So You Think You Can Cook?

tips for the crackers don't grip them hard you grip them hard and it rips the paper ie you get the short end, just hold it softly and you get the bigger end hehe.
i havn't seen these new smilies before haha

sensor wrote:Well I could really use some help, because I'm having eight peeps over for an early Christmas dinner, next Wednesday night.

I have:
leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic
leg of pork, with apple sauce - but I don't do anything fancy with the pork - just bake it.
leg of ham
turkey, but with ??

roast vegies, with oil and herbs, but all I know is cracked black pepper, salt, rosemary or thyme and oil.

my cheater's strawberry pavlova
pudding with brandy custard


I could do with another dessert; and I really need a starter. I was thinking of a schmancy prawn cocktail, but I can't come up with anything else. And should I have nibblies beforehand, since they're only coming at night and it's going to be a HUGE dinner??

Alty is an eggnog mousse nice - and easy to make??

I feel a disaster coming on...


Amanda, nooo!! You have to work on Christmas Day!! But at least you'll get to eat all those yummies afterwards!! Nannas always make the best Christmas dinners!!
I love crackers too - especially wearing the silly paper hats!!
I was looking for some at DJs, but they were $35 for 6!! I would need 2 lots, which is $70!! B/f said it was robbery; but I loved them...

My goodness! Next Wednesday! That's a massive dinner, Sensor

My egg nog mousse was delicious - and I just loved the idea of it too! It didn't set properly although I can't remember the reason why now. I'll find the recipe and post it up.

My favourite pudding at Christmas time is a Summer Pudding. It's easy peasy (only requires some stovetop cooking) and absolutely delicious ... especially the next day for breakfast ... yummmmmmmmmmm! Maybe you could do that for another dessert? You can make it the day/night before your dinner.

One thing I did last year which was a big hit was Brandy Butter. I made a group one for the pud, and then individual ones in little ceramic dishes for ppl to take home - it's delish spread on raisin toast or pancakes.

Brandy Butter

250g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 C icing sugar, sifted
1/4 C brandy
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Place the butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Gradually add the brandy and vanilla, beating thoroughly after each addition.

Transfer to a serving dish and refrigerate for 1-2 hours until firm. Refrigerate until required.

If you're serving drinks before dinner, then maybe you probably should have some nibblies on offer ... but it sounds like you have enough to do already!

amanda-renee wrote:tips for the crackers don't grip them hard you grip them hard and it rips the paper ie you get the short end, just hold it softly and you get the bigger end hehe.
i havn't seen these new smilies before haha

Well, that goes against everything I have ever thought! I usually grip them like my life depended on it LOL. I'm definitely trying that this year

yeah most people do grip for their life but that has never worked for me the soft approach always works :) bit like other things that get pulled if ya know what i mean ( norty corner i know)

Amanda-renee!! You're in the norty corner till Christmas!
I'll never look at crackers the same way again.
An I'm tellin Carl!!
On second thoughts, I'd better not...

So the brandy butter is more of a spread than a sauce? I love the sound of it, thanks!! Do you have the recipe for Summer Pudding? I like the idea of having it ready earlier...

I don't know why, but I've just been bumming around and suddenly next Wednesday is CLOSE!!
Think I'll be cooking all day Mon and Tues...

However, I refuse to panic!! :sunny:

It's all good because I spent some of today decorating the house for Christmas and it looks so Christmassy!! I don't usually decorate till Dec., but with ppl coming, it had to be done earlier. Why does Christmas SMELL like Christmas?? I love it!!

Yep, the Brandy Butter is a spread. If you make it, just make sure you beat it until it is light and fluffy. When you add it to your piece of pud, it starts to melt and goes all foamy. Yummmm. A variation to it is to omit the brandy and use Grand Marnier (and some orange zest) instead, but brandy is traditional.

