Christmas Dinner

Year after year, I swear to myself I will not cook Christmas dinner. Yet, every year, I still do. Darn. I must be quite happy torturing myself. This year is kind of stressful as Christmas fell on a weekday. I was really undecided whether or not to cook but I relented in the end. I started brining the chickens on 23rd and sent my helper to get the stuffs ready. I had wanted to try out Terri's Chestnut stuffing. I didn't have time to go to the market on weekdays so I sent my helper. When she happily reported she got hold of the chestnuts, I was quite glad. The supermarkets are selling a can of chestnut puree (about 400g) for S$8.95. When I saw what she bought, I realised I must have been communicating in Martian. She bought water chestnuts. Okay, something must have gone wrong with my description. I told her chestnuts have brown shells and hard but I forgot to tell her they don't come in brown skin and covered with mud.

So with Terri's recipe, I did some damage control and turned it into mushroom stuffings. I roasted 2 chickens instead of a turkey. It's the same effort and since my oven can roast 2 chickens at a time, I offered to cook dinner for my parents. The result is slightly better than my previous attempt of roasting a whole chicken. I have taken a cue from Terri , to cover the chicken with aluminium foil in the initial stage of roasting. Perhaps I still have to get acquainted with the oven. The tips of the wings got burnt but having roasted the chicken breast down, the meat was rather juicy and tender. I stuffed the chickens and truss them. During roasting, the stuffing oozed out a little, making it look like the chickens are pooping. It was quite amusing actually so I asked Ah Girl to watch it. Oops, I hope the description doesn't spoil your appetite.

Mushroom Stuffing
Ingredients
400g Potatoes, boiled
80 g grated cheddar

1 Tbsp Butter
250g Brown Button Mushroom, diced finely
1 large Onion, chopped
2 sticks Celery, diced finely
1 Granny Smith Apple, diced finely
2 Tbsp Vodka (and a few swigs if stressed, I did)
120g day old bread, cut into 1 cm cube
1 Egg
1-1/2 Tsp Sage (crushed)

Salt, Sugar & Pepper to taste

Method
1) Mash the potatoes and cheese and set a side.

2) In a frying pan, add butter and onions, fry till slightly browned. Add on mushrooms, celery and apple. Season to taste and fry till quite dry. Add vodka and turn off flame.

3) Set aside to cool and add bread, egg, sage and mashed potatoes.

The chicken is accompanied by pumpkin soup and salad with yoghurt. I was too tired to take pictures of those. The stuffing is slightly too much for 2 chickens. I baked them in tartshells and turned out to be quite delightful.

After dinner, it's dessert time. That was when my dear girl commented that I am her chef and waitress. Thank you very much but I much preferred to be waited on. I made 2 snowman. 1 frosty found home at my parents'.









































Frosty looking a little sinister after being lit up.



















I also made some mince pies but I'll save the recipe for another time.

And yes, I survived another Christmas dinner! As for New Year's dinner, I'll just stick to stir-fries or sushi.