CHRISTMAS 2013

 

~ Christmas 2013 ~

I am so excited to be posting about my favourite time of the year. I LOVE Christmas. The presents, the music, the atmosphere . . . the FOOD! This year was a challenge because of my dietary requirements. Gluten and Dairy Free don’t often make for the most lavish of meals and I have to admit I stuck strictly to my diet in the lead up to Christmas so I could cheat on the day, and cheat I have done. 

Boy did Santa leave a mess behind this year! He was left a cup of cold milk, 3 cookies (not gluten free but lactose free) and some dutch carrots for the reindeer. 

The cookies are a Christmas favourite – we make them every year, they are easy cheap and this year Moo did all the work. I helped him measure the ingredients to put them in and out of the oven for the rest of it I kicked back and relaxed, he really is growing up! We call them Candy Cane cookies but this year we couldn’t find our candy cane cutter so improvised and made them into stockings. 

Candy Cane Cookies

1/2C Icing Sugar

1tsp Vanilla 

2C Plain Flour

200g Buter (I used lactose Free this year and it worked just as well) 

 ~ Icing Mixture  ~

1 1/2C Pure Icing Sugar 

1 egg white 

Red food colouring 

1. Place icing sugar and flour in a bowl and combine. 
2. Add butter gradually until mixture resembles breadcrumbs
3. Add vanilla and 2tbs of cold water
4. Divide in 1/2 and roll each piece to about 7mm tick, set in fridge for 30 minutes 
5. Cut out shapes and bake in a 180 oven for 10 minutes 
6. To make icing sugar sift icing mixture and add egg white stir until smooth. Add a drop or two of food colouring and pipe over the cookies. 
7. We then usually decorate with crushed candy canes – the simplest way to do this is put a candy cane or 2 in a zip lock bag on between a folded tea towel then use the rolling pin to beat the bag. 

The icing sets fairly fast so make sure this is the last task you do 🙂 

I love the magic that is Christmas morning. This is MOO opening the book Santa brought him this year – I believe breakfast is the hardest part of the day knowing when to get into the kitchen, I always feel that I will miss something if I am in there too long. I don’t have a photo on here of Christmas morning breakfast but I will make sure I upload one to Instagram when I can. I keep it simple. Every year we have an assortment of pastries (that I admit I buy prior – I don’t want to be making pastry on christmas morning!!) usually a danish or two, some croissants, some with Jam and Cream others with Ham and Cheese (this is the boys FAV!) and I always have a luscious dish of fresh fruit, some grapes, cherries, mangoes , banana – you name it! Brew some fresh coffee (thanks Nespresso!) and pour a jug of fresh orange juice and voila! breakfast is on the table in minutes! And usually enjoyed by all! 

And this is how my boys like to spend the better part of Christmas day, building all the new lego sets!! This lull between family visiting and breakfast being eaten is when I normally get myself into gear, get dressed, clean up the wrapping paper carnage, clean the breakfast dishes and make a plan for what needs to be done next, make sure I have enough plates and dishes on the go and make sure there is always some food made up in the fridge. Luckily we did that this year – shortly after my clean up more family arrived and it was simple enough to pull out a fruit platter, throw their pastries on a plate and have second breakfast! 

But it is dinner when I love to shine. When everyone pitches in and helps out, when there is food strewn from one end of the kitchen to another. I am really lucky, my husband to be loves to cook and he really took over this year. I told him what I wanted and he made it happen. Our menu this year consisted of; 

• Bourbon Glazed Leg of Ham
• Tempura Battered Soft Shell Crab 
• Prawns, grilled and tempura battered
• Sticky Scallops 
• Lobster tails, grilled 
• Roast Turkey with forcemeat stuffing and cranberry butter 
• Trio of Patte with crackers and cheese selection 
• Prawn Cocktail 
• Selection of Breads 
• Pimms Cup 
• Pomegranate Champaign 

~ Bourbon Glazed Ham ~ 

7kg Leg of Ham 

Whole Cloves to decorate

1C Firmly packed brown sugar 

1/4 C Bourbon

1C Water 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees 
2. Cut through the rind of the ham about 10cm from the end of the leg – remove the rind (I find the best way to do this is to run your thumb around the edge of the rind just under the skin and start pulling it away) 
3. Score the fat in a diagonal pattern cutting lightly through the fat only, don’t cut into the meat 
4. combine the sugar and bourbon in a small bowl 
5. pour the water into a large baking dish and place the ham on an piled wire rack in the dish. Brush the ham all over 1/3 of the bourbon glaze 
6. Roast uncovered for 1 1/4 hours or until brown all over, basting frequently throughout. 
7. Cover the ham loosely with foil and stand for at least 15 minutes before slicing. 

We made ours on Christmas eve, thinking a hot turkey would be enough on Christmas day, this fed 6 of us and we still have so much left over, it’s worth the effort it melts in your mouth and has the most divine taste. It almost didn’t make it to the table Christmas day!! 

The Turkey didn’t end up having a photo taken, but was incredible, we used Jamie Oliver’s recipe which can be found here . . . 

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/jamie-oliver/the-best-turkey-in-the-world-recipe

~ Pimms Cup ~ 

1x Bottle of Pimms #1 

2x Bottles of Lemonade 

Fresh Fruit (we used oranges, cucumber and strawberries)

Mint

1. Combine all ingredients above and serve. 

So simple but this had the perfect summer Christmas hit. It was light, fruity and festive. 

I will post a photo of the pomegranate champaign to my Instagram and Facebook page but that too was simple and effective, 1 bottle of champaign, half a pomegranate and some mint leaves, combine and serve! Everyone was impressed by these simple drinks and asking for the recipes, easy as 1 2 3! 

The seafood tower, Hardly any left overs from this! The crab was to die for. Melt in your mouth perfect. Hubby just made a standard tempura batter (using Panko crumbs) and deep fried them, simple and effective. The prawns had been tossed on the BBQ and there were some simple dipping sauces for those who wanted some flavour. The scallops were also cooked on the BBQ with some Pancetta so so so yum! 

The garlic bread was for MOO – all he asked for with his Christmas meal – bless him. 

 

 

 

To us Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year. A time for laughter, forgiveness and family – a time to be merry and eat tip your hearts content! From my family to yours I hope you had a very merry christmas and wishing you all a fabulous new year.