The menu

Last week I showed you all the fancy decorations for our Christmas lunch, and now onto the most important stuff, THE FOOD.

I mentioned that my style with decorating is eclectic. My style with cooking is, getting stuff done, leaving a big mess and hoping that someone else will clean it up.

And usually someone does {Ma in most instances}. I’ve just revealed my secret now though, haven’t I? Thank goodness my Ma doesn’t read my blog. I might be able to keep up this caper for a while longer.

I also don’t like stress in the kitchen. So if you want to replicate what I’ve done, I’ll share how I did it, and tips for getting it all done without losing your mind. All ingredients were sourced from Coles.

First up, here’s what we ate.

For entree: Garlic prawns with baguette. This was my favourite meal of the whole day, and it was so easy. Don’t skip on the baguette because you’ll want to dip your bread into the garlic butter leftover at the bottom of your bowl. I used this recipe for the garlic prawns. If you need tips on how to de-vein prawns, this video is really simple and helpful.

TIP: Prepare your prawns early that morning or the night before. Ideally you’d pass that task off to someone else, but if not just make sure you don’t leave it to the last minute because it’ll be tedious and time-consuming.

For main: Pork belly with three sides. We had beans with garlic crumble, baby carrots wrapped in prosciutto and crispy potato bake. All pork from Coles is sow stall-free. FYI.

TIP: Score the pork beforehand. I know people have different ways of making their pork belly crispy {some say cover it in salt and leave overnight, others like to pour boiling water over}, I just score it {mark lines in it} with a really, really sharp knife. I then turn my oven up to 240ºC and heat up my baking dish in the oven while it’s preheating. Then I put my dish on the stovetop and put it over a heat {make sure you’re using a dish that can be put onto direct heat} and I cook the skin for about 10 minutes, and then place in the oven for 30 minutes before turning it down to 180ºC until it’s cooked through. If you’re looking for another way to cook pork belly, here’s how Curtis Stone does his.

For the beans, get in early and make the crumbs earlier in the morning and set aside. Also, top and tail the beans so that you can just cook them without preparing them. I used this recipe for the beans.

Baby carrots wrapped in prosciutto. You actually don’t need to peel your baby carrots, but I did because I didn’t have a brush to clean them with. I used this recipe for this dish.

TIP: I prepared this dish about an hour before cooking, and just kept it in the baking dish covered ready to go in. I think it could definitely do with a dollop of butter {couldn’t everything?} just to make them a bit moorish.

Crispy potato bake. Seriously, potatoes never looked so good. This is the recipe I used.

TIP: Ideally you want to use a mandolin to cut your potatoes super thin so you get an even cooking and that crispy, crispy crunch. I couldn’t find my mandolin {if it was you who borrowed it, I’d quite like it back now, ok?} so I used a knife and didn’t quite get them as thing as I would like. I also zapped mine in the microwave because I have a horrible knack of under-cooking potatoes and I didn’t want to maintain my reputation. I also made this dish ahead of time, so I wasn’t frazzled. I just popped it in the oven with the pork belly {once I’d turned the temperature down}.

Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate pavlova. I shared the recipe a little while ago.

TIP: You can make this is as one big pavlova, or in individual pavlovas. I was going to attempt to make it in a circle, wreath shape but I chickened out at the last minute. Make this ahead of time, preferably the first thing you do when cooking. You want it to be cool by dessert time. If raspberries aren’t in season, you can use frozen. But the good news is, right now they’re at their best and in season.

And last of all, we finished up with Heston’s Hidden Orange Pudding. A friend who owns a cake business told me that she’d been stocking up on these puddings for a while, because they were that good. OMG, she wasn’t kidding. It’s fruit cake perfection. You do have to boil/simmer it for 3 hours, so make sure you factor that in {otherwise you can microwave it}.

TIP: Serve it with Coles Finest Vanilla Creme Anglaise. Double OMG. Just so good. We’re also going to try the Heston’s Fig Pudding with Caramel Sauce.

Last Christmas she was too little to eat. This Christmas she’s making up for lost time.

And then best of all you get to finish up with a lazy lunch-like dinner, because you’ve outdone yourself at lunchtime. We had the Christmas ham {Coles finest brand}, prawns with cocktail sauce and bread rolls with a little salad-y stuff {we added rocket after the photo was taken}.

And that’s how we did Christmas lunch.

Feel free to copy my menu. I won’t think you’re a stalker, just smart. But you can also scour taste.com.au for recipes. They have a function that you can add all your ingredients to cart, and shop online to save any stress this silly season. You can also check out the free Coles mag in store for ideas too.

Coles are giving one lucky person $1000 to spend in store. You can splurge on decorations, or groceries or whatever you please {we won’t check up on you}. All you have to do is head over to Instagram or Facebook and upload a photo of what you want more of this Christmas {I’m thinking swimming, kicking back with a glass of wine, play with the kids, sleeping…}, and add the hashtag #ColesMoreChristmas and tag me as well, @fatmumslim. Alternatively if you don’t use Instagram, just share a photo on my Facebook wall with the hashtag #ColesMoreChristmas. The competition closes on December 20 at midnight, and there is only one entry per person. Get snapping!