Festive Fare Christmas Eve in Brussels

Press, 24 December 1985, Page 12

Festive Fare Christmas Eve in Brussels

Mavis Airey continues her seasonal tour through some of her favourite cookery books, collected during 15 years of living in Europe:, today, Rabbit with prunes: Christmas log.

In France And Belgium, as in many Catholic countries, Christmas Eve Is the important part of the holiday. - Traditionally, everyone attends midnight mass. Each church shows off its peal of bells or carillon chimes. Some congregations have processions, or perform traditional nativity plays. • . : ' Not being church-goers, we nevertheless always made a Christmas pilgrimage to see the life-size manger in Brussels’ ornate, medieval market square. The animals were real and, when they were tiny, the children would watch entranced, convinced that if they were patient enough they would see Mary, Joseph, and the baby 1 move as well.

After mass, the whole family—aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents—gathered for le reveillon, a post-midnight feast bf seasonal delicacies.

For weeks beforehand, the supermarkets urged folk to stock up on champagne and oysters, game and gateaux. Centrepiece of the table would be the buche de Noel, or Christmas log. Surprisingly to us, brought up on turkey add plum pudding, a favourite Christmas dish was rabbit, marinated in geuze, 6ne of Belgium’s amazing variety of beers, and served''with prunes. -•'V. This recipe comes from "The Book of Belgian Cooking,” by Enid Gordon and Midge Shirley; I think any strong, not-too-sweet beer would do. ' . J/ '

Rabbit zvith prunes 1 rabbit 1 large onion 1 carrot 125 grams diced bacon 1 litre beer 60 grams butter 12 small onions 200 grams prunes (soaked for ’A hour) 100 grams sultanas (optional) 1 sprig thyme 1 bay leaf 3 cloves 1 clove garlic 2 tablespoons redcurrant jelly 1 tablespoon wine vinegar 2 tablespoons flour salt and pepper Cut rabbit, into regularsized pieces, about eight in all. Place in a marinade made from the chopped onion and carrot, beer, thyme, bayleaf, doves, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Marinate for at least 12 hours. Drain and dry the rabbit. Melt the butter in a casserole, cook the diced bacon until the fat is running, remove with a slotted spoon, and in its place saute the rabbit pieces until brown. Stir in the flour. Add the marinade; the liquid should just cover the rabbit. Add more beer if necessary. Bring to the boil. Add the bacon, redcurrent jelly, onions, sultanas, and prunes. Cover and simmer for one hour.

Remove rabbit to a warmed serving dish; reduce the sauce by a third, by boiling quickly without a

lid. Stir in a walnut-sized lump of butter and pomover the rabbit. Serve with plain boiled potatoes. Christmas log I clipped this recipe from a newspaper. 3 eggs 2 tablespoons cocoa 2 tablespoons self-raising flour , 75 grams vanilla sugar (or add ¥2 teaspoon vanilla essence) pinch salt Set oven at 180 deg. Cover a Swiss roll tin with a piece of greaseproof paper just a little larger than the tin. Grease the paper all over with oil. Separate the eggs, putting the yolks into one bowl and the whites into another. Beat the whites until very stiff. Then beat the yolks just enough to mix them. Sieve the cocoa, flour, sugar and salt together. Add the yolks to the whites,

folding them together carefully with a spoon. Add the cocoa mixture and gently fold that into the eggs. Scrape the mixture on to the prepared tin. Spread evenly and cook 12 minutes. While the cake is baking, lay a clean tea towel on a flat surface and sieve 2 tablespoons of icing sugar on to the towel. When the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven and leave to cool five minutes. Now turn the cake on to the tea towel so that the paper is on top. Carefully remove the paper. With the .short edge of the cake towards you, gently roll the cake by lifting up the two corners of the tea towel. As you lift the towel the cake will slowly roll over. When it is completely rolled up leave it in the tea towel to cool for about 20 minutes. To make the cream: 150 grams icing sugar

100 grams unsalted butter (softened) 1 teaspoon instant coffee 1 teaspoon cocoa 1 tablespoon boiling water Beat the icing sugar and butter together until smooth. Put instant, coffee and cocoa into a cup, add boiling water and mix well. Add this mixture to the icing sugar and butter. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth. When the cake has cooled, unroll it very carefully, leaving it on the tea towel. With a spatula take half the cream and spread it over the whole inside surface of the cake. Roll the cake up again carefully and gently lift it on to a serving plate. Cover the outside of the cake with the rest of the cream, and use a fork to make the surface look like the bark of a log. Refrigerate the cake to firm up the cream, and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving. ; ■