My fine dining dinner menu this Christmas!

(Sorry the menu is in Dutch)

I have been making Christmas dinners for my family for a few years now and I am especially proud of this one! For context I’m 22 years old and work in the kitchen myself. It’s definitely more of a challenge doing this in my mothers kitchen than a professional kitchen😂

(Was also able to get my hands on some caviar and winter truffles which was fun to work with!)

The menu:

Amuses: (picture 2)

• a classic in the Netherlands, a cheese sandwich. Brioche baked in butter, with an aged Dutch cheese custard on top, balsamic reduction drops, and finished with more grated aged cheese on top.
• a Tartelette with aubergine caviar, crème fraiche, capers, and a plum jelly on top
• a Tartelette with tomato salad, ricotta, and oregano oil, and finished with herbs on top.

Last amuse: (picture 3)

-simple pumpkin soup with roasted pumpkin seeds and chive oil.

First course: (picture 4 & 5)

• on the bottom is a beetroot salad with roasted almonds and potato crisps. On top is a espuma of potato. On top of that is a sorbet of beetroot, and finished with a foam of parmezan cheese.

Second course: (picture 6)

-built up in three layers. On the bottom a crab salad with green apple and coriander. On top of that a tartare a gamba’s, and on top of that the caviar. Finished with a gel of green apple and a gel of egg yolk, and a sauce made from the head of gamba’s.

Third course: (picture 7)

-sea bass grilled on the skin. Sitting on a puree of cauliflower. On top is smoked eel and purple cauliflower. And finished with a sauce of champagne.

Fourth course: (picture 8)

-roll of celeriac, a purree of celeriac, and grilled mushrooms. Sauce is a jus made from the trimmings of all the celeriac and finished on top is shaved black winter truffle.

Fifth and main course (picture 9)

-pan seared duck breast with a crust of quinoa and ‘nduja. A puree of parsnip, a package of cauliflower filled with duck leg confit (the package fell apart after reheating🥲) a mayo of nduja, foam of red cabbage and finished with a duck jus!

Sixth and final course (picture 10)

-figs poached in red wine, with a white chocolate cremeux, vanilla ice cream, and a crumble and tuille!

It was a lot of work but I got it done! Let me know what you think!