Salmon Mousse with Herb Salad

Serves 8

This salmon mousse recipe has been tried and tested many times. Use it with complete confidence. It keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 days.

MOUSSE

1½ envelopes (22.5 ml) gelatine
reserved liquid from fish
1 x 415 g tin pink salmon, skin and bones removed but retaining juices
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 T (15 ml) lemon juice
1 t (5 ml) Ina Paarman's Lemon & Black Pepper Seasoning
1 t (5 ml) Ina Paarman's Chilli & Garlic Seasoning
2 T (30 ml) Ina Paarman's Sweet Chilli Chutney
3 T (45 ml) Ina Paarman's Tomato Pesto
1 cup (250 ml) cream

Sprinkle the dry gelatine powder over the reserved liquid from fish. Leave to sponge for 10 minutes. Heat gelatine in the microwave for ± 40 seconds and stir to dissolve.
Mix all the ingredients, except the cream, in a food processor or liquidiser until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator until beginning to set.
Whip the cream and lightly fold into the mousse.
Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Spoon into individual moulds or a small terrine loaf pan. Allow to set in the refrigerator. Turn out and garnish.

HERB SALAD

Choose a selection of herbs and edible flowers, scatter on the plate around the mousse. If you like, you can add one or two curls of smoked salmon. Drizzle with Ina's Caesar Dressing.

INA'S TIP:

MOULDING RINGS: A friend cut a set (8) rings for me from a 6cm diameter stainless steel pipe. The height is 4.5 cm. He polished the edges. One can also use plastic piping. To push the contents out he attached a handle to a 5.5cm diameter round disk. These rings are also great to make neat rice moulds, to bake sliced potato or for desserts, etc.

Super Juicy Roast Turkey

Serves 8-10

Every few years we revisit the turkey theme again and every time we try to improve on our previous recipes and/or to simplify the method. This year we have brined the turkey first to guarantee extra succulence and have added aromatics in the form of orange, star anise and cinnamon

We still believe roasting under baking or greaseproof paper gives best results, but this year we added Chicken Stock and white wine to the roasting pan and covered only the top of the pan with paper. We also blasted the bird in a very hot oven first, before covering it and roasting it slowly under the paper. This method gives a most delicious gravy.

The bird can be cooked both in the oven or on a covered braai!

BRINE

2 litres water
1 cup (250 g) coarse salt
1¼ cups (250 g) brown sugar
6 bay leaves
5 cm piece of fresh ginger, unpeeled and sliced
a handful of fresh thyme
1 T (15 ml) black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
4 whole star anise
2 oranges, cut into ¼'s

1 bag (2 kg) ice

TURKEY

1 medium (± 2,5 kg) turkey, without giblets, can still be half frozen
2 oranges
a handful of fresh thyme
Ina Paarman's Chicken Spice
olive oil

FOR ROASTING

1 brined turkey (see above)
2 onions, roughly chopped
1 x 25 g Ina Paarman's Liquid Chicken Stock
2 cups (500 ml) warm water
1 cup (250 ml) white wine

TO PREPARE THE BRINE

In a saucepan bring the water to the boil and add ingredients as listed but not the ice. Squeeze the juice from the orange quarters into the brine, add the orange skins. Boil for 3 minutes to extract flavour from herbs and spices. Pour into a plastic bucket and leave to cool a little. Add bag of ice. Stir.

Put the turkey into the brine, start with the breast down and turn it later.
No need to refrigerate if you don't have the space. To keep everything cold, cover with a lid or clean wet towel and leave in a cool spot for 6-8 hours, 12 hours if turkey was fully frozen. We used an Addis 9 litre container, which has a lid.

Adjust the oven rack to one shelf below the middle position. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Remove turkey from the brine and dry with paper towels.

Halve and prick the oranges all over with a fork and insert them, together with some thyme, inside the bird. Tie the legs together with string.

Season the outside of the bird very lightly with Chicken Spice and rub all over with olive or canola oil.

Place the turkey in the roasting pan on a platform of chopped onion and the oranges, from the brine. Place in the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes until the skin of the bird is lightly browned., Turn the heat right down to 160ºC and remove the pan from the oven.

Dissolve the Liquid Chicken Stock in the water. Add to the pan, together with the wine. Drizzle more oil over the breast until well oiled.

