Ready For Christmas?

Hi all, are you ready for this Christmas 2013?.  Have you finished your Christmas shopping? Are you organised enough to prepare all the goodies for the celebration?  There is still time to fill up your pantry and cooking or baking.

Well, so far, I have done my glace fruits preparation.  My glace pineapples turned out very well. I am happy that I will have a special fruit cake this year, it is a light fruit cake with a lot of glace fruits.
For this pineapple, what I have to do is to drain the fruit from the syrup, and let them dry, it keeps for months.

Last weekend I baked a pineapple fruit cake.  It looks good, it is good enough to be served during Christmas week.

Sultana and pineapple cake, it is so moist, beautiful cake, the pineapples are so glossy, looks like the Bishop windows.

No need any garnishes for the presentation, serve as it is on a plate it speaks for itself.

It has been a lot of happening in the family; usually I bake my Christmas cake around November, but this year I was not sure that I would do it.  However, one cannot change the routine quickly, I have been baking this cake for the family since nineteen seventy-four.  Most of the time the Christmas cake is not cut on the Christmas day, as everyone has no room for it.  But as you know, the cake keeps well.  What you need are a lot of dried fruits, glace fruits, mixed nuts, butter, sugar, eggs, rum and brandy.

The Cake Preparation

Mixed dried fruits and nuts, they have to be chopped up and soak in brandy, rum and leave it overnights.

Rayner helped to chop the fruits and nuts.

The next day preparation is continued, the baking trays were lined with a few pieces of paper.

The cake mixture was enough for a large cake and a small one

The tin is lined with four baking paper at least

the more paper, the better.

 Creaming butter, sugar and adding egg one at the time, all have to be done correctly, over beating the sugar makes the cake crumbly when it cuts. Add in the butter mixture to the dry fruits, and mix thoroughly.  You could use the hand if you wish.

I had so much fun, and I wish you all to have a good time doing your preparation for Christmas.

The cake has to be baked for at least five hours on a slow oven.

 Soon, it's done, pour some brandy, rum and sherry, put the top with foil and tea towel to trap all the steam from the cake to keep it moist.  The next day, when the cake is completely cold, add more brandy or rum, transfer onto a clean baking paper.  Wrap it with foil and wrap it again in a cloth, and keep it away until ready for the decoration.

Well wrapped cake keeps for a long time, it is ready to be dressed/decorated at any time.

I believe it is a perfectly moist cake as the previous year.  Time will tell.

*******

I don't need to cook for Christmas any longer. Instead, we go to our daughter's places.

I thought it is good to show you the cooking one of the Turkeys what I did in the past.  I did the Turkey buffets and also the whole birds, and they varied from year to year.  This is one of them, I may not write the exact recipe, but I will explain clearly on every picture.  If you wish to do this roast turkey, you could do it quickly. Otherwise, it is just an idea, and you could always improvise what you want to do.

Medium Turkey with nuts and fruit stuffing.  It serves for the family of eight or more.

(Turkey size 38-42)

The Preparation of Susy"s Christmas Turkey.

The Stuffing

Sautéed white onion, carrots, chives; dried fruits-chopped apricots, currants

and shredded lemon rinds, nuts-almonds and pistachio, fresh breadcrumbs, eggs and

fresh herbs-rosemary, thyme, butter or olive oil.

Mix the ingredients, but add the breadcrumbs the last, the eggs bind them together to make a soft mixture, add some brandy and mix them thoroughly.

The stuffing is done, keep aside, cover with plastic and refrigerate.

Clean, Wash and Dry Turkey
Place the turkey in the water, make sure that the bird is immersed under the water.  Keep it there for a while, about ten minutes also.  Wash the bird inside and out, discard fat.

Turn it over to clean the other part of the bird.  Rinse it thoroughly and dry it properly

Pat and dry the bird with a tea towel, before stuffing the bird.

Stuffing Turkey

Stuff the neck and body cavity loosely

Rub Turkey with brandy 

After rubbing the turkey with brandy, now drizzle with olive oil. 

Cover Turkey with baking paper, place it on a baking tray.

Add some stock to keep the turkey moist, and bake on medium heat oven 170 degrees C (fan forced) for 3 hours.  Baste occasionally during cooking.

Bake and baste Turkey

Turkey is cooked and Golden brown

The Gravy

Thicken the pan juices with a little flour, strain, and place

it on a gravy boat to serve

The smooth and delicate and delicious gravy

Dress Turkey for Serving

Turkey is garnished with golden potato rosti,

fresh herbs and Rose Petals

Carving Turkey

You could take all the stuffing from the body, and keep it on a plate before carving.

Now you have it, medium turkey for the family with nuts and fruits stuffing. Present it to the family, bring it to the table before you carve it.  Everyone will be so happy to see it.  

It is my style; it is not the traditional English Christmas Turkey way of cooking.

Cooking for Christmas is a happy time, particularly when all the family gets together. Everyone has their tradition for Christmas.  We love our Christmas Turkey, but we tend to add exceptional food from the place that we come from which makes the feast a festive Christmas. 

We had excellent Christmas feasts at our children, they had a different menu, they did not serve Turkey but unique and festive dishes, from Salmon, white meat to seafood and of course beautiful sweets and desserts.

Now, it is time to organise your Christmas.  Take it easy and have fun!


Until Next Post
Thanks For Stopping By
Susy