Christmas eve started off a little slow, I woke up with a head-smashing migraine.  Col went out for a haircut, called his parents and when he came home we had some Brunch Burritos (recipe to follow).  Since we had Christmas plans at the Maddens house, we planned for our own little McMaster Christmas to take place on Christmas Eve.

It wasn’t long before the food was a-cookin’,

I slow-cooked a fresh leg of lamb in my Martha Stewart dutch oven.  It’s really quite simple to make a tasty, tender leg of lamb.  Mix a little salt, pepper and a healthy dose of rosemary in a little olive oil and brush over the lamb.  Slice a medium-large onion, and put in the bottom of the dutch-oven, add a little stock (vegetable) so the meat doesn’t stick to the bottom, cover and cook at around 300F for a couple hours.

To go with our lamb, I made Col’s mums,

Layonnaise potatoes

Ingredients

• Wholegrain mustard (2 tbsp/personal taste)
• ½ a small onion (I use shallots)
• 1-2 cups shredded cheese (I prefer cheddar/parmesan)
• Garlic powder (1tsp)
• Cream/ ½&½  1-2 cups
• Bag of baby potatoes
• Butter (1tbsp)

Directions

1. Boil baby potatoes in a large saucepan – about 15 mins.
2. Slice potatoes and layer in the bottom of an oven-proof dish
3. In a separate saucepan, sauté onions and garlic in butter over medium-low heat until onions soft and translucent.
4. Pour cream into saucepan with onions and mix in mustard – stir and cook til hot.
5. Pour mixture over potatoes, grate cheese over top and bake in oven until cheese starts to brown (around 20-30 mins)

Some people like to add bacon in to the dish (cook at step 3 with onion)

This recipe is very much based on personal taste, if you like a strong flavour, add more mustard and garlic, if you like them sauce-y (oooh, errrr!) add more cream, and if you’re a fan of ‘the cheese’, add more cheese!

We started with a Caesar salad (with wonton strips instead of croutons) that was surprisingly tasty (with Caesar dressing it’s often a risk!)

We had chicken and lamb for our main, with all the trimmings, stuffing, roast potatoes, layonnaise potatoes, carrots roasted with red onion and fennel seeds, peas complete with Yorkshire puddings and gravy.  I was surprised how much lamb we got off the joint, in fact, we have enough left over to make a curry from some day – God bless freezers!

For those of you who’ve never had Yorkshire puddings before, you’re missing out!!

Here’s Deliah Smiths recipe – it never lets me down!

Ingredients

3oz/ 75g plain flour
1 egg
3fl oz/ 75ml milk
2fl oz/ 55ml water
vegetable oil
salt and pepper to season

cupcake/muffin tin

Method

Pour oil into the bottom of each of the pots in the cupcake pan, not too much, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.  Yes, you are technically frying these these golden treats, but you don’t need to drown them!

Make up the batter by sifting the flour into a bowl and making a well in the centre. Break the egg into it and beat, gradually incorporating the flour, and then beat in the milk, 2 fl oz (50 ml) water and seasoning (an electric hand whisk will do this in seconds).

There is no need to leave the batter to stand, so make it when you’re ready to cook the pudding.

About 15 minutes before the meat is due to come out of the oven, increase the heat to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C), place the muffin tray on a free shelf to heat up the oil for a few minutes.

Take the tray out of the oven (be careful with this, it’s hot!) pour the batter equally into the muffin tray, this batter should make around 12 Yorkshire puddings.  Return to the oven, the pudding will take 10-15 minutes to rise and become crisp and golden. Serve as soon as possible: if it has to wait around too long it loses its crunchiness.

For dessert, we had delicious Sticky toffee pudding that we picked up at the British Bazaar and froze.  DELICIOUS is an understatement, the Sticky Toffee Pudding Co. may be slightly over-priced, but it’s wares are absolutely divine!  Especially when it’s coupled with some home-grown, Bluebell vanilla ice cream and we haven’t been home in almost two years to enjoy some sticky toffee pudding!

Table set and ready to go, complete with Smirnoff pineapple and prezzies to open after dinner!

I see you! lol!

It doesn’t make any noise! lol!

Dinner was delicious and the presents, from my sister and her fiance, were hoodies from our hockey team at home – and were very well received indeed!