First, we thought about decorating the Christmas table that will host the festive meal. We want it to be traditional, but above all, truly homegrown! Grab your pens! Here are our ideas:
Choosing a pretty tablecloth Fabric that we can use again next year. Do the same for the napkins, and yes, what could be prettier than grandma's beautiful red napkins that we bring out every Christmas!
Create a centerpiece with natural, local items! A few days before Christmas, plan a little family outing to collect fir branches, holly and mistletoe in our beautiful forests, picking only what you really need (picking holly and mistletoe is tolerated in small quantities for family use). Collect anything that inspires you to make a beautiful Christmas table: pine cones, branches, etc. When you get home, spread out all your finds to let them dry and tie the mistletoe bouquet with a pretty string and hang it upside down.
Create an attractive centerpiece that will add volume to the table. You can place a fairly thick wooden log in the center with a beautiful decorative plate on top where you can put some sweets. Finish with a beautiful central decoration on this plate. We chose a transparent jar where we put a pretty wooden fir tree to be found at our local artisans (as at Sage, where the Fire Workshops for a metal object…). Let crystalline sugar drip on the tree for the snowy landscape effect. Don’t forget to hang the mistletoe bouquet above the table, it’s said to bring good luck!
Set the table. Grab the nicest dinnerware you have. A quick reminder: the knife is on the right with the tines facing the plate, and the fork is on the left with the tines facing up. As for glasses, the wine glass is closest. If you want to seat people, you can make name tags that you can place on or next to the plate.
Add some exotic touches. We took a little inspiration from our neighbors, and we made some Alsatian cakes more commonly called "Bredele" that we arranged on the central plate. You can also cut some apple slices, orange into rounds to dry and place on the centerpiece. By the way, for the smell of Christmas, don't hesitate to decorate your table with cinnamon sticks and a few star anise.
The little +: If you have wooden Christmas decorations, don't hesitate to include them in your centerpiece. You can also make some candles—find plenty of DIY ideas* online—that you can light on Christmas Eve. And of course, don't forget to decorate the tree!
The table is ready, this time we go to the kitchen with the 100% menu Pays Horloger !
Here are some menu ideas that the team has concocted for you. We don't know about you, but our taste buds are already in ecstasy...can't wait for Christmas!
Snails with parsley butter
Find the snails from theTartot Inn and Snail Farm in Fournet-Luisans. You can buy butter in a fruit.
Endive and Casserole Morteau with cancoillotte
Find the Sausage of Morteau at our various butchers and delicatessens and cancoillotte in our fruit trees partners.
Mushroom and morel crust
You will find morels in butcher shops or in our various regional product shops.
Foie gras
Produced by our two restaurateurs: the Mill Pond in Bonnétage or My pleasure to Chamesol.
Smoked salmon
On sale at the restaurant My pleasure to Chamesol.
Chicken with morels, yellow wine and cancoillotte accompanied by small golden potatoes baked in the oven
Trout with yellow wine and cream
You will find good cream in our fruit trees partners.
Trout gratin with Comté and white wine
Take an old Comté (about 18 months) that you will find in fruit.
Capon with chestnuts served with tagliatelle
Capon or turkey that you can buy in butchery.
Suffice to say that in Pays Horloger, you are spoiled for choice for your cheese platter: Comté, Morbier, Mont d'Or, Cancoillotte and all the other cheeses specific to each fruit. You can also add a little goat's cheese to be found at our producers: La Mont de Fuans Goat Farm in Fuans.
The famous Christmas log
To make yourself or to buy in our various bakeries and pastry shops.
A good housekeeping cake
A do it yourself (follow the recipe) or buy in our various bakeries and pastry shops.
Donuts and cutlets
To accompany coffee or herbal tea.
Caramels and chocolates
Chocolates to be found in the boutique Thomas Laresche à Morteau, and to Klaus where you will also find caramels, also at Morteau
Fruit jellies
Available in certain bakeries and pastry shops
Aperitif : absinthe, Pontarlier anise, macvin, Christmas lemonade and flavored drinks at Rième beverages Morteau, Rième syrups to enhance Crémant du Jura.
Meals : red, white… or yellow wines.
These different drinks can be found at our various manufacturers and retailers: the Saut du Doubs Distillery, The Wild Workshop, the Guy Pontarlier-Anis Distillery, Rth drinks à Morteauthe wine merchant Arnoux to Maîche et Saint-Hippolyte.
The little extra:
Find various special breads in the bakery with fig, walnut, rye, etc. Which will perfectly complement foie gras and salmon.
*DIY = Do It Yourself = made by yourself
Christmas means winter or snow when you're lucky... And you, do you look forward to it or prefer not to? Here are some ideas to help everyone find happiness this winter.