Planning the Christmas feast
It's that time of the year again.
And it's my favourite time too. When Christmas lights go up in shopping malls and pretty trees get all dressed up, the kid in me goes "YAY".
The kid in me has also gotten over Santa a long time ago. Nobody told me he was as real as snow in KL, but I kinda knew all along anyway. That's a cynical child for you. If a fat guy in a beard and red suit were to squeeze into my house through the air well on Christmas eve, we'd prolly beat him up with a stick. And rob him. Yeah. Let's see him say ho-ho-ho to that. Ha-ha. :P
Shopping and gifts planning aside, the main event in my book is my family's annual Christmas dinner. I started it in 2000, cos my family was boring - Christmas was like any other day before I did something about it. There wasn't even a Christmas tree until I got one that same year.
Turkey has been a staple every year on my table since, usually the weekend before Christmas. And once you've tasted home-roasted turkey, shop bought birds are simply *blehh*. Too salty, too dry, too expensive.
For last year's feast, I roasted the turkey sans stuffing to cut cooking time. I should've learnt to do this much sooner. Another new discovery was the 'bird flip' - roasting the turkey breast side down towards the second half of cooking time to prevent the breast from drying out.
And as far as stuffings go, I've made the traditional chestnut (with freshly roasted chestnuts, painstakingly peeled), sage and onion, as well as a sausage and apple stuffing. I loved the chestnut stuffing the best, but that needed the most amount of work. Haven't quite decided what stuffing to make this time, but I may revisit the chestnut again.
Now my main worry is the oven. After dying on me at least twice this year, it's working again. But it makes the weirdest, scariest noise. A turkey takes over 4 hours to roast, and I fear the oven would explode or fry, taking my precious turkey with it. Thankfully, YL has offered her oven as my turkey's surrogate roaster. And after debating if I should be less ambitious and cook something simpler like lamb chops or a pork pot roast... NAHHHHH.
The turkey's a once a year bird.
It shall be granted an appearance.
And this is the menu I'm planning. Mmmm.
~ French Onion or Minestrone or Beetroot Soup (depending on where my impulse nudges me at the supermarket).
~ Mushroom Bruschetta.
~ Roast Turkey with Traditional Chestnut Stuffing.
~ Spiced Red Cabbage with Apple and Prunes. Recipe from C&Z. Although originally meant for roast pork, it sounded too good (both turkey and pork are white meat waaatt, hehe)
~ Pumpkin Pie with Ginger Glaze.
~ Cranberry Cooler.
Hmmm. Better go buy the turkey before they're sold out again!
And it's my favourite time too. When Christmas lights go up in shopping malls and pretty trees get all dressed up, the kid in me goes "YAY".
The kid in me has also gotten over Santa a long time ago. Nobody told me he was as real as snow in KL, but I kinda knew all along anyway. That's a cynical child for you. If a fat guy in a beard and red suit were to squeeze into my house through the air well on Christmas eve, we'd prolly beat him up with a stick. And rob him. Yeah. Let's see him say ho-ho-ho to that. Ha-ha. :P
Shopping and gifts planning aside, the main event in my book is my family's annual Christmas dinner. I started it in 2000, cos my family was boring - Christmas was like any other day before I did something about it. There wasn't even a Christmas tree until I got one that same year.
Turkey has been a staple every year on my table since, usually the weekend before Christmas. And once you've tasted home-roasted turkey, shop bought birds are simply *blehh*. Too salty, too dry, too expensive.
For last year's feast, I roasted the turkey sans stuffing to cut cooking time. I should've learnt to do this much sooner. Another new discovery was the 'bird flip' - roasting the turkey breast side down towards the second half of cooking time to prevent the breast from drying out.
And as far as stuffings go, I've made the traditional chestnut (with freshly roasted chestnuts, painstakingly peeled), sage and onion, as well as a sausage and apple stuffing. I loved the chestnut stuffing the best, but that needed the most amount of work. Haven't quite decided what stuffing to make this time, but I may revisit the chestnut again.
Now my main worry is the oven. After dying on me at least twice this year, it's working again. But it makes the weirdest, scariest noise. A turkey takes over 4 hours to roast, and I fear the oven would explode or fry, taking my precious turkey with it. Thankfully, YL has offered her oven as my turkey's surrogate roaster. And after debating if I should be less ambitious and cook something simpler like lamb chops or a pork pot roast... NAHHHHH.
The turkey's a once a year bird.
It shall be granted an appearance.
And this is the menu I'm planning. Mmmm.
~ French Onion or Minestrone or Beetroot Soup (depending on where my impulse nudges me at the supermarket).
~ Mushroom Bruschetta.
~ Roast Turkey with Traditional Chestnut Stuffing.
~ Spiced Red Cabbage with Apple and Prunes. Recipe from C&Z. Although originally meant for roast pork, it sounded too good (both turkey and pork are white meat waaatt, hehe)
~ Pumpkin Pie with Ginger Glaze.
~ Cranberry Cooler.
Hmmm. Better go buy the turkey before they're sold out again!
says Wandernut on Tuesday, December 05, 2006
6 wandered by:
~~~~~~~~~~~~geekchic
SLURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPP!!!! If my laptop short circuit from my drool, it's all your fault.
Sounds so damn YUMMY!!! Make sure you keep sunshine far,far, far, FAR away from the kitchen :)
sunshine won't be there in the kitchen, but I will! muahahaha
my christmas tree is up! it's up! :D
Agreed. Homemade turkey and trimmings are the best ever. I've been the official family roaster for 4 years now. Try stuffing a little butter under the skin before roasting, especially the breast area. Meat comes out super juicy and delish
sounds yummy! and a damn lot of work! have never roasted a turkey before - is it just like roasting a chicken, only longer?
too bad i'll be away again that wkd, or could provide u with a backup surrogate oven! you know, in case YL's gets flooded with all the drool... ;)
Hey you missed out on an EXCELLENT class by ROhani Jelani lah :)
Anyway, she gave us a tip abt cooking turkeys, that she got from reading Julia Childs. Cut the legs away from the breast, cook separately (therefore can control cooking time - less likelihood of burning or overcooking) and then "reassemble" to serve.
Geek: Hahaha! Sunshine will be far away alright... VERY far away!
Yules: I just put up my tree today also. While playing Christmas carols! Wheee...
Cyn: HIGH FIVE! :D Yeah, I do the butter under skin thing too. Super yummy... adds more flavour to the pan juices when it drips as well!
Snowie: Wah! You going where! You going where! Turkey... ya, you could say it's like roasting chicken but longer... but much more rewarding cos turkey is such a 'special occasion' bird.
Spot: So so so so how did your lamb turn out? SLURP!! Cut legs off ah? B-b-b-but... won't the meat juices run? The turkeys I buy come with a pop up button... it lets me know when the turkey is done. No need cut the legs off so 'chaam'.
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