* Season and cook together for about ten minutes, stirring as you go. * You should not need to add moisture to this dish, as the rice should cook in the vegetable juices, but if the mix looks dry, a little water or vegetable stock can be added.
* Once the rice begins to swell, check seasoning and remove from the heat.
* When the mix is cool enough to handle without burning yourself, spoon the stuffing into the squash, and place the top into position.
* Place the stuffed squash onto a baking tray and cook for at least 30 minutes in a moderate oven, or until they begin to brown and the filling is bubbling away.
NOTE: Grated cheese can be added to the stuffing. Indeed, adding cheese to this dish is a great way of using up that small wedge of cheese at the back of the refrigerator before it goes off.
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ROMANESCO & ROAST ROOT VEGETABLES
The first time I encountered a romanesco – which is a type of broccoli – I had to ask what it was and how it should be cooked. Apparently it dates back to 16th century and is particularly popular in Italy. Having experimented with this remarkable vegetable several times, I finally decided that it was best cooked whole, having trimmed away the greenery, then used as a centrepiece for other vegetables. It doesn’t have a distinct taste as such, call it a mix between cauliflower and broccoli. But it looks superb when served whole. Cut it into pieces and it looses the one thing it has going for it – it’s appearance. Take a sharp knife to the table when you are serving the meal and cut it into portions once the guests have made the appropriate noises of approval. If set in a bed of roast mixed root vegetables, it looks great.
Method:
Simply trim away the green, and place it in a large pan of boiling salted water and allow to simmer until cooked. It usually takes about 10 to 15 mins. Insert a skewer into it to check it is done, then remove from the pot, drain and serve with the roasted root vegetables. Be very careful not to overcook, as like broccoli, it can break up when cooked too long.The root vegetable mix can include chunks of carrot, parsnip, potato, celeriac, turnip, pumpkin or squash, cut into cubes and roasted in vegetable oil in a moderate oven for at least 45 minutes, or until they begin to brown.