28 December 2013

Christmas Day Lunch (25 Dec 2013)


Christmas feasting at home

Christmas Day for me usually consists of a casual lunch with the family at my brothers place with a spread of seafood, smoked ham and salad followed by a pre-made pavlova base that we dress ourselves with fresh fruit and whipped cream. This year I got some unshucked oysters from the Sydney Fish Market for the first time. Thankfully they weren't too hard to open but I think I was lucky with the variety I bought which were Pacific Oyster Moulting Bay from Tasmania. I was a bit apprehensive about the best way to store the oysters for the 36 hours leading up to Christmas Day after I bought them. I kept them in the fridge vegetable chiller wrapped loosely with a wet tea towel. Seemed to work OK and the oysters were still alive when it came time to shuck them. The How to Shuck an Oyster video from the Sydney Fish Market was also helpful. I think I've now found a new appreciation for shucking my own oysters rather than buying them pre-shucked which tends to wash out all the lovely brine when they use water to clean the shells which you can see in this video of Lucy the oyster shucker at Sydney Fish Market.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: Quality time with the family
CONS: We always prepare too much food
MUST TRY: Shucking more oysters in the future
VERDICT: I love my seafood
Henkell is one of my all time favourite sparkling
Tried my hand at shucking oysters this year
Successful oyster shuck of Pacific Oyster Moulting Bay TAS ($16.90/dozen) from Christie's Seafood Excellence 
Pre-shucked oysters in case my shucking failed me — Christie's Seafood Excellence Sydney Rock Oyster Corrie Island ($19.90/dozen), Pacific Oyster Island Inlet ($17.90/dozen) 
Simple salad
Prawns, lobster and alaskan king crab legs from Coles
Potato salad by mum
Smoked ham
Dad's soy chicken wings
Boston Bay Mussels in white wine
Lettuce and stuffed olives
Always have to have a bit of bread at the table
Table spread
Dessert time with pavlova
Strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
Passionfruit
Mango
Coles pavlova
BiteRiot! cherries — so good

9 comments:

Sherrie @ Crystal Noir said...

Haha that's one big slice of pavlova! Hope your Christmas was absolutely lovely :)

Madam Wu said...

Looked amazing. Totally my kind of food!

Rosa said...

Looks like a great typical Australian Christmas lunch. I think you covered it all - cherries, ham, and seafood. I'm craving pavlova real bad now... :(

Annie said...

the food looks lovely. hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

chocolatesuze said...

good job on shucking your own oysters! looks like you guys had a delicious xmas!

gaby @ lateraleating said...

Lovely meal. Haven't tried that sparkling, did it go well with the oysters?

Helen (Grab Your Fork) said...

Glad there were no oyster injuries! lol. An oyster farmer told me once that it's best to keep oysters in a wet tea towel outside of the fridge, and they should keep for a couple of days at least. I think the fridge can sometimes get too cold? But it looks like they survived so happy days and happy new year Simon!

Helen (Grab Your Fork) said...

Glad there were no oyster injuries! lol. An oyster farmer told me once that it's best to keep oysters in a wet tea towel outside of the fridge, and they should keep for a couple of days at least. I think the fridge can sometimes get too cold? But it looks like they survived so happy days and happy new year Simon!

Simon Leong said...

hi sherrie, the bigger the better i say when it comes to yummy pavlova :-)

hi madam wu, glad you approve

hi RDYN, hope you get your pavlova fix soon

hi annie, thanks for the christmas wishes, hope your's was good too

hi chocolatesuze, thanks, i'll definitely be trying to shuck my oysters next time

hi gaby, i think any sparkling would go well with the oysters although you should definitely try it. dan murphy's is really cheap for it.

hi helen, i'm glad too there was no hand injuries. thanks for the tip about the oysters. i was worried they would die being too cold but thankfully were ok. i got the tip from the sydney fish market website.

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