Peter Weidenfeld (23), a Bachelor’s student of Food Technology from Germany, shares a recipe for chestnut soup.
‘At primary school, we used to collect chestnuts for the Haribo sweet company to get gummy bears. Haribo distributed the chestnuts to various wildlife reserves in Germany and Austria. We always kept a few of them for the soup, and it became a family tradition to have chestnut soup at Christmas.’
Starter: Chestnut soup
Ingredients for 4 people
For the soup
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar
- 50 ml red port wine
- 800 ml chicken stock
- 350g cooked chestnuts (vacuum-packed)
- 200 g crème fraiche
- ¼ vanilla pod
- 1 tbsp grated orange zest
- 30g cold butter
- Pinch of salt and pinch of mild chilli powder
Garnish
- 80g cooked chestnuts (vacuum-packed)
- 8 Brussels sprouts
- salt
- 1 tbsp herb butter
- Mild chilli salt
- Croutons
1. Caramelize the icing sugar in a frying pan over a medium heat until golden brown. Pour in the port wine and reduce it by one third.
2. Bring the stock and chestnuts to the boil in a saucepan. Add the crème fraiche and blend. Add the reduced port to the soup. Add the vanilla pod and leave to infuse for 1-2 minutes, then remove. Add the orange zest and blend in the cold butter. Season the chestnut soup with salt and chilli powder.
3. Quarter the chestnuts and blanch the Brussels sprouts in boiling water for about 2 minutes, drain in a colander and rinse with cold water.
4. Heat the herb butter in a frying pan. Add the quartered chestnuts and Brussels sprouts, reheat and season with chilli salt.
5. To serve, place the chestnuts and Brussels sprouts in the centre of preheated soup dishes. Bring the soup back to the boil and serve it sprinkled with croutons.
Main course: Potato Salad
Sarah-Maria Scheid (24), a Master’s student of Climate Studies from Germany, shares a recipe for potato salad.
‘Potato salad is one of the most popular choices for Christmas Eve in Germany. That goes back to the time when there was a period of fasting from mid-November until Christmas Day. Cheap, filling potatoes were ideal during the fasting time, which included 24 December. It is usually eaten with sausages and a baguette.’
Ingredients (for 4 persons)
- 1 kg waxy potatoes
- 2 onions
- 4 eggs
- 6 gherkins
- 6 tbsp of liquid from the gherkin jar
- 300g mayonnaise
- ½ bunch fresh parsley
- salt, pepper, sugar
1. Boil the potatoes for 25 to 30 minutes in lightly salted water.
2. Peel and slice the boiled potatoes.
3. Cook the eggs for 8 minutes and cut them into small pieces.
4. Finely chop the onions, gherkins and parsley.
5. Mix the mayonnaise and gherkin liquid and season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar.
6. Mix everything together and let it marinate in the fridge.
Dessert: Speculoos- Mascarpone-Crème
Sarah-Maria Scheid
‘My mother sometimes makes this dessert for Christmas dinner. It’s delicious and looks very pretty and festive.’
Ingredients for 4 people
- 8 speculoos biscuits
- 350g natural yoghurt
- 200g mascarpone
- I cup cream
- 1 packet cream stiffener
- 20g icing sugar
- Tinned mandarins (optional)
- ground cinnamon and chocolate for decoration
1. Crush the speculoos biscuits.
2. Mix the yoghurt with the mascarpone and add half of the crushed speculoos.
3. Whip the cream and add the icing sugar and cream stiffener.
4. Carefully fold the cream into the speculoos mixture.
5. In glasses, layer the speculoos cream alternately with speculoos crumbs and tinned mandarins. Adapt quantities to the size of the glasses.
6. Garnish with cinnamon, chunks of chocolate, mandarins or other fruits.
