Christmas Archives - freespiritfood

Loving our leftovers #boxingday

A great tradition in our family is the quick turnaround of leftovers from Christmas Day into Boxing Day dinner with fresh, asian flavours.

This year we had our extended family visiting so as well as our usual Turkey and Prawn Pad Thai, I added Asian Pork Belly Salad and Fried Rice with ham to the menu to cater for 12 people.

It was a great menu to use up leftover turkey, prawns, various vegetables and herbs at our holiday rental house.

The fried rice with lots of Christmas ham, mushrooms, carrots and peas was perfect for our granddaughter who loved it as much as the adults! Easy to make and certainly helped fill up the family after a hard day relaxing!

As always so much fun to have a big gang to cook for!!

2023 Turkey Pad Thai garnished with lots of fresh salad ingredients

Turkey Pad Thai

Crispy Asian Roast Pork Belly Salad

December 26, 2023December 26, 2023

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Merry Christmas in Mornington Peninsula #Australia #Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas lunch yesterday featuring many of our family favourite dishes along with great sides and salads.

Here’s a wrap of our feast including many of the recipes below.

Cold dishes included delicious fresh prawns and a crispy sweet salty Baby Cos Lettuce, Mango and Crispy bacon salad…

The baked and glazed ham …with our traditional glaze recipe…was as always one of the stars of the show teaming perfectly with a creamy potato, chive and bacon salad.

#Christmas #Ham #Glaze

The other absolute star was Annie’s festive duck roll which this year had been given a “pep up” with the addition of five spice powder and orange juice to the marinating process. her cherry cranberry sauce was a delicious addition to our Christmas plates.

Annie’s Festive Duck Roll

A tangy tomato and burrata salad worked really well alongside the roast turkey and other meats.

Heirloom tomato and Burrata Salad

And of course Christmas would not be the same without stuffing …

Christmas Turkey Stuffing

To finish off the feast we enjoyed homemade Christmas cake, rum balls and Ash’s best in class Pavlova!

All in all a delicious Christmas lunch featuring all our favourites and more!

December 26, 2023

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Dill, Garlic & Chilli Prawns

Delicious start to Christmas here with this simple but super delicious dish, and a great side salad.

Fresh sweet green prawns sautéed in a garlic, chilli, olive oil, lemon concoction and then tossed with finely cut dill.

We stopped off at Peninsula Seafoods in Dromana on our way to Sorrento in the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria where wet are spending Christmas again with our family.

With beautiful ingredients such as stunning olive oil, best balsamic and beautiful fresh green prawns… it was never going to go wrong!

Swerved with sourdough toasts drizzled with olive oil and a fresh green salad!

December 23, 2023December 23, 2023

Shanthini3 Comments

Delicious Roast Pig on the Spit #xmas #rarotonga #arcadiaretreat

We’ve been looking forward to joining our friends Neil and Maxine for Christmas at their beautiful Arcadia Retreat holiday property all year.

Neil had also suggested that we cook a whole pig on the spit for our special Cook Island Christmas lunch. Having Neil and Ben on hand, both trained Chefs made the idea a lot less daunting…Neil had also previously (successfully) roasted a pig over charcoal before – so had good credentials!

Neil procured a 27kg local pig from Wigmores – known for it’s high quality produce. He also hired a huge rotisserie barbecue from TOA Gas in Avarua. Both essential items were delivered in timely fashion on the 23rd of December, allowing the pig to be snugly stored in a spare fridge with the shelves removed and the rotisserie bbq to be set up.

Ensuring your spit or rotisserie can manage the weight of your pig is a key consideration for success.

Ben and Neil up at 6am Christmas Day 2023

In his book Taste, Stanley Tucci tells a highly entertaining story about his first attempt at roasting a whole pig on spit, where they had to chop off it’s head to fit it on and then the rotisserie spit breaks because the pig was too heavy! I’d been reading same book in the lead up to Christmas so shared this tale with the chefs😆

Anyway needless to say, Neil and Ben did a fabulous job and our beautiful roast pork with shiny, crispy crackling was served up on time for Christmas lunch. The pig took about an hour to prepare and get onto the spit. They had it all set to roast at 7am on Christmas morning and it was ready to feast on by 12.30 after resting for an hour. They did of course check on it along the way but report that little needed to be done during the cooking time.

They also extracted fat from the rotisserie tray to bake while potatoes in a seperate bbq which were decadently delicious!

