When I hear the word “Christmas“, the very first image that pops into my head is a large table absolutely packed with delicious platters of food.
Of course, I also think of gorgeously decorated trees, beautifully wrapped presents, colourful lights, red and green hanging door wreaths… oh, and of course *ahem* going to church to celebrate the birth of Christ.
But the absolute first thought, the one at the very front of my mind, is a food one. Whilst this may not be the same for every single other person who celebrates Christmas, I’m sure it is for lots and lots.
It should be noted, however, that the platters of food sitting on top of that table vary quite drastically from family to family. From country to country. From climate to climate.
In my family, no matter whether it’s just the 8 of us celebrating (i.e only the immediate adult family members) or an extended crowd of 40 or more, we ALWAYS must have the same 3 core things: honey glazed ham, roast pork and roast turkey stuffed with pine nuts and cranberries.
Of course we do smaller portions (kind of) if there are fewer people, but without question, we ALWAYS have those 3 meats on the table. We never have seafood and we never have roasted vegetables as an accompaniment.
As far as side dishes go, it is our custom to not repeat the same thing each year but rather to be “inventive and modern” drawing inspiration from the year in question’s popular chefs and trending produce. It might be Jamie Oliver’s latest green salad with a twist or perhaps something Magige Beer has pulled out on the most recent season of Masterchef – whatever the case, the “sides” are where we display our creativity and non-traditional Christmas flair.
And for dessert? We’re back to tradition and thus it’s always the same 2 things; Yaya’s 10 layer Trifle and Aunty Helen’s insanely delicious Christmas pudding, served with custard and brandy butter. Yummmmmmm!
Fennel apple salad
I’ll never forget early December 2005. As we were working out who was going to make what for the 25th, Mum suggested that, “maybe we don’t need the Turkey this year?” Everyone in the room turned white and started shaking. I think my sister may have even fainted. Mum never mentioned that idea again. And the year my Aunt suggested “Seafood instead of meat?” the silence in our always deafeningly loud Greek / Lebanese household answered that question for her.
And so back we reverted to the comfort of our ham/pork/turkey/trifle/pudding and creative sides winning combo!
In addition to the types of food that are on ‘that table’, the time of day when people have their main Christmas meal also varies. For my family, it’s always been lunch. There’s something about lunch that just works for us. The internal buzz from the anticipation for the hours before, the practice of skipping / eating a tiny breakfast, the saving up of all of our Santa stocking chocolates until we arrive at the lunch thrower’s house, it’s all part of the fun!
We always start our lunch with your classic ’80s party hors d’oeuvres – lots of cheese, nuts and dips. Then the table is loaded with enough food to feed 30,000 humans, and each person goes on to eat until they feel unwell (why!? I mean EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR we all make the same mistake!).
After lunch everyone, young and old, lies down – if not for a sleep, just to rest before dessert is served. At about 5pm the savoury foods on the table have been replaced by sweet ones and the guzzling continues. As delicious as the desserts are, there’s something very “once a year” about them; the thought of eating them at any other time of the year just doesn’t feel right to me. But that’s a whole other post!
Phoodie’s pork
Even though it’s lunch for us, I know that it’s not for many other families. I know a family who do breakfast instead. For them it’s all about the pancakes. “Christmas Pancakes?!” you ask. Yup! Pancakes! They make up batches and batches of pancake batter and then have bowls of Christmas pancake “mix-ins” such as cranberries, sultanas, and coconut and they go for it. Whisking and pan-frying until they can flip no more! It goes down a treat with the kids!
Another family I know do Christmas Eve dinner, and to them Christmas Day is just leftovers and recovery (for us, that’s Boxing Day). One of my very oldest friend’s family does Christmas Night dinner. So nothing on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but they save it all up for the night of Christmas (by which point I am comatose on a couch somewhere, possibly with custard and pudding crumbs still gathered around my chin. Gross.)
The final Christmas food tradition in my family is the passing around – at about 6pm on Christmas evening – of a large (and I mean over 1 foot tall) glass vase filled with all of our favourite fun-sized chocolates.
I have always been a believer that everyone has 3 separate stomachs. One for mains, one for dessert and one specifically for chocolate. It’s amazing how chocolate can always, ALWAYS, somehow be squeezed in even when you think that you can no longer BREATHE due to fullness.
Wishing everybody a very safe and Merry Christmas, a happy holiday period and a fantastic and fabulously food-filled 2013!
Phoodie's Christmas ham
Phoodie worked for several years as a designer before having the courage to throw caution to the wind and run, very, very fast to the Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in London. She is a cookbook, restaurant, and all round food obsessed blogger and Mum of 2. She can be found posting recipes here, Tweeting here, or on Facebook here
What will you be eating for Christmas? Do you have the same thing every year or do you shake it up? If you don’t celebrate Christmas do you find that you are surrounded by Christmas foods everywhere you turn? Do you get sucked in?
at my house it is usually all about the sweets…. everything else is a filler!
it tarts on Christmas eve at the family friend house where we start with cheese and crackers, chip and chocolate with cocktails, moving onto a BBQ and multiple salads and more cocktails and maybe wine, then various short bread gingerbread white Christmas ect and a cheese cake and some baileys
Christmas day changes from year to year but this year we are headed to one side of the families for brunch, eggs Benedict with champaign and OJ
then off to the boy friends house for a light lunch and then more shortbread/gingerbread before heading back home where the other side of the family are for the big feast of seafood (prawns squid and soft shell crab) ham and chicken, with various salads, yummy grainy or olive bread (adriano zumbo) followed up by pavlova, chocolate tart and more shortbread!!!
I dont know how I fit it all in but I sure will!
This year I will be hosting my whole immediate family for the very first time! Only 11 of us, but still a big deal since for the rest of the year it’s just me and the dog…
Entree will be prawns with dipping sauces that everyone will peel at the table themselves, main is turkey (cooked for me by the local chicken shop!), ham, potato bake, roast carrots and pumpkin, steamed greens with a mustard sauce and Phoodie’s chickpea, quinoa and goat’s cheese salad Dessert will be Christmas pudding, which is always made by my SIL with the usual accompaniments. My mum will also be bringing all the traditional biscuits she only makes at Christmas including shortbead, raspberry shortbread creams and honey biscuits!!
AWESOME!!!! Hope you enjoy it – that’s one of my ABSOLUTE favourites!
I’m making a very special new Phoodie salad this year…. top secret but will post the recipe on the blog shortly! If you like that Chickpea one you should like this new one too!
It’s been great reading about everyone’s christmas feast, so much effort! Please, please try & buy free range turkeys, pork, chicken etc. Cutting back a bit on the christmas gifts & spending a bit more on free range produce means that these animals will have at least had a tolerable life before ending up on your table.
