My first new recipe of the week was Nigella’s Ham in Coke (no jokes please!) which I cooked in my slow cooker as it was the only thing big enough to hold the vast piece of gammon that I’d ordered from my local butcher. So there it sat all day cooking away while I found homes for all my new toys, obviously this meant cramming even more stuff into my already over-packed kitchen. Once the ham was cooked I smothered it in the sticky glaze and popped it in the oven for a short time then left it to cool and tried not to pick bits off every time I walked past it. We enjoyed this throughout the week in sandwiches, as part of a meat and cheese platter and even after that I still managed to shred what was left and stow some portions away in the freezer for recipes in the New Year. Probably the best ham I’ve ever cooked! 
Throughout the entire Christmas period I had yet to eat any turkey (I had the most divine halibut on Christmas day, and would not have changed it for the world), therefore on our return home I had to cook roast turkey – without which it just wouldn’t have been Christmas. Who else would I turn to at this point that my old friend Ottolenghi and his Marinated Turkey Breast with Cumin, Coriander & White Wine. The marinade alone was to die for; I had to find excuses to go into the fridge so that I could get a hit of it every couple of hours. I served it with roast potatoes, carrots and parsnips and some sprouts (it wouldn’t really be Christmas without them would it?!). The turkey had stayed nice and moist and with some of the reheated marinade as a sauce gave it such a wonderful aromatic flavour.
My next recipe was a simple dessert for when some friends popped round for a few drinks, following a cheese and meat platter I brought out some Chestnut Chocolate Pots from Nigella’s Christmas. They really couldn’t be easier to make and just require a few hours in the fridge to set, but they were the perfect end to a very enjoyable evening – in fact at one point I thought my fridge was going to be raided for the remaining ones so that my friends could enjoy more on the train home (thankfully I managed to bribe them with a few chocolates instead!). They were not too rich, which I find with a lot of chocolate puddings and so generally avoid them, and they had a really silky smooth consistency – I’m salivating just at the thought of them now, damn you January detox!!
Another dessert I made was some Mini Pavlovas from Nigella’s How to be a Domestic Goddess, just in case people were not a fan of chocolate. Again extremely easy to make and just required a little assembly on the night, the meringues were lovely and sweet with a hint of vanilla which nicely off-set the topping of whipped cream with raspberries and pomegranate seeds. A superb pudding that we also enjoyed on New Year’s Eve after yet another new recipe…and yes, that one was also courtesy of Nigella!
So I made it to the last day of the year and my final recipe of the cookbook challenge, Lamb and Date Tagine from Nigella’s Christmas. After a busy festive period and a Christmas away from home a quiet night in for New Year was just the ticket, I prepared the tagine in advance and let it cook away slowly in the oven while we sat back and enjoyed the last few hours of 2013. I served it with some plain couscous and the red onion and pomegranate relish which had a lovely sharpness which was a nice contrast to the beautifully sweet and rich tagine, it was just delicious and the lamb melted in your mouth. Definitely a dish on which to finish the year, and following it with a pavlova made it a very decadent ending indeed – all that was left was to see in the New Year with a glass of Prosecco.
Happy New Year everyone!!!
Recipe Count: 170
New Target: 156
