Last Sunday (21 November 2021) we had a pre-Christmas lunch with our family as a few of us will be traveling and won’t be here on Christmas Day.  We kept it super casual and fuss-free, and it was perfect.  Since it was lunch we didn’t bother with any elaborate platters (as there was enough food about to be consumed), so all we had was just had a bowl of Bhuja original mix (which didn’t really get eaten as I think everyone was saving themselves for the smorgasbord about to happen).

We gathered around 11 am, opened presents, and ate around 12 pm.

For lunch, we had a pretty traditional roast turkey, roast chicken, a range of vegetables, and steamed trout (see – simple, but delicious).

Here’s a breakdown of what we had:

MAIN MEAL

🦃 Roast turkey with stuffing
Ingredients
1 roast turkey

Stuffing recipe:
About 6-8 slices of crusty bread (freeze crusts)
1 large brown onion, diced
1 heaped tablespoon dried mixed herbs
1 heaped tablespoon chicken bone broth powder
1 large tablespoon butter
Optional:  Once blended, stir in a handful of chopped walnuts and dried cranberries

Method
1. Place everything into a blender and puree until fine.
2. Insert stuffing into the turkey cavity and cook as per package instructions.

This serving platter is our 99-year-old Nan’s, apparently, she used to serve Christmas dinner on it when our Mum was a little girl ❤️.

🍗 Roast chicken
Ingredients
1/2 brown onion, peeled
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 large chicken
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon mixed herbs
drizzle olive oil

Method
1. Place the onion and garlic clove into the middle of the cavity.
2. Place chicken on a roasting tray and cover the skin with herbs and spices.  Drizzle the top with olive oil.
3. Roast in the oven at 200ºC for 30 mins then turn it down to 180ºC until cooked. This will depend on how large your chicken is. We allowed 2 hours for ours.

Notes: You can flavour your chicken with anything you like. Flavours that work well, either together or mixed and matched are: lemon zest, fresh garlic, sliced onion, marjoram, mixed herbs, garlic powder, and paprika.

🍠 Roast potatoes, sweet potato, and pumpkin
Use as many roast veggies as you need.  Peel and chop them up into roasting-sized chunks and par-boil the potatoes until just tender (but not cooked).
Place them into a roasting/baking tray and cover with olive oil. Sprinkle herbs and spices (of choice) over them all.
Bake at 180ºC for 45 minutes – 1 hour or until golden and cooked through.

🌽 Boiled peas, beans, carrots, and corn
No need for a recipe for those 😉

🧀 Cauliflower bake
Ingredients
1 whole cauliflower
1 x batch white sauce
1 cup freshly grated cheese

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.
2. Dice cauliflower into chunks and place it into an oven-safe dish.
3. Cover with white sauce and top with grated cheese.
4. Bake for 45 minutes.

Note:  If the top begins to cook too much cover it with some foil, or turn the temp down and cook for a bit longer.

🦃 Homemade turkey gravy
Ingredients
Juices from the cooked turkey
4 tablespoons plain flour (GF works well)
4 tablespoons chicken bone broth powder
2 cup cold water
Approx 2 cups water (use the water from boiled veggies for extra flavour), plus a little extra cold water
Salt and pepper

Method
1. Add all the juices and any little bits of meat that have stuck to the roasting tray to a frying pan along with 1 cup water and turn onto medium-high heat.
2. In a separate jug mix together the flour, bone broth powder, and 1/2 cup cold water to form a runny paste.
3. Pour the paste into the pan and stir continuously until it starts to thicken, then turn the temperature down to very low.  As it gets thicker add boiling veggie water until you get the consistency you desire.

🐟 Steamed trout
Ingredients
1 lemon, sliced
3-4 teaspoons butter
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried or one handful fresh dill
Salt/pepper

Method
1.  Layout some foil and baking paper onto an oven tray. Ensure there is enough to wrap around the fish.
2.  Place 1/2 the sliced lemon and 3-4 teaspoons of butter onto the baking paper. Lay the trout on top.
3.  Add the remaining sliced lemon along the inside of the fish, along with a few grindings of salt and pepper.
4.  Sprinkle the trout with garlic powder, dill and a little extra salt and pepper.
5.  Wrap the fish up, ensure it is all covered. Cook on approx 150 – 170ºC. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of your fish. Our fish (pictured) was 3 pounds and we cooked it for 45 minutes.

DESSERT

🧁 Mini pavlovas

Notes: We made individual pavlovas so each person could build-their-own. It’s a really great way to do it, especially when there are allergies or food intolerances.

The toppings on offer we had were:

👉🏻 Whipped cream
👉🏻 Fruit salad
👉🏻 Strawberries
👉🏻 Coal River Farm chocolate honeycomb broken into pieces

We used this recipe.

🎄 Christmas pudding (our grandmother’s recipe)
Ingredients
1/2 packet mixed fruit (preservative-free)
1/2 packet dates, chopped fine
2 cups plain flour + extra for muslin cloth coating
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter + extra for muslin cloth coating
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon bicarb soda
25ml butter rum essence (not totally additive-free)

Method
1. Mix fruit and dry ingredients (not bi-carb) together in a large bowl.
2. Heat the milk and butter together in a pot until nearly boiling, then pour into bowl with dry ingredients. Stir together.
3. Add bicarb and butter rum essence to the bowl and mix until well combined. The mixture will be quite wet and that’s ok.
4. Damp a large piece of calico cloth (approx 50 x 50cm) and spread it with butter and a sprinkling of flour to stop it from sticking to the pudding. Flour well or line with damp baking paper.
5. Place cloth inside a large bowl with the cloth overhanging the sides of the bowl. Have this floured side up (you’re about to tip the pudding mixture in).
6. Pour the batter into the bowl (on top of the baking paper if using) and then scrunch the top together. Tie in string so it’s tight and no water can get through.
7. Using a large pot (bigger than the pudding) place a plate in the bottom to stop the pudding from touching the bottom. Place pudding in, then fill with water so the pudding is submerged. Boil on low for 2 and half hours.
8. Remove pudding and let it cool down to room temperature. Keep in cloth until ready to eat.

🎄 Vanilla Custard
Ingredients
500 grams milk
60 grams raw sugar
30 grams cornflour
2 eggs

Thermal Method
1. Add sugar and cornflour to mixing jug and blitz for 10 seconds/speed 9.
2. Add all remaining ingredients to mixing jug and cook for 7 minutes/90°C/speed 4.

Traditional Method
1. Add all ingredients to a saucepan and cook over medium heat until a smooth, thick consistency. Stir constantly.

DRINKS

We kept it really simple when it came to beverages:

Water
Roar raspberry cordial
Lemonade (Schweppes contains the least additives)
Beer (which the boys drank)

It wasn’t a perfectly additive-free Christmas lunch (thanks to the rum and lemonade), but as we say, sometimes you just #dontstressit

We hope this has given you some ideas for your Christmas food.

Have an amazing day and a very merry Christmas to you all.

Much love,
Jo & Tracey x