Summer Pudding

1 1/2 C rasberries
1 C redcurrants
1 1/2 C blackberries
1 1/2 C blueberries
3/4 C strawberries, sliced
3/4 C caster sugar
1 loaf day old white bread, crusts removed (about 15 slices)

(serves 8 ppl)

Line a medium sized bowl or pudding basin with bread, reserving enough to make a lid. Combine all berries, except strawberries, in a saucepan with sugar. Cook over medium heat until the juice starts to run (about 8 mins). Remove from heat and add strawberries. Pour into bread-lined bowl and cover top with excess pieces of bread. Lay a piece of plastic wrap over the top and place a plate over this. Weight the plate with two cans or a weight. Refrigerate overnight (for at least 24 hrs). Turn out onto a plate and serve with thick cream.

Okay, that's the base recipe. Use whatever berries you like - as long as you have about a kilo or so all up. Eg, I never make it with fresh redcurrants because I can never find them. Also, feel free to supplement some of the fresh berries with frozen ones - although I recommend fresh blueberries - they taste so much better! Just don't cook your strawberries because they disintegrate. What you hope to achieve at the end is for all the bread to have soaked up the juices so the bread goes ruby red - a big ruby red mound when you turn it out - very festive! Using a clear pudding bowl is good because you can see your progress, although I like to live dangerously so I use a ceramic bowl . One variation I have seen is to dip your bread in the juices before you line the bowl - a bit like dipping sponge biscuits in coffee when you make tiramisu. That makes sense, but half the fun for me is hoping it turns out red. If you have any fruit left over that doesn't fit into the bread shell, keep it - you can always run it through a sieve and pour it over any white bits of bread before serving.

I actually prefer summer pudding over tradition pudding at Christmas because the sharpness of the berries is a nice contrast to all the rich foods served through out dinner.

Anyway, good luck with your dinner

thanks for putting me in the norty corner till chrismas sensor at least i'm out in time for actual christmas so i still get to pull

it's like they say santa is always happy because he knows where all the norty girls live including this little angel :angel2:

Ah a-r, you make my day!!
I'd never thought about Santa knowing where all the norty girls live!!
Maybe that's why no-one ever sees him - he's busy somewhere else!! No wonder he always looks so jolly.

Alty, thanks so much for the summer pudding. I'm cooking it a bit later this morning - it sounds even sensor-proof, hehe!! - and then I'll refrigerate it till tomorrow. Hope it looks as good as it sounds - I'll let you know if it went red all over.

I'm going to do the brandy butter as well - loving the brandy!! I'm a soak from way back, hic!! :drunken: And I'll make sure I whip it till it's fluffy.
I reckon I must like living on the edge!! (although the rest of the menu is simple cooking and I've done it before.)
Decided for my starter to do melon wedges with parma ham and a cream cheese dressing. It's easy and light.
If they're lucky they might get a jatz and a wedge of cheese, with their pre-dinner drinks. Oh okay I'll add a dip. (It sounds lazy but I'm just not going to do any more cooking, to produce canopes etc.)
I'll let you know how it went, on Thursday. Fingers crossed...

Fingers crossed! Looking forward to hearing how it all worked out! :sunny:

We had a wonderful 'early' Christmas and it all went really well. I didn't have enough time to make the brandy butter; but I made the summer pudding and it was a hit!! That is, after I got it out onto the serving plate, hehe. That was a job-and-a-half!!

I used blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and it was a really dark red colour - beautiful!! Then I cheated and cooked some more berries until the juices ran; and I poured that over the top of the pudding like a sauce!! It actually looked lovely; and made the pudding red all over. Then I stuck a holly and berries sprig on top and voila!! summer pudding for eight and they thought I'd slaved to do it!!
Thanks alty!
I thought the next time, I might have a go at doing it in individual moulds - although it would be fiddly with the bread...
Apart from that, we had very traditonal food, but it was all yum and the night was fantastic!!
Now onto Christmas proper!! Someone prop me up!!

Fantastic! The berry and holly sprig - nice touch!

I do an individual berry pudding for my allergic-to-most-things niece each year. I use a small oval ramekin - it's a bit too big for one serve but if it was any smaller it would be 90% bread! Besides that, my niece manages to chow it all down each year

I saw a variation for Brandy Butter this week. Make the butter but spread it about 1.5cm thick in a tray. Then when cold, cut out stars with a cookie cutter dipped in warm water ... put the stars in the fridge until ready to serve. Cute!


