Cook Christmas dinner together
Menu
-
6 persons
Do you feel like sitting down to a relaxing Christmas dinner? Surprise your guests – and yourself – by preparing your Christmas feast on the Big Green Egg. This menu can mostly be prepared in advance. What’s more, it’s likely that your guests will be chomping at the bit to lend a hand. Pour yourself a drink, divide the work and enjoy cooking, the Big Green Egg flavour, and each other’s company.
Starter: Wild boar pâté with caramelised figs
Main course: Rib of veal with green bean rolls, stuffed mushrooms, scalloped potatoes and date sauce
Dessert: Baba with orange and gin
Tip: Turn this three-course menu into a real festive five-course menu by adding this recipe for appetisers (salmon, scallop and sole roll) and this entremet recipe for an avocado-basil granité!
INGREDIENTS
For the wild boar pate
- 300 g wild boar neck
- 300 g pork belly
- 300 g pork liver
- 3 eggs
- 50 ml cognac
- 10 g salt
- 100 g dried figs
- 10 juniper berries
- 2 sprigs of sage
- black pepper
- butter, for greasing
- 12 small fresh figs
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- 4 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- fleur de sel
For the croûte dough
- 125 g cold butter
- 250 g flour + extra for sprinkling
- 5 g salt
- 120 ml ice-cold water
For the rib of veal
- 1 rack of veal ribs (approx. 2 kg), cleaned
- 10 g coriander seeds
- 10 g caraway seeds
- 10 g black pepper
- 10 cloves
- 2 star anise
- fine sea salt
For the scalloped potatoes
- 1 kg waxy potatoes
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 shallots
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- 200 ml cream
- 20 g crème fraîche
- 1 egg
For the mushrooms
- 6-8 The Prince mushrooms
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 shallot
- ¼ cauliflower
- olive oil
- 50 g crème fraîche
- 50g grated Gruyère
For the green bean rolls
- 500 g green beans
- ½ fennel
- 12 rashers smoked bacon
For the gravy
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 shallots
- 100 g Medjool dates
- 500 ml veal stock
- 200 ml red wine
- 30 g butter
For the baba
- 10 g dry yeast
- 100 ml lukewarm milk
- 200 g flour
- 2 small eggs
- 100 g butter + extra for greasing the tin
- 25 g sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 oranges
- 300 g sugar
- 600 ml water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 6 juniper berries
- 100 ml gin
PREPARATION IN ADVANCE
Baba (one day in advance – part 1)
If you can, make the babas one or two days in advance so that they absorb the sugar syrup better. Always make the pâté the day before. This ensures it’s properly firm at the moment you cut it.
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk and leave to rest for 10 minutes in a warm spot. Mix with 65 g of the flour and leave to rest for 30 minutes in a warm spot. In the meantime, beat the eggs, melt the butter and grease 6 doughnut tins.
Sieve in the remaining flour and fold in the eggs, melted butter, sugar and salt. Scoop into a piping bag and pipe a layer of the batter into the tins. Allow to rise for 30 minutes in a warm spot. In the meantime, ignite the Big Green Egg and preheat it to 190ºC with the convEGGtor on the Stainless Steel Grid.
Place the tins on the grid and close the lid of the EGG. Bake the babas for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove the babas from the EGG, allow to cool and keep them in a closed container. Reduce the temperature of the EGG to 180ºC to bake the wild boar pâté.
Wild boar pâté (one day in advance)
Finely chop the wild boar neck, pork belly and pork liver (or ask your butcher to cut them using an 8 mm mincer plate) and mix together. Add two of the eggs, the cognac and the salt to a third of the meat and blend in the food processor until fine. Remove the stems from the dried figs and chop the figs into little pieces. Finely chop the juniper berries and the sage leaves. Add the mixture of meat and seasonings, chopped figs, and the juniper berries and sage to the remaining meat. Season generously with black pepper and mix well. Leave covered in the refrigerator for 1 hour so that the flavours are properly absorbed.
