Christmas Lamb Dinner & Capon Recipe - Succulent & Tastier Than Traditionally Dry Turkey

Why is Christmas dinner causing problems for you and your family if you don`t like turkey. Okay, and yes Turkey is a traditional meat eaten on Christmas day however, it does not mean you have to force feed yourself and others to eat something not pleasing to the palette. Christmas Dinner is about tasty food that is acceptable for those sat round the dinner table. If peoples belly rumble due to emptiness then Christmas dinner was not to their required taste, however if their bellies should bloat then this therefore proves that the sitting filled all - and it was all down to you.

Now established that Turkey will not grace the table this year, it is time to look at other succulent meats to take its place. Some people although not a lover of eating turkey still buy poultry produce because they think the table looks odd without a roasted bird sitting in the centre.

Listen up if the right joint of meat lays claim to the middle of the Christmas dinner table - Turkey will not be given a second thought. Although a dry meat it does not stop folk purchasing one because of tradition. Some people still cook Turkey and after serving its purpose of looking Christmassy it is removed to make way for Lamb, Beef, Pork, or Chicken. The Turkey is never wasted and used to make tasty sandwiches fillings. Beat dry Turkey down with beetroot, pickles and flavoured sauces. Use it for casseroles and stews. It also makes appetizing burgers and good in green salads; it can be used in stir fry dishes also. Turkey bits flavour omelettes.

Christmas Roast Leg of Lamb Dinner

Full leg of lamb, (5lbs, 2.25 kilos)
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Chopped thyme and Rosemary
Bottle of burgundy
8 oz carrots
8oz white turnips
2 lbs potatoes
1 lb parsnips
10 shallots
4 garlic cloves
Sprigs of rosemary and thyme
2 Bay leaves
1 tablespoon of redcurrant or apple jelly
Sea salt and black pepper
Parsley to garnish and add color

This is a busy time for the chef so allow time for ingredient preparation and other. Christmas Eve is a good time to sort things out so you are not rushed off your feet on the day.

Using a skewer pierce the leg of lamb several times. Insert sprigs of rosemary into piercings. Lightly dribble olive oil over the lamb, cover and leave to stand till on work top ready for cooking.

Cooking Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 8 (450°F, 220 °C.) Pour olive oil into roasting tin then rest on top shelf to heat the oil - leave for 15 minutes. Wash and peel root vegetables and cut into quarters. Shallots can be peeled and left whole. Peel your garlic cloves if you prefer, but not necessary.
Dry vegetables with kitchen towel and add to hot oil in the roasting tin, turning the vegetables over to coat. Add whole garlic cloves. Put in the oven for 30 minutes turning once. Remove the vegetables and put aside.

Now rub sea salt and powdered black pepper into the leg of lamb and place in the roasting dish for 30 minutes. Then take out and place on top of the cooker on a medium heat. Now pour in the wine. Be careful with spitting hot oil. Baste lamb while adding chopped thyme and rosemary. When the wine begins bubbling, - cover the tray with tin foil. Lower oven temperature to Gas Mark 3, (325 °F, 170 °C), Cook for 1 hour 30 minutes.

When cooked baste lamb joint with meat juice and return vegetables with two bay leaves added. Place back in stove for a further hour and a half. Don't forget to remove the sprigs of Rosemary before serving. Leave roasted leg of lamb aside to cool for 30 minutes.

Still using juice from the lamb and vegetables add jelly and simmer to thicken. Squeeze cooked garlic cloves into the mixture. Dress vegetables with parsley and sit the leg of lamb on a serving dish..

Capon Dinner

Not quite as big but yet as tasty like the traditional bird is the Capon or as some folks say the "castrated rooster." The capon is a large poultry bird bigger than a chicken. Capon as the centerpiece for Christmas lunch is an ideal substitute.

