Seasonal Feasting
by Square Kitchen Head Chef Aidan Fisher
Baked Potato Soup
Back in the good old days when we knew Halloween as Samhain, we took full advantage of the thinning of the veil to converse with our dear departed and enjoy the consequent boost to general grammarie. The current version (ignoring the misadvised All Hallows Eve, which never really caught on) does have its redeeming features. Inappropriate costumes, bobbing for apples, Rabelasian drinking and eating are all common at my house; sometimes I even invite guests.
This soup is a great warmer for the beginning of winter, great for bonfire night too. At its best it tastes just like buttery jacket potatoes. (I’m not sure what else you were expecting…)
Ingredients
1kg red potatoes
1l vegetable/chicken stock
500ml milk
Sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
50g butter
1 onion
2tbsp sour cream
4 rashers of bacon, chopped and crisped up in a frying pan
2 tbsp chives
1. Prick the potatoes with a fork, toss them in a little olive oil and then sprinkle with sea salt. Place them on an oven tray at 185º for 45-50 minutes, until they’re really soft.
2. Cut them in half, cool them and scoop out the potato flesh.
3. Place the skins in a saucepan with the stock, milk, bay leaf and thyme, and bring them up to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain them, keep the liquid, then discard the rest.
4. Sweat the onion down in the butter until soft, add the potato stock and the potato flesh and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the sour cream and then blend it all in a liquidiser. Then season it well with salt and pepper.
5. Serve hot, garnished with snipped chives and bacon bits.
Cheese Fondue
If melted cheese isn’t your bag, then give it a miss. For non misery- guts and true turophiles, it’s just about the perfect meal, and according to my main source of ancient history, “Asterix in Switzerland”, the centrepiece of any well organised bacchanalia. Sadly, this no longer seems to be the case (o tempora! o mores!), but the penalties for losing your bread still apply:
1. The Broom
2. The Whip
3. Thrown into the lake with weights tied to your feet.
Adjust at your discretion
Ingredients
300ml dry white wine
Juice of half a lemon
3tsp cornflour
3tbsp brandy / Kirsch
300g finely grated Gruyère
300g Emmenthal
1 large clove garlic
A pinch of salt and a twist of pepper
1 large crusty baguette, cut into rough 2cm cubes
1. Smash the garlic clove and rub all over the inside of a heavy bottomed saucepan (or a fondue bowl).
2. Add the white wine and lemon juice and bring to the boil.
3. Mix the brandy and cornflour and stir into the wine.
4. Turn the heat down as low as possible and add the cheese little by little, stirring all the time.
5. Add a pinch of salt, a twist of pepper and serve with crusty bread ready to dip in.
6. Serve with dry Alsace wine and shots of Kirsch or Slivovitz. Forfeits optional.
Camembert, Sausage and Cranberry Tear & Share
This is a great centrepiece for Christmas Eve or Boxing Day lunch. Enter into the Christmas spirit of family and sharing (or employ the ‘snooze, you lose’ rule if you have, like me, several siblings). Eat, drink and be fat and drunk.
Ingredients:
2 sheets of ready to roll puff pastry
Pack of 6 Cumberland sausages
1 250g Camembert
2 tbsp cranberry sauce
2 egg yolks
Sea salt
Brandy
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
1. Cut a hole in one sheet of puff pastry using the camembert lid as a stencil.
2. Place the other sheet of pastry on baking paper, on a flat banking tray. Place the cheese in the middle and spread the cranberry sauce all over the rest of the exposed pastry.
3. Skin the sausages and place in a ring around the cheese, leaving a 2″ gap.
4. Lay the second sheet of pastry (the one with the hole in) on top, so the cheese is exposed. Crimp down the edges.
5. With a sharp knife, make 16 even cuts, from the cheese going outwards. Fold the edge of each strip into the middle and press down.
6. Brush the pastry with the egg yolk, sprinkle with sea salt and some roughly chopped thyme. Make some slashes in the Camembert and splash with a little brandy.
7. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 200˚, checking that the sausages are well cooked.
8. Tear, share and be festive.
Find out more about seasonal feasting with the Square Kitchen here.
Read more from Squarely Magazine here.
