Gather at Coriole chef Tom Tilbury’s guide to a delicious, stress-free Christmas
You’re hosting Christmas and have nothing organised. Don’t panic! With help from Gather at Coriole chef Tom Tilbury, we’ve created a seven-day guide to a delicious, stress-free festive feast.
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It’s a week before Christmas and all through the house there’s clutter and presents to be wrapped – who’s even organised food? While Santa is just about ready to take to the air, he unfortunately doesn’t cater, so now’s the time to get your festive menu sorted.
Don’t panic. It’s entirely possible to cater for family and friends without stress, says McLaren Vale chef Tom Tilbury.
Tom, of South Australia’s number one restaurant in delicious.100, Gather at Coriole, says preparing a few things ahead of time helps free up the big day.
“Christmas is about sharing time and food with your family, so the last thing you want to do is use up all your time on the day prepping in the kitchen while everyone is relaxing,” says the father of two. Tom has shared his top tips and simple recipes for a happy – and delicious – Christmas for all.
TOMORROW
Decide what you want to serve and write a shopping list. Browse recipe collections on delicious.com.au or take advantage of the recipes Tom has shared here, which are sure to impress your guests, with little fuss.
“Plan your menu so you can be prepared through the days leading up,” Tom says.
“Condiments, dressings, sauces and marinades generally have good shelf life, so can be prepared well in advance and can add good flavour to your food.”
Tony O’Connell from O’Connell Meats in the Adelaide Central Market says hams can be purchased now “as they will store well in the fridge inside a ham bag”.
Just be sure to create space in your fridge, first.
OVER THE WEEKEND
Unless you’re one of the lucky ones who’ve finished the working year early, you’ll probably want to do your big shop Saturday or Sunday. Local markets such as the Willunga Farmers Market (Saturday) and Adelaide Showground Farmers Market (Sunday) will be open and are a great place to find fresh, local produce.
“Buy nice, seasonal produce from local growers and it will taste best, stay fresher for longer and you don’t have to do as much,” Tom says.
“Some quality tomatoes, fresh chevre or fromage blanc, basil, olive oil, aged vinegar, sea salt and black pepper is all you need for a good salad.
“Serve tomatoes at room temperature to improve the flavour.”
The Adelaide Central Market is extending its trading hours, opening on Sunday and Monday and from 6am on Christmas Eve.
MONDAY(ISH)
Whether you’re cooking up some hot sides or fresh salads, a little veg prep goes a long way.
“Prepare your vegies prior to the day by cleaning, trimming, portioning and storing in appropriate containers, labelled, so that on the day they can be cooked and dressed for whatever you’re using them for,” Tom says.
TUESDAY
From barbecued seafood to roast, now’s the time to infuse flavour in your proteins.
“Marinate the meats on Christmas Eve,” Tom says.
Tom’s take on roast chicken is a contemporary alternative to a big turkey.
“If you want roast chicken, ask your butcher to spatchcock your bird to speed up the process,” he adds.
Tom’s parfait dessert can also be prepared today, ready to serve tomorrow.
“Stick to desserts that you can prepare in glasses if you want them individual, or set in a nice-looking bowl that can be placed in the middle of the table,” he says.
CHRISTMAS DAY
Stay cool by serving up as much cold food as possible.
“Christmas is generally hot, so cold plated food is always good and eases the workload on the day,” Tom says.
“For snacks, seafood like prawns or natural oysters are hard to beat. Be generous and creative with condiments and people can have fun with peeling their prawns and mixing up condiments.”
Try Tom’s lemon aspen vinaigrette recipe, which sounds fancy but it easy
to make.
If you’ve prepped your veg already, now’s the time to assemble and dress, and if you're making Tom’s roast chicken, turn on the oven and barbecue.
Oh, and don’t forget about that parfait in the fridge, which simply needs to be garnished and served!
Gather at Coriole, 79 Chaffeys Rd, McLaren Vale 8323 8305, coriole.com
LEMON ASPEN VINAIGRETTE
This works well with prawns and oysters and is as simple as blending the ingredients together and adjusting the levels of sweet, salt and acid to suit. It can be made days in advance
200g lemon aspen (find this at Something Wild in the Adelaide Central Market)
200ml grapeseed oil
Salt and sugar, to taste
Blend all together and adjust seasoning accordingly. Strain dressing through a fine sieve before serving.
