Christmas 2011 - a Nigella affair

Christmas a time for over indulgence, and the time between Christmas and New Year ideal for a few posthumous recipes...

A first this year for me as I brined my turkey prior to cooking it. I made a brine mixture of salt, sugar, thyme, sage, lemons, bay leaves and peppercorns and there would have been rosemary in there if
a) I could have bought some and b) I hadn't over pruned the rosemary in the garden
to a mere twig! However I was happy with my little fragrant concoction minus the rosemary.

Brining is quite easy really, the hardest bit is finding a vessel large enough to hold the brine and a large bird. You submerge your bird then your it somewhere cool in the brine (I added a lot of ice to it too) for at least 24 hrs, you can try for longer but I was a first timer and did not want to risk an overbrined bird. My turkey was free range and bought from my local fishmongers who also supplies the best poultry.

Once the turkey has done its brining thing, its time for a quick shower in cold running water, (that's the turkey not me) a dry off with kitchen towel/paper and leaving it to come up to room temperate before roasting, and doing any of that pre roasting attention.

I don't stuff mine as such but I do cover with bacon and fill the cavity with apple and onions and make a foil covering for it.

There is a turkey brining recipe in Nigella (Lawson's) Christmas book, which I have had for years. If you bought me this once as a Christmas gift please put your hand up I'm sure one of you did?

I also made Nigella's 'ham in coca cola' recipe, which has become a tradtion in this household over the past years (I keep trying to wean them off it but I they won't be budged!). Its a lovely recipe and no bother at all to make, but you will have to go to the Nigella website for it as it does not feature in this book.

And...yes there is more...I made Nigella's rocky road as one of the sweets for a lunch one day, but turned it into a festive Christmas wreath. Nigella adorns square slabs of hers with plastic bambi's. trees, icing sugar and such. Mine was adorned with red and green smarties and edible disco Christmas glitter and the wreath shape idea came from Lynne Hill.

The wreath was a hit and tasted very good, well...ask yourself... how can you make 400g of chocolate, plus additional yummy sundries such as marshmallows, hazelnuts, golden syrup, butter, fruit and biscuits taste bad?

I'm entering this post in Sarah at Maison Cupcake's

Forever Nigella blogging event...the last one for this year in this format...

and unbelievably yes I need new kitchen scales!

You can see the other fabulous entries below...