So last Sunday was the big Christmas in July dinner Jackie and I have been planning for the past two or three weeks. In reality, I had been planning it and she had been giving it after thoughts, either way it all culminated into one evening of heaps of food.
On the menu was a big roast turkey accompanied by various vegetables. I put her in charge of dessert to a)involve her more and b)so that I wouldn't have to worry about it. In the end, it was a good decision because it was one massive thing off my shoulders and it didn't taste too bad.
Cooking the turkey was an interesting journey. Never having roasted a whole bird before, let alone a giant gobbling thing, I was a little apprehensive. My job was slightly easier by buying a buffet turkey, where they cut off about half the bird, leaving the breast and the drumsticks. The rest just disappears... Although it was easier in the sense that it was only half a turkey, it was much more difficult in the sense that I didn't have any recipes I could follow. In the end, it was left to ad lib-ing and common sense.
To begin with, I defrosted it for about 3 days in the fridge. Then when that was done, I salt and peppered the skin then rubbed butter everywhere. Preheated the oven to about 180 degrees. In the roasting tin, I covered the bottom with carrots, fennel, garlic and some onions to flavour the gravy. On top went the bird. Because it was cut in half, essentially, I couldn't stuff it so I just wanged some of the vegetables in the tray into the cavity. I don't remember exactly how long it was in the oven for. It started with foil covering for an hour. Then I saw the oven thermometre said it was only 140 degrees so I cranked the dial up to about 240 degrees. Back in it went without the foil for about 40 minutes, by then the skin had really coloured up so foil went back on and a final roasting of maybe another 40, basting each time I took it out of the oven with the pan juices.
Come time to carve, I had no idea whether it was properly cooked or not. I did the skewer-juices-run-clear test and it passed, but I still couldn't be sure. It was only when I started cutting into the breast meat to see a sea of white flesh was I happy. It may have been a little dry but considering it was my first, I'm not too displeased with that. The drumsticks were very tight though, so perhaps next time I'll actually cut them off and roast them for a bit longer, essentially turning it into a turkey crown roast. Not a bad idea.
While the turkey was resting, some pumpkin slices (butternut I believe) were put in the roasting tray on top of the vegetables and thrown back in the oven. Once again, I was winging it so I just kept them in there, turning occasionally, till they had coloured a little and shrivelled up a little too. When they were done, it was gravy time! Because there was so much crap in the pan already, I decided against using the flour method. Instead I just poured some stock in and let it bubble and cook for a bit before straining it into another pan and monté-ing some butter in, or at least that's what I was aiming for. Some chopped parsely through at the end and it was done.
I also had some Dutch carrots, basically long, thin, weedy little buggers. Originally I was going to cook them in some boiling water but decided to do the Jamie Oliver roasting in balsamic vinegar thing. It was a bit of meh. When they came out of the oven, good God they were ugly. They had shrivelled up a touch but more than that, they developed these tiny little bumps in places. I'll be honest, they looked diseased.
To bring this all together was the mash potatoes, or pomme puree as I'll call it to be a dick. Because I didn't have the time or hands to do it, I had to entrust it to anyone who had already arrived. In fact, I had a very small role in it apart from telling them what to do. Felita peeled the potatoes, then her, Tim and Chris passed them through a sieve. And they were also in charge of cooking it out and seasoning it. Just on the seasoning, I believe they over seasoned it. I should have added more milk to it to get a creamier consistency. But they also added too much salt and butter so that it was yellow in the end. Sure, that's how Gary made it on Masterchef but I like to taste potato, not butter. Also the arteries don't really appreciate it.
Next was dessert. Jackie made three things, individual chocolate mousse cakes, made with instant mousse, topped with a chocolate ganache, individual cheesecakes topped with a caramel sauce and apple crumble. Of the three, the cheesecake were head and shoulders above. As mentioned, it was instant mousse out of a packet, except she forgot to add gelatin so it was just mush. The base was a bit thick I believe, but the ganache was delish. The cheesecake was lovely, but perhaps a bit too firm. The caramel sauce was a bit too sweet for my liking. The apple crumble was just fail. It was tinned apples topped with a pretty terrible excuse for crumble. The only reason I ate it was because she bought custard as well and I love my custard.
Apart from the food though, it was an ok night. The six of us, down from the original 12, ate in a very intimate setting. Instead of using my house lights, we broke out the candles so we had a candle-lit dinner, with some soothing jazz music playing in the background (I cheated by playing one of the Jazz Chillout compliations). That was a surprisingly nice way to eat.
Good food, good company and good atmosphere. What more could you ask for.
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