#Christmas Day Menu and #Recipe Links

These are the recipes for our family Christmas favourites.

After years of rifling through handwritten notes and writing and rewriting lists of ingredients, I think I have finally recorded all the recipes on the blog.

This year our daughter Julia and her partner Ben will be recreating these recipes without us up in Townsville, while we will be making them with our Melbourne family. So whilst we will be apart, we will be united by the menu!

We brine the Turkey overnight so a new bucket is always on the shopping list we started doing this about 10 years ago and it really does make for a scrumptious, juicy Turkey.

Here’s the recipe for the Best Turkey is a Brined Turkey

I do need to still document the process of cooking the Turkey better which I will do this year, along with the gravy and potato salad recipes, but hopefully this will be a reference for us and you for the future. And I think a good Pavlova recipe is a much needed addition still required.

Anyway, hope you get some ideas from or try our family recipes.

First course: We vary the starters with Seafood like fresh or grilled prawns and/or bugs with tartare and/or seafood sauce (mayonnaise, tomato and Tabasco mix) and lots of fresh lemon. Last year we had a delicious Roast peach salad with prosciutto, spinach and bocconcini…or some years we have had a more formal plated starter like Pan-fried scallops.

Pan fried scallops on bed of pea puree

More recently Annie’s Festive Duck roll has become a favourite, and this year Annie will be on hand to make it!

Annie’s Festive Duck Roll

Main course:

We always want potato salad leftovers and to eat with the Christmas ham, so we make both roasted vegetables and potato salad. That way there are roast vegees to have with Turkey and gravy too.

We don’t always make the same salads which leaves some room for new ideas and dessert depends on who is making it. I haven’t decided if we’ll have a Christmas cake this year but if we do it’s usually a lighter fruit cake or some store-bought Christmas pudding?

Glazed Christmas Ham

Roast Turkey with homemade stuffing The stuffing can be used in a Turkey buff roll or in a whole Turkey. We are going the whole “hog” and getting a whole Turkey this year. Makes for great Boxing Day leftovers.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Potato salad

Roast vegetables with thyme: pumpkin, eschallots and potatoes

A green vegetable salad like: Brussels sprout and broccolini salad

Orange date pistachio salad

Homemade gravy (with the pan juices from the Turkey)

Dessert: Dessert depends on who is making it! It has ranged from traditional Pavlova to pannetone ice cream sandwiches amd ice cream cakes! I think it’s Pav and berries this year!

Pavlova with fresh berries

Nigella’s Christmas cake made with a jar of Nutella!?