New Year Dinner Party

[elvum]

Starter: Croziflette with mixed-leaf salad and balsamic plum dressing.
Croziflette is a Savoyard recipe - like Tartiflette, only with "crozets" (tiny square bits of pasta, essentially) instead of potatoes.

I took 150g of white and 150g of buckwheat crozets. (Bought in a supermarket in Flaine, so I have no idea how one would find them outside south-east France, but 4mm squares of broken lasagne would probably work as well.) I boiled these for 20 mins (the indicated cooking time), and then added 50g of butter, a lightly-fried chopped onion, some chopped fresh thyme and a packet of air-dried ham, chopped into strips. I spooned the mixture into individual ramekins and topped each one with three generous slices of reblochon. To vegetarianise, I made one ramekin without the ham (for the vegetarian who wasn't fussy about possible use of animal rennet) and one additionally with cheddar instead of reblochon.

The salad was just some mixed leaves from Sainsbury's. The dressing was made by stewing and straining four plums, sweetening with sugar and then adding just enough balsamic vinegar to give it a faint tang.

Main course: Roast ham with mushroom risotto and pea velouté
I heard St Heston use the word "velouté and it sounded cool. This is about as traditional as his one was, too.

For the ham:
I took a boned largish dry-cured smoked gammon, and soaked it in water overnight. I then boiled it for half its indicated cooking time and roasted it for the rest. Sometimes you don't need fancy-schmancy bastings.

For the velouté:
I took a packet of good-quality wafer-thin ham and sliced it into thin strips. I then added water to cover, and boiled it with a bouquet garni, a bay leaf, a few black peppercorns and half a star anise for about an hour. I strained off the resulting stock, and discarded the ham and herbs. To this I added 225g cooked peas and 2tbsp single cream and blended it with a blender for two minutes. I thickened the resulting liquid in a saucepan with arrowroot (about 2tsp dissolved in water) and then finished it with black pepper and a whiz with a cappuccino frother, because I saw St Heston doing that too, and it looked cool. Then I made a vegetarian version with Marigold stock, because I am nice like that. Served in a gravy boat and a jug, respectively.

For the risotto:
I fried chopped shallots, garlic and mushrooms until brown. The mushrooms were 2oz chestnut, 2oz fresh shitake and a good handful of dried porcini, rehydrated. I then melted 25g of butter and coated the rice with it in the pan. Adding in the other ingredients, I tipped in 250ml white wine, the soaking-water from the porcini and then water as necessary until the rice was al dente. I then seasoned with black pepper and Marigold stock powder before adding some grated parmesan and single cream.

Dessert: Truffle Torte
All hail Delia! - is she a saint too?