As Christmas fast approaches, we are joined today by the friendly folk at the Fremantle Markets who want to share their ideas for a very foodie festive season. The Freo Markets are an institution, and we love the direction their food section has been heading of late. Today Dr Hila Shachar, on behalf of the Fremantle Markets, gives us a few ideas for sweet treats, Christmas breakfast and the all important HAM (with trimmings, of course.) Yep, read on for some great ideas, including a Spiced Guinness Baked Ham Recipe courtesy of Robyn from Stockman’s Choice Butcher.
It’s been a foodie year at Fremantle Markets, with our Truffle Festival, Winter Feasts and many new food stalls. We like both the traditional and the quirky, the old and the new. So we’ve asked some of our newer and more established food stallholders for their Christmas offerings as our gift you:
Macaron Christmas Tree Dessert at Maison Saint Honoré
Maison Saint Honoré (stall number 6) often combines the Australian and French sensibilities when it comes to their sweet food. When the Freo Dockers played in the Grand Final this year, they provided us with special Dockers macarons at the markets. For Christmas, they’ve come up with another sweet treat that is both delicious and beautiful. Their Macaron Christmas Tree Dessert is a tower of mouth-watering macarons to place on your table for Christmas lunch. They can customise the macaron tree with people’s favourite flavours – and there are many to choose from. Choose colours that match your Christmas table decorations!
Maison Saint Honoré was created by two friends, Alexandre and Jacques, who were born in France and know their stuff. The tree makes a perfect, light ending for a Christmas meal on our notoriously hot Christmas days, and is also very nice as a leftover that can be munched on for days after Christmas.
But the real joy is in the taste itself. All of their macarons are handmade locally in their kitchen in the Swan Valley and they use only the best Australian and French raw products. For Christmas, they particularly recommend their jars of salted caramel, a sweet and salty topping for bread, crumpets, crepes and cakes, which is also quite addictive.
Mondo Nougat at Morish Nuts
We’re still on the subject of sweets as one of our stallholders shares what is a traditional sweet food for Christmas. Morish Nuts (stall number 99) has been with Fremantle Markets for years and is a foodie institution at the market. Recently, they expanded their line to include Mondo Nougat in time for Christmas.
Archie Moroni from Morish Nuts explains that nougat used to be made especially for Christmas. It’s likely to have originated in southern Europe, where it was, and still is, largely associated with the Christmas season. In fact, in many parts of Europe, bakers and confectionaries only stock it during the holiday season.
Archie and his family decided to incorporate nougat into their range to continue this long tradition. And like the many confectionaries of the past, theirs is a family owned and run business, which originally began in Cottesloe. They roast and make their products without any colourants, additives or preservatives, so you know you’re getting a well-made treat. You can stock up on one of their big Christmas Nuts & Nougat Gift Hampers, or use their Crunchy and Soft Nougat Bars as the perfect stocking fillers.
Traditional Scottish Christmas Breakfast at The Frying Scotsman
While the focus is typically on Christmas lunch during this time of year, we thought we’d offer you one of our favourite meals of the day too: breakfast. Elaine Cunnigham from The Frying Scotsman (stall number Y109a) told us that traditional Scottish meats such as Square Sausage, Black Pudding, Haggis and Tattie Scones are commonly served as a big breakfast on Christmas morning in Scotland, as well as a big breakfast roll.
Below is Elaine’s own version of this hearty Scottish breakfast and the Big Scottish Breakfast Roll, both of which she makes and serves in her stall at the market.
We have to admit, that does look like something you could eat with delight on Christmas morning – it is after all the season of indulgence! Elaine calls these “a wee taste of home”. She uses quality meat that is freshly cooked and served on a crispy Scottish bread roll, baked fresh each morning. The Frying Scotsman also offers the option of buying their own produce to take home and cook, which is a good idea for those nursing Christmas hangovers.
