This was officially my third Christmas in Sydney, as home. The first two Chrissy celebrations had been spent with Lee's family - one in the Sutherland shire and last year in the hot and quiet Hunter Valley.
We weren't going to do any of the above this year, and half of me was a little down and bothered about not having the yummy Christmas feast like my dad cooks up back in KL. Lee was also feeling a bit traditional - and spoke about how his old boss traditionally gave out Christmas ham leg to employees. So I said, why not have a ham this year?
Plans came together very last minute. Say - two weeks before. And the Christmas menu was increasing, even though the guest list wasn't. How were we going to feed two mouths with a bloody big ham leg?!
Lee chimes in to say, "That's why there's the ham bag - you keep it as leftovers for a month!"
Gaack!
The week of Christmas, we had a 5kg ham in the fridge and accumulating ingredients for a Raspberry Chocolate Custard Trifle, roast potatoes, chocolate mint bark, salad, cheese board and a delish Adriano Zumbo Christmas pudding. It wasn't long after when the turkey was added.
Thankfully, Lee's mum said she and her partner would spend Christmas dinner with us.
I was pretty eager to make the turkey with my dad's gravy recipe. When I opened up the turkey to start cleaning it up, I found nothing but the neck in the cavity! Absolutely distraught! Where the hell were the giblets and heart and liver?? I should've know, the Aussies were so fond of omitting all the best parts... *sigh*
Lee wasn't familiar with cooking turkey because ham was more an Australian tradition (along with seafood). But I was determined. Sourrain suggested I try brining the turkey, which I nor my dad's ever done before. So I got brining instructions from this diva, and on Christmas eve, this 3.5kg chick was in the freezer bathing away in brine.
After the turkey, I made the Raspberry Chocolate Custard Trifle modified from this recipe. Instead of vanilla custard, I combined mascarpone cheese with chocolate custard - making the trifle a little more like a tiramisu.
On Christmas morning, I told Lee I was going out to the butcher's to find some chicken giblets for the gravy. I left him befuddled, he knew I wouldn't be able to find anything open on Christmas Day. I made my way directly to Ashfield - a predominantly Chinese suburb, and voila! There were three butchers open, along with a number of restaurants and grocers. You can always trust the Chinese to keep business running on non-Chinese New Year holidays!
When Lee's dad arrived just before lunch, we popped the double smoked ham leg into the oven after coating it with sea salt and cloves. After almost an hour roasting, I basted the ham with a homemade spiced apricot glaze. We had taken a day trip up to the Bowen Mountain Hawkesbury area one Sunday in November and bought too much fresh fruit, so this glaze was just one of the preserves from the spoils.
When the ham was served, it was golden. The combination of the clove, sea salt and spiced apricot glaze made the meat so juicy - it was still dripping onto the carving board when we finished lunch! And when we finished lunch, the ham still looked barely touched! That was one big hunk a chunk of meat that's gonna last us a while...
Lee's dad also dug into the Raspberry Chocolate Custard Trifle for dessert, as opposed to the pudding which Lee predicted he would. So I ended up having to make a second trifle for dinner! Hehe...
After lunch, I commenced preparing the turkey for dinner about 4pm. I took the big chick out and made a butter herb rub and followed most of this diva's clear pre-roasting instructions. I washed up the turkey, rubbed the butter herb under the skin, scalded the skin to keep the flavour in, stitched up this chick after stuffing it with one a half of peeled green apples.
Once popped into the oven for the occasional basting, I started on the turkey gravy. I reckon there was a bit of Christmas tradition there for me in wanting to make this gravy. Hence the persistence in trying to get the giblets. I didn't have all the exact ingredients my dad gave me, but I think I did my best to make it taste similarly.
The turkey didn't even get a chance for a photo opportunity when it came out of the oven - it was immediately ravaged and carved into pieces with no fuss.
I was quite shocked when I took a chomp out of it - it was the juiciest turkey I ever had! The flesh was taut and moist, not dry and flaky as most turkeys were - really almost tasted like chicken. Even the familiar crisp burnt skin I was used to was missing. While in the prep, I had taken the advice to wrap the leg and wing tips with baking paper to keep it from burning; and in the last minutes of roasting, I had glazed the bird with the remnants of the spiced apricot glaze, giving the turkey a slight sweet contrast to the salted butter herb rub and brine.
I think it was a pretty good feat in my books for a first time Christmas feast. Lee's mum was eager to know what I put into the turkey gravy, and everyone was stuffed and merry! I reckon this was the best Christmas present than any other.
Now the next challenge is in trying to get past the Christmas ham leftovers in the next three weeks...
Compliments of the season!
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