Mostly Food Journal has articles on and reviews of Cookbooks, Restaurants, Chefs, Ingredients, Drinks, New Products, and the People behind them.
Use the buttons above to take a stroll through them all!

Cookbook review: 200 Christmas Recipes

Christmas, for many of us, is a celebration with family and friends. Most of the traditional festivities revolve around food. We think of Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Turkey, duck, Moroccan stuffed lamb, traditional roast goose. What was that about Morocco?

This amazing little book contains, as it says, 200 Christmas recipes. Many are what you would expect from a Christmas cookbook but there are lots of innovations. It starts off with Christmas Fare which includes roast meats, accompanying vegetables, Christmas puddings and desserts. There is a real international flavour to enable you to have a traditional Christmas meal but drawing on traditions other than your own. Melanzane Parmigiana is a delicious aubergine and cheese dish with a tomato sauce that would be a marvellous side dish with classic roast turkey.

The Centrepiece Cakes chapter offers a rich Christmas cake but there are people who hate fruit cake with a will known to few. For those unfortunates there are such delights as the very French Buche de Noël, Italian Panforte di Siena and a Christmas stocking made from Madeira cake.

If small cakes are more appealing then there is a chapter of festive ideas. Baby Panettones baked in ex-baked-bean tins are a charming twist on the original large loaf. Making edible tree decorations will keep the kids amused for ages. They can help to make the cookies and then ice them. It’s doubtful that many will get as far as garnishing your tree but you’ll have marvellous memories.

The Edible Gifts chapter has some marvellous and unique ideas. Lime and Passion Fruit Curd is an exotic treat and too good to give away. The passion fruit gives an interesting texture to this spread. There is also a recipe for the regular lemon curd and a mixed citrus curd. These last up to a month in the fridge.

Perhaps the most valuable chapter for the over-indulged turkey lovers is Leftover Turkey Ideas. These birds do seem to last. Christmas is the only time of year that most of us eat turkey and we don’t want to waste any, but there are only so many turkey sandwiches one can eat. Try Rigatoni with Turkey and Pesto. Turkey and Green Pepper Stir-fry is flavourful, quick and easy but Turkey Tetrazzini has my vote. It’s a pasta dish for 4 which uses only 12oz of meat.

 200 Christmas Recipes is just about the best value Christmas cookbook around. 200 simple recipes with 200 pictures for less than a fiver. This would make a great gift, although my copy will be staying with me.