Try a recipe from Rick Stein's Christmas
The following is a quote from my Australian friend Richard Glover: ‘I used to be in the “how dare they” camp about cooked oyster dishes, until I went with Matt Parris and Julian to Mollymook Golf Club, and Matt insisted on ordering oysters Kilpatrick. Julian and I demurred, but then thought, “Why not?” Oh, my goodness – how delicious they are! The bacon is crispy, even a little charred, and the Worcestershire sauce forms a sort of flavour bomb that somehow doesn’t entirely drown out the fresh oyster below.’ See the opposite page for tips on opening oysters and because this is a cooked dish, I suggest you cut the meat from the shells.
SERVES 2 – 4
Rock salt
12 freshly shucked oysters on the half shell
12 unsmoked, streaky bacon rashers, cut into thin slivers
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
15g butter
Black pepper
Place a thick layer of rock salt over the base of a shallow ovenproof dish. Rest the oysters on this salt bed, then sprinkle the bacon slivers over the oysters. Preheat an overhead grill.
In a small pan, heat the Worcestershire sauce and butter to simmering point, then spoon this over each oyster. Grind a little black pepper over each one.
Immediately place under the preheated grill and cook until the bacon is crisp. Serve at once.
Rick Stein’s first ever Christmas cookbook, bringing together all his favourite seasonal recipes and stories for the most wonderful time of the year.
These festive pavlovas are dipped in white chocolate and topped with toasted hazelnuts, cream and berry sauce to make an impressive dessert.
‘I always think that canapés should box slightly above their weight – in other words, they need to be vividly flavoured to succeed. Here, the combination of crisp brioche, salty feta, pickled walnuts, figs, honey and thyme is just that. If you like, there’s a recipe for pickling your own green walnuts on page 275 of Rick Stein’s Christmas. You can also make this with slices of goat’s cheese from a log instead of the whipped feta.’
Roasted in a sweet mustard glaze and served with a buttery gravy, Rick Stein‘s ham is a classic Christmas crowd-pleaser.
My reason for including this recipe in the book is that apart from the fact that it’s the first dish I ever ate at a Chinese restaurant – in Peterborough, in 1964 as it happens – it’s also a world classic but is so often ruined by tasteless crab and gloopy cornflour.
I’m inordinately fond of pot-roasting meat, particularly when it is a slightly less than tender cut, like brisket.
I wrote this recipe for a Greek-style filo pie after going to Mary Quicke’s farm and dairy near Exeter.
Liqueur-soaked slices of Madeira cake, custard and whipped cream are layered with fresh clementines in this simple, light trifle. Perfect for a show-stopping Christmas dessert.
A delicious and healthy stir-fry dish from Rick Stein at Home.
There is, I have to confess, no need to put the vodka in the blackberry compote that accompanies these, but it does add to the sense of occasion.
