It’s nearly Christmas and so of course I’m sitting here gobbling macadamia shortbreads. I say of course, as I try and limit my shortbread baking to Christmas as I can eat a whole tray in a day. I love the stuff! And I’m currently comfort eating it as I just tried to add a few more Christmas carols to my iPod and it wiped itself. HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?
Back to the shortbread eating.
Actually, back to the real purpose of this post! It’s not about shortbread. Funnily enough. However it is about Christmas tradition.
I’m being a bit cheeky with this post and recycling a couple I have written for previous Christmases.
I’m participating in a twitter-based virtual lunch club, #LetsLunch, and the theme this month is non-traditional food for the festive season.
We have two non-traditional foods in our family, and when I share them, I often get the “oh, that’s kind of odd” look.
The first is sausage rolls. I can’t remember a Christmas when we didn’t have sausage rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning. It’s a tradition that my father introduced from his side of the family. The main part of the tradition is that they need to be home made sausage rolls.
When I was about 15 I volunteered to make them for Christmas breakfast that year, and I have every year since, regardless of where I have been living or who I have been living with. And yes, when I have had Christmas breakfast with friends, I have made and taken them with me.
My recipe has changed over the years – from beef based made only with sausages removed from their skins and mixed with onion, herbs and spices, the year they were made with shortcrust pastry as mum deemed puff to be too unhealthy is the year that is now rarely spoken of (the year they were made with reduced fat puff was even worse), and the time I made them with a large roll of sausage mince when I lived in Canada is also not thought of with fondness (who knows what was in THAT “meat”!).
However I’m now onto a winner – a 50:50 mix of pork sausage and pork mince, lots of fennel, a bit of chilli and a few other bits and pieces. And I only use butter puff these days.
My latest and favourite sausage roll recipe is here. To be served with a blend of tomato sauce and dijon mustard.
Our second family Christmas tradition is piroshki.
These were introduced as a family tradition when I was a teenager, when a friend of mum’s gave her the recipe. They are very moorish little dough parcels filled with bacon, onion and mushroom, then baked. Possibly not the traditional way of cooking as whenever I have bought piroshki commercially there has been no bacon and they have been deep fried. Whatever. I like it our way.
Unlike sausage rolls, these take hours to make. I definitely only make them once a year, and I have to confess, this year I wasn’t going to bother. Family traditions when the family who instilled them in you aren’t around just aren’t the same. However we are now spending Christmas with my cousin who will be in Brisbane this year and she has requested them. Secretly I’m quite pleased 🙂
Onto a quick giveaway!
The beautiful Lisa from Monday Morning Cooking Club invited me to be part of Let’s Lunch, and to say thank you I am giving away a signed copy of their first stunning cookbook, Monday Morning Cooking Club. (Note, this isn’t sponsored, I have two copies in my collection – the giveaway is the non-food spattered copy!).
To enter the comp, let me know any non-traditional foods you serve over the festive season. The winner needs an Australian postal address (sorry international friends) and entries close Friday 19 December at 5pm Brisbane time.
Lisa from Monday Morning Cooking Club signing THE BOOK!
This post is part of Let’s Lunch (#LetsLunch), a twitter-based virtual lunch club where anyone interested can join this monthly ‘lunch date’. A topic is posted at the beginning of the month, everyone now takes it in turns, and all posts are made on the same day by this random but lovely group of food bloggers, writers and people who just love cooking from all around the world.
The topic this month is your own non-traditional traditional food for the festive season.
Anyone can join at any time – just join us on twitter by searching and adding the hashtag #LetsLunch. Check out the others’ posts SOON, they will be right below.
Let’s Lunch posts:
Lisa’s duck confit (I so want this!) at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Betty-Ann’s shrimp and pomelo vegetable salad at Asian in America
Jill’s green bean casserole at Eating my Words
Sonia’s barbecued spiced pomegranate rabbit at Foodnutzz
Annabelle’s rosemary whole-wheat shortbread at Glass of Fancy
Linda’s turkey spring rolls at Spicebox Travels
Melon & cherry salad… Yes, it’s savoury & HAS to be on the Christmas lunch table & if Mum (who is generally on salad duty) doesn’t come up with the goods there’s all sorts of teenage-esque petulance on my part… (sorry Mum, but it’s TRADITION! A bit like the tradition of you always putting custard on my pudding when I don’t like custard. Haven’t done for the last 32 years…)
Anyway it’s rockmelon & honeydew melon balls with cherries & a delicious minty dressing. A-Mazing with ham, and turkey, and by itself. Wherever I have Christmas it’s there – I’ve even managed to get it added to others’ Christmas traditions. 🙂
Super-stinky cheese – each year we try to procure the stinkiest cheese we can find for my mother-in-law. We have had to travel to Christmas lunch with cheese triple shrink wrapped, in a sealed container, in an esky under the air-conditioner vent and still have had to open windows! She loves it!
HA! i read this and laughed hysterically, 😀 it’s the same with my father-in-law..this year i think we have it made…the name of the cheese escapes me but it basically smells like a pair of smelly socks that have been sitting long forgotten on the bottom of a washing pile and they are slowly rotting! i can’t wait for that car trip…not!
haha!! is it a Stilton? they are soooo stinky – and soooo good!
congratulations @follysantitode you have won 🙂
I love the super-stinky cheese story – can just imagine the stench in our heat!
Our Christmas breakfast is already more food than I can normally eat, but sausage rolls sounds like a fantastic idea. If I can only find room for it!
You could always make them for Christmas Eve Annabelle, or for Boxing Day
I love this post Mel!! Thanks for the lovely words and SOOOOO happy to have you in #LetsLunch!! Thrilled that your prize is our first book, I’m looking forward to reading all the entries xx
Thanks Lisa! I’m really excited to join in 🙂
I did a Thai banquet for Christmas one year. Now the family want my avocado and pickled ginger salad every year.
Sticky rice is also nice if you don ‘t like pudding….
Both your sausage rolls look and sound terrific. They both look easy to make and I may just try it. Welcome to the “Let’s Lunch” group. Thanks for the blog visit. Merry Christmas!
Thanks Betty Ann! The sausage rolls are very easy and fairly quick. They freeze really well too
I LOVE sausage rolls — any time of year! Have never tried making them at home though. You’re inspiring me to try. So glad you’ve joined the group — welcome again!
not sure if its non-traditional, because it is extremely traditional to me – my Gran’s berries and frozen yoghurt has been a staple beside the Christmas pudding for as long as I can remember. (I eat the berries & yoghurt instead of the pud!) Will certainly be missing them this year as I have Christmas lunch away from my side of the family for the first time in my life.
for our family it has to be Cassata!! And, over the years we have changed the flavours of the layers but the non-negotiable item is lots of Ice Magic on top!!!! Lots of tantrums if anyone even considers taking it off the menu!!
great post 🙂 my hubby makes the most divine apricot dumplings and we have that over the festive period as that is when apricots are in season – yum yum yum 🙂
I adore piroshki! Welcome again to Let’s Lunch, looking forward to many more! Cheers!
Lobster Corn Dogs with Spicy Mustard Sauce we have them boxing day not sure who started it or where the recipe came from but they are soooo good!
Lamb chops, crumbed then fried, yum, yum, yum. Not at all traditional, but to us if there isn’t a plate of them on the table, well it’s ummmm just not Christmas 🙂
moussaka – definitely not a traditional food in our family, but it fast seems to be becoming a tradition for part of our christmas feast
I LOVE moussaka – our eggplant bush is going wild and I have lamb mince in the freezer – soon to be made again 🙂