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Sarah Cooks: Christmas 2014
Breakfast

Christmas 2014

12/26/2014 09:31:00 PM

Seafood!

Hey hey! Merry Christmas everybody! Normally I bake quite a lot in the lead up to Christmas, and cook a big turkey meal on the day itself, but this year Christmas has pretty much passed me by. In fact, the week before Christmas, we were on holiday in Bali! (PS it was awesome, look forward to reading about it here soon!) We got back really late on Christmas Eve, so I didn't have time to plan or cook a big, elaborate meal. So for Christmas dinner, my dad said he'd buy a bunch of stuff and I said I'd prepare it. No planning, no menu, just a shopping list for Dad and a few hours preparing on Christmas afternoon for me. In fact, it was probably the least Christmassy Christmas I've had in years!

Ok, so we went over to my parents' house in the afternoon for tea, mince pies and shortbread...

Tea, mince pies, shortbread

... and gifts! Gah, I cannot wait to get stuck into those V.C. Andrews books! (And that champagne, hehehe).

Gifts! Yay!

So, after some low-key preparation, it was time to eat! The first course was seafood! My dad went a bit overboard at the seafood counter - yay! There were oysters...

Oysters

... prawns...

Prawns

... and lobster! He splashed out on two whole lobsters. I had no idea how to prepare them, so I just winged it, and luckily it worked out. (Twist off the head, cut the tail in half lengthwise. Boom.)

Lobster

Main course was a ham, which I glazed with a mixture of brown sugar, honey and Dijon mustard, and studded with cloves.

Sliced ham

And for sides I made some French peas, and heated up some cauliflower cheese and potatoes dauphinois. (N.B. the cauliflower and potatoes were freebies I got from Dish'd). Ta-dah!

Sides

And one of the best parts about Christmas? Leftovers! Here are some of the things I ate over a very lazy Boxing Day.

I luxified my usual avocado toast by adding sliced prawns.

Sourdough toast, sliced avocado, sliced prawn, pepper, lemon juice

I totally indulged by making a glorious double-carb sandwich: leftover potato gratin, sliced ham and Gruyère cheese in white sourdough, toasted in a lightly buttered frypan. Yum.

Toastie with white sourdough, potato gratin, sliced honey-mustard glazed ham, gruyere cheese; Sriracha

And for dinner, I went back to the luxe theme with lobster spaghetti. I tossed angelhair spaghetti through a sauce of lobster, garlic, shallots, chilli, white wine, saffron and parsley. Seriously delicious! I'll be sharing the recipe here soon.

Angelhair spaghetti with lobster, garlic, shallots, chilli, white wine, saffron & parsley

Merry Christmas everybody!

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4 comments

  1. Man I should have eaten before reading about your Christmas spread! It looks amazingly good and topped off with that amazing looking pasta! I hope you had an awesome Christmas lovely!!

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  2. What a spectacular looking Christmas dinner, although I think I'm envying your Christmas breakfast and lunch even more!

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  3. Wow- you baked all of that in December? I especially like the lighting and photography for your Steak and Sautéed Mushroom photo- nice sharp focus and 'clear' lighting. Happy New Year to you!

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  4. Sometimes, a simple meal is the best! Happy Christmas!

    P.S. VC Andrews is the best. SO melodramatic, I just lived on her novels in my teens!

    ReplyDelete

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