Four-course festive meal that’s great for people with Parkinson’s

The team behind the Dutch Parkinson’s cooking project ‘Lekker eten met Parkinson’ have adapted a four-course festive meal that can be enjoyed by everyone, and will ensure that people with Parkinson’s get all the necessary nutrients to stay healthy

First course – Salmon fillet marinated in lime juice with aniseed and cabbage salads

Ingredients
500g salmon fillet
100ml lime juice
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar
2 tbsp red wine or raspberry vinegar
200g white cabbage
200g red cabbage
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp fresh tarragon (chopped)
1 tbsp aniseed
1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt
Sunflower oil

Preparation
Start your preparations for this dish at least four hours before serving. Start your preparations for the salads a day before serving.

• Cut the salmon into equal slices, each 2cm thick (approx.).
• Sprinkle salt, aniseed and hot pepper on both sides slices and leave in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

Dressing

• Place the marinated slices into the lime juice for 90 minutes on each side.
• Mix the lime juice with the sunflower oil and the tarragon into the dressing.

Salads

• Put two tablespoons of raisins in vinegar, leave for two hours.
• Add to the sliced cabbages.
• Add salt and freshly ground black pepper, oil and tarragon.
• Place the salads in two parallel lines in the middle of a plate.
• Place the salmon slices on top and sprinkle with the dressing.

Second course: Porcini enriched poultry broth with ravioli filled with chicken and/or mushrooms

Ingredients
2 chopped of sunflower oil
1kg chicken wings
200g mixed small vegetables
2 celery ribs with leaves
2 medium carrots
2 onions
1 leek
100g dried porcini mushrooms
2 cloves
4 bay leaves
6 peppercorns (whole)
12 Chinese ravioli leaves
250g mushrooms
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp chives or sage
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tsp oil

Preparation
Start your preparations for this broth a day before serving.

• Heat the sunflower oil in a pan.
• Add the chicken and vegetables and sauté until brown.
• Add 1 litre of cold water and the porcini.
• Slowly bring to a boil.
• Simmer for at least four hours.
• Take out the chicken, vegetables and porcini.
• Remove meat from the bones.
• Rinse and chop the porcini.
• Refrigerate the broth for eight hours overnight, skim fat from the surface.
• Chop the mushrooms and fry in oil.
• On a low heat, add porcini, chicken meat, flour and 2 tbsp water.
• Cook for five minutes, refrigerate and chop fine in your KitchenAid.
• Mix in the herbs.
• Brush egg yolk with oil onto each pastry leaf.
• Place a teaspoonful of the mushroom mix on the corner of each leaf and fold into a triangle.
• Poach for five minutes in broth.
  

Main course – Pulled wild boar or venison stewed in dark ale with plums, mashed potatoes, parsnip and broccoli

Ingredients
800g stewing venison or boar (large chunks)
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp crushed juniper berries
1 tsp rosemary leaves
1 tbsp chopped thyme leaves
2 tbsp of flour
5 bay leaves
1 bottle brown ale
1 tbsp of red wine vinegar
12 prunes
Parsnips (as much as you like)
Broccoli (as much as you like)

Preparation
Start your preparations for this stew a day before serving it.

• Mix juniper berries, rosemary, thyme leaves and flour with some black pepper and salt.
• Toss your meat through this mix and press until well coated.
• Heat the oil in a large pan at a high temperature.
• Fry the meat on all sides to brown.
• Add bay leaves, ale, vinegar and some water to cover the meat.
• Cook on a very low fire until your meat falls apart.
• Take the meat out and refrigerate; pull into strips.
• Reduce the liquid left in the pan on a high fire until 250ml (approx.) is left.
• Put the pulled meat in the sauce, add the prunes.
• Fry the parsnip in sunflower oil.
• Heat the broccoli in your microwave.
• Put the parsnip in the middle of a plate and arrange the meat over it.
• Arrange broccoli around the meat.

Dessert – Winter trifle; chestnut purée and cottage cheese, apple, chopped amarena cherries and oatmeal cookies

Ingredients
300g Sweet chestnut purée
250g cottage cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
1 apple (finely diced)
200g amarena cherries (finely chopped)
120g crumbled oat cookies
Amaretto liqueur
Homemade custard

Preparation

• Poach the diced apple for two minutes in hot water with some sugar.
• Mix together the chestnut purée, cottage cheese and vanilla sugar.
• Build your trifle in layers in a large glass bowl or in a separate glass for each guest.

Read more: Prepare the perfect festive dinner with Parki’s chef Yves Meersman

Tasty, nutritious and easy-to-prepare meals for people with Parkinson’s