Ottolenghi's Christmas Goose

I love roast goose! My sister Coral makes the very best goose in the world. Secondbest, find Ottolenghi's Christmas Roast Goose with quince and cranberries here. And click here for more delicious Ottolenghi recipes such as Brussels Sprouts with shallots, pomegranate & purple basil, and smoked aubergine & yogurt vol-au-vents. The motherlode of the Guardian's Christmas Recipes are here.

Whatever happened to vol-au-vents? I remember having them for the first time at a party at my Aunt Pam's house, filled with creamy mushrooms and chicken. Utterly intoxicating. (My mother didn't make them -- a minimalist, she preferred to layer pieces of smoked salmon and dill onto small pieces of pumpernickel in the Norwegian style, or freshly peeled prawns on a tiny square of toast with an elegant swirl of mayonnaise and a sprig of parsley.) At the same party at my aunt's house, I remember falling in love with Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water album, as I sat with my older brothers and sisters, and our cousins and their hippy friends, as they sang along, all slightly tipsy, cigarettes in hand, to The Boxer.