Make it a Christmas Day to remember with something for everyone, Kelly Gibney has created a delicious Christmas menu matched to our Nautilus wines.
Halloumi, corn and radish salad with herb dressing Serves 6 as a side
This salad is full of all the bright and fresh flavours of summer! It’s a fabulous match for the Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc
2 cobs sweet corn – outer husks removed
200g halloumi cheese
2 small cos lettuces – leaves separated and washed
250g cherry tomatoes – halved
4 radishes – sliced very thinly
Oil for frying
Dressing
60ml good quality olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 small garlic clove – finely diced
1 teaspoon sugar
Large handful fresh basil
Large handful fresh mint leaves
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to season.
To serve: additional fresh herbs to garnish
Use a blender or hand blender to blitz the salad dressing ingredients until smooth. Season well. Set aside until serving time.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully drop the corn into the water and cook for 1 minute. Run under cold water to halt cooking and keep the corn sweet and firm. Run a knife down the cob length-ways to take off the kernels. This can be quite rustic. Some stay together in big pieces and others break apart.
Ideally cook the halloumi as close to serving time as possible
Cut the block of halloumi into ½ cm pieces length-ways. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil over a medium / high heat. Fry the halloumi until golden brown on each side. Place on a paper towel to blot excess oil.
To assemble
Lay the cos lettuce leaves out on a large platter. Top with the cherry tomatoes, corn and radishes. Top with the halloumi pieces and drizzle generously with the dressing. Garnish with fresh herbs, a grind of cracked black pepper and serve immediately.
Herb crusted salmon Serves 8-10
This is a wonderfully simple way to feed a crowd. The crumb topping adds a lovely crunch. The richness of salmon makes it a surprising (but delicious) match to the Nautilus Southern Valleys Pinot Noir
1 side salmon
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 ½ packed cups fresh herbs (I used parsley and basil)
Zest of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Olive oil spray
Preheat to oven to 180 degrees Celsius (or a bit higher if you know that your oven doesn’t run very hot).
Take the salmon from the fridge 30 minutes before you’ll be cooking it.
Place the breadcrumbs, herbs, lemon zest and salt into a food processor. Blitz until the herbs are well chopped.
Lay the salmon skin-down on an oven-proof tray double lined with baking paper. Spoon the breadcrumbs on top. You may not need all the crumb topping (depending on the size of your salmon). Spray liberally with olive oil. Roast for 20 – 25 minutes. Do not overcook!! You really want the salmon to be just-cooked and moist.
Remove from the oven and use the baking paper to carefully transfer to your serving dish. Leave to rest for 10 minutes. Serve immediately or allow to cool to room temperature. Serve with dill yoghurt and citrus wedges.
Leftover salmon will last up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
Christmas pudding ice cream Serves 8
This incredibly simple dessert is absolutely bursting with Christmas flavour. It can be made up to a week in advance. This leaves you plenty of time to enjoy the day with loved ones. The perfect excuse to enjoy a glass of Nautilus Marlborough Cuvee Brut NV
1 x 2 litre tub good quality vanilla ice cream
1 x 500g Christmas fruit pudding
Place a large loaf tin into the freezer for 30 minutes to prepare it for the ice cream. Break the pudding in to big chunks. Place in a food processor and blitz until you have small chunks. Add half the ice cream (that you have cut into large chunks). Run the machine until well blended. You’ll need to work quite fast so that the ice cream doesn’t melt too much. Add the remaining ice cream (also cut into large chunks. This does not have to be blended perfectly. The idea is to have some of the caramel coloured pudding ice cream swirled together with some of the vanilla ice cream.
Press the ice cream into the cold tin. Place deep in your freezer so that it can get cold as quickly as possible. Leave for at least 5 hours.
Serve with fresh berries on the side.
Ice cream will last 3 months in the freezer. Wrap tightly in tinfoil to prevent freezer burn.
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