Many people follow a tradition for their meals on Christmas Eve, while others fancy trying something new for a change. The following post contain three recipe ideas for the festive season. They have been put together by three excellent cooks who we will be profiling at the same time. We hope we can inspire you.

He is the modern multimedia specialist among chefs. Christian Henze is an old hand at it all. The young chef also runs his own company –he is a talented jack of all trades with his own country house, a freestyle cookery school and his own catering service and mail order Company, based in Oberallgäu. He reaches for the stars and is rewarded, of course, for his work with stars.

Despite the Michelin star, the chef does not see his elegant yet rustic restaurant as a gourmet temple. The emphasis is on an informal comfort. “Our restaurant is a fun place to be. And nobody goes home hungry,” this is something which is very important to the chef, who does the cooking him self most nights.

And this clever star chef has achieved all this by sticking rigidly to one motto for his cooking: It’s got to be fun! His recipes are sophisticated, but no-frills. “Dogged determination gets you now here in the kitchen. But the most important thing is to be in a good mood and completely relaxed when you approach cooking”, he almost flirts with the same effortlessness with which he conjures up his dishes.

For the winter, when he likes to blend the hearty and festive with the local and exotic, he recommends a “crispy Christmas goose with apple sauce”. Sounds simple and good, takes about half an hour (plus roasting time) and comes highly recommended for the festive season –served with red cabbage and dumplings.

Crispy Christmas goose with apple sauce

Serves 6:

Preparation time: 30 minutes

(+2 hours 10 minutes roasting time)

Ingredients:

1 oven-ready goose (4-5 kg)

Salt, freshly ground pepper

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 russet appels

2 onins

400ml dry white wine

Wash the goose in cold running water inside and out and pat dry with kitchen roll. Rub salt and pepper into the outside and inside of the goose. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

Heat the oil in a roasting tin on a medium heat. Then carefully seal the goose, starting with the haunch and then turning over to the breast, so the skin takes on a little color.

Turn the goose on its back and put in the center of the oven in the roasting tin.

Allow the roast for 40 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180ºC and roast for a further 1.5 hours. While it is cooking, occasionally baste the goose in its own fat. Do not add any extra liquid.

Reduce the oven temperature to 80ªC, and open the oven door briefly. Remove the goose from the oven, place on a heat resistant plate and keep warm in the oven.

Peel apples and onions. Quarter and core the apples, then finely dice them and the onins.

Pour the goose fat out of the roasting tin until around 8 tbsp are left, fry the apples and onions in the fat, add the wine and allow to thicken a little. Then puree the sauce.

Carve the goose and serve on warmed plates with the sauce.

Holger Stromberg. His suggestion for the festive season: John Dory with pistachio pesto on limed potato puree with a comfit of black salsify. It sounds daring and down-to-earth at the same time, which makes is exactly in line with 31-year-old’s philosophy: I’m happy to admit I take a lot of risks when it comes to combining flavours. But the fundamental ingredients of my recipes never lose touch with good, honest food”.

This from a man who was literally born into a tradition of cooking. His family has been in the catering industry for 150 years. In this context, his creations seem pretty revolutionary. And so is his image, at least in the press, where he quickly became the golden boy. Now a days has his own company –Kounge – a blend of a (bulthaup) kitchen and a lounge in Munich.

John Dory with pistachio pesto on limed potato puree with confit of black salsify.

Serves 4:

400 g filet of John Dory

500 g peeled black salsify

2 pieces of star anise

200g peeled potatoes

100ml pouring cream

60 ml olive oil

Grated  rind and juice of lime

60g pistachos

30g grated parmesan

¼ of a clove garlic

100 ml olive oil

Sea salt, freshly ground pepper, à olive oil

A little fresh rosemary

Preparation:

Boil the potatoes in salted water and drain. Add the olive oil, cream and lime and mix to a puree using an electric mixer. Add salt and pepper taste.

Marinate the peeled black salsify in 100ml olive oil, sea salt, star anise and freshly ground pepper. Then wrap all the black salsify and spices up in aluminum foil. The parcel should be flat and no higher than 3 cm (so it can cook evenly!), then bake in a fan oven at 170ºC for 20-30 minutes.

