Christmas Feast

Lauren Nash
Dec 19, 2019
3 min read

My first Christmas meal memories included sitting on the floor in my grandmothers kitchen, lots of women all prepping and baking for the Christmas feast. We all had a job, from peeling potatoes for my grandmothers perfect potatoes, picking fresh mint for her incredible mint sauce. It was all meticulously planned and perfectly implemented.

When planning a Christmas meal, 3 meats was a Christmas must, a green vegetable, orange vegetable, perfect potatoes and something fresh.

The menu is as follows:

Maple & mustard Gammon

Granny's Lamb

Lemon herb deboned chicken

Spinach and halloumi Christmas wreath

Pumpkin slice salad

Heirloom tomato salad

Perfect duck fat potatoes.

Maple & Mustard Gammon

degree of difficulty: easy

serves: 180g per person

ingredients:

1 smoked gammon - I used a 3,3kg gammon

Aromatics for the boil:

3 star anise

15 cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

15 black pepper corns

2 bay leaves

1 tsp coriander seeds

Glaze:

90ml Maple syrup

30ml wholegrain mustard

15 ml soy sauce

smoked gammon cooking in a pot of boiling water with spices an bay leave — Smoked gammon boiling with aromatics

Plate the gammon into a large saucepan and cover with cold water, add the aromatics, bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer. Skim the scum if any, and top up with boiling water as necessary.

Boil for 20 minutes per 450g plus 20 minutes.

Once cooked remove from the water, remove the net and carefully remove the skin. Do this while warm, but be careful not to burn.

This can all be done the day before, cool and refrigerate.

Remove from the fridge, put into a large roasting pan, roast in a 180 degree oven for 40 minutes. At 20 minutes mix the glaze ingredients and coat the gammon, roast for another 20 minutes or until warm through.

Allow to rest for 15 minutes for the meat to redistribute juices and slice to serve

Sliced cooked gammon with maple sauce and wholegrain mustard

Granny's Lamb

degree of difficulty: easy

serves: 180g per person

With a deboned leg of lamb, you have the option of cooking it two ways, whole roasted medium rare, or roasted low and slow and melt in your mouth.

I often have the medium rare version, I believed a Christmas feast needs to be low and slow with a beautiful gravy.

Ingredients:

deboned leg of lamb around 2,4kg lamb

3 tablespoons olive oil

sea salt and cracked black pepper

2 onions sliced

3 lemons, sliced - with skin

2 garlic heads skin on cut in half

30g fresh rosemary

30g fresh thyme

30g fresh origanum

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup beef stock

In a large roasting pan, arrange the onions, lemon, garlic, herbs. Season the meat and arrange on the bed of bliss. Pour over the olive oil, wine and stock. Cover tightly with foil.

Roast for 4 hours on 140 degree centigrade.

Once cooked, remove from the oven, carefully pour over the juices to a saucepan and reduce to make a gravy. If your gravy is too thin, remove 30ml of the liquid in a small cup, mix in a tablespoon of flour, and return to the gravy. Simmer and whisk to a smooth texture.

Slice your lamb, arrange on a platter and garnish with rosemary and mint

Whole deboned Chicken

degree of difficulty: easy

serves: 80g per person

Ingredients:

1kg whole deboned chicken - ask your local butcher or Woolies sells a great one

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 lemons

2 cloves garlic chopped finely

10g each parsley, basil, origanum finely chopped

salt and pepper

Season the chicken and coat with olive oil, slice one lemon and arrange around chicken, roast in a preheated oven at 180 degrees.