Christmas Day lunch this year is at my inlaws house 2 sts away. Very nice of them to host this year as I can’t be bothered cleaning the house this year after the birth of my little one 9 months ago. I’m bringing a small ham (glazing myself) & turkey (some sort of macadamia & apricot stuffing) – big enough for 8 people & Xmas pudding, brandy butter & mince pies (present from a client of my husbands work so dessert sorted). My MIL is not a great cook at all & makes no effort really, it’s just another lunch for her. She is doing a couple of things & other family members are bringing 2 salads. Hence someone like me needs to make an effort & spend money. My BIL & his wife are catching a bus up to Sydney so they can’t be bothered of course. The most important thing is my little one is around family for her 1st Xmas.
I have been pressured into hosting this year’s family xmas lunch. I had originally planned to do it, but then I was rostered on to work 7 days straight ending at midnight on the 24th so decided against it. But no – the extended family decided it was my turn and that was that. So….while tempted to order 10 pizzas and a carton of beer, I have now planned for 2 enormous hand stuffed roast chickens cooked the night before (i.e 1am after work) , one massive ham, a huge bowl of peeled salted fresh ocean prawns, a garden salad with roasted pumpkin, fetta, red onion and walnuts; a chorizo and potato salad with homemade light dressing and herbs. Dessert will be xmas pudding with cream and custard; miniature tarts with caramel or lemon filling (I pass them off as my own but they really come from The Welsh Lady in Brisbane – dont tell my guests!), and a platter of fresh berries. So I will slave away through the night, and then my in-laws will complain that it’s not a traditional hot xmas lunch (they from UK), and I will feel sorry for myself and drink lots of wine. The end.
I am Ukrainian and we(my family with hubbies family) celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January(like Russians, Serbians, and many more Eastern European nations).
For us Christmas starts on Christmas Eve with a traditional vegetarian meal that has 12 dishes(religious background). Amongst others there is a beetroot soup, bean soup, potato stuffed dumplings, fish and the most important is cooked wheat with honey, poppy seeds and nuts.
As for Christmas day it’s usually lunch for us(depending at whose place) and it’s often also about 3 different meats, potatoes, salads, veggies, soup for starters and several desserts(also depending who is cooking, we divide the work load amongst us), and of course the rice and mince meat stuffed cabbage rolls.
Gosh I’m drooling already…
We’re having an early celebration with just the four of us, before heading to my parent’s house for the 25th. For just us, we’re having ‘Make Your own Sushi’ for the kids (and adults), steaks from the expensive butcher for the adults, gai lan with butter and salt, and like Phoodie, we’re also having trifle for dessert (I was feeling nostaligic).
This year I’m also cooking for my parents, as my Mum recently had heart surgery, my Dad also had surgery, and neither are really up for cooking a big meal. Problem is my Mum can’t eat any green leafy vegetables because of the medicine she is on, whch means no herbs, which totally throws a spanner in the works of the types of food I usually cook… anyway, I have decided on: Smoked salmon crepe cakes, plates of cold meats & fish, prawns in raincoats (filo pastry), roast beef, roast vegies, chick pea salad, green salad, and ice cream/chocolate/cherries for dessert.
I am actually quite looking forward to keeping busy most of the day, away from the usual chit chat and the job of preventing my kids from breaking things in Pa and Grandma’s house.
We WERE going to have spit-roast suckling pig alongside the traditional turkey, but it seems butchers don’t sell genuine suckling (5-8kg) piglets anymore, only the slightly older, bigger, and more expensive 10-12kg range. Alas. Onto plan B, also known as our late Christmas lunch special:
Breakfast, at about 10am, required before present opening:
Toast
Vegemite
Piper-Hedsieck
Maaaaybe some bacon and eggs
Sliced ham
Lunch, generally around 2pm, though it has been as late as 4:
Small plate of salmon gravlax
2 small turkeys
Sliced ham
Assortment of roasted vegetables
Big slab of my grandmother’s traditional spanakopita (made with REALLY GOOD feta, which actually is Bulgarian, shhh don’t tell the Greeks)
Whatever other veggies we can fit in the oven
Usually we will add to this a slab of roast pork, but this year (in place of the lamented suckling pig) we’re doing roast lamb on our spit. Yep.
When is the best time to do your fresh fruit and veggie shopping? Sunday to avoid the crowds or Monday for the freshest stuff. Or is it going to be the same veggies in the shop on Monday as Sunday so it doesn’t matter.
Each store is different, some get fresh stuff on the Monday and some don’t. If you have a lot on your plate (pardon the pun) then buying your stuff on Sunday is DEFINITELY fine…. that’s when i will be getting mine!
For my side of the family (which is having Christmas Day at my place this year), it means 30 people staying over for a couple of days. There are so many (13!) fridges that I’m surprised the stupid meter hasn’t melted. Everybody will arrive between Sunday afternoon and Monday night, and leave sometime between Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Food will be: cheeses, preserved meats and seafood for starters (all hubby’s domain); several charcoal spit roasts (also hubby’s problem), baked spuds (with trimmings), salads, cold ham, and whatever else I come up with for mains; then plum pudding and/or mudcake for desserts. Then tea/coffee, liqueurs, whiskies, and fruit to finish us off for the day.
Then cleaning up the leftovers, which never seem to last long….
It’s always been chocolate and ham for breakfast for us since I was little, even though I’ve been moved out for a few years, I still do it! It’s lunch at my house this year, and we’re doing a lamb leg spit, two pork roasts and a big turkey. Then for sides its salads, roast vegies, brussel sprouts and prosciutto, cauliflower and cheese, scalloped potatoes, quiche and more! I’m making a cheesecake and people are bringing stuff for dessert. Theres only eight of us but we all eat a lot!
Last year I wanted to do something different but I knew people would freak out if we didn’t do the traditional stuff, so we went traditional for entree and crab linguine for main. I did little tasting plates served on a tile with tiny roast potatoes, stuffed turkey breast slices, broad beans with goats curd, a pea and prosciutto puree and grissini. Went down a treat!
I’d never roasted a potato before in my life until a couple of months ago… followed this method and they turned out amazing! It’s all about the shake, shake, shake!
I always boil or microwave the potatos before putting them in the oven, they way they cook perfectly and the oven is more for making them deliciously crispy. olive oil and sea salt also help crisp them up
On Jamie Oliver’s Christmas special last night he did the most amazing, delicious looking roast potatoes. See if you can download his app or go online – I’m sure you should find it somewhere. He did three variations – some covered in olive oil, some in butter and some in goose fat.
Parboil your potatoes before cooking them in the oven and you should get the desired result. It’s also nice to ‘scuff’ the edges of the potatoes with a fork after draining them (from the boiling water) as you get the nice extra crispy bits on the outside.
I like stuffing with dried apricots, bacon and sage personally!
