Well you can impress your friends and family by cooking these amazing Christmas feasts inspired by Southern Sun’s Elangeni and Maharani's The Grill Jichana Executive Chef, Prenolan Naidoo.
“Many of my Christmas day lunches or dinners have been different over the years as sometimes we as the family may braai and other times family members will prepare dishes like roast turkey, gammon, roast lamb, roast chicken thereafter we meet at a family members home and enjoy the spread”, he said.
“For Christmas I normally do a dessert or two as 95% if the time I am working, so preparing a dessert as day or two in advance allows me to spend a little time with the family before I come to work or after I get home. But normally I make crème brulee or a peppermint crisp tart”, said Naidoo.
Crème brulee recipe by Prenolan Naidoo
Ingredients
1lt cream
150g castor sugar
10 egg yolks
1 tbsp vanilla essence
Method
Warm the cream and dissolve the sugar.
Whisk eggs and vanilla essence, until white and pale.
Add a bit of hot cream to eggs to temper.
Once smooth add the rest of cream.
Whisk until smooth and pour into moulds.
Place moulds in water bath, cover in foil and bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.
Cool and serve.
Biscotti recipe by Chef Prenolan Naidoo
Ingredients
½ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup castor sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
3 ¼ cup of flour
Zest of 1orange
1 tbsp baking powder
Method
Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
In a bowl, beat together the oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla flavouring until blended well.
Combine the flour, orange zest and baking powder, stir into the egg mixture to form heavy dough. Divide dough into two pieces. Form each piece into a roll as long as your cookie sheet.
Place onto cookie sheet and press down to half inch thickness.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the pre heated oven, until golden brown.
Remove from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack.
When the cookies are cool enough to handle, slice each one crosswise into ½ inch slices.
Place the slices cut side up back onto the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 6 to 10 minutes on each side.
Slices should be lightly toasted.