Wet one large sheet of baking or greaseproof paper, oil it very well, place oiled side down on the bird and tuck it in under the rim of the pan to 'seal in' the turkey.

Cook, covered like this, for ± 2 hours. Transfer turkey to a carving board, tent loosely with foil.

THE GRAVY

1-2 T (15-30 ml) Ina Paarman's Gravy Powder

Strain out all the solids. Pour the stock back into the roasting pan.
Put the roasting pan on the stove plate. Mix Brown Gravy Powder with 2 T (30 ml) of water and stir into the stock. Boil until thickened. Taste, if too strong, add a little more water, if too weak boil fast to reduce and concentrate the flavour. Add a dash of lemon juice or vinegar. Serve this delicious brown gravy on the side in a sauceboat.

Pork Terrine with Cranberries and Pistachio Nuts

Serves 8-10

A delicious, distinctly festive Terrine. In this case, rather than stuffing the turkey, the stuffing is baked separately in a terrine or loaf tin. The advantages are:

• The stuffing retains its own distinctive flavour and colour
• It is a breeze to slice warm or cold
• The appearance is very classy
• It also tastes outstanding served cold the next day on sandwiches or with a salad.

250 g rindless streaky bacon
½ cup (50 g) dried cranberries
¼ cup (60 ml) brandy
500 g minced pork
1 x 100 g Ina Paarman's Stuffing Mix
¼ cup (60 ml) chopped parsley
½ t (2,5 ml) grated nutmeg
1 onion, chopped finely
2 T (30 ml) butter
1 x 25 g Ina Paarman's Liquid Chicken Stock
grated rind of one orange
½ cup (125 ml) fresh orange juice
½ cup (125 ml) water
100 g salted pistachio nuts, shelled and roughly chopped

Use a non-stick loaf pan. Line the pan with bacon. See chef's tip at the end of the recipe.
Refrigerate lined pan. Pour brandy over cranberries and leave to hydrate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Adjust oven shelf one slot below the middle. Place the minced pork in a biggish mixing bowl with dry Stuffing Mix. Add chopped parsley and nutmeg. Sauté the onion until soft and glazed in the butter. Remove from heat. Add sachet of undiluted Liquid Chicken Stock, orange rind, orange juice and water.

Add sautéed onion, cranberries with brandy and roughly chopped nuts.

Mix all the ingredients with a small knife, working lightly until just blended. Over-mixing causes a dry, unpalatable terrine. Spoon into the bacon lined loaf tin, smoothing the top.

Place in a roasting pan with hot water. Bake for 1 hour. Rest in the pan until cool. To 'press' the terrine into a neat shape cut a piece of hard cardboard, to fit inside the pan on top of the terrine. Cover cardboard with foil. Weigh it down with four cans or weights. Refrigerate with weights. Turn out bacon side uppermost, then slice neatly with a very sharp knife.

Serve at room temperature with the Christmas turkey. Garnish with extra cranberries, soaked in brandy.

The terrine may be baked a day or two before.

CHEF'S TIP:

STEP 1
Top and tail the bacon slices and let them overlap slightly on greaseproof paper. Cover with a second length of paper. Roll over the paper with a rolling pin to flatten and spread the bacon.
STEP 2
Remove top sheet and turn bacon side, into the pan. Peel away paper.

Rosemary Roast Potatoes with Onion

Serves 8

2 kg medium sized potatoes, scrubbed, do not peel
2 medium onions, peeled and cut into small wedges
¼ cup (60 ml) olive or canola oil
3 T (45 ml) fresh rosemary needles, stripped from the stem
1 T (15 ml) Ina Paarman's Rosemary & Olive Seasoning

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Cut potatoes into 4 wedges. Place in a mixing bowl, together with onion wedges, and oil. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary and Seasoning and toss everything together to coat evenly. Decant into a big flat ovenproof dish. Bake for 1 hour until brown and crisp.

VARIATIONS

• Use fresh origanum leaves stripped from the stem instead of rosemary and season with Ina's Potato Spice. Before baking, sprinkle with one crumbled feta wheel.
• Pour 1 cup of fresh cream, diluted with ½ cup of water, to which you have added 1 x 25 g sachet of Ina Paarman's Liquid Vegetable Stock over the vegetables before baking. Season with Potato spice.

Green Beans with Basil

Serves 8

Select fine green beans or slice bigger ones into fine strips lengthways, leave the pointed ends intact and just nip off the stem ends. To preserve their green colour, toss with a little oil before steaming and cook for only ± 6 minutes.

