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Christmas Cooking

Frozen Fruit Salad

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1 small pineapple, peeled, cored and chopped

1 banana, ditto

½ a rock melon, ditto

½ cup caster sugar

juice of one lemon

         

Mix well until sugar dissolves. Place in plastic cups or ice-block moulds. Stick in a teaspoon or an ice cream stick. Freeze. Run the tap over the mould till the ice block pops out. Eat when life is hot or you can’t face another slice of Christmas cake.

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Totally secret frozen fruit salad

 

This was possibly the first recipe I ever invented on my own; I was about seven, I think, and I'd been bunging mulberries and strawberries and bananas in the freezer for years.

           

In those days ice-cream was a definite treat.  The local shop didn't sell it, except in small cups. But the ice-cream man used to drive round in his ute on Sunday afternoons, with great canvas bags of dry ice and in the centre were either Have-a-hearts - ice-cream with a choc coating, or rectangular cardboard wrapped 'family blocks' - and that's what Mum bought.

 

Towards the end of their life, before plastic tubs were introduced and suddenly supermarkets had swallowed corner shops and had great freezers full of them, the cardboard rectangles had zippers down the side; you pulled the zipper and, behold, your cardboard container was open. (The ice-cream used to cling in a particularly delicious way to the cardboard and Mum used to rip it into four pieces so each kid could get one to lick. I think Fred used to chew his too, but then he liked odd things like handfuls of butter and the suds off the washing up.)

Frozen plum pudding

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This could be said to be a cheat's plum pudding - no cooking, no steam and it takes about ten minutes to make. 'Cheat's' however implies it doesn't taste as good as the real thing - well, it does. But don't try it with cheap ice-cream made with artificial vanilla though - it's just a waste of the other decent ingredients.

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1 litre good vanilla ice-cream

6 tbsps rum

2 tbsps sultanas

2 tbsps glacé pineapple, chopped

2 tbsps glacé ginger, chopped (optional)

2 tbsps glacé cherries, chopped

4 tbsps macadamias, chopped

quarter tsp mixed spice

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To decorate: fresh cherries, halved and stoned, or chopped glacé pineapple and chopped macadamias with a little grated dark chocolate.

            Marinate the fruit, nuts and spice in the grog overnight; keep the bowl covered so the rum doesn't evaporate. A few hours before serving scoop out the centre of the ice-cream, insert the fruit mix in the hole and plug the hole with the removed ice-cream

To Serve: Turn it out pudding like on a chilled plate, quickly scatter on the decoration.  Serve in slices, so the filling oozes out at the end of each slice. Have a bowl extra whipped cream for those who haven't yet been overstuffed. .

Christmas Fruit Jelly

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(looks stunning; wonderfully wobbly)

A light alternative to Christmas Pudding

 

1 packet frozen blueberries or raspberries, or 2 cups of each fresh

1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

1 cup fresh peaches, sliced

1 cup white wine

1 cup caster sugar

juice of two lemons

half cup water

2 sachets gelatine

     

Use a no stick cake tin or line a cake tin with plastic wrap. Place sliced strawberries in the bottom and empty in the blueberries.

      Heat all other ingredients except the gelatine till nearly boiling, take off the heat and add gelatine.  (Mix a little with some of the liquid first so you don't get lumps.) Pour liquid into the cake tin. Leave till set - it will take several hours.

      Turn it out onto a plate.  If it won't come out easily dip the base of the tin in hot water in the sink for about 30 seconds - make sure no liquid gets into the tin though!  This will loosen the jelly enough for it to slide out.

      Serve slices with cream or ice-cream.

 

Note: if that amount of gelatine doesn't form a well-set jelly, the whole thing can be slightly warmed and more gelatine (mixed with a little of the warmed liquid first) can be added. For some reason sometimes more is needed - possibly this depends on the ripeness and juiciness of the berries.

Grilled mushrooms

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Choose great big flattish ones, as dark and fragrant as possible.

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Mix lots of garlic and black pepper and chopped parsley into melted butter or margarine (or even olive oil).   Pour a generous amount into the cap of each mushroom. Grill the mushrooms top downwards until the stems look cooked or until the mushrooms look like they might soon collapse or burn.  Eat hot.

Christmas Relish

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I love the word relish. It gets the taste buds going almost as much as the word 'chocolate'.

A relish is what you add to make boring things taste good i.e. cold spuds, cold meat and most aren't bad on cheese on toast, especially if you liven it up with half way decent bread and good cheese and call it focaccia instead.

 

Most relishes will last for months if not years in the back of the cupboard waiting to be hauled out in case the meteor falls and life on earth - or at least the supermarket part of it - is extinguished.

 

This relish needs to be kept in the fridge and eaten within a few weeks, as it contains less vinegar, less sugar and more fruit than the ordinary variety. This is also means that this one tastes better.

