Christmas 2010
Coming from the Philippines where adorning homes with Christmas decorations has become a national pastime that begins in September, my first impression was that Australians weren’t very keen on Christmas. I couldn’t get used to Santa in a body suit, trading turtlenecks for singlets, or a “white Christmas” referring to spending time in Bondi beach.
Jenni's Simple Berry Pie
It’s taken almost five years but the Aussie Christmas has certainly grown on me. This year we spent Christmas day at my Aunt Jenni’s house in Canberra. I meant to share these pictures with you sooner but it’s taken me awhile to rouse myself from the food induced coma brought about by the eating binge over Christmas.
White Cooked Chicken with Ginger Shallot Sauce
Our celebrations kicked off with a few of the guys playing cricket in the backyard. Some of us stayed indoors to help prepare Christmas lunch, or, more accurately, pretended to help prepare lunch but really stood around the kitchen counter and steal scraps of food while no one was watching. In between the test match and food preparations we opened our Christmas gifts… unless of course the gifts were coming from me as I hadn’t gotten around to wrapping the gifts, I told everyone I was being environmentally friendly. 🙂
Roast Beef
Hat’s off to Jenni for preparing a wonderful Christmas meal. On the menu this year was a White Cooked Chicken with a Ginger & Shallot sauce which was a recipe from Stephanie Alexander, Roast Beef with horseradish dressing, the juciest Glazed Ham made by the Blog Monster , Turkey, and Prawn Salad with string beans freshly picked from my Aunt Jenni’s garden. For dessert we had what I’ve known for the last five years as Aunt Jenni’s Berry Pie (but more on that later).
Christmas Ham
The day after, what was supposed to be an exclusive “man-cursion” organized by “The Puncher”, turned into an expedition which included the men, the kids, and a few brave ladies that decided to make a trek to Corin Forest for some alpine bobsledding then a dip at Gibraltar Falls. The other contingent had their own adventure which involved hunting for bargains during the Boxing Day sales at the mall. Both groups met back up at Jenni’s house for a late lunch (of whatelse? Leftovers!) before heading home.
Prawn Salad with Avocado, String Beans and Tomatoes
So back to Jenni’s Berry Pie. This pie has been so popular with my family that the day my Mom learned how to make it, she made it twice because one pie didn’t last long enough. I think in one week she must have made it six times and this is one pie that my husband says he will never get sick off. You might remember that I’ve mentioned how much I love Jenni’s recipes before because she’s all about simple and delicious – this pie is a perfect example. It takes ten minutes to put together, no mixer required and it lends itself well to using tinned or frozen fruit (now I’m all about seasonal and fresh produce but how absolutely practical is this pie?!)! It was during this trip that I learned that this was originally a Nigella Lawson recipe – well, what do you know – my first Nigella recipe!
Jenni's Simple Berry Pie
This year, the one thing that really made my Christmas was being able to spend it with the people I love most. Over the Christmas weekend I had 100% attention of my husband (who finally turned off his blackberry for an extended period!), my parents came from the Philippines, all my siblings, nephews and other extended family. So if this is what Christmas in Australia is all about… bring on 2011!
Christmas 2010
Simple Berry Pie
I mentioned earlier you can make this pie with tinned or frozen fruit – and we’ve experimented with peaches, mangoes, apples (add cinnamon) and berries – all with great results. I believe Nigella’s original recipe was made with frozen cranberries so you might want to give that a try too. To make this pie, I used a 26 cm wide pie dish.
- 500 grams frozen berries (substitute with fruit of your choice)
- 50 grams butter
- 45 grams caster sugar
- 175 grams flour
- 175 grams caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 125 ml butter plus a little more for greasing, melted
- handful of flaked almonds
- 30 grams demerara sugar (optional)
- Pre-heat the oven to 150c, fan forced.
- To make the berry compote, in a saucepan mix the berries, sugar and butter and bring to a simmer until the berries have thawed.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, 175 grams of caster sugar and baking powder. Add the melted butter and the eggs and mix until you get a smooth batter.
- Grease the pie dish with a little butter and spread around a half of the batter on the bottom of the pie dish. Next, using a slotted spoon, spoon the berries on top (you will notice that it might be quite watery, don’t worry as this will dry out while baking) then top with the remaining batter, spreading evenly to cover.