The Jamie Oliver potatoes are To Die For. I’ve made them the last two Christmasses and will again this year. I do the sage and orange version for Christmas. My biggest hint is to read the recipe all the way through to make sure you’ve got the timings right. http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/perfect-roast-potatoes
For years we have been getting a pre-rolled and stuffed turkey, but the prices of them have gotten ridiculous so it’s a proper bird for the first time in years. Not sure about the outside, but the stuffing will entail minced pork, macadamias and cranberries. The rest will be on a whim as I make it. The ham will have a glaze from some melon jam I got from the local CWA stall – not nice to eat, but makes a great glaze
Salad from the WW Xmas book – spinach, grilled asparagus, pears and haloumi
We also have a big spread at the in-laws that I do Nigellas choc cherry trifle for. In the chocolate custard I use flavoured Lindt chocolate for some extra flavour; this year it’s the strawberry intense.
Cheese and crackers, dips, pretzels, homemade gingerbread, Haighs truffles, shortbread, meringue from the egg whites left over from the custard which may be a pavlova, meringue nests or eton mess depending on my mood. Or all three, eight whites makes a lot of meringue. If I am in the mood on Sunday I might add chocolate cinnamon buns to the mix… (Desserts are my forte)
I celebrate with my husbands family ( mine is in the US). It’s a huge Lebanese BBQ for nearly 50 people. Kofta, lamb and chicken skewers, chicken pieces, prawns, veggie kebabs, tabouli, seafood salad, Caesar salad, hummos, aioli, oven potatoes. The dessert table is astounding. I couldn’t even begin to list everything. I always make Kahlua brownies as they are my specialty. With the brownies, I make a dessert platter with choc dipped apricots, rocky road and some Christmas chocolates. It’s year I may make some reindeer cookies that I saw on ivillage. On Christmas Eve, it’s my immediate family and I make a “fancy” dinner using our best china. Then we watch a Christmas movie with the kids. I love the spirit of Christmas.
We’ve had the Christmas food/home magazines lying around for about 6 weeks, and with regular reviewing, I’m going with the things that keep jumping out at me. Christmas Eve is my lookout – Goat Cheese and Red Onion Tarts, Chilli Salt Prawns, Sesame Pork and Veal Meatballs, the mandatory ham, a few salads (one of which must be my favourite rocket, parmesan and pine nut concoction), and, the thing I am waiting most for – Mango Shortcake. Then I get to relax on Christmas Day when my mother and daughter look after the main event. Yum!
We don’t really have a traditional meal anymore as each year we’re at a different family members’ house & just bring/cook what we’re asked to but I’m trying to create little traditions each year – I’ve been making shortbread with passionfruit icing each year for the last few years, this year I’m going to dip half of them in dark choc to keep some of the kids away haha! I recently discovered a savoury biscuit recipe with cheese & beer in it which is now being added to the list of must haves for christmas.
Since we’ll be home this year we’re going to have a huge brekkie: croissants, bacon, eggs, haloumi, mushrooms, tomato…. mmmm! This has to keep us going till we get to Pa’s in the afternoon where we’ll be having nibblies, salads, rolls, seafood etc then once we get the kids back home to bed Hubby & I will be cracking Champers & cheese, pretzels, mixed nuts etc – so it’s all nicely spread throughout the day. I usually get given some form of chocolate that gets eaten along the way, there’d better be chocolate!!! Oh, and I’ve always got to drink apple cider!
We all go to my mother-in-laws place (my parents included) and have the same delicious spread. We all bring something and it is a feast that we always love and look forward to.
Roast turkey, roasted eye fillet beef, roast pork.
Scalloped potatoes, roast vegetable frittata, tossed salad, egg and avocado salad and a mango salad.
My mother in law makes gran’s Christmas pudding now that gran has passed and we have it with ice cream.
Then after we are stuffed to the brim and it is getting late in the afternoon (about 6pm) we all pack the leftovers and the wine and head around the corner to my house so the kids can put their pj’s on and play with their toys and we can continue eating and drinking into the night and the kids can go to bed. All the family members who couldn’t make it to lunch because of seeing other family drop in at some stage and join the fun.
This last bit has become a new tradition in the last 2 years and we all look forward to it. I love Christmas Day!
We usually do the same thing for Christmas every year for the past 5 or so years. When we were younger we would do Christmas at our grandparents place or an orphan’s Christmas in our small town.
But I am a stickler for tradition and very rarely welcome change to our Christmas menu. Every year we sit down as a family to discuss Christmas lunch. I don’t know why as it very rarely changes. And if there is variation, it is usually an addition to what we normally have so as to not upset anyone (ie ME, lol)
Breakfast has always been savoury pastries for us and pancakes for mum as she has food intolerances.
Nibbles: a variety of cheeses, cherries, shortbread, etc.
Lunch: We usually stick to a ham, pork and small turkey roast. This year I am taking more control with the cooking and am making a Blackberry and Balsamic Glazed Ham (from the Coles website) and a pineapple glazed pork – we HAVE to have this pork. I LOVE it and was so insistent on continuing to have it that I have made it for the last two years. I love it most as cold left-overs. Dad is making a fancy roast chicken this year. He really wanted to do a Maggie Beer goose recipe, but we couldn’t source a goose… He is also making a vegetarian ‘roast’ for my sister. For sides we are pretty easily impressed with Woolies potato and pasta salads.
Dessert is ALWAYS a trifle. My mum makes the best trifle. One year she made a tiramisu instead and we were gutted and it did not get devoured like her trifle usually does.
We do all our cooking on Christmas Eve and have a cold lunch on Christmas day to make the day more easy going, plus in this weather, a cold lunch is very welcome!
I need help!! I am wondering if anyone can suggest a relatively simple yet creative side dish or dessert that is easy to travel (30mins) with….
I am going to my boyfriend’s family lunch this year and I want to bring a special dish (preferably a dessert) to share and make a great impression I am no master chef and I don’t want to spend too much on crazy weird ingredients.. but I do want to try something new and delicious!!
Any suggestions on what others have found works for them would be much appreciated
Can’t go past a pav! 6 egg whites, 1 cup of caster sugar, stir in a tablespoon of cornflour and 1 teaspoon of vinegar at the end and bake in a slow (100c) oven for an hour and half. Turn oven off and let cool. Take the berries and cream and assemble it when ready.
We’re going to a Xmas lunch on Monday at a friend’s. We’re bringing all the food, only 5 people + 5 kids so shouldn’t be too hard.
Hubby is doing main so I’m not sure yet what is planned (awesome cook)
I am doing a traditional “buche de Noel” (I am French and so are our friends) except it won’t be frozen (e.g. ice cream) as it has to travel. So I’m using genoise (French version of sponge) and I will then roll it up into a log with some sort of flavoured cream/fruit. Then covered in chocolate and decorated with icing and things.