Tips from Stockman’s Choice
Stockman’s Choice (stall number Y126b) is our resident butcher at Fremantle Markets and the source for all good tips when it comes to preparing that all-important Christmas Ham. Robyn Finlayson has kindly provided two Christmas recipes based on her years of knowledge, but also wants to pass on these important tips for serving ham:
Servings
Size: Servings:
3 kg 10 people
4 kg 12
5 kg 15
6 kg 18
7 kg 20
General tips
You should always have a plate or large tray to fully support your ham. Get a piece of muslin cloth and wash and rinse thoroughly in a solution of 2 cups water and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Squeeze the muslin to remove all excess liquid. Cover the ham completely and store in the coldest part of the fridge.
Whether glazed or unglazed, ham is carved in the same way, so before placing your ham on the serving platter, carve a slice from underneath to allow it to sit flat.
Make a cut about 10cm from the knuckle, make another cut at an angle to the first and remove the wedge of ham. Continue working down the ham, carving thin slices right through to the bone.
Stockman’s Choice have free range double wood-smoked Australian hams for Christmas, as well as other meats if ham is not your thing, such as: 5 or 10 rib free range pork racks, whole-grass fed Black Angus M.S.A. eye fillets, prime M.S.A. grass-fed boneless legs of lamb and free range large whole chickens.
SPICED GUINNESS BAKED HAM RECIPE
Ingredients
1 ham; 2 cups Guinness; ½ cup orange juice; 3 star anise; 1 cup brown sugar; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind; 20 to 30 cloves.
Mustard fruits: chutney and wholeseed mustard to serve.
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (160 degrees fan-forced). Using a small, sharp knife, carefully cut the skin around the thick end of the ham knuckle without cutting into the fat or the flesh. Loosen one side of the ham skin with the knife, then ease your hand in between the skin and the fat and carefully pull the skin off.
Place the ham fat side down in a large roasting pan and add 1½ cups of Guinness, orange juice and star anise to the pan. Cover dish with foil to seal and bake for 15 minutes per kg of ham or 1½ hours in total.
Meanwhile place brown sugar, ginger, orange rind, and remaining Guinness in a small bowl and stir to combine. Remove ham from the oven and take off the foil. Pour off and discard cooking juices, then using a sharp knife, score the ham fat diagonally to about 3cm intervals to create a diamond pattern.
Spread half the glaze mix evenly over the ham then place a clove in the centre of each diamond starting in the centre of the ham (you may only prefer to use 10 cloves, it is to your liking).
Increase the oven temperature to 180 degrees and bake for a further 15 minutes, basting with the remaining glaze every 5 minutes.
Remove the ham from the oven and place on a large serving platter. Serve slices of ham with mustard fruits.
TRIO OF MUSTARDS FOR THE TABLE
Prep time: 10 minutes, 2 days soaking. Cook time: 5 minutes. Makes 1½ cups of mustard.
White Wine and Thyme Mustard: 1 cup of white wine, ½ cup of fresh thyme leaves, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ cup olive oil.
Beer and Honey Mustard: 1 cup beer, 80 grams dried green peppercorns, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ cup olive oil.
Red Wine and Tarragon Mustard: 1 cup red wine, ¼ cup finely chopped fresh tarragon, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ cup olive oil.
The base for all the mustards is the same:
Place 80 grams yellow mustard seeds, 80 grams of brown mustard seeds and ½ cup red wine vinegar in a medium glass bowl.
Add either the white wine, beer or red wine to the mustard seeds, to the beer mix only, add the peppercorns. Cover and refrigerate for 48 hours. Remove from the fridge and pour into a stainless steel pan. Then simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
Let stand for 10 minutes. Pour the mustard seed mix into a food processor, add either thyme, honey or tarragon and to all the mixes add salt and oil. Process on high for 2 to 3 minutes. The seeds will stay whole but the mix will be blended.
Keeps for 4 weeks refrigerated. This is a good make ahead of time for cold meats if it becomes hot and you need to cook all meats the day before and have a cold lunch with salads.
Come meet Robyn at Stockman’s Choice to get some more handy tips in person, as well as of course to choose some of the best meats for your Christmas meal.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone at Fremantle Markets! Hila