My Christmas

Take 16 people ranging in age from 6 months to 76 years, a new oven in a new kitchen, three dinner sets, 64 pieces of glassware, 6 bowls of muscatels and almonds, 12 gold bonbons, the traditional turkey, ham & pudding, a seafood entrée, my brother’s annual Christmas cocktail and an expert opinion coming from every corner and you have something very close to resembling my family Christmas 2008 style.

Ever since my brothers and I have had other halves to fit into Christmas plans, the year-on/year-off tradition started. In an “on” year (unless you have a really good excuse) Christmas Day will be spent with the immediate family and their various spouses, progeny and so on. In the “off” years the other halves get their go. This year was an “on” year and, at my mum’s insistence, we descended upon my old family home.

Over the years we have developed an eclectic assortment of traditions that make up our Christmas experience. And woe betide anyone who dares mess with tradition! With logistics and planning to rival the Battle of the Dardanelles, we have it covered. Mum – pudding, ham and turkey. Check. Aunts – vegies, brandy custard and bowl fillers (you know, the almonds, muscatels and choccies that you always swear to yourself you won’t eat before lunch but still do anyway). Check. Dad – wine, chosen to match each course. Check. Brother – Christmas cocktail (different each time, handed out on arrival to soften the senses and get things started). Check. Me – table centrepieces and entrée. Check.

I love my Christmas Day jobs. As with most things I do, they started off small and reasonably innocuous and have grown in complexity and challenge with every year. My fault. I admit it. I keep wanting to do something better and more interesting than the time before. This can be a challenge on the food front. Take this year, with 16 people covering such a widespread range of ages, you get your fair share of food foibles and favourites.

So how did I make it that little bit more challenging? By deciding that it would be remiss of me not to provide something to accompany (and line the stomach for) the Pisco Sours that my brother had promised he would be pouring freely.

Chilled Cucumber Shots

Still not convinced I had raised the bar high enough for myself I chose not one but two appetisers. Cucumber Soup Shots with Spicy Crab and Bite Size Quiches. It is hard not to feel like a fake when all that is needed to make said soup is putting everything in a blender and turning it on. But who am I to complain? So easy, and tasty, were the shots that they may make a reappearance for New Year’s Eve.

For the entrée, I was inspired by a recipe from Gourmet Traveller. It was a Beetroot Cured Salmon with a salad of kipfler potatoes, paper thin shaved fennel, capers and a luscious lemony garlic aioli. It was the colour that swayed me. The edges of the salmon were tinged that fabulous magenta that only beetroot can provide, whilst the middle retained the salmon pink colour we know and love. I had never cured my own salmon before, it was a first. But with the recent experience of curing sausages and meats under my belt (thanks to the Link Master I gave to my beloved, but that’s a whole other story) I felt ready to take it on. It was great. Easy to do and very well received on the day.

Beetroot Cured Salmon

A few pieces of advice should you attempt it;
Wear gloves and an apron, unless you want pink hands and clothes for about a week!
Use double the amount of cling wrap that is suggested, and make sure that the tray you put it on is not porous or a favourite.
Leave to cure for 24 hours if you can. The recipe says 8, but I think the extra time was good.
Also -the recipe says that it feeds 8, but I fed a hungry 12 and still had enough left over to ensure favourite niece status with the uncle who polished it off for lunch today.

We arrived at 11am full of festivity and drifted (some might say waddled) away at 6pm full of food. All involved executed their time honoured tasks with confidence and care, knowing that food tastes better when made and shared with love.

Time for a siesta now…

Jo x

Bite Size Quiche