Three-course Christmas menu

14 December 2020
Christmas is coming again! This year we celebrate Christmas a little different than usual. At this time of year it is important to be (virtually or at a safe distance) with your friends and family and enjoy good food. That's why we have come up with a nice three course Christmas menu for you. Here you will find everything you need for a delicious feast.
Nutrition
Three-course Christmas menu - photo 1.1

Download the three-course Christmas menu here.

Appetizer: Cheese Wreath

You can also use 4 different cheeses as desired.

Ingredients (4 servings):
60 grams Brie
60 grams blue cheese
60 grams Roquefort
100 grams red grapes
150 grams fig bread
50 grams mixed lettuce with red beets
Handful of walnuts

Directions:
Place the lettuce mixture in a wreath shape on a large, wooden cutting board. A round cutting board will look best, but a rectangular board is fine as well. Cut the cheeses and fig bread into slices. Place the slices on top of the round lettuce wreath, alternating the bread and cheese. Sprinkle the walnuts over the wreath. Optional: Use a ribbon to make a festive bow and place it at the bottom, so that everyone knows it’s a wreath.

Main course: Beef Wellington Braid

Ingredients (4 servings):
1 roll puff pastry (chilled)
500 grams tenderloin
500 grams chestnut mushrooms
4 slices Prosciutto
2 tbsp mustard
1 egg yolk
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Plastic wrap

Directions:
Sprinkle the tenderloin with salt and pepper. Heat up a little olive oil in a frying pan. Sear the meat all around until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove the tenderloin from the pan and let it cool. Then brush the mustard all over the meat.

Place the chestnut mushrooms in a food processor and chop into very small pieces. Heat a saucepan. Place the chopped mushrooms into the pan without oil or butter. Sautee them until you’ve cooked out the moisture from the mushrooms. Remove the mushrooms duxelles from the pan and let them cool. Place a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Place the slices of Prosciutto on top of the wrap, overlapping slightly. Spread the mushroom paste over the Prosciutto. Place the tenderloin in the middle. Tightly wrap everything up in the plastic wrap, so that the mushrooms duxelles and the Prosciutto sit firmly against the tenderloin. Place in the refrigerator for 5 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. 

Roll out the puff pastry sheet. Cut the puff pastry so that it is only one centimeter longer than the tenderloin on both sides. Save the rest of the puff pastry. Place the tenderloin in the middle of the puff pastry sheet. You now have about 1/3 free above the tenderloin and 1/3 underneath the tenderloin. Cut the free pasty into strips, cutting all the way to the tenderloin. Do this both above and underneath the tenderloin. Fold the centimeter on each short side of the tenderloin upwards. Alternate placing the strips of puff pastry over the tenderloin. This will create a braid pattern. Cut out stars from the rest of the puff pastry. Place these on top of the Beef Wellington.

Create an egg wash from the yolk and brush over the Beef Wellington. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown. Serve with green beans or broccoli with nutmeg.

Desert: Mini Forêt Noire

Rich in protein and without added fats.

Ingredients (6 to 8 mini-cakes):

Cake bottom:
2 eggs
20 grams coconut sugar (or other sweetener)
150 ml unsweetened almond milk
120g flour
30 grams Whey Protein 80 – Chocolate (NXT LEVEL)
25 grams pure cacao powder
 ½ tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp baking powder

Cream:
100 grams cream cheese, light (e.g. Philadelphia)
2.5 tsp cherry flavor drops (NXT LEVEL)

Topping:
8 pieces pure chocolate
2 tsp unsweetened almond milk
Optional: cherries
 
Directions:

Cake bottom:
In a bowl, mix the flour, protein powder, cacao powder and baking powder. Place the eggs and the coconut sugar in another bowl. Mix with a mixer for 3 to 4 minutes until it becomes fluffy and the volume doubles. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and use a spatula to mix the mixture equally. Then add the dry ingredients one by one. Use the spatula to fold the ingredients into the mixture, without breaking the fluffy texture. Mix thoroughly until you get a smooth texture. Pre-heat the oven to 160 °C. Place a baking sheet into a square baking tray. Add the dough and bake for about 30 minutes. As soon as the cake is ready, you can smooth out the cake, if needed. Then use a round cookie cutter shape (about 6mm in diameter) to cut out small cakes. Ideally, the small cakes will be 2 cm high. If they are higher, cut them in two. Then let them cool completely.

Cream and topping:
Whisk the cream cheese and the flavor drops together. Now you’ve got your cream layer. In another bowl, melt the chocolate and almond milk. This is the topping.

Once you’re ready with everything you can put the mini-cakes together:

Start with a layer of chocolate cake. Place a half a tablespoon of cream in the middle of the cake. Use another layer of cake to lightly press down on the cream. Repeat this one more time, so that you get a total of 3 layers of cake and 2 layers of cream. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons to chocolate sauce on top. And as the cherry on top... you can add an actual cherry on top to complete the mini-cake.

We hope you enjoy this delicious three-course Christmas menu!