A Very Cheffy Christmas

What’s that sound you can hear reverberating through Subiaco? It’s the knocking of knees as nervous hosts panic about what to serve up for Christmas dinner to extended family and friends. We’ve taken the angst out of menu planning for you by inviting some of the suburb’s popular food personalities to suggest fool-proof, imaginative courses for the best Christmas lunch/dinner menu. Ever.

Gail Williams finds a rich source of inspo from local chefs who share their favourite recipes for a Christmas feast to remember.

IMAGES | Matt Jelonek

Entree

Vinenzo Soresi Galileo Buona Cucina Cauliflower & Kingfish salad with pickled vegetables and cauliflower puree serves 10

Like most Europeans, Soresi celebrates on Christmas Eve.

He was born in Alcamo, Sicily where every year the family hoed into cauliflower and kingfish salad with great gusto and ceremony.

He has continued to cook it ever since and it is a popular dish at his Shenton Park

restaurant.

“It reminds me of home,” he says. “It’s a traditional Neapolitan dish served at Christmas. I prepare it on Christmas Eve and serve the leftovers the day after when it tastes even better.”

What we love about it can look just like a Christmas wreath, when you arrange the ingredients on the plate, just so.

Vincenzo suggests serving it with crusty French bread.

Cauliflower and Kingfish salad 800gm cauliflower cut into florets 100gm green olives, pitted 100gm black olives, pitted 50gm gherkins, sliced 50gm baby capers, in vinegar, drained 2 baby zucchini, sliced thinly 1 capsicum, roasted, peeled and diced salt and pepper for seasoning 400gm raw kingfish fillets, skin off, diced to 2cm 40ml white wine aged vinegar 60ml olive oil fennel fronds to garnish 40 ml lemon juice extra olive oil

Heat oven to 210°C. Drizzle extra olive oil over cauliflower, season with salt and pepper. Roast for four minutes or until al dente. Remove from oven and add olives, gherkins, capers and capsicum. Set aside. Mix vinegar and olive oil together. Pour over kingfish. Set aside. Pickled fennel ½ a red onion, sliced 100gm fennel bulb sliced 200ml water 200ml white wine vinegar 12gm salt

Bring water, salt and vinegar to boil and simmer for four minutes. Cool slightly. Pour over vegetables. Set aside.

Cauliflower puree 1kg cauliflower, diced 1 onion, diced 50gm unsalted butter 300ml milk 175ml cream 2 cloves garlic, minced salt and pepper to season

Saute cauliflower, onion and garlic in butter for ten minutes. Add milk and simmer for another ten minutes with lid on.

Add cream and simmer uncovered for ten minutes. Strain liquid reserving to add to puree if necessary.

Blend cauliflower, garlic and onion in a food processor until smooth. Season to taste. Set aside.

To serve, spoon puree on individual plates, top with pickled fennel, salad and kingfish. Drizzle lemon oil from the kingfish marinade over salad. Garnish with fennel fronds. Poultry is an international Christmas favourite. And it’s no surprise to find that Aguirre has put a different twist on the old roast turkey with her suggestion of Confit Duck Leg Roulade – one of her chef, Reece Spackman’s faves. It’s a huge hit at Accent Cafe which features Mexican, French, Spanish and Italian dishes.

She suggests much of the preparation can be done beforehand, with just some last minute touches before serving. Aguirre also likes serving it with sauteed baby carrots and potato Dauphinois. Garnish with cherries or orange slices.

Confit Duck Leg Roulade 4 duck legs 350 ml cider 3tbs salt 2tbs brown sugar 3 cups water 2 sprigs of thyme 2 sprigs of rosemary 2 sprigs of sage 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 small onion, chopped duck fat (to submerge 4 legs) 8 slices prosciutto

It reminds me of home

- Vinenzo Soresi

Accent Café

Main course

Liliana Aguirre Accent Cafe Confit Duck Leg Roulade and breasts with braised fennel serves 8

In a medium saucepan combine salt, brown sugar and three cups water. Bring to boil over medium heat until salt and sugar dissolve. Remove from heat. Let stand 15 minutes; add cider. Place duck in a non-reactive bowl and spoon over brine. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, turning duck occasionally.

After 24 hours rinse off the salt brine and lay the duck in a baking dish. Heat oven to 100°C. Add thyme, rosemary, sage, garlic and onion and completely submerge in duck fat. Bake for 8 hours. Remove from oven and flake all the meat off the bones and shred with a fork, be careful not to leave any small bones in the mix.

Lay a double layer of cling film down on a bench and place prosciutto sideways along the cling film, in two rows overlapping. Spread the duck mixture along the prosciutto and roll into a long firm sausage, fully covering all the confit duck inside. Leave in the fridge to set and cut into 8cm rounds. Just before serving pan fry and then finish off in the oven. Braised Fennel 2 bulbs fennel 500ml chicken stock zest of one orange salt to season one tspn sugar pastis to flambe Heat oven to 140°C.

Trim fronds from fennel and cut the bulbs in half width ways and then cut each half into 6 wedges. Make sure to leave some of the core so it doesn’t fall apart. Season and drizzle with olive oil and flambe in a frypan with the pastis. Once browned, place in a baking dish, pour over chicken stock, orange zest, salt and sugar and slowly braise for 45 minutes or until soft.

Duck Breast 4 duck breasts 50ml olive oil Salt for skin Heat oven to 200°C.

Rub salt onto the duck skin and place into a hot frying pan with olive oil until golden and crispy. Flip breast over and sear the meat slightly. Place on an oven tray, skin side down and bake for eight minutes and rest for three minutes (for medium rare), thinly slice to serve.

Liliana Aguirre and Reece Spackman, Accent Café Liliana has put a different twist on the old roast turkey

Dessert

Ian Gatjens Bohl, El Peruvian Food Company Peruvian Tres Leches Cake

Gatjens Bohl is from Lima, Peru where the family usually has a big feast on Christmas Eve, dousing roast turkey in Peruvian spices. This year for dessert, he will cook the famous Peruvian Tres Leches Cake. And no doubt he will sing Feliz Navidad – his favourite carol – all the way.

Sponge 4 eggs separated ¾ cup sugar 1 tspn vanilla extract 1 ¼ cup wheat flour ½ cup milk 1 teaspoon baking powder

Milk mixture 1 cup condensed milk 1 cup evaporated milk 1 cup whipping cream

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Peruvian Tres Leches Cake

Sponge cake Preheat oven to 150°C. Grease a square or rectangular glass baking tray. In the bowl of the electric mixer, place the egg yolks, milk, and teaspoon of vanilla essence. Beat at high speed for a couple of minutes. Then gradually add the sugar. Lastly, add the sifted flour with the baking powder. In a different bowl, place the whites of the eggs and beat at max speed until they are almost snowy. Add the egg whites to the cake mixture and place in baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes until the top of the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean from the centre of the cake. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool. When the cake is cold, put holes in the entire surface of the cake with a wooden skewer. Milk cream Place the evaporated milk, cream, and condensed milk in the blender. Mix until combined. Pour the milk mixture onto the cake making sure the cake is covered completely. Let the cake stand in the fridge for about six to eight hours. To serve: cover with whipped cream or meringue, dust with cinnamon and garnish with strawberries or cherries for a festive touch.

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