Over the years Mr NQN has had to get used to me. When we first started dating he used to say “Do you have to get so dressed up?”. He is a country boy after all and there were mutterings of overdressing and I suspect too much makeup (although he was smart enough not to comment on that). There was the singing in public, the fact that I liked biting him because I thought he seemed tasty, the way that I’d enjoy my food a bit too much, the odd food that I’d make and the other strange things that I did that embarrassed him. Until one day he actually said to me
“Oh I like the way you used to dress”
This was of course after I had dressed more casually to try and not embarrass him. I looked at him and I smiled. Did he actually like me being me? Did I no longer embarrass him? Success! I had indoctrinated him into my world and he seemed to like it there (and a good thing because I don’t like having to do things any way but my own). Now he is used to shopping adventures where we travel to buy a good free range ham. He is used to buying bottles of root beer and pouring them over said ham. He is used to me inviting people over for food (he is naturally very shy and inviting people over just would not occur to him).
And speaking of that ham, this Christmas we were seeing our families as we planned a small family dinner combining my family with Mr NQN’s. His family were all over the place (their natural state of affairs being chaos), and trying to find a date that suited everyone meant that Christmas was going to be on December 26th. I had to point out that December 26th was no longer technically Christmas so I invited whoever could come over to our place on December 24th for dinner. Christmas Eve is when the Finnish celebrate Christmas and this is when my family celebrates Christmas because quite honestly my sister and I couldn’t wait another night to open our presents and our parents just relented and it became tradition.
Aura Lily
Well it turns out that all of the family members could make it on December 24th after all (I guess it was that annual tradition of herding cats preceding Festivus that the Elliotts seem to delight in!). And suddenly our small family celebration burst out to a table for thirteen…around our table that seats 8! But not to worry, we had plenty of food. My ham was a 5 kilo beast-modest enough and covered in a crunchy, moreish breadcrumb crust and then basted in a flavoursome root beer caramel. I had made this many years ago before the blog and before Mr NQN and was so besotted by it that I vowed to make it again when I had a lot of mouths to feed. The ham is easy enough to do and just requires a basting every 30 minutes and then a coating of a breadcrumb crust. It is then baked and basted to glistening perfection before being sliced up with some of the breadcrumb mixture and the sweet, fragrant caramelised syrup.
I have tweaked the recipe so that it is juuust right. It is different from other hams baked in root beer and Coke because it has that crust and to me, the crust is what really makes this ham. I also made the cake the day before as I didn’t want any stress. It was from the new Maha cookbook by Shane Delia and I was sold on the name and description. Said to be like a Cherry Ripe cake, it uses dark chocolate and pomegranate molasses and is topped with an intriguing glossy olive oil syrup mixture, pine nuts, mint leaves and redcurrants (in the absence of pomegranate at the shops).
Unfortunately the cake looked nothing like the cake in the picture and it actually made me wonder if it was indeed the same cake that they had used in the book. I must admit a swearing Christmas elf came out at that point! But once we tried the cake we were smitten. I’m still not convinced that the cake in the picture is the one that matches the recipe but it is a divine cake-with a slight tanginess that will appeal to the dark chocolate connoisseur or those that like a little liqueur in their cakes although this cake has no liqueur in it at all, just the delicious tang of pomegranate molasses.
Then, and because you know dessert should always be a multi course affair, there was the amazing Celia’s gorgeous chocolate Christmas tree which was her Christmas gift to me along with her divine truffles (sorry Mr NQN scoffed these before I had the chance to photograph them) as well as a multitude of goodies-she’s such a generous soul.
Cookies for Santa
There were also Matilda’s wonderful Italian biscuits which I hope to receive and look forward to every year. Matilda is one of NQN’s longest, most loyal readers and every Christmas she sends me a batch of these divine biscuits. And every year I squeal when I receive the box as they are truly delicious!
And of course some plump, sweet, fat cherries that came from Harris Farm! Another gift that I look forward to and one that the Elliotts just fall into raptures over. I need to keep a little stash for myself as they are plump, juicy and sweet. We managed to squeeze everyone on a table meant for eight and with the exception of a couple of strange incident (of course!) the dinner went off without a hitch. Aura proved an entertaining challenge as she is strong and fast and already making her way across a room within seconds pounding the floor boards with her tie dyed bloomers and tiny, defiant red shoed footsteps. After dinner Secret Santa presents were exchanged and desserts were eaten. And after that not a creature was hungry, not even a mouse!
