Christmas goodies from Able and Cole

There's a house just down the road from me that always have their Christmas decorations up by the beginning of November, it seems strange to me that anyone would want to start celebrating so early. I always try to leave all things Christmassy to the last minute, that way the novelty and excitement hasn't worn off by Christmas day!

Of course sometimes there are exceptions to the rule and this year was one of those times. Able and Cole offered to send me some 'Christmas goodies' to try, sausages wrapped in bacon and some cranberry and orange relish. The goodies arrived on Friday well packed in an insulated box full of ice, so far so good...

I cooked a mini Christmas dinner on Sunday -that's a roast chicken to me and you- to eat with the sausages and relish and put them to the full Christmas dinner taste test.Sausages wrapped in bacon sometimes quaintly called pigs in blankets are one of my favourite Christmas foods, I actually much prefer these to the turkey! Normally I'd make my own but after trying the sausages from Able and Cole I'd be really happy to serve theirs. Whenever I buy sausages the first thing I check is the meat content, anything below 70% and I don't buy them, the sausages I had to try came in at 85% so no problems there. They had a really good texture and were perfectly spiced with coriander, nutmeg and pepper. If you're looking for something to serve with your Christmas dinner this year I can highly recommend these.Next up was the cranberry and orange relish, I really loved this it made the perfect accompaniment to the sausages and chicken. Normally I would serve traditional cranberry sauce on Christmas day, this relish is quite different but I would say even more delicious. The flavour is far more complex than normal cranberry sauce, you can clearly taste the orange but there are also subtle spice flavours in the background, I'm sure I could taste cloves and star anise in there. The texture is thinner than cranberry sauce in fact it's almost pourable but that's no bad thing at all especially as the cranberries are left whole making this quite a chunky relish. As well as being perfect for Christmas I can imagine pairing this relish alongside pork, sausages, bacon or poultry.