Xmas is the time for the Best Things in Life

 

Christmas Morning at my house with close family

 

Today was Christmas and as usual, is the best time of the year to get together with family, eat the good stuff and be merry! (This may involve drinking some of the good stuff too!)

To me, there is nothing that could possibly be better to shove down my gullet, than The Honourable Smoked Salmon. Cold or hot-smoked - it doesn't matter! For some reason, it is the epitomy of great cuisine for me and ask anyone close to me, they will tell you I might be just a little bit obsessed!

This year for Christmas, I decided we should celebrate our new house and host Christmas morning there. Of course, what else to have on the breakast menu for that special first meal, than some beautiful smoked salmon with fresh bread. After looking at various recipes for cream cheese dips to complement this combination, I came up with the following recipe and thought it only fair that I share...

First of all, here are most of the ingredients - we had fresh bread from Farro which we grilled lightly. This was more appropriate for a meal, however I have pictured some rather large crackers here, as this dip will be almost more useful for canapes/nibbles.

Cream Cheese & Dill Dip with Capers & Chives

1 tub cream cheese at room temperature

4-5 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives

1 tbsp chopped capers

Juice of half a lemon

1 tsp Dijon or English mustard

½ tsp White Wine Vinegar

Pepper to garnish

Optional: 1 tbsp chopped Coriander

 

Method

·         Mash cream cheese in a bowl using a fork

·         Stir in lemon juice, mustard and vinegar and mix

·         Add in the dill, chives, capers and coriander and stir until combined

·         Garnish with pepper and a few strands of dill

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serve on lightly grilled, fresh bread or crackers and top with wood smoked salmon and finely sliced red onion. Sprinkle with capers and enjoy.

Christmas Dinner with Friends

As you may have seen from some previous posts, Sunday was our Christmas meal together - And we got our feed ON Wolfe style! After spending the last 3 Christmas's in Spain where it is winter time it was so refreshing to be back in NZ and be able to have a meal like this with some of my closest friends on such a beautiful sunny afternoon.

Below are a few pictures of the afternoon/evening - We were lucky enough to be at Kim & Tuckers new house which looks out onto beautiful native bush. We felt so lucky!

Starters I made - all recipes can be found on my friends blog - Details below!

The aftermath..

Chilling on the deck enjoying the afternoon heat.

Roast Lamb with Kim's incredible chili & mint sauce (blog post please! I want this recipe..)

Delicious roast veges with gravy made by Tucker!

My sweetheart!

Jaimee's AMAZING pavlova 

A game of Pictionary to end the evening :)

I personally made the starters which were inspired entirely from my friend Eleanor's blog:

http://www.petite-kitchen.com/

Be sure to check it out - SO many YUMMY creations! And healthy too!

And for your knowledge we took off our yellow crowns after some strange looks from the neighbors.. Tradition people come on!

This is not related but I just wanted to wish you ALL a Merry Xmas and show you how adorable my baby nephew is :)

The Pavlova Challenge

I am proud to say that I successfully made my very first homemade pavlova for our Le Wolfe Magique Christmas celebration.

In my mind a Christmas meal is just not complete without a traditional Kiwi pav. Crisp on the outside, soft and marshmallowy in the centre then piled high with freshly whipped cream and fruit. Yum!

Ironically I used an Australian Woman’s Weekly recipe purely because you bake the pavlova on a plate. A genius idea which eliminates the potentially risky step of transferring the pav from the baking tray to the plate.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 teaspoons cornflour

5 egg whites

1¼ cups caster sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour, extra

300ml cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 punnet strawberries

1 punnet raspberries

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150°C. Grease a large, round ovenproof plate with melted butter, leaving a 3cm border. Sift cornflour over greased area.

2. In a large bowl beat the egg whites until frothy and soft peaks have started to form. Gradually add the sugar (I started with 1 tablespoon at a time until half was gone then added 2-3 tablespoons at a time), beating well until dissolved between additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Use a large metal spoon or spatula to fold in extra sifted cornflour.

 3. Pile the mixture into the centre of the prepared plate. Use the back of the spoon or spatula to spread out into a circle, making a shallow well in the centre.

 4. Reduce oven to 100°C just before putting in the pav. Bake in the lower half of the oven for 1½ hours  or until dry and crisp to the touch. Turn off the oven and let cool with the oven door ajar.

5. To serve, whip cream and vanilla together until soft peaks form. Spread over the cooled pavlova, top with strawberries and raspberries (of course you can decorate with any fruit you like).

For the original recipe, visit http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/food/8174360/classic-pavlova-baked-on-a-plate.