To celebrate the Carriageworks Christmas Market we’ve asked some friends of the Market to share their top Christmas tips and recipes with us. In this edition we hear from Carriageworks Farmers Market Creative Director and Chef Mike McEnearney.
What dish will be the feature on your Christmas table?
Christmas is not Christmas without a leg of ham. I love getting my children involved by helping me score the fat and stud it with cloves at the intervals of each cut. What I always find is that when they finish the job the cloves are no longer in a regimental order but higgledy-piggledy instead which makes it even more fun for them. The leg of ham is such a legacy, pardon the pun, because it is stored in our fridge in a pillow slip for weeks on end for my family to steal slices from to make sandwiches and other interesting combinations until mid-January.
It isn’t Christmas without:
It’s a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart is my all-time idol. It never fails to bring a tear to my eye and helps me remember the importance of your loved ones at Christmas time.
The best Christmas song of all time is:
Besides always listening to Handel’s Messiah on loop throughout the day, a great Christmas song is Christmas Time is Here by Vince Guaraldi Trio and last but not least Do they know it’s Christmas for Bandaid 1984 for the kids to have a giggle at my youth.
Recipe: Fast Peach Melba
If you’re not in cold climes, Christmas pudding is never easy to eat on Christmas Day. For me the go to is Peach Melba. Raspberries and peaches are at their peak during the festive season. Peach Melba is all about the balance of sweet peaches, sharp raspberries and the creamy ice cream to bring the flavours together.
Ingredients
4 perfectly ripe peaches
200 g raspberries, crushed with 50gm caster sugar and 1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Pure icing sugar, to taste
Vanilla ice cream, to serve
- Cut peaches in half and remove the seed, then cut into large wedges and place on a serving platter.
- Taste raspberry pulp and if flavour is too sharp, adjust with icing sugar to taste (pulp should be both sharp and sweet)
- To serve, spoon raspberry vinegar pulp over peaches and top with ice-cream.
The Carriageworks Christmas Market is on Sat 21 Dec.
