Coulibiac

It's Christmas Eve and a chance for a sit down.  All of the presents have been loaded onto Santa's sleigh, the reindeer have been fed and watered and the big man is having a massive bowl of pasta (something has to soak up all that brandy).

Food prep has already started for tomorrow's cook-athon.  Two of the three stuffings have been made and the chipolatas have been wrapped in their bacony overcoats.  The veg will have to wait until the morning as will the bird as tonight, we are having coulibiac.

Coulibiac is a Russian pie stuffed to the gills with salmon, rice and mushrooms.  I first heard about coulibiac watching Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour.  He was visiting St. Petersburg and his researcher had lined up a cosy vignette of Anthony visiting an elderly Russian lady as she lovingly prepared this festive dish for him.  It took her roughly 4 hours and, by the time it was served, Bourdain was on his second bottle of vodka.

It's Christmas, so of course we have had the odd tipple or two but not to the extent of AB.  Fortunately our coulibiac was prepped yesterday and only the veg needed seeing to, so we were sober enough to enjoy it.