Mulled Wine Recipe

Now Christmas is less than a month away it is time to well and truly embrace Christmas food and drink, starting with this fabulous winter warmer - mulled wine. Contrary to popular opinion, it's super easy to make and taste exactly like Christmas in a glass. The beautiful warmth comes from the use of festive spices: cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together all the ingredients over a very low heat to help all those Christmas flavours infuse.

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To make this festive warmer, you will need:

2 clementines
1 lemon
1 lime
200 grams of caster sugar
6 whole cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
3 fresh bay leaves
1 whole nutmeg, for grating
1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways
2 star anise
2 bottles of red wine

Method:

Peel large section of peel from your clementines, lemon and lime using a speed peeler.
Put the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the pieces of peel and squeeze in the clementine juice. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and about 10 to 12 gratings of nutmeg. Add in your halved vanilla pod and stir in just enough red wine to cover the sugar.
Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine and then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until you've got a beautiful thick syrup.
When your syrup is ready, turn the heat down to low and add your star anise and the rest of the wine. Gently heat the wine and after around 5 minutes, when it's warm and delicious, ladle it into glasses and serve.

Christmas cake

Now is the time to make your Christmas cake! With just one month until Christmas, get this made, allow it to mature, and it'll be perfect in time for Christmas.

This is seriously the world's best Christmas cake. Taken from BBC Good Food, the cooker does all the hard work for you and you'll end up with a beautifully rich cake!

1kg mixed dried fruits (use a mix of raisins, sultanas, currants, cherries, cranberries, prunes or figs)
zest and juice 1 orange
zest and juice 1 lemon
150ml brandy, Sherry, whisky or rum, plus extra for feeding
250g pack butter, softened
200g light soft brown sugar
175g plain flour
100g ground almonds
½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
100g flaked almonds
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Put the dried fruit, zests and juice, alcohol, butter and sugar in a large pan set over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 mins. Tip the fruit mixture into a large bowl and leave to cool for 30 mins.
2. Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Line a deep 20cm cake tin with a double layer of baking parchment, then wrap a double layer of newspaper around the outside – tie with string to secure.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the fruit mixture and stir well, making sure there are no pockets of flour. Tip into your prepared tin, level the top with a spatula and bake in the centre of the oven for 2 hrs.
4. Remove the cake from the oven, poke holes in it with a skewer and spoon over 2 tbsp of your chosen alcohol. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.
5. To store, peel off the baking parchment, then wrap well in cling film. Feed the cake with 1-2 tbsp alcohol every fortnight, until you ice it. Don’t feed the cake for the final week to give the surface a chance to dry before icing.

New Menus at Elena's L'Etoile

In addition to our exciting new Sunday roast, other big changes have been afoot at Elena's, including a brand spanking new menu!

We've made our menu even more authentically French and you'll find your old favourites still there, together with some new ones which are sure to tickle your taste buds.

SOUPE ET SALADES
Salade L’Étoile Salad leaves, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, pepper and croutons with a honey & mustard dressing	5.75
Parfait de foies de volaille Red onion confit, salad leaves, toasted brioche	6.75
Potage à la courge musquée Butternut squash soup, parsley, pesto & toasted almonds (v)	6.25
Céleri rémoulade, jambon de Parme, pousses de pois  Celeriac remoulade, prosciutto ham, pea shoot	7.75
Noix de Saint-Jacques grillés Seared Atlantic scallops, seared vegetable salpicon, shallot puree, watercress leaves	9.25
Gravlax Maison Home cured Gravadlax, potato salad with wholegrain mustard crème fraiche	7.75
Feuilleté de pâte filo au chèvre Goats cheese wrapped in filo pastry, beetroot relish & rocket salad (v)	6.95

