Visions of Sugar Plums Dance in the East
‘Twas the night before your dinner party, and in front of your stove, you
brainstormed a menu, but nothing arose. You had duck and potatoes, peas and some plums, yet you needed an idea to make this meal some more fun. But with all of the shopping and house decorating, you hadn't the time for meal elaborating. Sulking, idea-less you went off to bed, when visions of sugar plums began to dance in your head. How to make an English Christmas more than the same standard feast? You would take all those plums and head into the East!
The American Christmas dinner as we know it today can largely be traced back to the Dickensian traditions of Victorian England. Roast turkey or goose, plum puddings, mincemeat--the very mention and one can almost picture Tiny Tim and Uncle Scrooge saying grace before a table covered in food and surrounded by people asking God to bless them, every one.
The dilemma for an American is that what is commonly considered a traditional English dinner today consists of a roast turkey with all the trimmings. This bears a striking semblance to the standard meal we sit down to on the last Thursday of every November. As difficult an operation as that can be once a year, the thought of doing it again a month later is daunting if not redundant.
This year, I plan on mimicking that classic English dinner with a whole roast goose with some inspired accompaniments. Alright, I am perfectly aware that roasting a goose takes more than thirty minutes, but give me a break! It takes more time, not more work, and it is a holiday, after all.
When it comes to sides, the English are not exactly renowned for their creativity. Potatoes, horseradish, mushy peas, the neutral colors and flavors can rather blend in a sea of monotony on the plate. And what is one to do when plum pudding contains neither plums nor Jell-o?
So I thought I would take all these elements and give a nod to some of my favorite Eastern cuisines from countries that mostly don't celebrate Christmas, ironically. But in the spirit of giving, perhaps they would be willing to let me borrow some of their unique flavorings. Thus, smashed new potatoes are spiced with the Japanese horseradish, wasabi. Mushy peas are replaced with the far simpler, more attractive, and texturally interesting sautéed snow peas in soy sauce. Since I actually had plums on hand once I learned that a plum pudding eschewed its namesake, I sugared them with honey in a lemongrass-riesling sauce as an accompaniment to the star of the meal, a fine seared breast of duck.
The kids off to the sitter, the guests on their way, an English Christmas found Asia and married that day. Potatoes waltzed with wasabi, peas swayed with the soy, sugared plums graced the duck and you sat down to enjoy.
Note: Start with the duck, then get the potatoes going. Follow with the sauce. Finish the potatoes and do the peas very last while the duck is cooling.
Serves/Makes: 6
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium red onion, finely diced
- 1 pound snow peas, trimmed
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon water
- black pepper, to taste
Heat the oil in a wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes.
Add the snow peas, soy sauce, and water. Season with black pepper to taste. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes or until the snow peas are tender.
Serve immediately.
Made with black pepper, wasabi paste, new potatoes, salt, butter, sour cream
Serves/Makes: 6
- 6 medium waxy new potatoes
- salt
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons wasabi paste (more to taste)
- black pepper
Rinse potatoes and cut each into 4-6 pieces. Add to a large pot and add water just to cover. Add enough salt so that water tastes like the sea.
Cover pot and bring potatoes to boil. Continue to cook until potatoes are easily pierced with a knife.
Drain potatoes and return to pot.
Meanwhile in a small bowl mix sour cream and wasabi until evenly combined. This is too taste and be careful not too add to much initially, you can always add more wasabi to taste once combined in with the potatoes.
Add sour cream, butter and pepper to taste. Smash potatoes with a potato masher just to crush. Stir to finish combining leaving chunks and skin for texture. Add more salt if necessary.
Made with Riesling, duck breasts, vegetable oil, salt and pepper, honey, butter, plums, lemongrass, ginger
Serves/Makes: 6
- 3 large duck breasts
- vegetable oil
- salt and pepper
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 1 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 6 plums
- 2 stalks lemongrass
- 1 piece (2 inch size) ginger
- 12 ounces Riesling
Preheat large saute pan over medium high heat with 3 Tbs. vegetable oil.
Meanwhile, trim any excess fat and silver skin from the breast. Score the skin side with shallow cuts to form a cross-hatch. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
When pan is sufficiently hot, place breasts in pan skin side down. Cook over fairly high heat for 2-3 minutes until the skin has crisped and is light brown.
Reduce heat to medium low and leave for about 20 minutes. Check occasionally to make sure the skin is not browning too much. Occasionally pour off excess fat.
Meanwhile, begin the sauce by halving plums and removing pits. Peel off skin with a pairing knife.
Remove outer layers from the lemongrass and with the back of a chef's knife, smash the lemongrass to bruise and release aromas. Cut into 1 inch sections.
Peel the ginger and cut into about 6 pieces.
In large saute pan, drizzle honey and butter. Bring to medium high heat and add plums cut side down. Sear for one or two minutes and add wine, lemongrass and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil.
Cook for about 10 minutes until plums are cooked through and wine has reduced by half. Remove lemongrass and ginger.
Checking for doneness on the duck, at about the 20 minute point, turn breasts over to the flesh side to cook for one minute just to remove pinkness.
Remove duck to cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.
To serve, slice breast in a quarter inch thickness on a slight diagonal. Serve half a breast preserving with two plum halves and a couple spoonfuls of the sauce.
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