This year I just had to write about my Christmas.
Being a mother of three – it can be quite tricky to churn out a big dinner. I loved everything, the prep, the food, and the company. My Theme was about being chilled, fun, not being stressed and serve beautiful food for my guests.
The first thing for me was to jot down the menu – as with any prep, the menu is the foundation of how you execute any dinner party. My menu had to have some super easy components, some technical ones and prep that could be done the day or night before. The shopping was done the week before where possible and some meats frozen. I also defrost them (the big cuts of meats)a day or two prior to cooking.
So see below was the initial menu plan. I say initial because the starter had to be changed the morning of the Christmas dinner – someone left the fish outside the fridge and it was no good to use (oh snap!). So we had platters of pigs in blanket, smoked chicken nibbles and espitada’s off the skewer instead – it ended up being fab after all the stress it caused me. In any case, the ice cream was done the day before and frozen – just ready for the garnish and serving. The Gammon was poached, for every 500g (poached for 30min). My Gammon was massive – took four hours. This meant though while it was poaching away – I could do other things.
The lamb stuffing could also be made the day before – I just made mine on the day with the help of my lovely niece Bonie. I love making stuffing from scratch. I will soon share a yummy stuffing recipe that can be used for New year’s eve party snacks. So I only had three things in my oven (and they also really cook themselves in the oven) so less stress again! that’s the chicken and the lamb. Inbox me if you would like me to share a roast lamb recipe!
Oh the bread can be done the day before and just warmed on the day. I also asked my lovely cousin Njongo to make it into muffin pans – looks cute!
I was not shy to ask for assistance – My Niece and her friend, the boys (Okuhle and Sinaso Martins) – everyone had so much fun helping.
The Menu:
Asian salmon & trout fish cakes on a bed of rocket
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Gluhwein poached gammon with plum sauce
Garlic, rosemary and sage stuffed leg of lamb
Ox tongue
Thyme, garlic, lemon & honey roast chicken
Hassel back potato wreath
Corn bread wreath with pate or dip
Festive salad
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A bouquet of ice cream
African Chic 
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