PLATS
Filet de dorade à la poêle Pan fried fillet of sea bream, diced potatoes, carrots & spinach, butter sauce	17.25
Croquette de saumon et poireaux  Salmon & leek fishcake with mushy peas, endive salad, chive veloute & hand cut chips	16.75
Poulet de grain poêlé, sauce chasseur, pomme purée Pan fried corn fed chicken, chasseur sauce & pomme puree	17.25
Faux-filet, pommes de terre sautées, petits oignons, sauce vin rouge Rib eye steak, sauté potatoes, baby onions, red wine sauce	21.25
Foie de veau à la poêle, bacon croustillant, pomme purée, sauge frite Pan fried calves, liver crispy bacon, creamed potato & deep fried sage	17.25
Magret de canard à la poêle  Pan fried duck breast, bok choi, roast shallot, carrot & ginger puree, mild spice sauce	18.75
Risotto aux marrons et topinambours Chestnut & jerusalem artichoke risotto, parmesan crisps (v)	16.25
Feuilleté de brocoli, champignons sauvages, épinards Puff pastry case with broccoli, wild mushrooms & wilted spinach, toasted almonds & butter sauce (v)	16.95
Farfalle au pesto de basilic, tomates confites, parmesan Farfalle pasta with basil pesto Sundried tomato & parmesan cheese (v)	15.95

ACCOMPAGNEMENT	2.95
Green Spinach
Haricot Vert
Hand-cut Chips
Pomme Puree
Mixed Salad
New Potatoes

DESSERTS
Panna Cotta à la fleur de sureau Elderflower panna cotta, blueberry puree & almond biscuit	6.25
Gâteau chaud au chocolat, glace à la vanille, sauce chocolat Warm chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream & Chocolate Sauce	6.25
Tarte au citron L’Étoile, sorbet à la framboise Glazed L’ Etoile lemon tart, raspberry sorbet	6.25
Crème Brûlée à la vanille, biscuit aux noix Vanilla crème brûlée & walnut biscuit	6.25

We've also got some special deals including a pre-theatre menu priced at £29.95 for 3 courses and an express lunch menu priced at £21.95 for 3 courses. Check out their menus here.

The Sunday Roast

Exciting times ahead at Elena's!

We've always been closed on Sundays, but now we're very happy to announce that we will now be open on Sunday to serve the best Sunday roast in Fitzrovia.

A beautiful beef forerib, fluffy Yorkshire puddings ad a selection of seasonal vegetables awaits!

We'll be serving this beautiful sight from 11.30am to 2.30pm. So what are you waiting for? Book in today!

The Blogging Event

Last week's blog post detailed preparations for our Yelp event. Today we thought we'd share photos of the event itself!



If you're new to the world of Yelp Events, let us explain in greater detail.

A yelper is someone who leaves a review on yelp - nothing more nothing less. You can become a yelper by creating a profile on yelp and leaving reviews on everything and anything. Once you've done that, you're eligible to sign up to yelp event. Restaurants hold Yelp events to encourage people in to see what they have to offer.

Preparing for the Blogging Event

Last night saw a whole host of yelpers descend on Elena's L'Etoile.



For people who are finding the term 'yelpers' more than a little mysterious, let us explain. A yelper is simply someone who write reviews on yelp. An offshoot of this is yelp events - these are events which yelpers are invited to experience the real ethos of a restaurant. Being a yelper isn't an exclusive thing - anyone who writes reviews is technically a 'yelper'. Everyone and anyone should sign up as it's a great way to meet people and experience new places.

Last we night we invited 30 yelpers to Elena's to sample the best we have to offer.

In this week's blog post, we'll share photos of our preparations for the yelp event:

Recipe: Chicken Liver Parfait

Our chicken liver parfait never fails to impress and, luckily, it's easy to make at home. Why not make it for friends and family this Christmas for a Christmas gift with a difference?! Store it in small Kilner jars with a ribbon to ensure it really produces the wow factor.

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To make enough to serve 10 people, you'll need:

600g butter
2 large onions, chopped finely
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1Kg very fresh chicken livers, nasties removed
olive oil
250ml brandy

1. Fry the onion and garlic in a large frying pan over a low heat with a little olive oil until the onions turn translucent.
2. Turn up the heat a little, add the livers and cook until just cooked through.
3. Add the brandy and simmer for a couple of minutes.
4. Tip the contents of the frying pan into a food processor and blitz until completely smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Add to your Kilner jars, ensuring you leave at least a cm for the clarified butter topping.
5. To make the clarified butter layer: melt the butter over a very low heat. When it separates, spoon the clear butter over the parfait, making sure you don't add any of the small white bits.
6. Store in the fridge.

Your parfait will be ready in an hour and will be good to eat for a further 2 weeks, due to the layer of butter.