Capon cooking and ingredients:

4 to 6-pound capon
1/2 cup melted butter
salt and black pepper
4 tbsps basil
4 tbsps thyme
4 tbsps tarragon
2 tbsps rosemary, finely chop as with the 3 above
3 tbsps minced garlic
2 medium onions, quartered
2 sticks of celery, sliced
Cube 2 red apples
Dice 2 green apples
1/2 cup white wine
3 cups chicken stock

Fresh is always best, however if your capon comes frozen thaw in refrigerator for 48 hours. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Swill capon thoroughly with cold water and kitchen towel dry. Place poultry in middle of a roasting dish and season with salt and pepper. Using a small basin mix melted butter with the chopped herbs and garlic to make a paste. Rub this under the breast skin and over outer skin. Circulate capon giblets along with diced vegetables and apples into the dish. Pack tightly over with tin foil and roast like this for 2 1/2 hours. Check for tenderness at 2 hours. Remove foil and allow skin to brown. When cooked remove capon from roasting dish and keep warm. A tasty sauce is easily made from dish drippings.

Discard as much of the fat as possible from the dish without upsetting the natural drippings. Be careful while in the process of making the sauce to avoid burns. Place dish over high heat to caramelize juice. Deglaze drippings with wine, scraping the dish with a spatula. Add chicken stock, and allow it to simmer. Do not boil and reduce to approximately 1 cup. Strain and season - then serve the sauce with sliced capon.

I bet throughout the whole time while you followed both recipes given here not once did Turkey come into mind. Just proving a point that's all. Tradition or not, if it tastes as good as it looks then you are onto a winner

Press Cookies For Christmas

Press Christmas cookies are one way to make interesting and delicious cookies for the Holiday season. They do require some special equipment and are one of the more complex cookies to make for Christmas. But once you get the hang of it, they are worth it. And making pressed cookies with your kids can become one of your Christmas traditions.

It takes a bit of practice to make press cookies come out picture perfect. Press cookies are forced through a disk that has a cut out shape, for example a star or Christmas tree. It is forced out through the use of a plunger pressing through a long tube you load with cookie dough. The tube has a place to insert die's or the disks with the shape you want on one side and a handle on the other with a sliding top which moves down the tube in order to press the cookie dough through the disk's design. Wilton makes a great line of cookie presses that come with a wide variety of cookie shapes.

There is a variety of different cookie presses out there from simple and inexpensive to professional grade. Disks are usually not interchangeable so keep this in mind when getting your press. There are a number of recipes you can use with press cookies with a variety of ingredients. One of the common ingredients is cream cheese. If you do not have a cookie book that has press cookies in it, there are a number of websites that provide great recipes for press cookies.

Children can help you assemble the ingredients, choose the shape of the cookies, and if they have the strength, help press the cookies.

Here is a basic recipe to get you started this recipe is for whipped shortbread. Whipped shortbread is a variation of a regular shortbread recipe that has been modified to work with a cookie press.

Basic Press Cookies

Ingredients

1 lb butter

1 C Powdered Sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

1/2 c cornstarch

3 C all purpose flour

Instructions

1. Start by preheating your oven to 350 F.

2. While your oven is preheating, cream butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.

3. Once these ingredients have a creamy consistence gradually, add the cornstarch and flour. Use an electric mixer to whip these ingredients till fluffy.

4. Place some of the dough into the cookie press, following your cookie press' directions and press out cookies onto a cool baking sheet.

You can decorate these cookies with candied cherries, pieces of cherries, sprinklers or whatever else you might want to use for decoration the place them in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. Take them out of the oven and let cool at least 2 minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a wire cooling rack. Then simply store in an airtight container.

The thing to remember with press cookies is that because they are being pressed through small openings, the dough needs to be fairly compact within the cookie press. This will help to prevent breaks in the cookies and make sure that each pressed cookie is complete. Just about any cookie recipe can be used to make press cookies however, it must be plain dough or one that has very small pieces of things like nuts and cannot be too dense like oatmeal.

Butter is the best choice over margarine or shortening because it will help the dough keep it's shape. The dough should be at room temperature but you can chill the cookie press itself.

Using a cookie press results in a really elegant cookie that is easy once you get the hang of it. Try the recipe above with different food coloring and your green Christmas trees or yellow stars will delight young and old alike.