RISSOLES OF SALMON

Serves 4 as a first course Flour, for the work surface

ll 500g (1lb 2oz) all-butter puff pastry, thawed according to package directions if frozen

1 skinless salmon fillet, 250g (9oz) and no more than 2cm (¾in) thick 2 fresh dill sprigs, finely chopped

l 4tsp unsalted butter

l 1 egg yolk, beaten

l 1tbsp dried

breadcrumbs

llPreheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7 and line a baking tray with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to 6mm thick. Using an 11.5cm round pastry cutter, cut out 8 rounds and lift away the extra pastry.

Cut the salmon into 4 equal pieces, making sure each piece will fit in the centre of a pastry round, surrounded by a 2.5cm border. Top 4 of the pastry rounds with a piece of salmon. Sprinkle the dill over the salmon pieces, dividing it evenly, then top each piece with 1tsp of the butter. Brush the edge of each salmontopped pastry round with a little of the egg yolk and top with the remaining pastry rounds. Seal the edges together well, crimping them with a thumb and index finger.

Brush the tops of the pastry packets with the egg yolk, then divide the breadcrumbs evenly among the packets, sprinkling them onto the centre. Carefully transfer the pastries to the prepared tray, spacing them well apart. Bake the rissoles until the pastry is puffed, golden and crisp, about 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.

The Official

Downton

Abbey

Christmas

Cookbook by Regula

Ysewijn is published by Titan Books, £24.99. © 2010-2015 Carnival Film & Television Limited. To order a copy for £21.24 go to mailshop.co. uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. Free UK delivery on orders over £15. Offer is valid until 23/12/2020.

FOOD OF LOVE

If you’re looking for different presents, gift vouchers for restaurants will help them stay in business. A good hardwood chopping board is a great gift for a foodie, as are Elvas figs and plums from Portugal. As for books, I recommend those by the chefs Raymond

Blanc, Glynn Purnell and

Sat Bains, who will sign his book Too Many

Chiefs, Only One Indian through his website.

GOOD PUDS

To follow, it will be sticky toffee pudding, which you can make in advance and is brilliant straight from the freezer. Freeze it in individual portions then if you have extra people come round you can take more out of the freezer and microwave it. Or I love tarte tatin, served with Christmas pudding ice cream.

AREALCRACKLER

I was brought up on a farm so at Christmas, as a big family, we had roast beef, roast pork and roast turkey. This year it’s going to be roast loin of pork for me – Middle White from Little Oak Farm in Somerset. To get crisp crackling, I’ll shock it in a really hot oven for 30 minutes, then drop it down to 170ºc/fan 150ºc for an hour and a half.

MESSY CHRISTMAS

You may have seen my blender explode and send cauliflower soup flying across the studio on This Morning. I also burnt onions that day, then while clearing up the mess, my mop snapped in half! There’s more carnage on the ITV programme Burnt Bits, running at Christmas and looking at cock-ups by TV chefs over 40 years. I feature a fair bit... sold commercially for the first time, in Kansas in the US. Perhaps Cora’s mother sent her some from the States?

Sport fishing was nearly as popular as hunting with the upper classes, as we saw in Downton’s 2012 Christmas special, when almost the entire Crawley family went to Duneagle Castle in the river-rich Scottish Highlands to visit Susan, the niece of the Dowag water, then put them into a bowl and liquefy as for powdered gelatine. Add the liquefied gelatine to the Champagne mixture and stir until the gelatine dissolves. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl or pitcher and let it cool to room temperature. Add 480ml of the chilled Champagne to the cooled gelatine mixture and stir well. If adding berries or edible flowers, pour half of the gelatine mixture into a 600ml (1pt) mould and chill until almost set, about 30-45 minutes; arrange the embellishments on top, then add the remaining gelatine mixture. If serving the jelly without embellishments, pour all the gelatine mixture into the mould. Cover and refrigerate until fully set, at least 8 hours or up to 1 day. To serve, fill a bowl with hot water. Dip the bottom of the mould into the hot water for a few seconds to loosen the jelly from the mould, then unmould onto a serving plate and garnish with mint. Isobel, Cora, Robert and Violet gather in front of the Christmas tree