Merry Christmas

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone for another year... time is really flying. I absolutely love Christmas. It's such a happy time of year... though somewhat stressful! This year was S and I's debut, hosting our first Christmas. Now, I may be giving us more credit than we deserve since it was just a very small Christmas- us and both of our mums. Well, it's a start isn't it?

In hindsight, we went completely over the top just for four people. We had (and still have) so much food it's not funny. Let me just say, I had four desserts lined up for the day... I know, I'm crazy! I suppose I was just so set on having a variety of different foods, which is easy to do when catering for large numbers. By the end of the night, we were all completely stuffed. The bad type of being so stuffed you just don't know if you can continue to breathe without rupturing your stomach.

I am so glad we had the chance to host Christmas though. I would definitely be up for it again, though now I have learned a few things for next time. S and I alternate each Christmas between our families- this year being my families turn (though really it turned out to be with both of our families in a way). Next year I really hope we can get a bigger crowd together. Oh and also a Christmas tree!

Christmas Day 2008

Mini caramelised onion and goats cheese tarts.
I make sour cream pastry shells for these, which is just delicious. I could seriously live off these tarts for the rest of my life.

Home made bread rolls with Lescure sea salt flake butter.
Unfortunately we didn't end up eating these because they just weren't right. My bad.

Goose with pear and cranberry stuffing.
Since watching Heston Blumenthal's Christmas special on TV, S was absolutely set on making goose this year- a very uncommon meat in Australia. I have to say that it was quite delicious, even though I am not a huge fan of gamey meats.

Goose leg with garlic string beans, maple roasted parsnips, roast potatoes and goose gravy.

Absolutely perfect roast potatoes.
My god these were delicious! I like to think of myself as a bit of a potato connoisseur. Though, if you have high cholesterol, give these a miss. They were cooked in a dish of goose fat!

Washed down with a bottle of champagne.

Trifle.

S and I came up with this trifle recipe together. I made lady finger biscuits for the base, which we broke into small pieces and tossed with a sugar syrup mixed with Pedro Ximenez sherry. Next we had a layer of home made raspberry jelly I made from raspberry compote and gelatin sheets. Then we put strawberries around the sides of the glass and filled the middle with a mixture of blueberries, boysenberries and blackberries. This was topped with home made vanilla bean custard. For texture, we placed a circle of crispy puff pastry on the custard and topped it with a mascarpone mousse. Finally we dusted on some cocoa powder and stuck in a lady finger.

Home made chocolate truffles.
I had issues with the ganache, but in the end they turned out nicely. I will be making home made truffles more often from now on. I rolled some plain dark chocolate truffles in pistachios and some in hazelnuts. The last truffle is dark chocolate with Cointreau, and I dusted these in Valrhona cocoa powder.

My first Christmas pudding with home made vanilla bean custard.

8 hours cooking time in total seemed excessive to me, but the end result is worth it. This pudding is so deliciously rich it scares me.