Also doing a raspberry jelly for the kids and thinking about this recipe I saw on Maeve Omara’s program the other day…pistachio and orange syrup semolina cakes (yummmmmm)
For anyone cooking turkey I can highly recommend a dry brine. There are plenty of instructions online but at its simplest, take 1- 2 tablespoons of salt and rub it all over your turkey, then cover in the fridge for two days. On Christmas Eve uncover it and let the skin dry out a bit before cooking. It results in an amazing tasting turkey that is seasoned all the way through the meat (the salt draws the moisture out of the bird, mixes with the salt and then is drawn back in to the meat). I did it for the first time last year and will never cook a turkey another way again!
This almost sounds like our christmas lunch. Roast turkey breast, chicken and this year twice cooked pork belly (my personal favourite). With potatoes of some sort and other vegtables. Then I think there is two desserts. That’s all for lunch and for 9 people including children in the count. Then dinner is “light” we have the seafood then. I will not be having breakfast christmas day. Need room for all the great we share as a family. Everyone brings something to help. That way I am not doing all the cooking myself.
We’re having 38 people! I offered to do dessert – fingers crossed people will still be eating!
Starter: cheeses and antipasto
Entree: prawns, tuna, salmon and kingfish sashimi, bbqed snapper
Main: turkey, ham, chicken and about a million sides
Dessert: fruit with cream and ice cream, christmas pudding with brandy custard, Frangelico chocolate cream roll, individual Eton mess, layered jelly and lollies for the kiddies and raspberry cheesecake brownies.
I have ten people coming as most of the family lives interstate. So I’m doing-
Cinnamon rolls for breakfast with drizzly buttery maple and coffee icing.
Ham with maple, ginger and orange glaze.
Tukey with sage and onion stuffing.
Potato salad.
Crunchy roast potatoes.
Quinoa and roast pumpkin salad.
Green salad.
Roast vegetables.
Potato and leek roulade with stuffing (vego option for ME)
then for pudding:
Christmas slices my great aunt makes (rum balls, white christmas, mars bar slice, mince pies etc.)
Plum pudding
Lemon tart
Red berry fruit salad
belgian chocolates and coffee.
We normally have a ham and some other roast meat, but the only thing I care about is Mum’s trifle. It has to happen every year, otherwise I may have a meltdown. I only get it on Xmas and my birthday (yes, it’s my birthday request every year) and I eat it for breakfast the next day also. Yum!
There are no words to describe how f*cking gutted I am that we’re GOING OUT FOR CHRISTMAS LUNCH this year. No home style turkey. No family recipe stuffing. No special roast potatoes. No croissants and berries for breakfast. I have been looking forward to this Christmas since last Christmas when we went to someone’s house and I had to eat their overdone turkey and store bought stuffing. Seeing the look of abject horror on my face, my Mum reassured me that next Christmas (the one that is happening in four days’ time) would be much better and that she’d do the turkey and the stuffing and the potatoes. And now we’re going to some bloody hotel for Christmas lunch. Not happy, Jan.
Oh, and when I was informed as to what we’re doing this year I offered to cook the entire meal solo. Seafood, turkey, potatoes, stuffing, sides, salads. Offer was declined. No one is getting a present this year, I’m bloody well keeping the lot of them (not really, but it is f*cking tempting).
We’re going out too. Like you, when I heard, I offered to do it at our place but the offer was refused… I’m sure the meal will be fine but there’s something about going out on Christmas day that makes me a little sad
My mum used to cook on Christmas Day year in and year out. She was a great cook and I thought she loved it. We never appreciated how much work went into preparing Christmas Day lunch and dinner. One year, she suggested we go out for lunch instead. We agreed but for us it just wasnt the same, but for her it was wonderful. To be free of the burden of shopping and cooking and just to be able to sit in restaurant and relax was a christmas gift in itself.
We are pretty traditional with our Christmas lunch – roast chicken, veggies, ham. Last year we added coconut prawns to the menu – so good – and for dessert, my brother in law does a killer cheesecake.
As my parents have the cooking under control I like to focus on the drinks…this year I’ve decided that we’ll be enjoying a Honey Bourbon Old Fashioned or three…delicious! http://thegoogleyear.blogspot.com.au/
Has to be Gluten Free here! One of the things we love is Potato Salad made with Miracle Whip. Truly delicious – potato-y, creamy, eggy YUM! Got the recipe from a friend and everyone who has had it loves it.
the photo of your pork is positively drool-inducing! om nom nom.
i know some people think i’m crazy, but our family tradition has always been to cook a raw ham from scratch. we spend all morning cursing after heaving the bloody thing out of it’s 48 hour brine, and trying to ensconce it in a homemade dough crust for baking to keep it moist. but half a day later when it comes out of the oven, we peel back the skin and stud the ham with cloves, and cover with a topping of breadcrumbs, brown sugar and nutmeg. it is seriously the most delicious thing i have ever come across. people lament having to use leftover ham in recipes for the week after christmas, i lament watching it disappear! it is heaven.
we also make a frozen icecream pudding each year, which is the best way to go in the stinking hot weather. into softened vanilla icecream we put cherries and sultanas that have been kicking back in a cointreau bath for 2 weeks. line your tin with pannettone or jam roll [drizzle cake with booze if you feel the need - i sure do], then fill with icecream. top off with a layer of double thick cream that has chopped roasted almonds mixed through it. the best bit is that i can make it a week beforehand and just leave it chillaxing in the freezer. there will be much gym punishment as a result but it is worth every. decadent. bite.
 what you’re cooking for Christmas Day. on http://www.mamamia.com.au){kind=link}
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at my house it is usually all about the sweets…. everything else is a filler!
it tarts on Christmas eve at the family friend house where we start with cheese and crackers, chip and chocolate with cocktails, moving onto a BBQ and multiple salads and more cocktails and maybe wine, then various short bread gingerbread white Christmas ect and a cheese cake and some baileys
Christmas day changes from year to year but this year we are headed to one side of the families for brunch, eggs Benedict with champaign and OJ
then off to the boy friends house for a light lunch and then more shortbread/gingerbread before heading back home where the other side of the family are for the big feast of seafood (prawns squid and soft shell crab) ham and chicken, with various salads, yummy grainy or olive bread (adriano zumbo) followed up by pavlova, chocolate tart and more shortbread!!!
I dont know how I fit it all in but I sure will!
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It’s amazing how your stomach just does actually cope on Christmas! Have a great one!
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This year I will be hosting my whole immediate family for the very first time! Only 11 of us, but still a big deal since for the rest of the year it’s just me and the dog…
Dessert will be Christmas pudding, which is always made by my SIL with the usual accompaniments. My mum will also be bringing all the traditional biscuits she only makes at Christmas including shortbead, raspberry shortbread creams and honey biscuits!!