- Top with the flaked almonds and demerara sugar and bake for around one hour. For the last 15 minutes cover the pie dish with some aluminium foil to prevent the top from browning too much. Serve with cream.
Jenni's Simple Berry Pie
Trissalicious 
What a beautiful meal. I love your sun-dappled photos! I just recently began learning of Australian Christmas from @TheSauceress and I feel like a whole new part of my brain just opened up. Of course, it might be a little easier for me to accept a summer Christmas if I ever needed to, having grown up in subtropical Florida where the coldest winter days are around 40F anyway, but I can certainly understand why this has taken you some adjusting. Do you have a big holiday-style meal in the middle of the year when it’s cold?
Thanks Trissa. I am an avid fan of your blog. I love the pictures, the stories and the recipes. I made the pie today and thought it would be a flop since the batter was kinda thick that I had to put the top piece by piece..(Thicker than a cake batter but thinner than a pie dough; did I do it right?) I also thought that maybe I miscalculated converting grams and ml to cups and C to F. But after the hour cooking, everything melded and it was awesome. Tomorrow I will try it out using peaches and strawberries!
Next time I will summon the courage to try your kaliskis empanada, and in my life, the macaron!.
This is the most gorgeous Christmas blog I have ever seen!
I love the photos!
The food looks divine!
I must try that pie!
Can you take me with you next time you visit Aunt Jenni?
Brava, Trissa, you’ve done it again!
Tita Uko.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
my parents subscribe to tbd Filipino channel & you definitely know it’s September when the variety shows start singing Christmas songs!
what a gorgeous table setting & gorgeous food. I love watching Nigella. I’ve often heard her name but I hadn’t seen any of her shows & recipes until about 3 months ago. the best part of her show is the ending, when she’s in her pajamas & she sneaks into her dark kitchen & eats leftovers off the fridge. I can definitely relate!
It’s fun seeing how Christmas is celebrated on the other side of the world. Your sun-speckled photos of that gorgeous table, and all the food are amazing 🙂
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Maybe Christmas is different now, but that spread is very festive. Gorgeous pie!
Btw, I like that “environment friendly” tip. 😀
Best wishes for a happy, prosperous and peaceful new year.
Your Christmas meal looks delicious! Glad to hear you had a good time with your family. Happy New Year!
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, loved all of it. Jen’s always been a star and excelled in anything she ever attempted, we go back a long, long way like 37 years.
Thanks for sharing it with me
Happy New Year to Jen, Will and their extended Fam
Trish McFarlane
So happy to hear you had a great Christmas, Trissa! Thanks for sharing the berry pie recipe.
I love the look of your gathering, especially the dots of light falling on the beautiful food and joyful people :). It wouldn’t take much to sell me on a warm holiday season as I can’t handle much cold at all. Glad you had a Merry Christmas and hope the New Year is wonderful as well!
how lovely! the light spots coming onto the table are magical… certainly fitting a Christmas spirit!
Sounds like a wonderful Christmas day Trissa! We had lovely weather down the south coast too luckily. That pie sounds fantastic.
Have a great start to 2011!
I wish I knew what I was doing on this lovely web site, I think I’ve left 3 messages so far and from what I can tell, they’ve disappeared into cyberspace? xxoo
The famous Aunt Jenni says…… use a slotted spoon to transfer the simmered berries to the batter, they are soggy enough without the juice, that Christmas table looks so divine in the pics, I’m ready to eat it all over again! xxoo
Ooooh, glad I was at that Christmas table, looks divine in the pics! xxoo
Everything looks great. I hope you had a great christmas!
That was one of the most beautiful posts I have seen recapping Christmas dinner. Your table is gorgeous… and the most heavily proteined menu so far! WOW.
The beef was clearly cooked to perfection – and every dish looked succulent and perfect. The food coma I understand after looking at the splendid feast!
Jenny’s pie is also beautiful. Your photographs are so artistic that your site is a wonderful place to rest and be artistically edified today, Trissa!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you!
I cannot wait to hear and see how you and your family “bring it in”!
🙂
Valerie
lovely, lovely spread!
wish my white chicken dish could look that good! 🙂
Happy New Year!