Once the accompaniments are ready, fry the John Dory (à la minute) in a preheated Teflon frying pan in a little olive oil for 2 minutes on either side until it is light golden brown. Just before you take the fish out, add a rosemary and fry for around 10 seconds, then season the fish with salt and pepper.

To serve, spread the black salsify lengthways across the middle of the plate, place the potato puree to one side and arrange the fish on top. Finally, pour the pistachio pesto over the fish and sprinkle the fried rosemary on top.

Do you want to be inspired by Marcus Bischoff this Christmas? Then you’ll be spoilt for choice. You can either give it a go at home with his recipe “shoulder of beef with savoy cabbage wrap and cocktail onions”. Or you can sign up for his “Christmas menu” cookery course, 5 courses prepared on a bulthaup system 25 kitchen. The lessons take place in the picture book setting of Tegernsee, where Bischoff runs the wonderful “Bischoff am See” with his wife Petra. It is a restaurant, bar and hotel in one. Many people have written or more accurately, raved about the place where this charming chef has chosen to turn his lifelong dream into reality. He has proven that you can blend Bavarian with Feng Shui and Zen  that goes perfectly with food with Italian, French and Asian influences and that attention to detail has created an oasis of elegant comfort. Everything he has achieved in his flawless career has been crowned in glory. With a star Michelin: the philosophy of his food is remarkably simple: I cook from gut instinct and am influenced by season”.

Shoulder of beef with savoy cabbage wrap and cocktail onions.

Serves 4:

Meat:

1,5-2 kg shoulder of beef without skin and tendons, salt, freshly ground pepper, 1 tbsp flour, 1-2 tbsp clarified butter, 4 tbsp sugar, 3-4 tbsp tarragon vinegar, 100g butter, 400 g fresh peeled cocktail onions.

Rub salt and pepper into the beef and dust with flour. Melt the clarified butter in a oven proof roasting tin. Fry the meat in the pan until is crispy all over, then remove from the pan. Caramelize the sugar in the fat and add the tarragon vinegar, stirring vigorously. Add the butter and the cocktail onions. Place the meat on top and cover. Allow to braise in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 2,5 to 3 hours. Baste the meat in its juices every 20 minutes. Allow the cocktail onions around 20 minutes to cook through, then remove. At the end of the cooking time, pass the sauce through a fine sieve. Keep warm. Reheat the cocktail onions. Accompaniments: 2,5 tbsp chopped shallots, 5 tbsp butter, 550 g cleaned cep (120 g of which is finely diced) or other seasonal wild mushrooms, 6-8 slices of fresh brioche (French yeast bread, alternatively another sweetish yeast bread), 1 egg, 100 g fresh goose liver, finely diced, 15-20 g diced clack truffles, salt, freshly ground pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, 2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley, 8 large blanched savoy leaves, without the start of stem, 1 medium carrot, ½ celery root, ¼ leek, 1 small kohlrabi, 1 small parsley root, 0.35 l chicken stock, 1 tsp lemon juice.

For the savoy cabbage filling, lightly fry 2 tbsp diced shallots in 2 tbsp butter. Add the diced ceps and fry them briefly. Mix in a bowl with the roughly chopped brioche. Mix in the egg, goose liver and diced truffle. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and 1 tbsp parsley to taste. Spread each savoy leaf out separately on a tea towel. Place one eight of the filling on each, fold the leaf over and twist into a little ball in the towel. Grease a heat-resistant pan with a 1 tbsp butter. Cut the carrot, celery, leek, kohlrabi and parsley root into slices. Place in the tin and place the savoy balls on top. Pour over yhe chicken stock, cover and put in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Fry the remaining ½ tbsp. shallots in the remaining ½ tbsp. butter. Slice the whole ceps, add and fry for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Stir in the remaining tbsp. of parsley.

Serving:

Slice the shoulder of beef and pour over the sauce. Arrange on plates with the cocktail onions, vegetables, savoy cabbage balls and ceps.

Bon Appetite and Happy Christmas!

bulthaup team

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