500 g extra fine green beans
1 T (15 ml) olive or canola oil
1 t (5 ml) Ina Paarman's Vegetable Spice
1-2 T (15-30 ml) Ina Paarman's Basil Pesto

Toss the beans with oil. Steam on top of the stove, in a vegetable steaming basket or in the microwave in a micro-steamer, on high for 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and add Vegetable Spice and Basil Pesto. Toss to blend.
Serve warm.

NOTE:

Can be pre-prepared and briefly re-heated in the microwave.

Melon and Cucumber Salad with Sweet Chilli Dressing

Serves 8

A truly refreshing summer salad that will balance the Festive Menu perfectly. The sweet chilli dressing will become one of your favourites. Replace the melon with mango or pineapple!

½ sweet melon or 2 mangoes or 1 small pineapple
½ cucumber, finely sliced
1 punnet fresh rocket or coriander

DRESSING

3 T (45 ml) Ina Paarman's Sweet Chilli Chutney
¼ cup (60 ml) Ina Paarman's Lime & Coriander Dressing

Cut the fruit into dainty cubes and toss it with the sliced cucumber and half of the fresh greens. Mix the ingredients for the dressing together and toss the salad with it. Dish up and garnish with the remaining rocket or coriander.

Pavlova Roulade with Summer Berries

Serves 8

A dessert with the 'wow' factor! The small addition of Cheesecake Mixture helps to stabilise the cream, adds flavour and prevents the dessert from losing texture. The remaining Cheese Cake Mix is used to make a delicious Lemon Ice Cream (recipe follows).

Use berries if the budget allows, otherwise any seasonal fruit available e.g. watermelon, black grapes, nectarines etc. They all look stunning and taste fresh and summery.

MERINGUE

4 egg whites = ½ cup (125 ml)
1 T (15 ml) lemon juice
1 cup (250 ml) castor sugar
1 T (15 ml) boiling water
1 T (15 ml) cornflour

Line the base and up the sides of a Swiss-roll pan with non-stick baking paper (see video). Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and set the oven at 150°C.

Beat the egg whites until foaming lightly, then add the lemon juice. Remember to use an electric hand-mixer and glass or stainless steel bowl. Never use a plastic bowl. Continue beating until the mixture is thick, stiff and slightly dry. Only now can you start adding the sugar. Gradually add the castor sugar, beating continuously. The mixture must be very firm and shiny and retain its shape. Beat in the boiling water.

Sift the cornflour over the mixture and fold in with a scraper or metal spoon. Spoon the meringue into the prepared pan. Spread it gently over the surface of the pan with a palette knife.

Bake at 150°C for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool down completely. Put a clean sheet of baking or greaseproof paper on the work surface and turn the roulade out onto it. Gently peel away the backing paper.

FILLING

2 cups (500 ml) fresh cream
5 T (75 ml) Ina Paarman's Cheesecake Mix
1 punnet raspberries, blueberries or sliced strawberries

TOPPING

A selection of berries, your choice e.g. strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries etc. A few green leaves like strawberry or mint

Half-whip the cream and sprinkle over the dry Cheesecake Mix and beat until firm.
Spread 2/3 of this mixture over the meringue and top with berries. Fold over from the one long end. Rest on the open end, paper still in place. Refrigerate. May be done the day before.

TO SERVE:

Remove the paper and lift the roulade onto a long serving plate.
Pipe the remaining cream over the top and decorate the roulade with berries and small leaves.

Lemon Ice Cream

Serves 8

If making the Pavlova Roulade you will use a small amount of the Cheesecake Mix in the filling. Make the Ice Cream with the rest of the Cheesecake Mix.

grated rind from 1 lemon
½ cup (125 ml) fresh lemon juice
½ cup (60 ml) water
1 x 250g Ina Paarman's Cheesecake Mix
2 cups (500 ml) fresh cream

In a medium or large mixing bowl, measure the lemon rind, lemon juice and water. Add the Cheesecake Mix and beat until well blended.

Using the same beaters whip the cream in a medium size mixing bowl until it starts to hold its shape. Gently fold into the cheesecake mixture. Scrape into an ice cream container and freeze until just firm. Remove from the freezer. Use an ice cream scoop to make balls. Refreeze balls until needed and garnish with thin strips of lemon rind.