I've worked out my menu for Christmas Eve. I'm trying to pay homage to all the traditional foods without putting on a traditional spread - as we're having that the next day.

Starters:

Cucumber rounds with avocado and turkey
Trout rilettes with melba toasts (not traditional at all but it looks yum!)

Main:

Potato Gilettes and Lamb Cutlets (I'll do the ones Sensor put up here earlier)
Roast Sweet Potato and Feta Salad

Dessert:

Almond and Apricot Pudding
Egg Nog Mousse

Here's the Egg Nog Mousse recipe:

500ml milk
1 vanilla pod, split
4 egg yolks
1 T cornflour
1/2 C caster sugar
300ml thickened cream
1/4 C coffee liqueur
Nutmeg for dusting

1. Put milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove seeds from vanilla pod and add seeds to pan. Allow to just come to a simmer. Beat egg yolks, cornflour and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Remove milk from heat, strain over the egg yolk mixture and whisk to combine.
2. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk gently for 10-15 mins or until custard thickens*. Cover surface with plastic wrap and set aside to cool.
3. Beat cream until soft peaks form. Fold coffee liqueur and half the cream through cooled custard until just combined. Spoon mixture into serving glasses and refrigerate for 3 hours until firm. Spoon remaining cream on top and dust with nutmeg.

* I think mine didn't work last time because I didn't let the custard get thick enough.

I've gained 3 kilos just reading this thread! Better work it off....

Alty are you cooking for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?? You're going to be exhausted!!

Love your Christmas Eve recipe!!
Your starters sound lish; but did you mean trout rolettes or rilettes? If rillettes I don't know what they are, but they sound yummy anyway!
I forgot to mention about my starter!! Another disaster averted - just.
I had bought a paw-paw and a melon the day before. So on Wednesday I began to slice them into wedges. The paw-paw had a very strange smell, but I presumed it was just the fruit itself. As the time went on, I became more worried and decided to chuck it. So I ended up with green/white melon wedges on the plate (no orange from the paw-paw ) , with prosciutto, a cream cheese dressing and a mint sprig (although mint sprigs are supposed to be passe - well I don't care what Gordon Ramsey f...ing thinks! ) It was still pretty, but it wasn't the same without that added orange colour.

Wow, you're using one of my cutlet recipes!! Hope it works out well!!

I'm def. doing that egg nog mousse. Nutmeg is my fav spice in the whole world. And anything with coffee in it, is also great by me!! I like using glasses for desserts too. Would martini-type glasses be okay?
Awww, star brandy butter - well, I only have heart and Christmas tree cookie cutters, and they'd both be okay too I think.
I was so tired after our little festive feast, that yesterday I just lazed around and yawned all day!! B/f laughed and said I was going soft - but he was a great helper.
I tell ya, cooking's a tough business - even my feet were aching by the end of the night!!

Hey angeo, I reckon I gained a few kgs too!! I usually have lollies, nuts, chocs, white Christmas and mince pies on a side table, where ppl can nibble. However, I think I did the most nibbling and I certainly downed a cuppla whites while I was cooking!! :drunken:

For Christmas Day all I need to do is roast the 18hr pork shoulder and make a creme anglaise on the day. You do nothing with the pork except baste it in sherry then wack it in the oven!

I used to have a lot of fun planning my Christmas lunches and experimenting with different things each year, but when I moved to Perth the family already had their traditions and set menu and my services, apart from being the anglaise queen, weren't required! So I just rolled up with my 24 hr pork last year (I did tell them I was doing it), and now I've been asked to make it again. Progress. I read an article last year about daughter-in-laws who have to fit in to another family - the advice was to start your own tradition on Christmas Eve, so that's what I'm doing! I've had a lot of fun going through old mags and cookbooks this year so whoever wrote that article I read, I salute you!

Okay, trout rilettes ... definitely rilettes. It's a little bit like a chunky pate. I did a recce of my local shops for smoked trout yesterday, but I couldn't find any! I might have to rethink this starter

I'm fanatical about food quality and hygiene when i cook for ppl. I would have thrown the paw paw out too!

