Let's face it. Christmas is all about presents when you're a kid. It's not until you're older that Christmas becomes more about family - in whatever form they come. It's the crazy clan of relatives that no outsider could ever fully fathom; it's the network of friends and confidantes who get you, put up with you, and sometimes make you laugh so much you feel like you've just run a marathon.
Christmas inevitably involves frantic last-minute present shopping but it also gives us the perfect excuse to congregate over good food. I love that most Aussie Christmas dinners include fresh seafood, a baked ham and the quintessential pav.
To say we look forward to the annual Stomachs Eleven Christmas dinner is an understatement. Mr and Mrs Pig Flyin' aren't just phenomenal cooks, they're incredibly generous in spirit - and spirits!
Origami Christmas trees
We arrived to find a table festooned with origami Christmas trees folded by Silvrlily. She also made a very clever centerpiece using a tangle of lights curled within an upturned glass bowl.
2002 Pol Roger vintage champagne
Mrs Pig Flyin raided her cellar for an incredible bottle of vintage Pol Roger. The party definitely started when the champagne cork hit the ceiling with a bang!
Smoky Bloody Mary oyster shots
Sydney Rock oysters with homemade smoked tomato and horseradish sorbet
We kicked off with oysters three ways. The smoky Bloody Mary oyster shot was incredible, inspired by Movida's signature dish, but given a twist by Pig Flyin with horseradish added to his home-smoked tomato sorbet. I neglected to get a photo but there were also raw Sydney rocks with a gin and tonic dressing. Perfect for summer!
Oysters Rockefeller
Oysters Rockefeller rounded out the trio - plump Pacific oysters covered with a parsley butter sauce and flashed under the grill.
Home-cured and cold smoked salmon using alder wood chips
Pig Fyin likes to smoke... with his barbecue, that is! A side of salmon had been cured and then cold smoked using alder wood chips.
Homemade cold smoked salmon with pressure-cooked mustard seeds
Thick slices of cold smoked salmon were smoky and firm with a lovely springiness in the mouth. Pig Flyin pressure-cooked a heap of mustard seeds to take the heat out of them, and then added them to the salmon for textural contrast.
Prawn cocktails with cos lettuce hearts, avocado and homemade cocktail sauce
We kicked back with old skool prawn cocktails - enormous king prawns perched on a bed of creamy avocado with homemade cocktail sauce and crisp cos lettuce hearts. Such a classic combo.
Deep fried turkey wing tips
Turkey is popping up more and more at Christmas dinners but I love that Pig Flyin decided to highlight that often overlooked treasure - the turkey wing tip! These deep fried babies were deliciously crunchy - and enormous too!
Crispy turkey mid-wings: deboned, brined, sous vide and pan-fried served with turkey gravy and cranberries
The turkey mid-wings had been deboned, brined and then cooked sous vide until tender. Pan-fried to a crisp, these were served with a turkey gravy made from the turkey legs. It's worth remembering too that the turkey mid-wings are about three times the size of a chicken's!
Giant onion rings made with Italian salad onions
Stuffing log with highlights of chestnuts and bone marrow
There was a giant log of stuffing, hidden with surprises of peeled chestnuts and pockets of bone marrow. The entire thing was covered in toasted hazelnuts.
Watermelon, feta and tomato salad with homegrown mint
Salads were light and refreshing, including a juicy watermelon, feta and tomato salad with homegrown mint and a cucumber and Italian onion salad.
Cucumber and Italian onion salad with pressure-cooked mustard seeds
Timballo - Mrs Pig Flyin's now signature Christmas dish
Apparently the timballo has become Mrs Pig Flyin's signature Christmas dish. The amount of work required is worth reserving only for special occasions!
Pasta tubes stuffed with mini meatballs, boiled eggs and peas in a homemade tomato sauce
Cooked pasta tubes are placed vertically in a baking dish then stuffed with mini meatballs, boiled eggs and peas. The entire lot was then covered with a homemade tomato sauce made from locally grown Italian tomatoes. The timballo is baked in the oven until the outer tubes become wondrously crusty. It was one of my favourite dishes of the evening - rustic and made with so much love.
Kurobuta Berkshire ham from Victor Churchill with Christmas spiced orange glaze
There was an audible gasp when the Kurobuta Berkshire ham hit the table, mostly because there was a mad scramble to make room for the beast.
Carving the ham
Still warm from the oven, the ham was incredibly soft and juicy, crowned with caramelised chunks of fat that had been glazed with a Christmas-spiced orange syrup.