Entree will be prawns with dipping sauces that everyone will peel at the table themselves, main is turkey (cooked for me by the local chicken shop!), ham, potato bake, roast carrots and pumpkin, steamed greens with a mustard sauce and Phoodie’s chickpea, quinoa and goat’s cheese salad
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AWESOME!!!! Hope you enjoy it – that’s one of my ABSOLUTE favourites!
I’m making a very special new Phoodie salad this year…. top secret but will post the recipe on the blog shortly! If you like that Chickpea one you should like this new one too!
Merry Christmas!
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It’s been great reading about everyone’s christmas feast, so much effort! Please, please try & buy free range turkeys, pork, chicken etc. Cutting back a bit on the christmas gifts & spending a bit more on free range produce means that these animals will have at least had a tolerable life before ending up on your table.
Great post Phoodie, have a great Christmas!
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Great suggestion!
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And they taste better too!
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Christmas Day lunch this year is at my inlaws house 2 sts away. Very nice of them to host this year as I can’t be bothered cleaning the house this year after the birth of my little one 9 months ago. I’m bringing a small ham (glazing myself) & turkey (some sort of macadamia & apricot stuffing) – big enough for 8 people & Xmas pudding, brandy butter & mince pies (present from a client of my husbands work so dessert sorted). My MIL is not a great cook at all & makes no effort really, it’s just another lunch for her. She is doing a couple of things & other family members are bringing 2 salads. Hence someone like me needs to make an effort & spend money. My BIL & his wife are catching a bus up to Sydney so they can’t be bothered of course. The most important thing is my little one is around family for her 1st Xmas.
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That 1st xmas is so special. Hope it’s lovely for you all!
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I have been pressured into hosting this year’s family xmas lunch. I had originally planned to do it, but then I was rostered on to work 7 days straight ending at midnight on the 24th so decided against it. But no – the extended family decided it was my turn and that was that. So….while tempted to order 10 pizzas and a carton of beer, I have now planned for 2 enormous hand stuffed roast chickens cooked the night before (i.e 1am after work) , one massive ham, a huge bowl of peeled salted fresh ocean prawns, a garden salad with roasted pumpkin, fetta, red onion and walnuts; a chorizo and potato salad with homemade light dressing and herbs. Dessert will be xmas pudding with cream and custard; miniature tarts with caramel or lemon filling (I pass them off as my own but they really come from The Welsh Lady in Brisbane – dont tell my guests!), and a platter of fresh berries. So I will slave away through the night, and then my in-laws will complain that it’s not a traditional hot xmas lunch (they from UK), and I will feel sorry for myself and drink lots of wine. The end.
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WOW!
That sounds like a HUGE amount of work…. and damn delicious too!! Can’t someone help you!? Someone SHOULD help you!
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I am Ukrainian and we(my family with hubbies family) celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January(like Russians, Serbians, and many more Eastern European nations).
For us Christmas starts on Christmas Eve with a traditional vegetarian meal that has 12 dishes(religious background). Amongst others there is a beetroot soup, bean soup, potato stuffed dumplings, fish and the most important is cooked wheat with honey, poppy seeds and nuts.
As for Christmas day it’s usually lunch for us(depending at whose place) and it’s often also about 3 different meats, potatoes, salads, veggies, soup for starters and several desserts(also depending who is cooking, we divide the work load amongst us), and of course the rice and mince meat stuffed cabbage rolls.
Gosh I’m drooling already…
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We also do rice/minced stuffed cabbage rolls… but not normally for Christmas, but what a good idea! Although I don’t think we need anymore food!
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We’re having an early celebration with just the four of us, before heading to my parent’s house for the 25th. For just us, we’re having ‘Make Your own Sushi’ for the kids (and adults), steaks from the expensive butcher for the adults, gai lan with butter and salt, and like Phoodie, we’re also having trifle for dessert (I was feeling nostaligic).
This year I’m also cooking for my parents, as my Mum recently had heart surgery, my Dad also had surgery, and neither are really up for cooking a big meal. Problem is my Mum can’t eat any green leafy vegetables because of the medicine she is on, whch means no herbs, which totally throws a spanner in the works of the types of food I usually cook… anyway, I have decided on: Smoked salmon crepe cakes, plates of cold meats & fish, prawns in raincoats (filo pastry), roast beef, roast vegies, chick pea salad, green salad, and ice cream/chocolate/cherries for dessert.
I am actually quite looking forward to keeping busy most of the day, away from the usual chit chat and the job of preventing my kids from breaking things in Pa and Grandma’s house.
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Could you please share the apple and fennel recipe? What herb have you used in it? Looks delish
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Sure!
It’s this (but instead of cabbage add an extra bulb of fennel)….. Also add half a bunch of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped.
http://phoodie.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/phoodies-green-salad/
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We WERE going to have spit-roast suckling pig alongside the traditional turkey, but it seems butchers don’t sell genuine suckling (5-8kg) piglets anymore, only the slightly older, bigger, and more expensive 10-12kg range. Alas. Onto plan B, also known as our late Christmas lunch special:
Breakfast, at about 10am, required before present opening:
Toast
Vegemite
Piper-Hedsieck
Maaaaybe some bacon and eggs
Sliced ham
Lunch, generally around 2pm, though it has been as late as 4:
Small plate of salmon gravlax
2 small turkeys
Sliced ham
Assortment of roasted vegetables
Big slab of my grandmother’s traditional spanakopita (made with REALLY GOOD feta, which actually is Bulgarian, shhh don’t tell the Greeks)
Whatever other veggies we can fit in the oven
Usually we will add to this a slab of roast pork, but this year (in place of the lamented suckling pig) we’re doing roast lamb on our spit. Yep.
I’m drooling just thinking about it.
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Pleasingly I am cooking nothing. Just because I have a vagina does not automatically make me the cooker of Christmas lunches in my family.
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A little help needed please!
When is the best time to do your fresh fruit and veggie shopping? Sunday to avoid the crowds or Monday for the freshest stuff. Or is it going to be the same veggies in the shop on Monday as Sunday so it doesn’t matter.
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Each store is different, some get fresh stuff on the Monday and some don’t. If you have a lot on your plate (pardon the pun) then buying your stuff on Sunday is DEFINITELY fine…. that’s when i will be getting mine!
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Thanks for replying!
Sunday would definitely make things easier. I imagine shopping for food supplies on Monday is going to be a little crazy.