Oh, and I love doing stuff that others might think is passe (even Gordon Ramsay! hehe) ... it feels rebellious!

Re. the egg nog mousse ... I served it in little ramekins last year because it was all I had on hand, but it definitely looks better in glasses (the pic in the book had the mousse in a small glass tumbler). I was wondering about martini glasses! I have a set of those now but no little tumblers. I couldn't find any nice little glasses when I was out yesterday, so I'm going to have a look in Wheel and Barrow on Monday. If I can't find any then, I will be using the martini glasses.

We try to go to the fish markets to buy our Christmas fishies, but it's always packed liked sardines - excuse the awful pun.
We like prawns, oysters and lobster, but they're all expensive.
One family in our extended clan, decided to be quite un-traditional; and they tend to wing it. They always have the best time!! One year they headed to their local beach and had a Christmas beach picnic; then they've done bar-b-cues by a river and at a park; and they've had plenty of backyard feasts. Another year they had a progressive meal, where they went from house to house with each course. I thought it sounded disastrous, but they said it turned out to be a real hoot!!
I like the Christmas Eve celebration, in order to have your very own Christmas and stamp your own traditions. It's hard sometimes, fitting in with the relies.
Trout rilettes - Now you understand why Nigella and I have nothing in common. She'd know all about trout rilettes and she'd have them whipped up in a matter of seconds!

I remember one year going to some fish place in Brisbane for Christmas goodies - wow! packed to the rafters! Fun though

Oooh I like what that family does for Christmas - sounds like my kinda ppl! I'd have to say though, as much as I'd like the wing-it kind of Christmas each year, I can understand why ppl do the same thing over and over - it can be quite comforting and you know everything is going to work out - because it always does!

Next year we are going up to our shack! Cooking Christmas lunch in a tin shack - I'm hoping it's a complete disaster! Then we can all say "stuff this, grab some chippies and beer and let's go down to the beach!"

I've only been cooking our own little Christmas, (b/f and myself, friends and strays) for the last four years or so - before that I left it up to my and b/f's parents. (Very lazy I know, but didn't want to overstep my bounds.)
For these last years, I've basically done the same thing every year, with a few little tweaks.
Now I'd SO love to go to the beach one year!! Or have a seafood barbecue - something different. Although I know what you mean about doing the same thing - it is very comforting and it's always right.

Your shack sounds fantastic!! Maybe you could have a lunch of chips and beer at the beach, then cook a traditional dinner at night!!
Oh wait. Cooking while sloshed might REALLY be a disaster!! We don't want any more How I Almost Burned the House Down stories!!

Although a few wines always does the trick when I'm cooking!! :drunken:
Or you could always go fishing, with some of those maggots, to catch a yummy Christmas feast!!

We've been up the shack! Not the right time to go fishing with so much to do but, what the heck! Between the shack and the cricket, somehow I have to organise Christmas

Here is a picture of Shangri-La:



Definitely heading up to the shack for Christmas09 - I wish we were doing it this year

I love Shangri-La!!
Looks as though it's really close to the beach! And yet it looks deserted at the same time. What a great getaway place. :sunny:
Ah I can see you sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, esky beside you, tinny in hand, cricket on the radio, Mr. A and Junior A playing backyard cricket, and you all watching the sun go down...okay now I'm jealous.

What fun to have a Christmas there!! You'd have to have a seafood Christmas, with lots of salads.
Which reminds me, I saw Anna Gare - an Aussie chef - in 'The Twelve Chefs of Christmas' on Fox. She made a most amazing salad, which she arranged tightly in a clingfilm-lined bowl. This was refrigerated overnight. When she turned it out it looked beautiful!! It was made with tomatoes, spanish onions and something else which I've completely forgotten!! Maybe fennel? or aubergine?? and a simple dressing. A lovely Christmassy look. One of the other chefs is Gordon Ramsey.
He'll probably cook whoever annoys him, for Christmas dinner, hehe!!

