Garry Watson, chef proprietor of Gordon’s Restaurant in Inverkeilor, takes the stress out of cooking Christmas dinner with a showstopping dessert that can be made ahead.
Sometimes Christmas dinner can be more of an ordeal than a celebration for the cook. The last thing you want is to be so exhausted you fall asleep at the dinner table!
The trouble with Christmas dinner is that quite often it’s the only meal people cook from scratch all year. And it’s quite a complicated and expensive one. It’s no wonder people get stressed out.
So the earlier you prepare for the big day the better. For a failsafe dessert that not only looks amazing but tastes divine, try my Christmas chocolate bombe recipe with a surprise creamy filling dotted with sweet festive ingredients. And best of all, it can be done in advance and kept in the freezer for up to a month.
Line a 2-litre pudding bowl with a double layer of cling film, leaving some excess overhanging the rim. Cut a good quality 400g chocolate Swiss roll into 1 cm slices and use to line the base and sides of the bowl, cutting a few of the slices into pieces to fill in the gaps if necessary. Drain a 390g jar of cherries in kirsch flavoured syrup, reserving the cherries and syrup separately.
Drizzle the Swiss roll slices with the kirsch syrup, saving a few tablespoons for the top. Set aside.
Heat 100g caster sugar in a heavy based pan to prepare a dark golden caramel, then stir in 50g hazelnuts and pour on to a cold oiled tray. When cold crush into small pieces. Whisk 4 egg whites along with 185g caster sugar to make a stiff meringue. Whip 300g double cream to stiff peaks, then fold together with the meringue and the crushed hazelnut caramel along with 50g preserved chopped stem ginger, 1 tablespoon Cointreau, 50g chopped mixed glace fruit and the reserved kirsch cherries.
Spoon into the Swiss roll lined bowl, cover with remaining Swiss roll slices. Drizzle with remaining syrup then fold the excess cling film over the top seal. Place a flat plate on top to seal and weigh down with a heavy tin. Chill for an hour, then remove weight, wrap well in cling film and freeze the bombe.
Chef’s tip
For a speedy cheat’s version you could replace my creamy meringue filling with a good quality readymade ice cream. Leave it out at room temperature until soft then simply mix through all the flavouring ingredients and proceed as per the above recipe.
