![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/highway-berea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/11\/Roast-leg-of-lamb-1-400x400.jpg\")
<\/p>\nChef Micky Munn loves Christmas Day because it brings together two of her favourite things: food and family.<\/p>\n
As a self-taught chef who spreads smiles through her delicious Kitchen Confident Food, Micky creates and serves countless Christmas lunches over the festive period. And though she\u2019s also looking forward to sitting back with loved ones and relaxing over the holidays, she savours every moment spent on a festive spread.<\/p>\n
\u201cCooking has been my lifelong passion and nothing brings me more joy than creating dishes that bring people together. I truly believe that you eat with your eyes first, and our slogan \u2018we paint with food\u2019 captures this perfectly. I strive to make every dish as visually delightful as it is delicious,\u201d she says, adding that as a chef, she loves experimenting with fresh, vibrant ingredients and crafting meals that both comfort and inspire.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristmas is a particularly special time – a season when the kitchen becomes a place of warmth, connection and indulgence. I live for every moment spent preparing a festive spread, knowing that each dish helps create cherished memories with those closest to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the spirit of Christmas, Micky shares some of her favourite Summer-in-Durban inspired Christmas recipes.<\/p>\n
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Slow roasted leg of lamb<\/strong><\/p>\n The secret in this dish is long and slow. And don\u2019t slice the lamb, pull it!<\/p>\n You\u2019ll need:\u00a0 <\/em>3kg leg of lamb with bone in; 3 sprigs rosemary, roughly chopped; 10 sprigs thyme, roughly chopped; \u00bd cup of fresh lemon juice; 4 lemons, halved; 2 large onions,\u00a0quartered; 3 tbsp olive oil; salt and pepper; 8 cloves of garlic, crushed; 2 cups (500ml) beef stock<\/p>\n What to do: <\/em>Preheat the oven to 180\u00b0C. Place onions and lemon halves in your roasting dish. Pour beef stock into dish. Place lamb on top of lemons and onions. Rub olive oil all over the lamb, followed by lemon juice. Sprinkle crushed garlic, rosemary, thyme. Generously spice with salt and pepper (I love mixing white pepper and grounded black pepper). Cover with lid, or 2 layers of foil (I do both, just in case the lid is a bit loose). Bake for 3.5 hours. Open the lid and tinfoil, turn lamb around, and bake for another 2.5 hours, until the lamb can pull apart with two forks. Remove lamb from oven and place in a serving dish, covering it with tin foil for about 30 minutes. Use the delicious sauces to make a gravy.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll need: <\/em>4 Forelle pears; 2\u00a0tsp\u00a0brown sugar<\/p>\n For the filling:<\/em> 4\u00a0tbsp\u00a0blue cheese, crumbled; 2\u00a0tbsp\u00a0honey; 8\u00a0walnuts, coarsely chopped<\/p>\n What to do: <\/em>Preheat oven to 180\u00b0C. Halve the pears lengthways leaving the stems intact (only purely for aesthetic reasons; remove if you prefer). Using a melon baller or a sharp knife, hollow out the core in each half. Place them cut-side up in a baking dish. Sprinkle brown sugar over the pear halves and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the thickest part of the pear yields without any resistance. If they\u2019re still hard, bake for a few more minutes until they soften.<\/p>\n Add the filling ingredients to a small bowl and mix. Fill each hollowed-out part of the pear generously with the filling. Bake uncovered for a further 10 to 12 minutes until the cheese melts and the walnuts become golden. Serve warm, on a bed of rocket.<\/p>\n Roasted pork belly and crackling, served with a sticky, spiced citrus sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n For best results, the pork belly should be left uncovered in the fridge overnight before cooking, to dry out the skin. Before doing this,\u00a0use a sharp knife to score the skin (or ask your butcher to do this).\u00a0Be careful not to cut through to the fat or meat layers.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll need: <\/em>For the pork belly: 1.2kg\u00a0pork belly (boneless, with the skin thinly scored); 8\u00a0whole star anise; 2 to 3\u00a0brown onions,\u00a0peeled and sliced; 3\u00a0tbsp olive oil; 1\u00a0tsp\u00a0Chinese five spice; 1-2 cups ground rock salt (it will be discarded after cooking); 2\u00a0cups\u00a0water<\/p>\n For the citrus sauce:<\/em> 2\u00a0strips Naartjie peel; \u00bd cup\u00a0freshly squeezed Naartjie juice; \u00bd\u00a0cup\u00a0brown sugar; 4\u00a0tablespoons\u00a0red wine vinegar; 1 1<\/sup>\/3\u00a0cup chicken stock; \u00bc\u00a0tablespoon\u00a0Chinese five spice, ground; 2\u00a0cinnamon sticks\u00a0whole; 6 star whole anise<\/p>\n What to do: <\/em>For the pork belly: Pre-heat your oven to 230\u00b0C. Prepare a deep roasting pan with a fitted wire rack that sits above the bottom of the pan. In the roasting pan, place the chopped onion, star anise and water in the bottom of the tray. Use a paper towel to dry the pork skin. Rub the olive oil and Chinese five spice all over the meat (but not the skin). Place the pork belly\u00a0skin side up\u00a0in the tray\u00a0on the wire rack, sitting over the water bath. The bottom of the pork belly should not\u00a0touch the water. Mould some foil around the sides of the pork, about an inch higher than the skin. Cover the skin with rock salt so you can\u2019t see any skin (the foil should hold the salt in place). Cook the pork for 30 minutes at 230\u00b0C, before turning the oven down to 150\u00b0C and continue to cook for a further two hours. Keep an eye on the water level in the pan, as it will reduce over time. If the level gets too low, carefully add a little more water. Remove the pork from the oven and remove the salt from the skin. Cover the pork with foil and rest at room temperature for up to 2 hours. You can start the second cook immediately, if you are short on time. Reserve the star anise for the pork belly sauce.