What a gorgeous way to spend Christmas, with great food, friends, family. The white cut chicken looks very yummy.
White cooked chicken………. drool……….!!!!!!!
We had a very quiet Christmas day, with leftover dishes from the turkey I roasted the night before. I wish we had party like yours! There’s nothing more precious than spending time with people you love and enjoy time with them, sharing good food.
I have never baked pie before, so this is on top of my to-do list.
Have a great New Year, Trissa!
What a beautiful tableware and spread.Love the lightning in your pictures.Pie is superb!
Merry Christmas Trissa 🙂 Fabulous day it was for all in Canberra I agree, just perfect for sitting out under the dappled light as you guys did. What a feast huh…., brilliant. Maybe I could steal your Aunt Jenni, she sure sets a beautiful spread. Everything looks superb & sounds so darn tasty…., I can’t believe I just said that considering the amount I’ve had over the last week. 🙂
Oh wow, that spread and that recipes both look delightful!
What wonderful Christmas feasting. I especially adore the white chicken and prawn salad, and the pie looks berry delicious too hehe … Happy New Year! ♥
Great food and great family time together! That must be the best. I wish we can eat outside like you guys over there. It’s too freezing cold outside 😦 My only comfort now is knowing that the day is getting longer each day, though painfully slow. Thanks very much for sharing the berry pie recipe. Happy Holidays!
Love the look of your Xmas table!! have a wonderful holiday Triss!
It was such a trip to look at your beautiful summertime Christmas table and read of you picking the green beans from Auntie’s garden… when we had over a foot of snow and blustering cold winter winds bearing down on New England, USA! haha! But still, family is gathered in both places, folks are gossiping and picking at food in kitchens, presents are exchanged, and the love goes round the room and back yard! Looks like a fine and flavorful time has been had by all!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Trissa! – from me and my family to you and yours!
Your Christmas looks wonderful! I love that fact that I could see sunlight – we have had teaming rain for the last two weeks and Christmas day greeted us with a small cyclone and flooding! Today the sun shines – at last! Anyway the meal looks great but most of the all I must try the pie! Happy New Year!
What a beautifully set table and I love the dappled light effect on all the dishes. Your berry pie looks delicious and hello double cream!
Your Christmas table looks beautiful Trissa. I hope you have a happy New Year. All the best!
Magda
Looks like a lovely event! I always thought that Santa donning a swimming suit out your way was funny 🙂
Glad you had a wonderful Christmas, Trissa! How awesome that your family was with you.
Beautiful table setting and how nice to be able to enjoy a Christmas meal outdoors! I’ve been wondering what to make out of the extra bags of cranberries I have in the freezer. I love the flaked almonds and the cream topping, too.
Happy New Year!
Oh wow, everything looks so good. With food like that, I KNOW you had a Merry Christmas!
*kisses* HH
Trissa, I think this is a great Christmas gathering. I have always dreamt of hosting a long table party like this but we don’t have luxury of space here… The pie does look very good and I couldn’t get my eyes off that dollop of cream…
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Trissa!
Every time I come to your blog, I find another recipe to bookmark. I’m definitely giving that pie a go, it looks perfect!
Gorgeous pics Tris! Thanks for the pie recipe, I think I’ve gained 10 kilos over the years simply from eating this pie! It’s a real winner! I’m going to make the prawn salad for new years eve, and a variation of th white chix (in a salad) for new years day! Here’s to ending and starting the year right!
The Christmas Table looked like a feast with so many delicious food. Between you and me, I would’ve been one of those pretending to help in the kitchen but really secretly stealing scraps of food. hehehe
First of all, Merry Christmas!!
Second of all, Canberra! Canberra, my own city of roundabouts and wonderment! So exciting to think you were somewhere nearby, celebrating with family just as I was. I only wish we’d had berry pie instead of Christmas puddings… I’ve bookmarked this recipe as I’m tremendously excited to see a pie that doesn’t involved pastry. Batters I’m a fan of. Pastry, terrifying. Hurrah for the former!
To me, Christmas means family time, getting together to have fun, talks and sharing good foods. And the simple berry pie is so good. I have to give it a try. Thanks for sharing, Trissa.
What a spread and love the table of family gathering. 🙂