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Breakfast (Mrs FHB’s forte):
Giant Crepe Suzette Stack
Cinnabon Pecan Roll Crown
Fresh Berries
Salmon, Chive and Lemon Mini Quiches
Lunch (My Turn):
Chicken Thigh Roll with Rosemary, Pink Salt & Lemon Garlic
Corn with Homemade Butter and Parsley
Dutch Carrots
Slow Roasted Pumpkin in Pinenut Burnt Butter Sauce
Crispy Parmesan Garlic Potatoes
Apricot, Feta, Hazelnut Pork Sausage Stuffing
Fresh Homemade Bacon Bread
Jalepeno, Ham & Corn Potato Salad
Chipotle Southwest Chorizo, Cherry Tomato, Onion & Bacon Pasta Salad
Dessert (Little FHB’s & Dad)
Steamed Banana, Mango & Pineapple Pudding
Banana & Coconut Cream Custard
Caramasu Trifle – Salted Butter Toffee Sauce, Vanilla Bean Custard, Fresh Banana Slices, Caramel & Cinnamon Pound Cake, Chantilly Cream & Butterscotch Pudding Peaks
Cherry, Almond & Shortcake Ice Cream Bombe
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I’m officially gate crashing this event just for that Caramasu!
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ahhh-mazing!
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For my side of the family (which is having Christmas Day at my place this year), it means 30 people staying over for a couple of days. There are so many (13!) fridges that I’m surprised the stupid meter hasn’t melted. Everybody will arrive between Sunday afternoon and Monday night, and leave sometime between Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Food will be: cheeses, preserved meats and seafood for starters (all hubby’s domain); several charcoal spit roasts (also hubby’s problem), baked spuds (with trimmings), salads, cold ham, and whatever else I come up with for mains; then plum pudding and/or mudcake for desserts. Then tea/coffee, liqueurs, whiskies, and fruit to finish us off for the day.
Then cleaning up the leftovers, which never seem to last long….
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It’s always been chocolate and ham for breakfast for us since I was little, even though I’ve been moved out for a few years, I still do it! It’s lunch at my house this year, and we’re doing a lamb leg spit, two pork roasts and a big turkey. Then for sides its salads, roast vegies, brussel sprouts and prosciutto, cauliflower and cheese, scalloped potatoes, quiche and more! I’m making a cheesecake and people are bringing stuff for dessert. Theres only eight of us but we all eat a lot!
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We have chocolate and ham for breakfast too! I don’t know why, it just seemed to happen and then it became a tradition.
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Last year I wanted to do something different but I knew people would freak out if we didn’t do the traditional stuff, so we went traditional for entree and crab linguine for main. I did little tasting plates served on a tile with tiny roast potatoes, stuffed turkey breast slices, broad beans with goats curd, a pea and prosciutto puree and grissini. Went down a treat!
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I’m in charge of the roast chickens this year, and roast vegetables. Can anyone suggest to me
1. A stuffing recipe
2. How to get roast potatoes crispy on the outside an soft on the inside!
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I’d never roasted a potato before in my life until a couple of months ago… followed this method and they turned out amazing! It’s all about the shake, shake, shake!
http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/fruit-and-vegetables/how-to-roast-potatoes.html
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I always boil or microwave the potatos before putting them in the oven, they way they cook perfectly and the oven is more for making them deliciously crispy. olive oil and sea salt also help crisp them up
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On Jamie Oliver’s Christmas special last night he did the most amazing, delicious looking roast potatoes. See if you can download his app or go online – I’m sure you should find it somewhere. He did three variations – some covered in olive oil, some in butter and some in goose fat.
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Boil them first and then coat them in duck fat. The luvaduck brand has a recipe on the side
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Parboil your potatoes before cooking them in the oven and you should get the desired result. It’s also nice to ‘scuff’ the edges of the potatoes with a fork after draining them (from the boiling water) as you get the nice extra crispy bits on the outside.
I like stuffing with dried apricots, bacon and sage personally!
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The Jamie Oliver potatoes are To Die For. I’ve made them the last two Christmasses and will again this year. I do the sage and orange version for Christmas. My biggest hint is to read the recipe all the way through to make sure you’ve got the timings right. http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/perfect-roast-potatoes
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Oh thank you all for your suggestions!!! So helpful! Looks like a consistent method – parboil and scuff. Wish me luck!
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For years we have been getting a pre-rolled and stuffed turkey, but the prices of them have gotten ridiculous so it’s a proper bird for the first time in years. Not sure about the outside, but the stuffing will entail minced pork, macadamias and cranberries. The rest will be on a whim as I make it. The ham will have a glaze from some melon jam I got from the local CWA stall – not nice to eat, but makes a great glaze
Salad from the WW Xmas book – spinach, grilled asparagus, pears and haloumi
We also have a big spread at the in-laws that I do Nigellas choc cherry trifle for. In the chocolate custard I use flavoured Lindt chocolate for some extra flavour; this year it’s the strawberry intense.
Cheese and crackers, dips, pretzels, homemade gingerbread, Haighs truffles, shortbread, meringue from the egg whites left over from the custard which may be a pavlova, meringue nests or eton mess depending on my mood. Or all three, eight whites makes a lot of meringue. If I am in the mood on Sunday I might add chocolate cinnamon buns to the mix… (Desserts are my forte)
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I celebrate with my husbands family ( mine is in the US). It’s a huge Lebanese BBQ for nearly 50 people. Kofta, lamb and chicken skewers, chicken pieces, prawns, veggie kebabs, tabouli, seafood salad, Caesar salad, hummos, aioli, oven potatoes. The dessert table is astounding. I couldn’t even begin to list everything. I always make Kahlua brownies as they are my specialty. With the brownies, I make a dessert platter with choc dipped apricots, rocky road and some Christmas chocolates. It’s year I may make some reindeer cookies that I saw on ivillage. On Christmas Eve, it’s my immediate family and I make a “fancy” dinner using our best china. Then we watch a Christmas movie with the kids. I love the spirit of Christmas.
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I’m half Lebanese and this sounds PHENOMENAL!!!!
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We’ve had the Christmas food/home magazines lying around for about 6 weeks, and with regular reviewing, I’m going with the things that keep jumping out at me. Christmas Eve is my lookout – Goat Cheese and Red Onion Tarts, Chilli Salt Prawns, Sesame Pork and Veal Meatballs, the mandatory ham, a few salads (one of which must be my favourite rocket, parmesan and pine nut concoction), and, the thing I am waiting most for – Mango Shortcake. Then I get to relax on Christmas Day when my mother and daughter look after the main event. Yum!
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We don’t really have a traditional meal anymore as each year we’re at a different family members’ house & just bring/cook what we’re asked to but I’m trying to create little traditions each year – I’ve been making shortbread with passionfruit icing each year for the last few years, this year I’m going to dip half of them in dark choc to keep some of the kids away haha! I recently discovered a savoury biscuit recipe with cheese & beer in it which is now being added to the list of must haves for christmas.