Best Christmas crackers ever! Lego mini figures, a farm animal and a scratchie
And let's not forget the Christmas crackers! Silvrlily and Super Mario assembled these using a DIY Christmas cracker kit. The kit includes the paper hat, joke and gunpowder strip but you get to add your own trinkets. Our crackers included a Lego minifigure, farm animal and a scratchie - I scored the diner waitress and the pig. Both highly appropriate! No money won on the scratchie but diner waitress! On rollerskates!
Pavlova with homemade passionfruit curd, mango, raspberries and redcurrants
Dessert was the good ol' fashioned pavlova, oozing with homemade passionfruit curd, fresh mangoes, raspberries and frosted redcurrants. It was amazing. I had a second slice just to make sure.
My mini Baileys Christmas puddings and iced gingerbread men
I brought along petit fours on a Christmas tiered platter I scored from a local market for $20. I'm determined to use it as much as I can during the festive season! I made iced gingerbread men biscuits and mini Baileys Christmas puddings. Everyone was way too full to eat many but that's what take-home bags are for!
Thanks again Mr and Mrs Pig Flyin for another memorable evening, and our Stomachs Eleven family for a night of fun.
Have a brilliant Christmas wherever you may spend it, and here's to plenty of good cheer and laughter :)
Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Stomachs Eleven Christmas - 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008
now that's an xmas feast. happy christmas helen.
ReplyDeleteI was missing your Stomachs Eleven posts. I'm making wishes to meet friends like your hosts next year... ha! Have a merry Xmas!
ReplyDeleteHi Helen! A very Merry Christmas to you & your loved ones. What a phenomenal meal to kick start your festive season! I'm truly amazed by the delicious varieties. Wow from smokey Bloody Mary oysters, to df turkey tips. Lego prizes (on roller skates) and your lovely gingerbread folk!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the silly season!
Turkey wings - what an amazing idea! Merry Christmas Helen - hope you have a great one :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like another incredibly epic feast! Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteOh wow the pasta dish is very impressive! Who'd thought to put them vertically? Looks like you had a wonderful feast!
ReplyDeleteOMG Helen! What a spread, what a feast! How wonderful to have a recurring tradition with such wonderful friends who are part of your family! A Happy Christmas to you too! May the new year be a joyous one for you and your family!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely of Mr and Mrs Pig Flyin to make such mouth-wateringly incredible dishes. I mean how can everything look so delicious?!?! I always look forward to these stomachs eleven posts, they're very inspirational :)
ReplyDeleteHow I love your Stomachs Eleven dinners, have a great Christmas everyone!
ReplyDeleteSuch an absolute dream! Sometimes I'm still surprised that, when I met this Mr and Mrs, they weren't actually magical beings from another chef galaxy.
ReplyDeleteMerry Xmas Helen! Everything looks delicious especially that Xmas ham! I'd like the whole leg please!
ReplyDeleteYum! How on earth do you get in on this action. Gimme a bucket of those onion rings and I'm happy.
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to your stomachs Eleven dinners.. they are always so epic. Once again everything looks great especially that ham yum!
ReplyDeletewhat an epic feast! so jealous of your stomach right now...
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to your stomachs eleven christmas posts. Delicious as always!
ReplyDeleteWow! What an incredible Christmas meal. I would look forward to this all year for sure. The pavlova looks especially amazing. Yum!
ReplyDeleteThese are absolutely lovely! Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteMerry (belated) Christmas, Helen! The feast looks absolutely amazing, I personally love the look of the Timballo the most!
ReplyDeleteMerry (belated) christmas to you! This looks absolutely amazing! home cooked you say? that is quality food... and your gingerbread men, looks so adorable, and the puddings look amazing!
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays!
-Charlene-
OMG!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is hands down the most amazing Christams dinner I have ever seen!!! I jut can't imagine the preparation that went into such an event.
Great story and Merry Christmas, I am sure you had a wonderful day.
Oh wow! Holy amazeballs! That looks absolutely incredible!! My Christmas lunch seems so inferior, lol!
ReplyDeletexox Sarah
The pasta tubes sound fiddly but amazing. What a feast! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, what a spread! That's definitely restaurant quality.
ReplyDeleteWow amazing!!!!
ReplyDeleteThose origami trees are incredible, wonder if I can remember them for this year's Christmas!
And mini meatballs in pasta tubes.... sign me up nowwwwww!!!
Wow amazing!!!!
ReplyDeleteThose origami trees are incredible, wonder if I can remember them for this year's Christmas!
And mini meatballs in pasta tubes.... sign me up nowwwwww!!!