HERBED CHICKEN
For a simple way to cook your chicken, make a herb paste the day before
Bunch of parsley
Half bunch tarragon
2 tbs thyme leaves
2 tbs rosemary leaves
200ml good olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
Red wine vinegar
Sugar
Salt and pepper
Blend all the ingredients together, adding the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper to
taste.
This paste will work well with chicken, beef or game. Try Tom’s steamed and barbecued chicken method: On the day, steam your chicken in a 140C oven in a deep-sided roasting tray, with 2 litres of hot chicken stock with some onions, bay leaves, carrots and celery.
Steam until the internal temp of your chicken comes to 70C. Meanwhile, fire up the barbecue.
Just before you are ready to serve, remove chicken from the tray and barbecue it skin-side down to crisp up – this works best on a flat-top barbecue plate.
Once the skin is crisp, remove from the barbecue, chop up the chicken through the joints and cover in the herb paste to serve.
DAVIDSON PLUM & VANILLA PARFAIT
This layered dessert is easy and can be done the day before
Make components ahead of time. To serve, pipe prepared pastry cream on top of the parfait, then layer with granita and candied nuts.
Parfait
190g caster sugar
100ml water
5 egg yolks
250ml pouring cream
Seeds of 3 vanilla beans
In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water to 121C. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks in a mixer until pale. Once the sugar water comes to temperature, pour it into the eggs while the mixer is still running, in a thin and steady stream. Keep whisking until the egg mix is at room temperature. In a separate bowl, whip the cream and vanilla to soft peaks, then fold into the egg mixture. Divide mixture between serving vessels and freeze.
Pastry cream
4 vanilla beans
750ml milk
300g egg yolks
150g sugar
30g cornflour
Pinch salt
180g unsalted butter, cubed and softened
2 sheets gelatine (we use titanium strength), bloomed in cool water
300ml cream
Scrape out the vanilla bean seeds and add to milk in a small saucepan. Heat the milk over medium-high heat until it comes to a simmer.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and salt until smooth. Set aside.
When milk has come to a simmer, slowly pour about half of it into the egg mixture while whisking, to temper the egg mix. Then add the egg mix back into the saucepan of remaining milk.
Whisk the mix over low-to-medium heat until it starts to thicken – this should take
1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and bloomed gelatine until it’s completely combined.
Pour the pastry cream into a bowl and cover the surface with baking paper to prevent a skin from forming, and place in the fridge until cool.
Whip cream to soft peaks and fold in a small amount of the cooled pastry cream to loosen before mixing it all together. Place mix into a piping bag and store in the fridge until needed.
Davidson plum granita
250g Davidson plums
250g water
75g sugar
Put ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Blend, then freeze mixture in a shallow container. Once frozen, scrape with a fork to produce granita – this can be done a day ahead to save effort on the day.
Candied nuts
250g almonds
50g caster sugar
Sea salt, to taste
Roast almonds on a baking tray at 140C for 20 minutes. Toss through sugar and toast for a further 5 minutes. Cool, roughly chop and season with salt.
RECIPES: Tom Tilbury
MARKET PICKS
Adelaide Central Market
Around 115,000 people are expected to hit the city market hub in the three days leading up to Christmas. To cater for demand, it’s open every day leading up to Christmas, including from 6am Christmas Eve.
● Hot picks: You’ll find the only house-smoked hams in Adelaide at O’Connell’s Meats. For those with dietary requirements, check out the gluten-free and vegan sweet options at Jamu and House of Health.
44-60 Gouger St, city, adelaidecentralmarket.com.au
Adelaide Farmers’ Market
Open 8am-1pm on Sunday. Take the kids to see Father Christmas at 10am, or make some festive treats at the same time. There is a a trifle-making demo at 11am.
● Hot picks: Make a beeline here for all your cherries and stone fruit.
“We’ve got organic cherries from the Riverland, cool climate cherries from the Adelaide Hills, delicious local strawberries from the Fleurieu Peninsula, and all the stone fruit is ripe and wonderful and delicious,” says AFM’s Catherine Woods.
Adelaide Showground, Leader St, Wayville, adelaidefarmersmarket.com.au
Willunga Farmers Market
Open 8am-12.30pm on Saturday. Known for its range of organic produce, this is a great place to pick up your greens as well as local fruit, milk and amazing bread.
● Hot picks: Locally made fruit mince pies and buffalo milk cheese, which makes its debut at the market this week. You’ll also spot the return of Adelaide Hills avocadoes.
Cnr Main Rd & St Peter’s Tce, Willunga 8556 4297, willungafarmersmarket.com.au