Since we’ll be home this year we’re going to have a huge brekkie: croissants, bacon, eggs, haloumi, mushrooms, tomato…. mmmm! This has to keep us going till we get to Pa’s in the afternoon where we’ll be having nibblies, salads, rolls, seafood etc then once we get the kids back home to bed Hubby & I will be cracking Champers & cheese, pretzels, mixed nuts etc – so it’s all nicely spread throughout the day. I usually get given some form of chocolate that gets eaten along the way, there’d better be chocolate!!! Oh, and I’ve always got to drink apple cider!
Merry Christmas : )
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Sounds fabulous!
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After reading this I want Christmas lunch. And I want it NOW !!!
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We all go to my mother-in-laws place (my parents included) and have the same delicious spread. We all bring something and it is a feast that we always love and look forward to.
Roast turkey, roasted eye fillet beef, roast pork.
Scalloped potatoes, roast vegetable frittata, tossed salad, egg and avocado salad and a mango salad.
My mother in law makes gran’s Christmas pudding now that gran has passed and we have it with ice cream.
Then after we are stuffed to the brim and it is getting late in the afternoon (about 6pm) we all pack the leftovers and the wine and head around the corner to my house so the kids can put their pj’s on and play with their toys and we can continue eating and drinking into the night and the kids can go to bed. All the family members who couldn’t make it to lunch because of seeing other family drop in at some stage and join the fun.
This last bit has become a new tradition in the last 2 years and we all look forward to it. I love Christmas Day!
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I love the idea of part 2 of your Christmas day! Enjoy it!
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We usually do the same thing for Christmas every year for the past 5 or so years. When we were younger we would do Christmas at our grandparents place or an orphan’s Christmas in our small town.
But I am a stickler for tradition and very rarely welcome change to our Christmas menu. Every year we sit down as a family to discuss Christmas lunch. I don’t know why as it very rarely changes. And if there is variation, it is usually an addition to what we normally have so as to not upset anyone (ie ME, lol)
Breakfast has always been savoury pastries for us and pancakes for mum as she has food intolerances.
Nibbles: a variety of cheeses, cherries, shortbread, etc.
Lunch: We usually stick to a ham, pork and small turkey roast. This year I am taking more control with the cooking and am making a Blackberry and Balsamic Glazed Ham (from the Coles website) and a pineapple glazed pork – we HAVE to have this pork. I LOVE it and was so insistent on continuing to have it that I have made it for the last two years. I love it most as cold left-overs. Dad is making a fancy roast chicken this year. He really wanted to do a Maggie Beer goose recipe, but we couldn’t source a goose… He is also making a vegetarian ‘roast’ for my sister. For sides we are pretty easily impressed with Woolies potato and pasta salads.
Dessert is ALWAYS a trifle. My mum makes the best trifle. One year she made a tiramisu instead and we were gutted and it did not get devoured like her trifle usually does.
We do all our cooking on Christmas Eve and have a cold lunch on Christmas day to make the day more easy going, plus in this weather, a cold lunch is very welcome!
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Very clever doing all the work the day before….. you still get to eat all the same delicious foods, just at a different temperature!
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I need help!! I am wondering if anyone can suggest a relatively simple yet creative side dish or dessert that is easy to travel (30mins) with….
I am going to my boyfriend’s family lunch this year and I want to bring a special dish (preferably a dessert) to share and make a great impression
I am no master chef and I don’t want to spend too much on crazy weird ingredients.. but I do want to try something new and delicious!!
Any suggestions on what others have found works for them would be much appreciated
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Anna Gare’s Macadamia and Pear tart is reasonably easy and great to eat. Should travel well too. I’ve found you can use less sugar and butter in the base and it still works fine. Be warned though, it is very sweet.
http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/1717/honeyed-pear-and-macadamia-tart
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I have an easy brownie recipe that is topped with raspberries, can be made in advance. I’ll share the recipe if youre interested?
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Yes please! That would be great, my. Boyfriend LOVES brownies!
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Hi Stacey!
I have quite a few recipes on my site that would suit you….
My choc candy cane tarts are cute….. (maybe make day before and keep in fridge until you leave)
http://phoodie.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/phoodies-candy-cane-chocolate-tarts/
This honey cake is DELICIOUS and quite festive due to the spices!
http://phoodie.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/honey-cake-for-rosh-hashanah/
My sister’s Choc/Date/Almond cake also travels VERY well and is loved by everyone!
http://phoodie.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/touls-chocolate-date-and-almond-cake-revised-and-improved/
There’s heaps more on the site too!
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Can’t go past a pav! 6 egg whites, 1 cup of caster sugar, stir in a tablespoon of cornflour and 1 teaspoon of vinegar at the end and bake in a slow (100c) oven for an hour and half. Turn oven off and let cool. Take the berries and cream and assemble it when ready.
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We’re going to a Xmas lunch on Monday at a friend’s. We’re bringing all the food, only 5 people + 5 kids so shouldn’t be too hard.
Hubby is doing main so I’m not sure yet what is planned (awesome cook)
I am doing a traditional “buche de Noel” (I am French and so are our friends) except it won’t be frozen (e.g. ice cream) as it has to travel. So I’m using genoise (French version of sponge) and I will then roll it up into a log with some sort of flavoured cream/fruit. Then covered in chocolate and decorated with icing and things.
Also doing a raspberry jelly for the kids and thinking about this recipe I saw on Maeve Omara’s program the other day…pistachio and orange syrup semolina cakes (yummmmmm)
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We are having a quiet Christmas, just my husband and I and two daughters down at the beach, because everyone else is overseas!
But, never one to pass up an opportunity to eat delicious foods, there will certainly be:
Thai cucumber and macadamia salad
Prawns with lime on the bbq
Flattie tails on the bbq
Coconut rice
Crunchy roast potatoes
Drunken strawberries (I will get them drunk in heady mix of pureed strawberries, red currant jelly and Cointreau the night before)
Vanilla ice cream
Domaine Chandon Cuvee Riche bubbles to drink – my absolute fave sparkling wine – even more delicious than the fancy French labels.
Not remotely ‘Christmassy’ and not dissimilar to a many other bbq’s we have but the drunken strawbs and bubbles to drink will make it special
Happy eating everyone!
x
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For anyone cooking turkey I can highly recommend a dry brine. There are plenty of instructions online but at its simplest, take 1- 2 tablespoons of salt and rub it all over your turkey, then cover in the fridge for two days. On Christmas Eve uncover it and let the skin dry out a bit before cooking. It results in an amazing tasting turkey that is seasoned all the way through the meat (the salt draws the moisture out of the bird, mixes with the salt and then is drawn back in to the meat). I did it for the first time last year and will never cook a turkey another way again!
