Green Dinner Table Christmas feast 2017

Sunday the 23rd (or early morning the 24th)

Soak the cashews for at least 4 hours in cold water, ideally overnight.

Christmas Eve. Make the Passionfruit cherry cheesecake.

Open the bag of the cheesecake base and separate the dates. Roughly chop.

Place the remaining ingredients in a blender and pulse for 20 seconds. Add the dates and pulse until it all comes together. Don’t worry if it looks a little dry.

Place the crust into a bowl and knead together with your hands. You may need a (very) little bit of water, about half a tablespoon.

Line a spring form cake tin with baking paper on the bottom, ideally around a 22 cm tin.

Divide the crust into 4 piles and dot around the base of the cake tin. Flatten out to form an even base. Place in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Open the tofu and strain. Strain the soaked cashews. Add both of these to a blender. Zest and juice the lemons and add to the blender along with the cheesecake wet mix.

Blend until very smooth, once you think it’s smooth enough blend for another 30 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and dollop in 3/4 of the cherry compote. Gently mix once or twice to give a swirl effect. Don’t over mix.

Pour on top of the crust then dollop the remaining cherry compote on top. Cover and place in the freezer over night.

Christmas day we will glaze the cheesecake.

You’ll want to remove the cheesecake form the freezer and put in the fridge about 2 hours before serving.

Merry Christmas! Start cooking about 2 and half hours before you want to eat, this will give you lots of time.

First up we are going to prep the vegetables.

Scrub the new potatoes, the dirt protects their delicate skin, there is no need to peel them. (Great job for children!).

Scrub the carrot, again no need to peel them. Remove the tops.

Trim the woody bottom of the asparagus, about 5 cm off.

Remove the peas from the pod. Pinch the tops down and remove the spine from the sugar snap (sugar snaps are the ones in the bio bag) and snow peas.

Remove the Giardiniera pickled vegetables from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Time to prep the Wellington.

Remove the thyme leaves from the stalk and roughly chop. Wash the mushrooms if needed. Lay the mushrooms on a tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and sprinkle over half the thyme. Roast for 10-12 minutes.

While the mushrooms are roasting prepare the stuffing. Remove the parsley leaves from the stalk and finely chop. Blend the stuffing mix until smooth. Combine the G.D.T. vegetable stock with 250 ml of boiling water and mix. Transfer the stuffing mix to a bowl, add the onion jam, remaining chopped thyme, parsley and vegetable stock mix. Mix into a thick paste. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Mince the garlic. Remove the ends from the bunch of spinach, a little stalk is ok. Fry the garlic in a large pot with a little oil for 30 seconds, add the spinach and a pinch of salt and cook for 2 minutes. Once the spinach is cooked strain and squeeze out any excess liquid.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the new potatoes for about 20 minutes until just cooked. Once cooked strain and allow to cool slightly. Lay the potatoes on a baking tray and gently crush, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil.

Lay the carrots on a baking tray toss with thyme infused maple and the olive oil and balsamic. Add a pinch of salt.

Time to glaze the cheesecake.

In a small pot place the passionfruit on a low heat with half a cup of water, bring to a simmer. Sprinkle in the agar agar and simmer for 1 minute before whisking in. Pour over the top of cheesecake and return to the fridge.

Assemble the antipasto platter.

Get a large platter or wooden board.

Prepare the bruschetta. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters and place in a bowl. Dice the vine ripe tomatoes into pieces about the same size as the cherry quarters, add to the bowl. Roughly chop the basil and along with the Parmesan and olive oil and vinegar, add to the bowl. Mince the garlic and throw that in. Right before you’re going to serve add a pinch of salt and taste.

Cut the French stick into 1-2 cm pieces, place on a tray and drizzle with olive oil, bake for 6-8 minutes until golden.

Place the olives in a small pot and gently warm through.

Assemble the board with, olives, nuts, pickled vegetables, nut cheese, brandy apricots, and bruschetta. Use the picture as guide if you want.

If you want to take a break now and eat this everything will be fine otherwise keep cooking!

To build the Wellington, line a baking tray with baking paper then gently roll out the pastry.

Working lengthwise spread half the stuffing slightly off center about the same width as the mushrooms.

Top the stuffing with the roasted mushrooms placing every second one upside down to create a flat service. Top the mushrooms with the spinach then finish with the remaining stuffing.

Brush the pastry with plant milk.

Stretch the shorter side of the pastry up over the filling, then stretch the other side up over the pastry. Next fold up the ends then gently flip the whole thing over so the smooth side is up. Brush with plant milk. Then make 3 small x’s in the top.

Roast for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.

Put the potatoes in the oven, after they have been cooking for about 15 minutes throw in 4 unpeeled cloves of garlic tossed in oil. Roast for another 10 minutes until crispy.

Roast the carrots for 20 minutes or until the glaze is sticky, once the carrots start to brown add a few splashes of water to the pan the continue to roast until fully cooked.

Cut the avocados in half and remove the stones. Scrape into a blender, add a pinch of salt and the juice of one lemon. Get the roast garlic from the oven and squeeze the garlic from the skin into the blender. Blend until very smooth, you may need to add a little water. Taste and add more salt if needed. Scrape the avocado puree into the piping bag.

Thinly slice the chives.

Add the asparagus to the boiling water and cook for a minute before adding the peas, cook for another minute then strain. Don’t overcook.

Add the veggies to a bowl and toss with the preserved lemon butter and chives and a little pinch of salt.

Once the peas and asparagus are cooked it’s time to serve.

Pile up the potatoes, cut a cm off the bottom of the piping bag and put a few dollops of avocado on the potatoes then serve the remainder on the side. Rip over mint.

Pile up the baby carrots.

Carve the Wellington and serve with plum sauce.

Your mains are ready!

If you want remove the stones from the cherries, or leave them whole. Portion the cheesecake and scatter over cherries. Serve straight from the fridge.

Happy eating!