We also had accompaniments featuring locally grown fruit and vegetables including pineapple and young coconut salsa, a vegetable pilaf and a Zuchinni, tomato and capsicum ratatouille all washed down with beautiful NZ white wine.

Neil and Ben’s special roast pig made for a very special Christmas lunch by the pool in the Cook Islands. Thanks guys!

Ingredients:

1 whole pig
Handfuls of Texan hot spice rub mix
Lots of Olive Oil
Handfuls of Sea salt

Method

1. Prepare your pig for the spit e.g remove the tail. Liberally rub the inside of the pig with large handfuls of rub

2. Put the pig on the spit

3. Rub the pig liberally with olive oil and large handfuls of sea salt

4. Put the rotisserie on high (200 degrees Celsius) for 40 minutes or so until skin begins to crisp up. Cover the pig’s ears in foil to avoid burning.

5. Lower heat to 150 degree Celsius and cook for a total of 4 hours, then allow to rest for 1 hour before carving and serving.

December 27, 2022

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Heirloom tomato and Burrata Salad

A beautiful salad for lazy summer days which is an excellent accompaniment to Christmas leftovers like ham, turkey, barbecued meats and roast pork.

The success of this salad lies in getting the best quality tomatoes and a good Burrata. I used a mix of one large heirloom tomato with gold and red grape and cherry tomatoes.

Burrata is a delicious cheese, a mixture of mozzarella, soft cheese curds and cream…when you burst it open the gooey inside and texture of the cheese case are excellent combination with the fresh tomatoes.

Ingredients:

1 good quality Burrata (now easily found in Australian supermarkets)
1 or 2 large heirloom tomatoes cut into thick slices
200g red grape tomatoes cut in halves
200g gold cherry tomatoes cut in halves
200g red cherry tomatoes cut in halves
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Handful of fresh basil leaves
Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Slice and cut tomatoes

2. Strain and place Burrata in the middle of a platter

3. Arrange tomatoes around the Burrata, season with salt and cracked black pepper, scatter basil leaves, sprinkle generously with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

4. Crack open the Burrata and enjoy with crusty bread.

December 26, 2022

Shanthini2 Comments

#Ikamata, A Merry Cook Islands Christmas

After a long and busy year of not much blogging , this Christmas with time on my hands during our Cook Islands holiday, I’m getting back on my blogging “bike”. This setting is perfect for a free spirited foodie!

This week we travelled to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands from Sydney via some excellent meals in Auckland at Giraffe Restaurant and Italian stalwart Baduzzi.

The Cook Islands are made up of 15 islands in the time zone as Hawaii, 21 hours “behind” Australia and across the international dateline, but only 3.5 hours flight from Auckland. (Direct flights from Sydney will recommence in June 2023) ….it’s still Christmas Eve here!

Arriving in Rarotonga really lives up to the description of South Pacific Paradise, and the warm tropical air makes you instantly relax. We are staying with friends Neil and Maxine who have relocated here and are running the beautiful property Arcadia Retreat – 3 private homes available for rent – which is just across the road from the beach and with stunning views of the hills around which the small population is scattered.

Neil whipped up his delicious Ika Mata salad for our welcome lunch which was so good we had to request it the next day as well! Ika Mata is the traditional raw fish salad of the Cook Islands which can be served as an entree or main course.

Here’s the recipe which is perfect for any summer’s day across the globe….you just need the freshest tuna/fish you can find …which of course is in abundance here.

Iki Mata lunch on the deck at Arcadia Retreat, Rarotonga

Ingredients

400g fresh tuna cut into small cubes (the smaller the cubes, the faster your fish will cure)
1/4 cup lime juice
1 cup orange juice
3-4 tablespoons fresh passionfruit juice (seeds removed) *if you don’t have passionfruit then just add the same quantity of additional lime juice
2 birds eye chillies thinly sliced (you can deseed or make this optional)
3 teaspoons table salt
1 cup of coconut milk (ours was fresh but tinned is fine)
Salad items like: finely diced tomatoes, spring onions, peeled and deseeded cucumber, capsicum, and onion

Method:

1. Cube tuna and place in a glass or ceramic bowl

2. Mix thinly sliced chilli, salt, orange, lime and passionfruit juice and then pour over the fish and gently mix to cover the fish in the marinade.

3. Place in the fridge to marinate for 20 minutes – half an hour depending on how “cooked through” you’d like your fish.

4. Pour off the liquid from the fish so just the fish and chilli remain in the bowl.

5. Add the salad ingredients, mix through gently and pour over coconut milk and serve.