Comfort Food Challenge: Ho Ho Ho three course Christmas Dinner on a budget | My Soho Times

I was set a comfort food challenge from My Soho Times, and I decided to create a three course meal using ingredients from Co-Op – for under £60!

I headed to my local Co-Op, St Mary Cray, in Kent. It’s not a big Co-op however I found out that they sell a lot of great own brands products; cheese to wine. I was especially surprised by their selection of wine they had on offer.

As Christmas is round the corner and days are getting colder I decided to make comfort food dishes with a slight festive twist to them which can serves four. All for under £60, plus I also had enough money to buy a nice bottle of Co-op’s own brand Prosecco to make it even more special!

Starters Rudolph’s Baked Mushroom, Mains a Ho Ho Ho Beef & Macaroni Pie with Red Wine and for dessert Festive Mincemeat Bread & Butter Pudding 

Rudolphs Baked Mushroom with Cranberry Cheese 

4 Portobello mushrooms 
40g walnuts, chopped  
50g Co-op Cranberry cheese, crumbled 

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 6.  

Cook the mushrooms in an oven on a baking tray for around 8 minutes.  

Then take out of the oven and top with the cheese and walnuts.  

Pop back in the oven for 5 minutes or place under grill to melt the cheese. 

Ho ho ho Festive Beef & Macaroni Pie with Cinnamon & Red Wine 

Beef casserole

 
Olive oil

6 peppercorns 

2 whole cloves 

500g casserole steak 

1 onion 

1 carrot 

1 celery 

1 bay leave

1 tsbp thyme 

Quarter bottle of Co-Op red wine

300g beef stock  

Macaroni Cheese 

180g Co-op macaroni cheese 
1 garlic, crushed 
2 tbs plain flour 
250ml whole milk 
100g chedder cheese plus 25g cheese for topping 
25g parmesan plus 10g for topping 

Preheat oven 180C/160C fan/Gas 6.   

Crush the peppercorns and cloves together until fine.

Fry the onion, celery carrots together until softened not brown in some oil.  

Then add the casserole beef and brown before adding the red wine, beef stock and bay leave, thyme and crushed peppercorn mix.

Place in oven and cook for around 2 ½ hours or until the meat is soft. If the beef casserole starts to get dry whilst cooking add more beef stock or wine. 

Whilst the beef is cooking make the Macaroni Cheese.

Boil the pasta for 2 mins less than stated on pack and then drain. 

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the garlic, cook for 30 seconds and add the plain flour. 

Cook for 1 minute more, then gradually whisk in the milk until you have a lump-free sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes, whisking all the time until thickened. 

Take off the heat, then stir in the cheddar and parmesan and stir until melted and combined.

Once the beef is ready spoon into an overproof dish be it a large serving dish or individual dishes and then top with the macaroni cheese and sprinkle over the remaining cheese and bake for another 20 minutes until golden. 

Serve with a side of grated parmesan.

Bread and Butter Pudding

1 loaf of Co-Op freshly baked bread, cut 8 medium slices

150g of butter

150g Co-Op mincemeat fruit

200g white chocolate

2 demerara sugar

Custard

4 eggs

6 egg yolks

80g caster sugar

500ml full-fat milk

500ml cream

To make the custard beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until pale and smooth. Add the milk and cream, heat until simmering then remove from heat. Pour the milk over the eggs and caster sugar, mixing well.

Grease an ovenproof dish with some butter. Remove the crusts from the sliced bread and butter all the slices on one side.

Spread a layer of butter to cover the bottom of the dish.

Place a layer of bread on the bottom and top with mincemeat fruit then top with another layer of bread. Sprinkle with white chocolate chips/pieces and then pour over a third of the custard and set in the fridge for a few hours or overnight so the bread can soak up the custard. Save the rest of the custard for serving with bread and butter pudding.

When ready, get it out of the fridge and sprinkle over the demerara sugar and cook in preheated oven at 180C/160C fan/Gas 6 for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden and when pressed lightly feels firm.

Serve along with the extra custard, warmed up or cold.

Written by Joanne Mortlock @lovepopupslondon

Collab with @the.soho.girl @mysohotimes @coopuk

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