 

Ingredients

3 cups fresh mango, paw paw, or pineapple, chopped

half a cup raw sugar

half a cup good white wine vinegar

2 large red onions, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsps. olive oil

1 red chili, chopped, optional

2 whole cloves

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      Sauté onion and garlic in the oil till the onion is soft and totally transparent. (If it isn't the acid in the relish will make it go hard a d rubbery).

      Add the rest of the ingredients; simmer till thick (about 10 -15 minutes).

      Place in a sealed container in the fridge. Keep for three days to mature before using. Good with turkey, ham, or fish or baked potatoes.

The No Longer Secret Fruit Cake

 

(Very rich, very moist and very good. Even confirmed ‘I don’t like fruit cake’ eaters have had a second slice of this. And a third)

           

A good Christmas cake should still be moist and delicious in mid-winter.  It is a most excellent thing to have in the larder; you only need small pieces and you always have something extremely good to serve to guests.  Even better, Christmas cakes leave a detritus  detritus every time you cut them; this of course is the prerogative of the cook.  (Only intact slices of Christmas cake contain calories; crumbs and left-overs are calorie free.)

           

Mix

1 cup rum

1 cup whisky

5 cup of mixed chopped crystalized apricots, pineapple, glace ginger if you like ginger, sultanas, currants, crystalized cherries: your choice and proportion

1.2 cup home made lime cordial or zest of 4 lemon and 1 cup lemon juice or 1.2 cup excellent marmalade (But the acid home made cordial does it)

Cover Leave for at least 2 days.

Add about 2 cup of orange juice, and simmer till reduced by ½ and the fruit even more softened. It should have absorbed the alcohol by now.

Cool

Add:

1.5 cup golden syrup

1 cup brown sugar

250 gm butter

1 tb mixed spice

1 tb powdered ginger

2 tb freshly ground cinnamon (makes an incredible difference if it is fresh)

5 large eggs

6tb melted couverture dark chocolate

1 ½ cups plain flour

 

 

           

Place in a deep cake tin.  I line the edges with 3 sheets of baking paper.

Place on a tray covered with thick newspaper, well soaked. Bake at 150C for 3-4 hours. Lay alfoil over for the first 2 hours of cooking. Remove when the top is just firm. If the cake seems to be browning too fast turn the heat down.

Long slow cooking is what turns this dark, bi still soft and irresistible. A fast cooked fruit cake is a dry one.

Drizzle on extra um if you wish when it is jut out of the oven. The amount is up to you-  1-20 tbs.  Alternately, brush with apricot jam while hot; or cool, and then ice.

Cool in tin before turning out. Wrap in alfoil and keep for up two a year in a cool place.

           

Note: if you make many small cakes instead they make excellent Christmas presents.  In this case cooking time will be  less.  You'll have to sniff, poke and see i.e. as soon as the cake has been filling the house with good spicy fragrance for about half an hour, dip a skewer or even a knife in and see if it comes out clean, or if the top springs back when you press it lightly with your finger.

Dark and fruity Christmas pudding

 

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A Christmas pud is a lovely thing - dark and fragrant so you can smell it all over the house, and you only need a small bit because it's so rich.    

I can never understand those who sling off at a pud as being unsuitable for Australian summers. You don't HAVE to have it hot and flaming do you? Actually we have ours cold and flaming, and I do all the boiling at night after the house has cooled down - and when the kitchen will cool down again by morning.

 

Christmas pud is also easily prepared several days before Christmas Day, so if you're having it cold there's no last minute hassle.  Added to which a good pud is a great big gorgeous thing, in other words, there'll be plenty of left-overs to see you to New Year. Like a turkey, Christmas pud is destined for one day’s feast and many day’s nibbling at the crumbs.

 

Added to which, Christmas pud – a good fruity dark one - is one of the best accompaniments to ice-cream  that I know. (As you may have guessed, I do like my pud.)

 Most families have pud recipes passed own from Grandma, though usually they’re changed a bit with each generation. This is my Grandma's, but changed every generation.

Make the mix above, but instead  use half breadcrumbs instead of flour..

I place ours in a click down steamer then in two baking envelopes, tied up firmly. , or in t plastic lunch boxes with the lids taped in place with duct tape, and then in the envelopes.

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Bring a giant pot half full of water to the boil. Add puds when boiling; add more boiling water. If it goes off the boil too soon they may be heavy. Boil 3 hours.

I usually made 1 large and several small, and can post the ones in plastic.

 

Boil again for 3 hours a week or a few days later. It is this second boiling that makes them dark and delicious.

Reheat by boiling or in the microwave, or don’t bother: light a cup of whisky, pour over, take a quick pic while it is flaming and try not to burn down the kitchen. Eat with much extremely good vanilla ice-cream.

 

Don't bother if a bit is slightly damp - puds are so rich that this will hardly be noticed!  Fill a large dessertspoon with some high alcohol substance - I use rum or whisky. Hold it over the heat of the stove till it sends up an almost invisible cloud of alcohol.  It's now warm enough to light, so hold a match to it (do beware of singing eyebrows and hands at this point: I should advise wearing leather gloves, goggles, protective clothing and a flame-proof mat, but of course no one will, so let me just repeat, this can be exceedingly dangerous and if the house catches alight (especially if you've been imbibing) or you receive second degree burns don't bother complaining. BECAUSE I WARNED YOU.

