I got up at 7am on Christmas Day, very excited to start the cooking of my feast for Mr W, my Dad and his girlfriend Jean. Unfortunately my brother, sister-in-law and niece couldn't make it as planned - they live in Australia and didn't manage to get flights. I would have loved to have cooked for them too.
I had pre-prepared a few things on Christmas Eve, including the sausage rolls, so I put them in the oven. It's become a bit of a tradition to have home-made sausage rolls on Christmas Day, no idea why. As if one needs any more pork products but never mind :) I like mine with ketchup, such a classy bird! I like to call them 'Northern Canapes'...
I managed to get most things prepared before Mr W surfaced at 10:30am and had a window to open presents and have coffee together. Not that I got many presents to open but not that I care either, for me Christmas is all about the food. And the wine (great selection purchased from Majestic the week before). Mr W bought me a dress and some amazing boots before Christmas and on the day I got the Harry Potter box set, Dave Grohl's biography (yum) and the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. He knows me very well :)
I even created a menu this year to present to my guests on arrival - it gave me a bit more time to cook.
My Dad arrived at 2pm armed with a case of delectable red wines, as usual, and we had a pre-dinner drink (G&T for Dad, pink champers for Jean and I, and Mr W had a Hoegaarden). I had already made the starter and fish course - I like it all to be at room temp so made them and moved them to the utility room so they didn't get too warm (no heating in there).
We opened a New Zealand Pinot Gris (my favourite white) to have with the starter and fish course and even my Dad liked it and he doesn't like white wine.
I forgot to take a photo once the avocado and olive oil was on the plate, so just got the above. It was delightful, very light.
For the fish course, I made a simple salad with mixed leaves, grated carrot, finely sliced red cabbage in a lemon infused olive oil, and a horseradish cream cheese. My quinelles were not great due to different sized spoons and rushing but it all tasted good garnished with some fresh dill and baby watercress.
For the main event, I'd cooked a ham (Hairy Bikers recipe with a honey and English mustard marinade) plus a large chicken. My Dad doesn't really care for chicken and I don't like turkey so always go for a 6lb chicken and did the Boxing Day ham a day early this year. I did some pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, honey roasted carrots and parsnips, sprouts with smoked bacon, creamed savoy cabbage and bread sauce, sage and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy. Mmmmmmmm. A New Zealand Pinot Noir provided a perfect accompaniment.
I decided to try some sugar spinning on Christmas Eve and made some baskets and springs to decorate dessert. They looked so good I decided to put them in the utility room over night and use them to save me the bother on Christmas Day.
Unfortunately they had melted on Christmas Day morning, think it must have been the tumble dryer. D'oh! So had to start again after the main course but we needed a rest so all was fine. My Dad and Jean sat in the lounge for a while and Mr W and me got to work.
Two of us had Christmas pudding and two had sticky toffee pudding, all complete with freshly spun sugar and those fruit things you get as decoration in posh places (can't remember what they're called, but don't eat them they are sour!). The Christmas pudding came with brandy sauce and the sticky toffee with ice cream. I was very proud :)
We had a lovely Moscatel dessert wine with it and it was fabulous. Haven't really got into dessert wine until now but think it might be something on my shopping list for special occasions from now on.
The next course was cheese and my father-in-law bought us some cheese markers for Christmas so used them. Very quaint :)
We opened a nice Rioja with the cheese and had some port - a tawny and a ruby. We retired to the lounge after the cheese for coffee and truffles and a bottle of rather nice Bordeaux and played cards for a while. Then the Chateau Neuf du Pape got opened and I ended up quite drunk! :-/ I think my Dad and Jean left at just the right time - shortly afterwards I was lying down on the landing not feeling too good at all. I got over it and helped to clean up a little but Mr W did the majority for which I will be eternally grateful. A great day had by all and so glad my cooking went to plan. There was a little stressful wobble just before the main course was served but apart from that it was very calm and very smooth. Getting the hang of this multi-course lark now ;)
Boxing Day was a bit of a write off due to a severe red wine hangover but I still managed to throw a buffet together and we watched a couple of Harry Potter films whilst munching on leftovers, cheese and snacks. Didn't get any photos unfortunately but it was good - I do love a nice Boxing Day buffet and films.
Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas Day and Boxing Day and ate and drank well x
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