24th December 2020

I started the day finishing off recipe testing speculoos biscuits (Biscoff) which tasted really good and really quite like the biscuit you buy in packets. The key to getting the correct flavour is dark sugar.  I had the spices right but the back taste was just not quite right - the dark sugar corrected that.

Along with all of the many things that was cancelled so far this year, was a trip to Italy with the Deans for a few days last weekend so we decided to do Christmas Eve with the Deans instead. Only for that to get cancelled along with all other Christmas plans.

We therefore decided we would continue to cook what we were going to do and deliver it to them to have with virtual drinks. The late notice of Christmas cancellation meant no orders could now be amended so it also saves anything going to waste.

We made a porchetta for the first time ever which turned out literally perfectly.  We took a pork belly, covered the flesh in orangey fennel spiced breadcrumbs, Rhona rolled it and tied it up and we cooked it initially very high and then reduced the temperature to cook it through and then whacked the temp back up at the end of the cooking time to get perfect crackling.  The thick fat layer literally melted away leaving just the super crispy crackling.  We paired it with an orange and fennel salad as we thought it would counteract the fatty pork and work with the flavours of the pork, it worked so well and felt light and tasty.  I loved it, this is definitely one to remember and do again.

Whilst I was in the kitchen I also made red cabbage for Clare for tomorrow as I know she loves it and didn’t have time to make it.  The house just smelt wonderful and tomorrow she just needs to reheat  I do love Christmas.