Christmas Lunch

 Gyoza sauce for the gammon

1.5 tablespoon hot water
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari for gluten-free
1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 garlic clove or garlic paste
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar or maple syrup
1 dried chili or 1/4 tsp chili flakes
few chives or green onion

Instructions
Finely mince or grate the garlic and the ginger and slice the chives (or green onions).
Mix all of the ingredients and stir well.
Feel free to start without the hot water and add it bit by bit to your desired level (as it will water down the sauce's taste).
Allow it to sit for at least 15 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld and marinate.
Then give the sauce a final taste and adjust any of the elements. Optionally garnish with some sesame seeds (raw or toasted).
Once ready, serve it up with some storebought or homemade dumplings – like these mushroom dumplings and enjoy!


How To Make Ahead and Store:

I actually recommend making this gyoza sauce ahead. Though I recommend a minimum of 15 minutes 'marinating' before serving the dumpling sauce, it'll be even better with an hour. Better yet, prepare it and leave it overnight to marinate!
You can store any leftover gyoza sauce in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. If you omit the fresh ingredients until right before serving, then the liquid base should be fine for 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Spicy marrow chutney 

0.8kg of courgettes/marrows, peeled and deseeded
1 medium onions
15g root ginger, peeled
2 cloves of garlic (or equivalent garlic puree)
300ml of white wine vinegar
150g of Demerara sugar
0.5tbsp of salt

Spices:
1tsp of dried chilli flakes
1tbsp of black mustard seeds
0.5tbsp of cumin seeds
0.5tbsp of coriander powder
0.5tbsp of turmeric
oil for frying

Method

  1. Cut the marrow into chunks no more than around 1cm square. Sprinkle them with salt and put them in a colander (over a bowl/the sink) for a couple of hours to remove excess (and potentially bitter) moisture. When they’re ready and you’re about to start cooking, rinse off the salt and leave them in the colander to drain.
  2. Peel and dice the onion, garlic & ginger – the pieces should be as big as you’d want to find in a chutney, so no more than 5mm square. If you’ve got a blender, you can puree them together instead of dicing them.
  3.  Add the oil to a large heavy bottomed pan (with a lid) and fry the mustard & cumin seeds for a couple of minutes, until the first seeds start to pop. Add the coriander powder and turmeric, and fry for another minute – keep everything moving so it doesn’t burn.
  4. Add the diced/blended onion, ginger & garlic to the frying spice mix, and add the chilli flakes too. Fry that for a good 5 minutes – add a tiny bit of water if it starts to burn but try to keep it pretty dry so it fries, rather than boils.
  5. Add the diced marrow to the pan and stir well.
  6. Add the sugar & the vinegar and stir well again.
  7.  Put the lid on the pan then bring to simmering point and reduce the heat to maintain the simmer but not burn. Leave it to simmer until the marrow is squishy (30-45 minutes), stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick.
  8. Using a potato masher, smoosh the marrow into smaller chunks/a thick mash. Stir together so the mash absorbs any remaining moisture.
  9. Spoon the hot chutney into warm sterilised jars*. Because it’s pretty thick rather than a liquid, it’ll sit in clumps so needs a bit of manual intervention to make sure it’s packed down without air pockets. Seal with waxed discs/vinegar-proof lids.


Minted Pea Salsa

Ingredients
150 g (1 Cup) Garden Peas
50 g (1/3 Cup) Red Onion
100g (1 Small-Medium) Tomato
20 Mint Leaves
1 Jalapeno Pepper
1 Tbsp Capers
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tsp Balsamic Vinegar
Salt to taste

Instructions
  1. If you are using frozen peas blanch in salted boiling water for a couple of minutes, if you are using fresh cut that time in half.
  2. Remove the peas from the water and place on a chopping board with the capers.
  3. Roughly chop with a knife and place in a bowl.
  4. Add the balsamic vinegar and oil.
  5. Dice the red onion as finely as you can and add to the peas.
  6. Cut a small cross 1cm by 1cm into the base of the tomato with a sharp knife, cutting 2-3mm into the flesh.
  7. Plunge into the boiling water for 1 minute.
  8. Immediately refresh the tomato in ice cold water and allow it to sit for 60 seconds.
  9. Peel the skin off the tomato then cut into quarters, remove the seeds from the tomato and discard them.
  10. Cut the flesh into a 3-4mm dice and add to the peas.
  11. Deseed and chop the jalapeno pepper as finely as you can.
  12. Roll the mint leaves into ball between your palms to bruise the leaves.
  13. Chop the mint as finely as you can and add them to the salsa.
  14. Allow to sit for between 10 minutes and 2 hours before using.

Wild Rice Stuffing


1 ½ cups dry wild rice
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth or water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound mixed mushrooms, such as cremini and shiitake, trimmed and sliced
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
1 ½ cups diced celery
¾ cup sliced shallots
¾ cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
2 garlic cloves, chopped
½ cup dried cranberries, or 1 diced apple
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
½ cup chopped parsley

  1. Bring broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, rinse and drain rice in a fine mesh sieve until water runs clear.
  2. Add rice to saucepan with broth, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until rice is tender and bloomed, 40–50 minutes. Remove lid, fluff with a fork and let any excess liquid evaporate out. 
  3. Meanwhile, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until foaming has subsided. Add mushrooms, toss with butter, and cook, without moving, until golden brown on the bottom, about 4 minutes.
  4. Stir mushrooms, and continue to cook until golden brown on both sides, about 10 minutes more; stirring twice. Season with salt and pepper and cook 2 minutes more. Transfer mushrooms to a bowl and return pan to heat.
  5. Add oil to pan and heat over medium just until shimmering. Add celery and shallot, season with salt and pepper, and cook until shallot is starting to brown, about 3 minutes. Stir in pecans and continue to cook until pecans begin to toast, 5 minutes. Stir in sage and garlic and cook 1 minute.
  6. Add cooked wild rice, cooked mushrooms, cranberries, and vinegar; cook just to heat through. 
  7. Off heat stir in remaining tablespoon of butter and parsley; season with salt, pepper and additional vinegar to taste.

Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Bars

1/2 cup butter {softened}
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest from 1/2 lemon
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
zest from 1/2 lemon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare an 8x8 square pan by spraying it with non-stick spray {or lining it with parchment paper}.  In a large bowl combine butter, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, salt and zest.  You can mix it by hand or use a hand mixer.  Add flour and mix until just combined.  Then add poppy seeds and stir in by hand.  Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.  Bake for 18-22 minutes or until edges are brown the middle is set.  Do not over bake, you want the texture to be like that of a brownie.  Let it cool.

While the lemon poppy seed bars are cooling, combine the glaze ingredients and whisk them together.  Pour it over the cooled bars and spread out into an even layer over the top.  Cut into squares and serve.  Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

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