I've just popped in to get your cutlet recipe, Sensor. I am serving six for dinner - that's a lot of cutlets to buy! But it will be worth it

The shack is only a couple of minutes walk away from the beach - up the 'road' and over the sand dune! I'll get some more photos when we go up just after New Year. There's heaps of other shacks around the place and sometimes it gets noisy when the quad bikes ride past, but other than that it feels secluded.

Here's a picture of my bedroom:



And our rods (did you know that fishermen are proud of their rods? ):



Here's where we clean the fish (if we catch them ):




And a blue-tongue lizard - he popped in for a friendly visit:



Definitely a perfect place for Christmas!

Such a wonderful place for a beach Christmas!!
Love the little blue-tongue!

I'm not even touching that 'rod' - oops, just did!! They look very professional! Do you ever go boat-fishing, or is it from the beach/jetty etc??

It has more space than I expected!
It must be such a treat just to get away from the world and put your feet up and relax there. Heaven.
While the fish-cleaning shed seems very serviceable, I didn't notice the wine-cooler alty - which of course is the only way you'd get me in there!!!
Please don't even mention the bucket!!

Have a great Christmas!! Hope the cutlet recipe turns out well!!

We usually go fishing from the beach, but we have a boat up there too. Fishing from the boat is fun and we usually get more fish that way, but most of the time we just stick to the beach because the boat needs a few muscly ppl to get it in and out of the water.

I'm afraid there's no wine cooler, Sensor, but could I tempt you with a beer fridge?"



The sticker on it is "fishermen are proud of their rods"

Hope you have a very merry Christmas! Thanks for the all the great discussions over the last year or so, especially in the cricket thread - I've thoroughly enjoyed talking cricket with you!

How'd everybody go with their Christmas lunches?

I'm happy to say that my Christmas Eve dinner was a huge success! And my 18hr roast pork was a melt-in-the-mouth success!

The trout rilettes I made for the entree ... yum! One of the best things I've ever made! Will be making that one again and again.

The lamb cutlets and sweet potato/feta salad ... yum! Sensor, the cutlet recipe was amazing! Thank you thank you thank you! It went perfectly with the salad - had everyone smacking their lips! Will definitely be making that again!

The apricot/almond pudding ... yum but a little bit on the dry side - will probably make it again but put more than one apricot half in the bottom of each ramekin.

The egg nog mousse ... yum! A complete success this time! I served it in the martini glasses, side by side with the pud. Absolutely delicious - and now I have the rest of the bottle of kahlua to enjoy. Bonus!

my nan's baked christmas dinner was truely delicious and just or the record i won 6 out of 6 cracker pulls thats 100% sucess rate i tell you my technique never fails haha.

Well this year, inspired by 'being different', I had more seafood than usual, hehe. How edgy!!
We had starters of smoked salmon, with a chilli/ginger sauce - easy as. And a fancy prawn cocktail.
We had two lovely salads (which we usually don't do). These went with our ham and lamb; and we had a mash as well. Then for dessert I made two trifles. After that we had a fantastic cheeseboard. I love cheese at the end of a meal. It was all yummy and the company was even better.
I'm so glad you liked the cutlet recipe alty. Yay!! I was feeling a bit 'responsible' - hoping it would turn out, etc.

And we had little Ava Rose to spoil, for her very first Christmas. That child is magnificent. She was so good, even with everyone poring over her for the entire day. And her parents are so calm, it's amazing. She was passed around and just smiled and enjoyed it. She has sweet little dimples when she smiles. Then she fell asleep on me, like a little koala, with her front to mine and her head on my chest. That was heaven; although my sister maintained I bored her to sleep!!

This year I received some really lovely gifts; but one of them was special, apart from my b/f's of course.
This one was Molton Brown. When I was in Glasgow, I found this up-market shop called Molton Brown, which specialised in beautiful/unique bathroom products such as hand washes and lotions, shampoos and conditioners, and bath and shower gels and washes. It's the most gorgeous store - when you walk inside there are subtle aromas and fragrances and they're all GORGEOUS. I bought one tiny product that wasn't a bank-breaker; but I've loved their stuff ever since.
Well a relie from Glasgow sent me over a whole pack of MB, in a beautiful bag; and I was in heaven! Then, to top it off, I found that MB has a store here in Sydney, in the QVB!! So any Sydneysiders who want to pamper themselves, or have some hard-earned to spend, go in and enjoy!!