 

When it catches alight (and hopefully nothing else), pour over pud and carry in in triumph.  Cold pud is even better than hot pud. Keep covered in the fridge and it'll last for weeks.

Christmas Fruit Jelly 

Looks stunning - wonderfully wobbly.  a light alternative to christmas pudding.

 

1 packet frozen blueberries or raspberries, or 2 cups of each fresh

1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

1 cup fresh peaches, sliced

1 cup white wine

1 cup caster sugar

juice of two lemons

half cup water

2 sachets gelatine

           

Use a no stick cake tin or line a cake tin with plastic wrap. Place sliced strawberries in the bottom and empty in the blueberries.

           

Heat all other ingredients except the gelatine till nearly boiling, take off the heat and add gelatine.  (Mix a little with some of the liquid first so you don't get lumps.) Pour liquid into the cake tin. Leave till set - it will take several hours.

           

Turn it out onto a plate.  If it won't come out easily dip the base of the tin in hot water in the sink for about 30 seconds - make sure no liquid gets into the tin though!  This will loosen the jelly enough for it to slide out.

           

Serve slices with cream or ice-cream.

 

Note: if that amount of gelatine doesn't form a well-set jelly, the whole thing can be slightly warmed and more gelatine (mixed with a little of the warmed liquid first) can be added. For some reason sometimes more is needed - possibly this depends on the ripeness and juiciness of the berries.

Magnificent Passionfruit Sorbet

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4 cans passionfruit,  most of the seeds strained out

1/3 cup lemon cordial

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Mix. Freeze. Blend. Freeze again. Blend again. Freeze. Eat.

Raspberry Sorbet

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This glows. Glorious. Add a mint leaf on top for Christmas red and green.

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6 cups raspberries, pushed through a strainer to remove the seeds

1/3 cup lemon cordial.

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Mix. Freeze. Blend. Freeze again. Blend again. Freeze. Eat.

Extremely Good Pineapple Sorbet

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6 cups chopped pineapple

½ cup lemon cordial

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Blend. Freeze. Repeat. Eat.

Quick and Delectable and Ridiculously Easy Banana and Coconut Ice-cream

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1 cup mashed banana

1 cup coconut cream

1/3 cup lemon cordial.

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Mix. Freeze. Blend. Freeze again. Blend again. Freeze. Eat.

Lemon and Garlic Butter Corn Cobs

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Melt half a cup of butter with four crushed cloves of garlic.  Take off the heat.  Add a good grating of black pepper and the juice of a lemon.  Soak eight cobs of corn, papery wrapping and all, in water for twenty minutes.  Then unwrap them carefully - don't tear the wrapping. Pour a little of the slightly cooled and thickened melted butter mix onto each cob.  Rub in well with your fingers or a pastry brush.

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Grill until cooked through - at least twenty minutes or half an hour, turning several times.

You can also try this with alfoil instead of the natural corn packaging; but it's not nearly as good.

 

NB Don't buy corn wrapped in plastic.  It tastes like plastic.

Iced Tea

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2 teaspoons green tea

1 tsp fresh peppermint, apple mint, lemon mint, or eau-de-cologne mint leaves (not culinary mint)

sugar to taste

lemon slices (optional)

1 litre boiling water

 a large jug

 a lot of ice

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Place the tea and the mint into the jug. Pour in the boiling water; leave for three minutes. Strain off liquid and chill.

Serve chilled with sugar to taste, ice,  and a slice of lemon.

Makes about 4- 5 tall glasses of iced tea.

Lemon Cordial

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This is lemony and not too sweet. There may seem to be a lot of sugar but this will make about 6 bottles of cordial- an excellent gift.

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1 cup lemon juice

6 cups sugar

12 cups water

3 tb citric acid

3 tb tartaric acid

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Boil. Bottle hot. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 months. An excellent ingredient in sorbet recipes below.

Best ever turkey stuffing

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You'll need:

1 cup fresh bread, cut into small cubes (or a third of a  cup of  fresh breadcrumbs, but this is by far second best, or packet dry breadcrumbs, which is third best)
1 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup apple, chopped
1 large onion, chopped finely
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
dash of Tabasco sauce, optional
1 cup cooked cashews, pistachios, or macadamias
juice of 1 large lemon

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C.

Place bread cubes on a greased tray in the oven, bake till pale but not dark gold. Remove from the oven.

These will give a crunch to the stuffing and ensure it isn't too heavy (not like that iron weight muck you often find in commercial cooked chooks, so heavy and closely packed it weights down your stomach for three hours!).

Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter till the onion is transparent.

Mix everything else and stuff into the turkey, or add two  eggs and bake for 1 hour or till lightly browned on top.

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