In the meantime, cut the butter into blocks. Add together with the other ingredients for the dough to a mixing bowl and knead until a coherent dough is formed. Wrap in saran wrap and let sit for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Grease a 23 cm diameter springform tin and beat the remaining egg. Roll out 2/3 of the dough on a flour-dusted worktop and line the tin with it. Spread the meat mixture evenly over the tin. Remove the surplus dough and fold an edge of dough over the meat mixture. Roll out the remaining dough, cut a circle out with the same diameter as the springform tin. In the middle of this circle, cut out another circle with a diameter of approx. 3 cm. This will allow the moisture released during the cooking process to escape. Brush the folded edge of the dough with the beaten egg and lay the circle of dough in the tin. Roll out the remaining dough, cut decorative shapes out of it and use them to decorate the circle of dough. Fully brush the dough with beaten egg.
Place the springform tin on the grid, close the lid of the EGG and bake the pâté for approx. 40 minutes until cooked or until it has a core temperature of 64°C. In the meantime, remove the stems from the fresh figs and make crosshatch cuts in the fruits. Press them open a little and place them in the Round Drip Pan. Place the thyme between them, drizzle with the honey and olive oil, and sprinkle with fleur de sel. Cover and keep the Round Drip Pan in the refrigerator. While the pâté is cooking, prepare the avocado and basil granité.
Use a core thermometer to check whether the wild boar pâté has reached a core temperature of 64°C. Continue cooking if not. Use the EGGmitt to remove the tin from the EGG and allow the tin to cool. Cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve. Continue the advance preparations for your Christmas dinner and set up the EGG to prepare the appetisers, or extinguish the EGG and continue in the morning.
Rib of veal (on the day itself)
Use a pestle and mortar to finely grind the coriander seed, caraway seed, black pepper, cloves and star anise. Add fine sea salt to taste and rub the mixture into the rack of ribs. Grill the rack of veal ribs on the Cast Iron Grid until brown on all sides. Remove the meat from the grid, allow to cool, cover and store in the refrigerator. Use the Cast Iron Grid Lifter to remove the Cast Iron Grid from the EGG, and place the convEGGtor and the stainless steel grid in the EGG for the scalloped potatoes and the stuffed mushrooms. Keep the temperature at 200°C.
Wash the potatoes. Peel the garlic and the shallots. Cut 2 cloves of garlic in half together with the smallest shallot. Set the remaining garlic and shallot aside to finish the scalloped potatoes. Place the potatoes, rosemary and a generous amount of salt in a pan with water and bring to the boil. Boil for approx. 15 minutes until cooked and allow the potatoes to cool while immersed.
Brush the mushrooms clean. Remove the stems and chop them finely. Peel and chop the garlic and the shallot, and cut the cauliflower florets into little pieces. Heat a dash of olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the finely chopped mushroom stems, the garlic, shallot and cauliflower. Stir in the crème fraîche and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place the mushroom caps round side down in the Round Drip Pan, generously drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon the cauliflower mixture into the mushroom caps.
Continue with the advance preparation of the scalloped potatoes: Finely chop the peeled garlic and shallot that you put aside. Heat a dash of oil in a saucepan and sauté the garlic and shallot. Stir in the cream and bring to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the crème fraîche and egg. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the potatoes from the water, peel them and cut into slices of approx. ½ cm thick. Distribute the slices over six one-person oven dishes and pour the cream mixture over each.
Place the oven dishes with the scalloped potatoes and the Round Drip Pan with the mushrooms on the grid. Close the lid of the EGG and allow to cook for 20 minutes. In the meantime, remove the ends of the green beans and slice the fennel into strips. Bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the green beans and fennel, cook for approx. 2 minutes until ready and drain. Divide the green beans and fennel strips into 6 even portions. Lay two slices of bacon lengthwise and slightly overlapping on the worktop. Roll up a portion of green beans and fennel in the bacon. Repeat with the remaining ingredients for the rolls. Cover and refrigerate the ingredients until it is time to begin the final preparation.
