Luxury Christmas menu on a budget

bbc.co.uk

The menu

• Starters & nibbles

  Smoked trout with watercress purée and chopped egg salad

• Main course

  Neck of lamb stuffed with cannellini beans and hazelnuts

• Side dishes

  Butternut squash, sage and crème fraîche mash

• Desserts

  Chocolate mousse with fiery ginger shortbread and candied orange peel

Menu ingredients

Serves 6

• Fruit and vegetables

  • 140g/5oz watercress leaves, washed, roughly chopped
  • 1 punnet mustard cress
  • 8-10 cornichons, drained, sliced
  • small handful chopped fresh dill
  • ½ lemon, juice only
  • ½ lemon, cut into 6 wedges, to serve
  • 5 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves only, chopped
  • 250-300g/9-10½oz cavolo nero, stalks removed
  • 10 fresh sage leaves, chopped
  • 1.5kg/3lb 5oz butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, cut into 2cm/1in pieces
  • large pinch chilli flakes
  • 50g/1¾oz fresh root ginger, washed, unpeeled, finely grated
  • 2-3 pieces crystallised ginger, sliced
  • 1 large orange, peel only, white pith removed, sliced into 0.5cm/¼in strips

• Tins, packets and jars

  • 1½ tsp Dijon mustard
  • 800g/1lb 12¼oz canned cannellini beans, drained, rinsed
  • 80g/2¾oz plain flour

• Cooking ingredients

  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or rapeseed oil
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing
  • 50g/2oz shelled hazelnuts, toasted, skins removed
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 25g/1oz caster sugar
  • 30g/1¼oz icing sugar
  • 30g/1¼oz cornflour
  • drop of vanilla essence
  • 80g/2¾oz caster sugar
  • 150g/5oz demerara sugar

• Biscuits, snacks and sweets

  • 100g/3½oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces

• Dairy, eggs and chilled

  • 3 free-range eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, chopped
  • 3 tsp soured cream, or crème fraîche
  • 60g/2½oz butter
  • 40g/1½oz parmesan (or a similar vegetarian hard cheese), coarsley grated
  • 6 tbsp crème fraîche
  • 30g/1¼oz unsalted butter, chopped
  • 3 free-range eggs, separated
  • 100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened until very soft, plus extra for greasing

• Meat, fish and poultry

  • 6 x 40g/1½oz pieces smoked trout fillet
  • 1.2kg/2lb 10¼oz lamb neck fillets, each butterflied, then beaten out to 15cm x 30cm x 2cm/6in x 12in x 1in rectangles using a meat mallet

• Other

  • 4 ice cubes
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 6 thin slices toasted soda bread, buttered
  • 1 shot espresso