Boxing day lunch 2010
A happy face on Boxing Day: Zoe, climbing onto her dad’s knee to play “Horsey”
We got together at my eldest sister CW’s home. As usual, everyone brought something along for the feast.
Juji baked the ham – she scored it all over, studded it with cloves and glazed it with a tasty mixture of maple syrup, orange juice, brown sugar, cinnamon and star anise. As I took this photograph, the warm sweet smell of the ham made my mouth water.
Glorious glazed baked Christmas ham
Mum roasted a leg of lamb flavoured with rosemary and garlic. The lamb came from my cousin’s farm at Three Springs.
Roast leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic
Juji took charge of the carving and filled a dish with slices of delicious meat. “There’s plenty more,” she told us as she set the dish on the table.
Baked ham and roast lamb
Jac and I were responsible for the vegetables. First, steamed green vegetables (peas, beans, broccoli).
Steamed green vegetables – peas, beans and broccoli
Just like the previous morning, we got up early to cook. We roasted root vegetables: carrot, sweet potato, butternut pumpkin and whole shallots.
Roasted root vegetables – carrot, sweet potato, butternut pumpkin, shallots
I peeled, chopped and parboiled six large potatoes, which Jac roasted in the oven tossed in two tablespoons of melted duck fat. Yes, Jac and I had duck fat roast potatoes two days in a row!
Potatoes roasted in duck fat
Recipe
Angela made a batch of her special baked stuffing, which is a family favourite. Leftover stuffing makes awesome sandwiches too.
Ange’s special baked stuffing
Juji made the gravy from the roast lamb pan juices. I could’ve drunk it like soup. :) There was a bowl of gravy (pictured below) as well as a jug.
Roast lamb gravy
The little girls waited patiently for lunch. Ruby’s pout in the photo below is for her crazy and exasperating Auntie TFP and her camera.
Ruby and Zoe, waiting for lunch
My plate, with a bit of everything.
The girls enjoyed their lunch. They both sat at the table with the grown-ups, propped up on cushions on their chairs. They had their own kid-sized cutlery and drank milk with their lunch.
Ruby and Zoe eat their lunch
For dessert, CW had made an enormous trifle, and Juji had made macarons with lemon curd filling and raspberry gel centres.
Lemon macarons and trifle
This was only the second time Juji had made macarons – they looked fantastic and tasted great. She’d made macarons for Christmas day lunch with her boyfriend Jay’s family – these were the leftovers. :) But no one was complaining!
Macarons with lemon curd and raspberry gel centre
See Juji’s blog for more details:
- Sweet treats for Christmas – Juji made macarons and pistachio salted butter caramels
- Pandan kaya macarons – Juji’s first macarons
I especially liked the raspberry gel centre (remember how much Juji and I loved the macarons with liquid centres from La Galette de France?). It was the first time my mum ate macarons (she liked them!). We talked about macaron flavours. I think 2011 will bring macarons with durian butter cream made with real durian. :D
Macaron innards – lemon curd and raspberry gel in the centre
CW’s hubby my brother-in-law M grated Toblerone chocolate on top of the trifle just before serving.
The enormous trifle
I had really been looking forward to the trifle (pretty sure I mentioned that more than once on Twitter!) and it was as delicious and enjoyable as I’d anticipated. All the elements of trifle were there: jammy swiss roll with a hint of sherry, custard, tinned sliced peaches, port wine jelly and cream. CW also put passionfruit in the trifle. She confessed that she forgot to add sugar when making the custard, but with all the other sweet things in the trifle, we hadn’t even noticed!
A serving of trifle
Cold trifle is truly one of the best desserts on a stinking hot summer’s day – which we often have around Christmas time in Perth.
Another serving of trifle
We all took some trifle home. I ate trifle for dessert for the next two days. :)
The trifle innards
The chihuahuas enjoyed themselves too. After snarfling down bits of dropped food under the table, Paco was quite happy watching everyone from his little bed.
Paco in his bed
Pepi preferred to snuggle with her dad, having her belly rubbed as she lay on her back. What a life, eh?
I wish I was a dog
Our newest family member
At lunch, my pregnant sister-in-law Angela said she felt like the baby would arrive any day now. And she was right! The very next morning, my brother sent a text message to all the family announcing the birth of his son Caleb. Ruby and Zoe now have a baby brother and I’m an Auntie for the third time! :D A couple of days later, I wrote my first post featuring my new nephew: Welcome, Caleb!
Oh, and Juji made pea and ham soup using her portion of the leftover ham. See her blog for the recipe: