Christmas Day Menu 2021
I am so excited to finally share my Christmas Day Menu! I have been very busy spending the last couple of months in our kitchen creating and testing a range of dishes I know you'll love to make for your family and friends during this festive holiday Christmas season. Not only do I love creating a festive holiday tablescape, I also love making food that makes people smile and feel good - no heavy food comas over here!
Many of you have been asking me what I'll be cooking on Christmas Day and I am so delighted to share my menu with you. This year I decided to do things a little differently - this is a meat free menu and there isn't a crazy amount of dishes. Each recipe has been designed specifically with a "simple to prepare" brief in mind, and with the intention of feeling satisfied but not sickly full. The recipes are fragrant, refreshing and cooling. Exactly what you need on a hot and humid summers Christmas Day.
The hero of my Christmas Day menu this year is undoubtly the Lemon & Dill Confit Salmon. If you know me well, you'll know my favourite food is fish (especially raw fish!) and I have always been so fascinated by preparing a whole side of salmon that's been cured and confited. I decided to give this traditional French cooking method a try this year and honestly, it couldn't have been any easier. I promise! To compliment the stunning confit salmon that offers a sweet, salty, herby citrus kick and melts in your mouth with every bite, I've made a crunchy lettuce salad with buttery toasted walnuts and a hearty anchovy cream. I've also made a herby potato salad and sliced of salted buttery toasted baguette. All you need to add is fresh prawns and oysters (not pictured - I can't believe I forgot to add them in the photos!) and you're all set for a wonderful day with your loved ones.
Lemon & Dill Confit Salmon
This Lemon and Dill Confit Salmon is the new hero on your Christmas Day Menu and the "wow" factor on your Christmas Day table. There is nothing more fragrant and summery than a beautiful side of the freshest, sashimi grade salmon that has been skinned, cured and cooked low and slow in a bath of warm fat, which in this case is sunflower oil! It's an experience you won't forget and will not doubt feature every holiday. It's ultra delicate and fresh, with every bite literally melting in your mouth and it's surprisingly easy to cook too!
Crunchy Lettuce, Buttery Toasted Walnut & Anchovy Cream Salad
I am so excited to share this recipe with you - my Crunchy Lettuce, Toasted Walnut & Anchovy Cream Salad. I knew I wanted a refreshing, crunchy, creamy side salad that would compliment the Lemon & Dill Confit Salmon, and this salad does that beautifully. This recipe is so easy and can be prepared the morning of your lunch or dinner. The lettuce must be served cold (this is a must), you can prepare the toasted walnuts and anchovy cream the morning of (both are so quick and easy to make) and the dish literally takes a couple of minutes to bring together. It's cold, crunchy, fresh, creamy and comforting. All the things you need on Christmas Day.
Herby Potato Salad
If you're looking for a super delicious and super simple salad to make for Christmas Day, this is it. But is it really a Christmas Day menu without a potato salad? Definitely not! In keeping with my meat free theme for 2021, this potato salad is absolutely damp packed with lots of herbs, salted butter, sea slat and cracked pepper. It's simple, it's refreshing, it's earthy. It's the perfect side dish to my Lemon & Dill Confit Salmon, and compliments the rest of my Christmas Day Menu for 2021. To make your own Herby Potato Salad on Christmas Day, read on.
Summer Pudding
Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, ginger beer and mint? Yes please! I am so excited to share my Christmas Day dessert recipe with you - my Berry Festive Summer Pudding. Typically we eat pavlova with fresh cream and summer fruits, and trifle layered with sweet cake, custard, cream and summer fruits for dessert here in Australia on Christmas Day. But this year I wanted to make something a little different. Enter - a Berry Festive Summer Pudding. This summer pudding is sweet, earthy and refreshing, which is perfect for those hot summer days we get here in Australia. You can make it the day before and you only need a few ingredients. Have I convinced you to try this yet? I hope so!
