More Nigella Christmas

Girdlebuster Pie
Time for a bit more Nigella Christmas. Now that the shops area bit more Christmassy, I’m happy if a little frazzled by the thought of how much I have to do between now and then! My cards are half written though, and I’ve found it’s a lot easier to write them in the morning when the sun is shining through the window than at night when the curtains are drawn and it’s a cold night.

Jewelled Couscous
For any non regular readers by Nigella Christmas I mean the book by Nigella Lawson out last month. I have been consumed by the need to make her GirdleBuster Pie since I saw a picture of it. It is so lovely I changed the recipe slightly by making the crust and freezing it with the ice cream, vanilla in our case. Then sliced it and served the toffee sauce with bourbon in it (a taste sensation for sure) in a jug, this was mainly because I wanted to be able to give little people sauce without alcohol in it as well. I was really quite worried that I might not be able to cut it smoothly, indeed I was worried about even getting it out of the dish, but it was fine, I had no need to worry about it. It’s bonus is it lives in the freezer and can be whipped out at any time when a gorgeous pudding is required.

Party Chicken
Party Poussins with jewelled couscous and a butternut squash side. I made this with skinless chicken breasts, which is not what Nigella suggested, I’d use thighs next time. Spiced roast squash is a must make, I kept snaffling bits - it is butternut squash at its most spectacular, well in my opinion anyhow. The recipe is in the text introduction for the party poussins.

Spiced Roast Squash
If anything would make life at this time of year easier it’s these fabulous Rocky Road bars, my goodness they are good, and with the amaretti in place of the more regular plain biscuits they are knockout. I’ve been trying them out on friends to gauge reactions, and they go down really well, people tend to think there is booze in them, but it’s just the amaretti biscuits, you must give them a go!

Notes: Nigella used 250g dark chocolate and 150g milk chocolate, plus mini marshmallows, I really don’t like mini marshmallows, so even though it is a bit tiresome, I think it’s worth buying the big ones and snipping them into 4 to replicate the mini ones, but with a bit more taste.

Christmas Rocky Road
Slightly adapted from Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson 2008.
175g soft unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
200g milk chocolate, broken into pieces
4 tablespoons golden syrup
200g amaretti biscotti (the hard ones), crushed into crumbs and lumps
125g marshmallows, large pink and white ones, scissored into 4 each
150g glace cherries
150g brazil nuts
2 teaspoons icing sugar, to dust (optional)
(1)Heat the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat, then cool a little
(2)To the melted chocolate mixture add the biscuit crumbs, marshmallows, glace cherries and brazil nuts, fold in well to coat everything.
(3)Tip the mixture into a 13 x 9"baking tin and smooth the top the best you can with a spatula.
Refrigerate for about two hours or overnight.
(4) To serve, cut into 24 bars and dust with icing sugar and edible glitter for the festive factor.