Christmas Day is probably the only day of the year Josh and Julie Niland don’t cook or serve fish and seafood. Instead, they head to his parents’ house to gather around the table and eat too much turkey, with their four young children buzzing about presents and the long summer holidays ahead.

So when The Australian Financial Review Magazine asked the couple behind Sydney’s acclaimed Saint Peter, Petermen, Charcoal Fish and Fish Butchery to create a festive family feast of their own, they leapt at the chance. The meal they devised is elegant and achievable, and celebrates the three pillars of great Australian Christmas eating – seafood, salad and pavlova. “We’ve gone all Christmassy but summery, with the sort of dishes we love to serve when entertaining,” says Josh.