Róisín's note: Christmas in Australia is HOT, with temperatures often exceeding 100F/40C. So Christmas lunch is not the European hot and heavily spiced meal but light and cooling food. It is often done as a barbecue and salads meal with cold desserts, in the back yard or on the beach. Suits the weather. This is an example of a typical menu:
TEA PUNCH
This can be alcoholic or not, but the essential ingredient is the tea.
. 2 litres of chilled black tea
. 2 bottles of champagne or ginger ale or (fizzy) lemonade, according to taste
. Couple of tablespoons of honey, dissolved in water
. About a kilo of sliced fresh fruit of your choice (fruit may be soaked beforehand in spirits for the alcoholic version).
Combine all of the ingredients in a large punchbowl. Add lots of ice, and let people serve themselves.
HAM STEAKS AND PINEAPPLE:
This can be served hot or cold, it is good either way. Basically slabs of ham, either grilled and served hot with grilled pineapple slices, or simply sliced thickly and served with cold pineapple. Delicious either way!
SALADS: whatever kind you like: tossed green salad vegetables, or apple, orange, apple and onion, or Greek style with leafy greens, olives and crumbled feta cheese.
GRILLED OR BARBECUED SEAFOOD MEDLEY: marinate your choice of fish and/or crustaceans overnight or for at least a few hours, then grill. I like a mix of prawns, yabbies, scallops and Moreton Bay Bug tails. Bugs are those weird things that look like trilobites but are utterly delicious. Marinate the seafood in equal parts of olive oil and lemon or lime juice, with herbs such thyme, tarragon and fresh garlic, then cook quickly on a very hot grill and serve with the salads.
LAMB cooked either on the spit or in the Weber. Or turkey or pork roast, served either hot or cold with an apple or quandong sauce. Quandongs go especially well with pork.
BERRIES AND SLICED STONE FRUITS, chilled and served with ice cream or whipped cream.
PAVLOVA WITH FRUIT AND WHIPPED CREAM: Australia and New Zealand both lay claim to this dish, which is basically a slab of meringue, crispy on the outside but with a marshmallow-like texture on the inside, served with fruit (strawberries are traditional, but I use a mix of berries and sliced stone fruit) and whipped cream. Prepared Pavlova bases can be bought, but if you want to make your own, here is a basic recipe:
Be very sure that no trace of grease or oil, and none of the egg yolks get into the mixture, just the whites. Do not over beat the egg whites, or the meringue will be tough. Beat the whites only until they are stiff, not until they look dry. Beat in the sugar about a tablespoonful at a time, beating well between additions of sugar.
. Heat the oven to 300F/150C
. Line a baking tray with baking paper
. The meringue mix should be piled in a circle on the baking paper.
Ingredients:
4 large egg whites
1 and a 1/2 cups of castor sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence or vanilla bean paste
One teaspoonful lemon juice or white vinegar
2 teaspoonsful of cornflour
1 pint/475 ml of heavy cream
Sliced fruits to taste, to top the pavlova
. In a large bowl beat the egg whites until stiff. Gradually add the sugar, about a tablespoonful at a time, beating between each addition. Beat until thick and glossy, then fold in lemon juice/vinegar, vanilla and cornflour.
. Spoon the mixture into a circle on the baking paper, and bake for about one hour. Cool.
. Beat the cream until it forms stiff peaks, then pile into the middle of the cooled meringue shell.
. Decorate with the sliced fresh fruit. Enjoy!
