This is the happiest time of the year - Christmas, when family and friends gather and share some laughs. The joy of having a small family (of only my parents and I) celebrating Christmas is that I can go to town and cook up a storm without breaking a sweat! Last year we had a 8-course meal (!!!), mostly made from scratch, this year we opted for something simpler - a 7 course meal with half of the courses already prepared.....
Starting with CHICKEN LIVER PATE (with juniper berry) on crusty ciabatta bread, followed by CREAMY GREEN PEA SOUP. Having had a bowl of hearty soup we were ready for the traditional Christmas PRAWNS AND HAM - with the biggest asparagus I've ever seen (about 2cm diameter!!! I kid you not!). Dad just gotta have his Christmas ham.... And then the main course - the focus of my Christmas dinner planning - drumrolls - we each had a whole roasted QUAIL (they only weigh 150g each so don't call me a glutton). It was juicy and dripping with fat (these little critters are in need of exercise) but I enjoyed it. The texture was much like duck but more tender. On the side we had salad of rocket and parmasen cheese - yum. We finished with KING ISLAND CAMEMBERT and PARMESAN cheese platter with grapes, cherries and strawberries, Muscat, Haigh's dark chocolates, and home made Christmas cake, which we set alight with some cointreau. It was fun to prepare but now I have another question - what to have for my next Christmas dinner................
