A tale of Christmas Present

 

Well, that was a little strange, wasn’t it? Not unpleasant in any way, Christmas was still lovely, just… odd. And quiet, of course. We did present unwrapping over zoom, which is slightly unsatisfactory, but better than nothing. And we ate too much, because some Christmas traditions are non-negotiable.

What we ate was a bit different to normal. As it was just the two of us, we realised – in the spirt of making the best of a bad situation- we could eat exactly what we wanted, and we settled on Italian style roast pork, from Wine Lovers Kitchen by Fiona Beckett (who writes the Weekend Guardian wine column). It’s the kind of thing we’d never normally do – it requires a boned, rolled pork shoulder which is too large to contemplate for two for anything other than Christmas. (It would also normally be out for Christmas as my father won’t eat pork – both of my parents are fussy eaters.)

Also, it takes about eight hours to cook. So, that kind of dictated the rest of the day. You start by making a paste with garlic and fennel seeds, so rub over the skin. The pork then goes in a hot oven for half an hour, after which you take it out, turn it skin side down, pour over lemon juice and olive oil, lower the heat to low, and stick it back in there for six and a half hours, adding more lemon juice half way. After that, you put it skin side up in a clean dish, turn up the oven, and cook it for another fifteen minutes for the crackling to crisp up, then take it out and allow to rest. After which, you can finally eat.

Pork, newly released from oven. 

Still, it gives you plenty of time to prepare the sides and starters. (I should add that we had bacon sandwiches for brunch, so we weren’t starving while we waited for the pork).

For starters, we stuck with the Italian theme: bruschetta with tomatoes and gnocco fritto with charcuterie. The recipe for the gnocco fritto (fried dough) comes from Claire Thomson’s Home Cookery Year, although there’s a slight mistake in this usually excellent book: the list of ingredients mentions milk and baking powder, but neither get a mention in the actual recipe. Fortunately, it’s reasonably simple: make a yeasted dough ( with milk and baking powder, despite the omission) and leave to rest for half an hour, then roll out, cut into sections, and deep fry. The dough puffs up beautifully in the hot oil, to become possibly the best fried bread you’ve ever had.

The platter of starters

The interior of the fritto.

Sides were roast potatoes and carrot caponata, from Jamie Oliver’s last Italian cook book (Which I have seen translated into Italian, on sale over there, if that’s a recommendation) – this is carrots cooked with onions, raisins and pine nuts, plus honey and red wine vinegar. It went really well with the pork, although I don’t seem to have any pictures of the main course actually on the plate.

For dessert, I made tiramisu, which was easier to make than I’d always imagined. I made half the recipe, but still ended up with enough for six portions.

Gratuitous Tiramisu pics

The pork also did Boxing Day leftovers, after which I got bored and gave up on it, although the husband is still determinedly munching through it in a series of sandwiches.  I am finding this time between Christmas and New Year very weird, even more so than the day itself. I’m missing my usual mooch around the sales, buying clothes I don’t need and coming home via a mulled wine in the pub. I expected to miss seeing family and friends, so I was prepared for that, but sometimes it’s the little things that get to you.

Once again, it’s food to the rescue. Today, that was a toasted cheese and truffle sauce (a Christmas present)  toastie, with a glass of red wine. One of my Christmas haul of new cook books was Nigella’s Cook Eat Repeat, and I was struck by what she says in the intro: “Cooking is not something you do, and then it’s finished with. It is a thread woven through our lives, encompassing memory, desire and sustenance, both physical and emotional.”

Truffle and cheese toastie, with radicchio salad and truffle crisps

On that note, I’m off to open another box of chocolates.

 

The Christmas recipe book collection, plus a random book about Islamic design which happens to be in the same pile.