<\/p>\n For the second cook, place the pork belly onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and cook for one hour at 150\u00b0C. After one hour, turn the grill up to 230\u00b0C and adjust the height of the shelf so that the top of the pork belly is at least 25cm from the top element, to prevent the skin from burning. The skin will start to bubble, puff and become golden under the grill. Keep a close watch, as this will happen quickly. Remove from heat once done in time for serving.<\/p>\n For the sauce, place all of the sauce ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally, for around 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly and becomes sticky. Slice the pork into pieces and serve hot, with the sticky sauce and your choice of sides.<\/p>\n Tropical mango salad<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019ll need: <\/em>For the salad: 3 medium mangoes; 200g cherry tomatoes; 2\u00a0cups\u00a0red cabbage,\u00a0shredded; \u00bd\u00a0cup coconut flakes,\u00a0roasted; \u00bd\u00a0cup mint (I like to add fresh coriander too); \u00bd\u00a0cup peanuts (cashews and pinenuts are also great in this salad but leave out if any nut allergies); zest of one\u00a0lime<\/p>\n For the dressing: <\/em>1\u00a0lime,\u00a0juiced; 11<\/sup>\/3\u00a0tbsp. fish sauce\u00a0 (vegan fish sauce or soy sauce for vegetarians); 1\u00a0tsp brown sugar; 1\u00a0tbsp\u00a0hot water; 1\u00a0tbsp\u00a0avocado oil (extra-virgin olive oil will work too); 1 finely chopped red chilli, optional<\/p>\n What to do: <\/em>For the salad, peel and cut mango into small cubes. Thinly shred red cabbage. You can use a mandolin or sharp knife. Wash and cut cherry tomatoes in half. Wash mint leaves and shake dry. Roughly chop toasted peanuts.<\/p>\n For the dressing, in a small bowl, dissolve brown sugar in hot water. Add fish sauce, lime juice and avocado oil and mix well.<\/p>\n To assemble, in a large mixing bowl, place red cabbage, cherry tomatoes and mango. Mix together gently. Add half the portion of roasted coconut flakes and peanuts to salad. Mix again. Dress salad and mix to ensure the ingredients are well coated. Tear mint leaves into mixing bowl. Tumble the salad onto a large serving plate. Zest lime over it and scatter remaining roasted coconut flakes and peanuts on top.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll need: <\/em>1\u00a0cauliflower (the bigger the better); Quarter cup melted butter (olive oil for vegans); fine sea salt and crushed black pepper\u00a0to taste<\/p>\n For the tahini Sauce: <\/em>Mix together 1\/3\u00a0cup\u00a0tahini,\u00a0stirred well; 3\u00a0tbsp\u00a0freshly squeezed lemon juice; 1\u00a0clove\u00a0garlic, grated (or minced); 2\u00a0tbsp\u00a0olive oil; pinch of kosher salt; 1\/4\u00a0cup\u00a0ice cold water,\u00a0plus more as needed<\/p>\n What to do: <\/em>Heat your oven to 180\u00b0C. Trim the base of the main stem of the cauliflower, so that it could stand upright. Keep some outer leaves intact if they are nice and fresh.\u00a0Place in a medium pot (make sure that the head fits and that the pot can be closed with a lid beforehand). Add water to a height of 4cm. Bring to a boil and cover (12 minutes until the florets are tender and the cauliflower is no longer pearly white in colour). Remove from the pot and let the cauliflower cool down a bit (about 10 minutes).\u00a0Move cauliflower to roasting pan,\u00a0lined with greaseproof paper. Brush the butter on top and massage the cauliflower so all the florets are covered. Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes, then brush with more butter. Do this every 15 to 20 minutes, until cauliflower has a lovely, charred look. Cover with tin foil and cook until it\u2019s tender. (I check the tenderness of the stem, with a thin, sharp knife). Carefully move to a large serving plate. Drizzle Tahini sauce on top, sprinkle with chopped Italian parsley and roasted almonds before serving.<\/p>\n Details: Follow Micky on IG: kitchenconfident2_durban<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chef Micky Munn loves Christmas Day because it brings together two of her favourite things: food and family. As a self-taught chef who spreads smiles through her delicious Kitchen Confident Food, Micky creates and serves countless Christmas lunches over the festive period. And though she\u2019s also looking forward to sitting back with loved ones and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":42145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2060,51],"tags":[11269,11270],"class_list":{"0":"post-42110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-food-wine","8":"category-lifestyle","9":"tag-chef-micky-munn","10":"tag-kitchen-confident-food"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/highway-berea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/11\/Baked-Forelle-pears-filled-with-sweet-caramelized-onions-Blue-Cheese-and-walnuts-drizzled-with-honey-2-400x400.jpg\")
Roasted pears with blue cheese, walnuts and honey<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/highway-berea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/11\/Pork-Belly-with-an-Asian-naartjie-sauce-rotated-e1732611069498-317x400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/highway-berea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/11\/Mango-salad-3-400x400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/highway-berea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/11\/Slow-roasted-cauliflower-heads-drizzled-with-tahini-sauce-topped-with-roasted-almonds-and-Italian-parsley-1-400x400.jpg\")
Oven roasted cauliflower head with tahini sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n