As for the crackers, I just want you to know a-r, that you became the talking-point around our Christmas table, with your cracker-pulling theory! When it was time to pull them, I started chuckling, remembering what you'd said; and everyone wanted to know what I was grinning about - so I told them!! Anyway, the technique worked for everyone but me!! I had several offers to share and ended up with a pretty orange hat and a plastic racing-car in the shape of a crocodile - its mouth actually opened and closed as you 'drove' the car!!
Ah, I'm easily pleased...
Altogether, a great Christmas!!

Now onto 2009!! Woohoo!!

haha sounds like you had a great christmas sensor especially being that it was ava rose's first chrismas it would have been so cute. as for me being the topic of conversation PMSL but even more funny is the fact that the technique worked for everyone but you haha maybe i should give you some lessons, or maybe you are just a naturally strong gripper/puller oh well at least they shared their hats and prizes with you and maybe you will win the cracker pulls next year.

Doing the crackers this year was a hoot!

Now that I was armed with the 'secret' I was actually keen to pull crackers this year ... for the first time!

First victim ... husband. He gave the cracker a mighty tug and I held on loosely to the other end. The cracker yanked out of my hand - leaving me with just a scrap of paper and blow me down! the prize popped out the torn end, such was the force of my husband's yank, and landed in my hand!

On a roll, I turned to my brother in law, victim number two.

Alas, my success at cracker pulling turned out to be a one-off and my bil ended up with the prize, despite pulling the hardest at the cracker. After exclaming "hey! That wasn't meant to happen! I have a secret technique which is full-proof!" I told everyone what the technique was and how I came across it, and they all had a good laugh.

Nice to hear your Nan's dinner was delicious, amanda-renee

Ooooh Sensor's gone edgy!

Sounds like your lunch was delicious! How'd you make your fancy prawn cocktail?

Good to hear about little Ava Rose too . My son and nieces/nephews have been little 'koalas' many times - it's a gorgeous feeling

I like the sound of your MB gift. Next time I go to Sydney, I'll be checking out the MB shop for sure. I love smelly, pretty potions and lotions - it's about the only thing that brings out the girly-girl in me

ETA: I was just thinking about my 'girly-girl' comment. For Christmas, Santa gave me two books: 'Without Warning' by John Birmingham (the author of the trilogy World War 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) and 'The Third Reich In Power' by Richard J Evans. Maybe I should ask for some MB next year - that'd send Santa into a tizz

A-r, I'm not going to touch that comment about my grip, hehe. But let it be said, next year, I'll win ALL the crackers and I'll have a touch as light as a feather! (My competitive streak is showing!!) But thanks for adding to our Christmas fun - it was all great!

I guess I am a girly-girl, so I love all the smelly stuff; but you couldn't help but fall in love with this MB shop in Glasgow. I forgot to mention that along one side, there were marble-like handbasins, with fluffy white washers and handtowels, where you could try their product on your hands, then wash and dry them, for the next sample. Each towel was only used by one person; and they had dozens there. The laundry bill must've been through the roof!! Very self-indulgent and just nice.

My schmancy prawn cocktail is basic really - and assembled in a martini glass. You just have the shredded lettuce in the centre, with some small shelled prawns and scallops if you like, (but make sure the centre is well built-up) ; then you drape some cooked king prawns over the outside of the glass; then you add the sauce in the centre, which is worcestershire; tomato; tobasco and cream. Yum. It looks dramatic and tastes good and is always right. Or you can have the sauce in a side bowl if you prefer.

Re the books alty- you must be a wealth of knowledge about the wars. I hope your dream comes true one day and you can visit those wonderful historic battle and grave sites
Def ask for some MB next year- I bet you'll love it, and it will keep Santa on his toes, hehe!!