#Christmas2021: Flop proof Christmas lunch recipe

However, we were not all born to be natural great cooks, were we? But don’t stress because we have you covered with a flop proof and easy to make Christmas lunch menu. Have fun cooking!

Starter: Easy bacon chilli poppers:

Wrap bacon around red pepper, jalapeno, and feta cheese. Add some spice to the bacon and bake it in the oven for 10 minutes.

Lunch: Roast chicken with honey spice glaze:

Ingredients:

– 1 whole chicken

– 1 tablespoon honey

– 2 teaspoons Chinese five spice powder

– 1 tablespoon soy sauce.

Method:

– Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

– Take out the giblets and rinse the chicken.

– Trim off excess fat, and pull out any leftover quills with tweezers.

– Score the skin, just cutting through the fat without touching the meat. If this seems like too much co-ordination, just poke it all over with a skewer.

– Put it on a rack over a roasting tray, and put it in the oven for an hour, breast-side up.

– Once the hour’s up, turn it over (breast-side down), then set a timer for another hour.

– Make the glaze by melting the remaining ingredients together in a saucepan.

– Once the second hour is up, take chicken out and brush it generously with the glaze, and put it back into the oven.

– It shouldn’t take more than five minutes for the glaze to go crisp and deep golden-brown – but it’s very susceptible to burning, so be careful.

– Remove, cut and serve hot.

Dessert: Black forest meringue log:

Ingredients:

– 15 ml corn flour

– 4 free-range egg whites (room temperature)

– 200 ml castor sugar

– 45 ml cocoa powder

– 15 ml cocoa powder for dusting

Filling:

– 250 ml fresh cream

– 250 ml pitted black cherries

– Halved soaked in 60 ml rum

– 60 ml grated dark chocolate

– Icing sugar and cocoa for dusting

Method:

– Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

– Line a 25 cm by 30 cm Swiss roll tin with non-stick baking paper and sprinkle with corn flour. Shake off the excess.

– Whisk egg whites while gradually adding the castor sugar until thick and glossy add the cocoa and fold in until well combined.

– Spread into the lined Swiss roll tin.

– Sprinkle with the 15 ml cocoa powder.

– Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

– Once cooked, turn out onto a sheet of baking paper, gently remove the attached baking paper and allow cooling.

– Whip the cream until soft and spread onto meringue, top with chocolate and cherries.

– Using the baking paper underneath, gently roll the meringue lengthwise to create a longer, thinner roll.

– Dust with icing sugar and cocoa powder.

– Cut into slices when ready to serve.

Cocktails: Rudolph-Tini:

Ingredients:

• 60ml vodka

– 30ml hazelnut liqueur

– 30ml coconut flavoured rum

– 30ml half-and- half cream

– two 4 inch cinnamon sticks

– 1 red cherry

Method:

– Pour the vodka, hazelnut liqueur, rum, and half-and- half into a cocktail shaker over ice.

– Cover, and shake until the outside of the shaker has frosted.

– Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with the cinnamon sticks to look like antlers, and the cherry on the rim to look like a nose.

Mocktails: The Grinch Punch:

Ingredients:

– 13 packets unsweetened lemon-lime Koolaid

– 2 cups of sugar

– 350ml pineapple juice

– 350ml frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

– 1/2 litre of Sprite

– Ice

– Red sanding sugar for glass trim

Method:

– Pour 2 quarts of water in a 1 litre container.

– Add the Kool-aid mix and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

– Add the pineapple juice and lemonade and stir well.

– To top the rim of a glass, dip the top in water then dip into the sanding sugar.

– Just before serving, add the Sprite and ice.

– Serve and Enjoy!