One last Christmas recipe, while I still can!

I happened upon this recipe in a Dutch supermarket magazine (AH), and it immediately caught my eye. Gave it a go, but didn’t like the outcome all too much. I tried it again using different ingredients and this time we did like it. In fact, we loved it. It’s something really simple yet very special.

Now, for special dinners I like to put a basket loaded with warm crusty bread and rolls on the table. For really special occasions I’ll even throw in some home-made garlic & herb butter. This is going to be absolutely perfect in addition to the bread and butter. Think of it as deviled ham with a slight twist.

Ingredients:

7 oz cream cheese
4 oz ham
1/2 a cucumber
5 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
chives
pepper
salt

Optional: 1 tbsp cranberry jelly/sauce

 

Directions:

* you’ll be needing an immersion blender or food processor for this recipe. Recipe makes 4 servings.

Wash the cucumber and use a vegetable peeler to slice it into long, thin strips. Put the cucumber in a colander and sprinkle 1/2 a tsp salt all over. Let it drain for 30 minutes.

Combine 5 tbsp white wine vinegar with 2 tbsp sugar in a sauce pan and heat it ‘til the sugar has dissolved. Let it cool off.

Gently squeeze the water from the cucumber, put it in a bowl and pour the vinegar mix in there as well. Let the cucumber marinade for a little while.

Coarsely chop 4 oz ham, but keep a one slice for each bowl aside for garnish. Transfer the chopped ham to an immersion blender bowl or food processor.

Add the cream cheese. I tried this with a low fat version as well, but because it’s generally not as firm as regular cream cheese, it didn’t work out too well.

Chop some chives and add those to the bowl as well. A moderate amount, though. We’ll homogenize everything, and if you overdo the chives the flavor will get too intense and becomes overpowering. You could always add more later.

Season with salt and pepper.

Blitz, blend or do whatever you have to do to mash it all up. Check the seasoning and transfer the mousse to a bowl.

Now this mousse is really tasty as is, but I missed something. A slight hint of sweetness, freshness, anything to make it more interesting. So I’ve added a tbsp cranberry jelly. Bulls eye! It was the winning combination. I’m sure you could also do this with a little leftover cranberry sauce.

Use an ice scoop to place one ball of mousse into a pretty glass, top with the marinated cucumber and garnish with a slice of ham and some chives. This is a crazy simple recipe that takes almost no time to prepare, tastes phenomenally good and looks absolutely gorgeous.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Make it a happy one!