I'm dreaming of a white Christmas and a 17 pound turkey...

Yes that's right, courtesy of my employer I was given a 17-pound turkey on Christmas eve. Due to this fact, S and I decided that we should host Christmas lunch to give his mum the day off. We had his mum, dad, brother and granddad. So a feast was definitely in order.

Now as happy as I would have been with noodles for lunch, with a turkey in hand, and the family expecting all the trimmings, that wasn't going to happen. So for the two weeks leading up to Christmas the TV was permanently set to the Food Channel for some inspiration and the internet was scoured for turkey cooking advice. In the end I combined a recipe from the Food Network and some advice from Jamie and the result was a mouth-watering juicy bird and complements to the chef.

Now while a roast lunch is one thing, what I wanted to do to make things special was the canapés (smoked salmon & cucumber bites, marinated mini boconccini with Parma ham, roast beef & horseradish cream blinis and goats cheese & caramelised onion blinis), the trimmings (perfect roast potatoes, parmesan parsnips, festive carrots, Brussels with bacon, skewers with stuffing balls and bacon wrapped chipolatas), and of course the dessert, which I am happy to admit is not my forte (I went with individual berry trifles with home-made custard). Oh this is making me want to eat it all over again!

I will post the recipe, which I doubled as my turkey was enormous. Once difference was that I added a little water to the bottom of the pan to help keep the bird moist. Also the best tip which I think made a massive difference was advice from Jamie Oliver. After the turkey is cooked, take it out of the oven cover it in foil and as many tea towels as you can get your hands on and leave to rest for at least an hour and a half (I left for two hours). Trust me it will still be piping hot when you serve it and in that time you have a free oven available to cook all the veg. Brilliant!

Creamy lemon, pancetta & rosemary turkey

4.5-5kg oven-ready turkey
25g pack each rosemary and thyme
2 lemons , finely zested
80g pack sliced pancetta , chopped
150g pot mascarpone
2 onions , thickly sliced

FOR THE GRAVY
1 tbsp flour
100ml white wine
600ml turkey or chicken stock

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Wash the turkey and pat dry. Strip the leaves from half the rosemary and thyme stalks and finely chop. In a bowl, combine the lemon zest, chopped herbs, pancetta and mascarpone. Season well.

Halve the zested lemons and stuff into the cavity, along with the remaining herb sprigs. Use your hand to loosen the skin lying over the breast of the turkey, to create a pocket. Push the mascarpone mixture under the breast skin to create a thick, even layer.

Put the onion slices into a large, flameproof roasting tin, place the turkey on top and cover loosely with foil. Cook for 3-3¾ hrs, until the juices of the bird run clear. Baste every 30 mins and uncover for the last 30 mins if needed, to brown the bird. When cooked, take the turkey from the oven, remove from the tin and leave to rest on a platter, covered loosely with foil, for 30 mins.

To make the gravy, pour away any excess fat from the roasting tin and discard the onion slices. Set the tin over a medium heat, then sprinkle over the flour. Stir through and cook for 2 mins. Slowly whisk in the wine and stock. Bring to a boil, scraping the bits from the bottom, then simmer over a low heat for 15 mins. Serve the gravy with the turkey.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and here's to a great 2010!!

To Dan Dan with love

Having recently moved to Manchester, well a year ago, and having lived in the UK for almost three years, I have been missing something. Good Chinese food or Thai or Vietnamese or Japanese for that matter. If it exists here it is hiding from me. I despaired that until I am back in Australia this food will allude me, that was until I stumbled across a Chinese cash & carry and decided I was going to cook my way through South East Asia and fulfill my love of noodles and all things Asian!

Since I have discovered this noodle dish I haven’t been able to stop eating it, so I thought it appropriate to start off my blog with my current favourite recipe. I will warn you though, it’s pretty spicy so if you can’t handle your chilli then you might want to skip it, but if you are like me then you will probably add more than the recipe states!

I am going through a Sichuan phase at the moment and cannot get enough of those wonderful peppercorns. Just ask S who I think would probably like it if I made steak and chips with a little more regularity! But I am working on him (and his taste buds), and I think it’s working, just the other day he asked if he could have dumplings for dinner which is a massive step for a British born, meat and three veg man. But back to the ingredients, those of you living in Australia should be able to get hold of most of this at your local Woolworths but for us here is Britain, it will require a visit to your nearest Chinese supermarket. I can’t say that is a bad thing I love wandering around buying random sauces and pastes, I even spend some lunchtimes just browsing in China town if I have nothing to do. I highly recommend it!

In the Sichuan province of China, they make this dish in huge buckets that they carry on poles over their shoulders. “Dan” means pole, so these are, literally, “pole pole” noodles. It is a traditional Sichuan dish that has many different variations. This recipe is a slightly modified Jamie Oliver recipe and one which I have become addicted to and must have at least once a week.

Since there are as many different versions of Dan Dan noodles as there are chefs, I have decided to start trying out some new recipes so keep an eye out, I will compare and let you know which I think makes the cut for the tastiest, if not most traditional! That will have to wait until I get to China and try it out for myself, until then, enjoy!



Dan Dan Noodles

Serves 4 (or 2 gluttons)
1 beef or chicken stock cube
500g minced beef (you can also use pork for this, although I personally think the beef works really well with the crunchy texture)
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 small knob ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 long red chillies, finely sliced (I leave seeds in, but if you want less heat take them out, although I should probably mention that this dish isn’t for the faint hearted, it’s pretty spicy)
2 tbsp runny honey
400g fresh udon noodles
4 handfuls of mixed green veg (sprouting broccoli, bok choy, choi sum)
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbs chinkiang black vinegar
2 tsp freshly ground Sichuan pepper
5 tbsp good-quality chilli oil (I also occasionally add whatever other chilli sauces I have in the cupboard just to mix it up, I have a great selection from China town so will add a spoonful here and there)
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
Bunch of coriander, to serve (amount is to taste but I load it up as I love the flavour)
1 lime, quartered, to serve

Crumble your stock cube into a large pan of water and get it on the heat. Add the beef, garlic, ginger and chillies to a dry pan and, on a medium to high heat, keep moving it around until it’s golden and crunchy, about 10-15 minutes. Pour away any excess fat, then add the honey and toss until all the mince is nicely coated. Cook for about 30 seconds, then take the pan off the heat.
Stir your noodles into the boiling stock and move them about so they don’t stick together. Cook according to the packet instructions. Roughly chop choi sum, quarter your bok choy and snap up the broccoli spears. Throw in the prepared greens with the noodles to blanch them. Drain the whole lot in a colander, reserving a mugful of the cooking water (I often reserve more as I like it quite soupy!). Tip your noodles, veg and the mugful of water back into the hot pan.
Add your soy sauce, vinegar, Sichuan pepper and chilli oil. Give it all a good mix with tongs and divide between 4 bowls. Sprinkle over the crunchy beef (you can reheat this at the last minute if you like), finish with a scattering of spring onions & coriander and serve each dish with a lime quarter to squeeze over. At this point I usually take the chilli oil and more Sichuan pepper to the table to top up the dish. I also recommend a big glass of water as the first mouthful of the broth usually has me choking on the chilli, it’s amazing and I am totally addicted!
Note: As I am a glutton I usually halve the mince in the above and make this for two people