And So That Was Christmas...

Another Christmas is over. I've been oop North to 't' grim frozen wastes and despite the best attempts of the local highways department to convince me otherwise, I've managed to get back down to the Smoke. Happy to have survived the snow in Yorkshire, I hadn't realised that there's also been snow chaos back in Spain until I saw the photo on my Christmas e-card from Hotel Ferrero and read the news.

Despite everything with legs (apart from us) being banned from the Christmas table this year, we enjoyed a right royal feast. We began with a glass or two of Gran Campo Viejo Reserva from Rioja, chosen as a tribute to my adopted country. To start our meal, I made Scallops on bok choi leaves with a warm Thai vinaigrette, while dad put together the main course of fresh herb stuffed sea bass, Maris Pipers roasted in goose fat and a selection of roast Yorkshire root vegetables including some delicious seasonal parsnips. It being a Christmas table we couldn't go without the mandatory little round green brassicae, so I made truffle-creamed sprouts that went down rather well if I say so myself. And just to prove that the best of wining and dining isn't entirely Spanish, we enjoyed a superb Maison Louis Jadot Mersault from the Côte de Beaune. Our meal was rounded off with dad's infamous and seriously alcoholic gluten-free Christmas pudding and cream.

It all goes to show that, much as I enjoy meat, it's perfectly possible to create a superb feast with little or no trace of four-legged friends. A truth that we experienced at Quique Dacosta a few weeks ago and one that was to be reinforced on Christmas Sunday when we sat down to one of Simon Rogan's tasting menus at L'Enclume in Cartmel (more on this to follow soon). Although we worked our way through many of the other vegetarian, fish and seafood dishes planned for the week - the moules marinière, fish pie, king prawn curry with dhal and kedgeree were all eagerly devoured - somehow we never found the time to manage the broccoli & Stilton soup, the butternut squash risotto or the American breakfast pear pancakes. Still, we managed to consume large quantities of chocolates and nobody went hungry. The photo on the right, by the way, shows my response to dad asking me to "make something with an interesting texture using leftover sprouts and carrots". Well, there comes a time when you've done enough cooking.

To all my readers - have a very Happy New Year or un feliz año nuevo! Postscript: A little note to the vicar of Holy Trinity Church Cowling. No, you weren't imagining it on Christmas Eve. Your small, dedicated Anglican congregation was indeed augmented by a party of Agnostics, Catholics and Jews taking the opportunity to enjoy a brief period of contemplation and spirituality before the gregariousness and over-indulgence began. So get that letter off to The Church Times.