dazzle your guests with traditional christmas dinner recipes

traditional christmas dinner recipes

Traditional Christmas dinners are what the holidays are all about and it is those recipes that you can carry on for generations so that your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren can enjoy for years and years to come. Close your eyes and think back to the very first holiday meal that you can remember. More likely than not, that vision has you surrounded by tons of loving family and friends by a beautiful, glowing Christmas tree, singing carols around a piano while smelling wafts of deliciousness floating out of the kitchen as the matriarchs of the family (most likely your grandmother) slaved away in the kitchen preparing a mouthwatering feast for you and your family to devour.

traditional christmas dinner recipes

When it comes to traditional holiday meals, there are two protein staples that can usually be found baking in every oven across the globe; roasted turkey and baked ham. These two items can be prepared in a million and one different ways and how you put your own spin on these dishes is what forms the traditions for your family. The turkey is usually slow-roasted for several hours while being lovingly basted every 30 minutes using melted butter mixed with fresh herbs such as sage and parsley. Be sure to throw in some fresh diced carrots and celery into the bottom of your roasting pan as that will add great flavor to the drippings for your gravy. If you are baking a ham, the most traditional way to prepare it is to baste it with a combination of fresh orange juice, pineapple juice, mustard and brown sugar. The sweetness of the marinade is a great compliment to the pork.

traditional christmas dinner recipes

Some other traditional recipes that are not used as often as they were once used in the past is oyster casserole and the use of the turkey giblets inside of the gravy. Some traditions can just be left to history, can't they? A traditional Christmas dinner would not be complete without the delicious side dishes. Usually these include a delicious stuffing filled with your favorite items such as corn bread and sausage or diced apples and sourdough croutons, candied yams, green bean casserole and fresh steaming rolls with melted butter.

traditional christmas dinner recipes

MRS KENDALL’S LENTIL SOUP

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Medium Onions, finely chopped
• 500g Carrots, finely chopped
• 200g Red Lentils
• 3 Pints of Ham stock
• 200g Smoked Ham cubes
• Small bunch of parsley finely chopped
• Salt and Pepper

PREPARATION

1. Add all of the ingredients into a large pot, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes until the vegetables and lentils are tender.
2. Cool the the soup slightly and then liquidize.
3. Add the chopped parsley and serve with crusty bread.

ROAST BREAST OF TURKEY

INGREDIENTS

• 3kg Skinless, boneless Turkey Breast
• 16 Rashers of Smoked Streaky Bacon

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Place the bacon rashers over the entire surface of the breast to ensure the turkey doesn’t dry out during cooking.
3. Put the turkey breast into a shallow roasting tray and cover loosely with tin foil for the first half of the cooking time, for the second phase of the roasting remove the foil to allow the bacon to crispen.
4. Baste the turkey every 40 minutes.
5. Roast the turkey until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the breast reaches 75°C using a meat thermometer. In my oven this took almost 3 hours.
6. Remove the turkey from the oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for about 1.5 hours then carve and serve with gravy.

traditional christmas dinner recipes