Saturday, 27 December 2008

Tight balls!!

Ok ... the clock has chimed its final yuletide hour, so regardless of the fact that some people choose to subscribe to the whole 12 days of christmas scenario, for me Christmas ends Now!!! Off comes the christmas playlist on my ipod, into the bin with the christmas wrapping spoils, and as for all those christmas cards on the mantelpiece ... banished into the darkened corners of bookshelves overgroaning with books, cds, dvds etc.

Now what to do with all that leftover food ...?? A chunk of which I cleverly decorated the toilet bowl, bathroom floor and walls and one half of the sink with last night ... yeah mensus material I am ...!! (oddly enough, it wasn't to do with drink ... erm don't give me the side-eye! or rancid food ... but simply too much food ... and rich food at that).

I have to say that I think this Christmas tops it all for culinary delights and jollity (?). Our Eurasian turkey night went really well, with the added pressure of cooking for a professional!!!

It was a well-organised affair on our part as we made preparations for the meal throughout the week. The first thing to happen was the stuffing.

ingredients for the stuffing

The main ingredient for our stuffing is rice and leeks, to which I added onions, garlic, ginger, chopped celery, star anise, cloves and pepper and salt to taste. Its your basic stir-fry job and can be done in advance.


We tackled the sauce on another night ... main ingredient ... wait for it ... GIBLETS!! ... do you need some smelling salts??

This is a tricky sauce, there's a bit of alchemy involved of the "lump of Pure Green!!" variety in that the amount of red wine you use will determine the eventual colour that the sauce will come out as at the end ... trust me ... it could taste like heaven but no one's going to touch something that looks like liquid cement in a bowl!!

giblets in a bowl .. oh yummy! - note artfully placed cat food tin - a little too apt?

So I generally go by feel and sight ... adding the red wine bit by bit and keeping my fingers crossed ...


The night before we marinade the turkey with five spice, chinese cooking wine, ginger, garlic, salt, pepper and we prepare the basting sauce which also includes honey for the glaze. The turkeys are then stuffed on the morning and ready for the oven ...


The turkey is covered and allowed to roast on the lowest heat for at least 3 hours, depending on the size ... but the important thing is to base every 15 minutes religiously ... unfortunately folks I do not have pics of the end result as the party was in full swing ... and the cooks were feeling very well indeed ... but here are pics of the satisfied punters .. and I do believe this was our best turkey yet!!!


Well now my entire digestive track is screaming out to me to please stop shoving food down my gullet ... and I will tell you why in another post ...

PS ... Big Whoo to K & M on the purchase of their very first home ... aaww ... the burden of property .. very proudmaking!!!

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