Christmas 2012

Christmas has come and gone again! Christmas is undoubtedly one of the most exciting times in the year, not because of the presents but because it is a time where the whole family (usually) comes over to our place for a home cooked dinner by moi. I get to try new recipes on voluntary guinea pigs!

These are the recipes I tried this year:

Whole snapper baked in salt dough. The salt dough becomes easier to handle after being refrigerated. Encased in the dough is a whole snapper, stuffed with lemon slices, dill and thyme. I made the mistake of scaling the fish therefore the salt in the dough (1:1 ratio) seeped into the flesh making it incredibly salty.

However, the best thing about this way of cooking (besides the presentation) is that it keeps the fish warm for more than an hour post cooking. This enabled me to cook other dishes in the oven and still have warm food on the table all at the same time.

Seared scallops on bed of seaweed salad topped with mayo & wasabi peanut crumble.

Prawns with capsicum in XO sauce.

Roast chicken. The cavity is seasoned with five spice, preserved kumquat, chinese wine. The resulting gravy was delicious! The skin was bathed twice with a honey and vinegar solution to achieve a crispy skin which Gaz mistakenly ruined by pouring its juices over the skin after it finished roasting!!

And now... the piece de resistance...! Heston Blumenthal's popping chocolate gateau! I used a 21cm cake pan so the mousse was a little thin. I improvised with the leftover ingredients and created a second layer of mousse on top. The three layers of biscuit base, dark choc and milk choc mousse can be seen in the pic below.

I was a little worried that the pop rocks would be out of fizz when the cake is finally served because it popped during the mixing, and pouring of the mousse onto the base. I could hear it popping away and quickly stuffed it into the freezer and crossed my fingers. However, it still popped, and wonderfully too! I loved it for the little twist it served to my guests!