Remove the oven dishes and the Round Drip Pan from the grid. Leave to cool, then cover, and store in the fridge. Reduce the temperature of the EGG to 160ºC to infuse the slices of orange for dessert.
Baba (part 2)
Wash one of the oranges and cut it into slices of ½ cm thick. Add the sugar and 400 ml water to a pan. Bring to the boil so that a syrup forms. Pour the syrup into the Round Drip Pan and add the slices of orange, the cinnamon stick and the juniper berries. Cut a circle of parchment paper with the same diameter as the Round Drip Pan and place it in the Drip Pan. Place the Round Drip Pan on the grid. Close the lid and allow the slices of orange to infuse for approx. 40 minutes.
Remove the slices of orange from the Round Drip Pan and pour the syrup into a pan. Add the gin and the remaining 200 ml of water to the pan and bring to the boil. In the meantime, peel the remaining oranges and cut away the segments from the skin.
Place the segments of orange on a platter and drizzle with a generous spoonful of syrup. Rub the babas in the syrup, place them on a platter and pour the remaining syrup over them. The babas will absorb an amount of syrup. Cover and store at room temperature until ready to serve. Extinguish the charcoal in the Big Green Egg, or continue with your preparations.
PREPARATION
Wild boar pâté
Place the Round Drip Pan with the figs on the grid of the EGG, close the lid of the egg and heat the figs for 10-15 minutes until soft.
Cut the game pâté into wedges and place one wedge on each plate. About half the pâté will serve 6 people. The remaining pâté makes a great addition to Christmas brunch the next day, for instance. Place a caramelised fig next to each wedge and pour some of the sauce from the Drip Pan next to it.
Rib of veal (part 1)
Following the wild boar pâté, prepare the rack of veal ribs in advance so that it can cook while you enjoy the avocado and basil granité with your guests. Remove the grid from the EGG, place the convEGGtor and place the grid back. Close the lid of the EGG and heat to 150°C.
For the sauce, peel and chop the garlic and the shallots, and slice the dates into pieces. Place the Rectangular Drip Pan on the grid. Heat a dash of olive oil in the Drip Pan and sauté the garlic and shallots. Add the dates and deglaze with the veal stock and red wine. Put the Ribs and Roasting Rack in the Drip Pan and set the rack of ribs on it. Close the lid of the EGG and cook the meat for around 45 minutes until it reaches a core temperature of 54°C. Check the temperature with the Instant Read Digital Thermometer. In the meantime, monitor whether the Rectangular Drip Pan contains enough moisture. Top it up with red wine or water as necessary.
Rib of veal (part 2)
Once the meat has reached the desired core temperature of 54°C, remove it and the V-Rack from the EGG and cover with aluminium foil. Pour the sauce that has collected in the Rectangular Drip Pan through a sieve into a pan. Sprinkle the mushrooms in the Round Drip Pan with the Gruyère and place the oven dishes with scalloped potatoes on the grid. Place the Half Moon Raised Grid over the oven dishes and lay the green bean rolls on it. Close the lid of the EGG and leave to cook for 15 minutes. In the meantime, bring the sauce to the boil and stir in the butter.
Cut the rack of ribs into neat slices and distribute them across the plates together with the stuffed mushrooms and green bean rolls. Pour a spoonful of sauce over each plate and serve with the scalloped potatoes on the side.
Baba
Place a baba on each plate. Add a candied slice of orange and distribute the segments of orange over the plates.
Print
Inspiration Today
If you would like to receive your dose of inspiration by e-mail, then register for our monthly newsletter Inspiration Today and add some more flavour to your inbox. That’s all you have to do to receive the most delicious recipes, inspiring seasonal menus, practical tips and much, much more!