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this year i am doing christmas, as i have for the last 3. but thats ok because everyone comes over and looks after the kids
breakfast – crossaints and fruit platter. daughter will probably want pancakes but will save them for boxing day
nibbles – chocolate covered almonds, rum balls, chocolate balls, cake pop xmas tree, nuts, pretzels, xmas m&ms, gingerbread house, gingerbread biscuits and traditional xmas fruit cake
lunch – ham, roast chicken, roast pork. crackling. cranberry stuffing balls. jamie oliver roast potatos. 3 x steamed veges. gravy. salads (friend is bringing those).
followed by – plum pudding, brandy custard, normal custard, brandy butter, brandy caramel sauce, rum and raisin ice cream, vanilla ice cream, jelly, fruit mince pies, cheesecake (same friend bringing cheesecake)
washed down with large amounts of Asti Riccadonna
yum yum yum
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Oh gosh this sounds phenomenal!! Yum yum yum is right! Hope you have a great day!
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This almost sounds like our christmas lunch. Roast turkey breast, chicken and this year twice cooked pork belly (my personal favourite). With potatoes of some sort and other vegtables. Then I think there is two desserts. That’s all for lunch and for 9 people including children in the count. Then dinner is “light” we have the seafood then. I will not be having breakfast christmas day. Need room for all the great we share as a family. Everyone brings something to help. That way I am not doing all the cooking myself.
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We all share the cooking load too – as much as I loveeee cooking on Christmas day its the only way!
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We’re having 38 people! I offered to do dessert – fingers crossed people will still be eating!
Starter: cheeses and antipasto
Entree: prawns, tuna, salmon and kingfish sashimi, bbqed snapper
Main: turkey, ham, chicken and about a million sides
Dessert: fruit with cream and ice cream, christmas pudding with brandy custard, Frangelico chocolate cream roll, individual Eton mess, layered jelly and lollies for the kiddies and raspberry cheesecake brownies.
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ok, I am officially jealous!
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I have ten people coming as most of the family lives interstate. So I’m doing-
Cinnamon rolls for breakfast with drizzly buttery maple and coffee icing.
Ham with maple, ginger and orange glaze.
Tukey with sage and onion stuffing.
Potato salad.
Crunchy roast potatoes.
Quinoa and roast pumpkin salad.
Green salad.
Roast vegetables.
Potato and leek roulade with stuffing (vego option for ME)
then for pudding:
Christmas slices my great aunt makes (rum balls, white christmas, mars bar slice, mince pies etc.)
Plum pudding
Lemon tart
Red berry fruit salad
belgian chocolates and coffee.
THEN WE ALL DIE OF OVEREATING.
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You’ve now got 11 people coming!
I’ll see you around 1pm!?
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More the merrier hon!
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12 people!!!
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13! Sounds amazing!
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…can I come.
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We are going to an overpriced restaurant for a pre-christmas lunch.
I would much rather come to your place.
That menu is divine.
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We normally have a ham and some other roast meat, but the only thing I care about is Mum’s trifle. It has to happen every year, otherwise I may have a meltdown. I only get it on Xmas and my birthday (yes, it’s my birthday request every year) and I eat it for breakfast the next day also. Yum!
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Same here. My mum made the best trifle.
A couple of years after she passed, Dad found her recipe and now he has started making the trifle for his friends.
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There are no words to describe how f*cking gutted I am that we’re GOING OUT FOR CHRISTMAS LUNCH this year. No home style turkey. No family recipe stuffing. No special roast potatoes. No croissants and berries for breakfast. I have been looking forward to this Christmas since last Christmas when we went to someone’s house and I had to eat their overdone turkey and store bought stuffing. Seeing the look of abject horror on my face, my Mum reassured me that next Christmas (the one that is happening in four days’ time) would be much better and that she’d do the turkey and the stuffing and the potatoes. And now we’re going to some bloody hotel for Christmas lunch. Not happy, Jan.
Oh, and when I was informed as to what we’re doing this year I offered to cook the entire meal solo. Seafood, turkey, potatoes, stuffing, sides, salads. Offer was declined. No one is getting a present this year, I’m bloody well keeping the lot of them (not really, but it is f*cking tempting).
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I would be equally devastated. ‘We’ll just go out for Christmas lunch instead’ used as a threat in our household.
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We’re going out too. Like you, when I heard, I offered to do it at our place but the offer was refused… I’m sure the meal will be fine but there’s something about going out on Christmas day that makes me a little sad
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My deepest sympathies.
That is LITERALLY my worst (Christmas food) nightmare.
Don’t worry – next year… next year…..
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Mine too! I couldn’t speak for a few minutes when Mum told me we were going out. Could. Not. Speak.
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I feel for you, I really do. We did that one year and it was the worst Christmas lunch / day I have ever experienced. Just no, never again.
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My mum used to cook on Christmas Day year in and year out. She was a great cook and I thought she loved it. We never appreciated how much work went into preparing Christmas Day lunch and dinner. One year, she suggested we go out for lunch instead. We agreed but for us it just wasnt the same, but for her it was wonderful. To be free of the burden of shopping and cooking and just to be able to sit in restaurant and relax was a christmas gift in itself.
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We are pretty traditional with our Christmas lunch – roast chicken, veggies, ham. Last year we added coconut prawns to the menu – so good – and for dessert, my brother in law does a killer cheesecake.
As my parents have the cooking under control I like to focus on the drinks…this year I’ve decided that we’ll be enjoying a Honey Bourbon Old Fashioned or three…delicious!
http://thegoogleyear.blogspot.com.au/
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Has to be Gluten Free here! One of the things we love is Potato Salad made with Miracle Whip. Truly delicious – potato-y, creamy, eggy YUM! Got the recipe from a friend and everyone who has had it loves it.
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Oh, you can’t just say that and not cough up the recipe
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the photo of your pork is positively drool-inducing! om nom nom.
i know some people think i’m crazy, but our family tradition has always been to cook a raw ham from scratch. we spend all morning cursing after heaving the bloody thing out of it’s 48 hour brine, and trying to ensconce it in a homemade dough crust for baking to keep it moist. but half a day later when it comes out of the oven, we peel back the skin and stud the ham with cloves, and cover with a topping of breadcrumbs, brown sugar and nutmeg. it is seriously the most delicious thing i have ever come across. people lament having to use leftover ham in recipes for the week after christmas, i lament watching it disappear! it is heaven.
we also make a frozen icecream pudding each year, which is the best way to go in the stinking hot weather. into softened vanilla icecream we put cherries and sultanas that have been kicking back in a cointreau bath for 2 weeks. line your tin with pannettone or jam roll [drizzle cake with booze if you feel the need - i sure do], then fill with icecream. top off with a layer of double thick cream that has chopped roasted almonds mixed through it. the best bit is that i can make it a week beforehand and just leave it chillaxing in the freezer. there will be much gym punishment as a result but it is worth every. decadent. bite.
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At least your ingredients get a relaxing few final days before their inevitable demise
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Your post is positively drool-inducing!
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