So tell me Dear Reader, what did you or what will you have for Christmas dinner? And who will you be eating with?
Mr NQN gives Aura Lily a boost
Alas eating and jumping is exhausting work…
Ham in Root Beer
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 3.5 hours
- 5 kg/10 pound boneless ham
- 1.5 litre bottle of root beer (you can also use sarsparilla or Coca Cola but definitely not Diet anything darlings)
- 3-4 tablespoons mustard
- 120g/4 ozs melted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 cups bread crumbs (the fine, dried variety rather than fresh)
- fat pinch of salt
- ground black pepper
- cloves to stud
Directions
1. If you want to eat the rind, leave on, otherwise remove with a sharp knife. Make sure that the ham fits in a roasting pan and that the rungs in your oven are positioned correctly so that the ham can fit. Pour the root beer over the ham to about 1.5 cms depth in the pan-I used about half a 1.5 litre bottle of root beer. Cover with generously oiled foil and then bake at 180ºC/350ºF for 2 and a half hours (30 minutes per kilo), basting with the root beer at the bottom of the baking dish every 30 minutes or so and topping up if you need to.
2. Meanwhile make the breadcrumb crust and set aside. Combine sugar, mustard, butter and bread crumbs in the bowl and then add some root beer so that you can make a thick breadcrumb mix that will adhere to the side of the ham. Pat this breadcrumb mix all over the ham, score diamonds with a sharp knife and stud centres with cloves and pour the remaining root beer into the bottom of the pan.
Before the final coat
3. Place back in the oven, uncovered, for another 30 more minutes until the crust firms up and starts to become golden in parts. Remove from the oven and carefully baste with the sticky, sweet juice. Return to oven to another 10 minutes. Once done, remove from oven, cool for 20 minutes. Do a final baste to make it glossy (the root beer will have become a deliciously thick sauce). Remove the cloves, slice thinly and serve with the breadcrumb mixture and some of the caramel.
Chocolate Pomegranate Cake
Adapted from Maha by Shane Delia, published by Penguin Lantern Books $49.95Pastry
- 100g/3.5 ozs butter at room temperature
- 50g/1.7ozs caster sugar
- 155g/5ozs plain flour
- 2 tablespoons cocoa, sifted
- 1 small egg
- 2 teaspoons pouring cream
Chocolate mousse filling
- 135g/4.7ozs dark chocolate
- 65g/2.3 ozs butter
- 5 egg whites
- 50g/1.7 ozs caster sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
Chocolate Ganache
- 150g/5 ozs dark chocolate
- 25ml/1 fl oz thickened cream
- 25ml/1 fl oz pomegranate molasses
- 50ml/1.7 fl ozs sugar syrup (infused with a pinch of cinnamon, star anise, cardamom and vanilla)
- 50ml/1.7 fl ozs pomegranate molasses
- 25ml/1 fl oz extra virgin olive oil
- Seeds of 1 pomegranate (I couldn’t find these so I bought redcurrants)
- 50g/1.7 ozs pine nuts, toasted
- small mint leaves
1. Line a 20cm springform tin on the base and sides with parchment paper. Make the pastry by placing the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer with a beater attachment and mix until it forms a paste-it won’t take long. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until just combined (do not overwork). Press into the base of the springform tin (it will be quite soft) and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Prick pastry all over with a fork and then bake the pastry for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool while you make the mousse filling.
3. Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (making sure that the base doesn’t touch the water) and stir until the chocolate is melted. You can also do this in a microwave on 50% in 60 second bursts making sure to stir between each burst. Cool slightly while you do the beat the egg whites. In a clean bowl with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form and then add the sugar and beat it to make it glossy.
4. Add the egg yolks to the chocolate mixture and then add half of the egg whites folding the mixture gently so as not to lose any air, then add the rest of the egg whites. Bake for 30-35 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.
5. Make the ganache by melting the chocolate (same method above) and then adding the cream and molasses.Mix until smooth and then spread over the cooled cake with a palette knife. Place in the fridge to set completely, about 4 hours or overnight. When I took mine out, the sides has sunken in so I cut around it removing the sunken bits to make a smaller cake but with sides that were even-ish.
My cake after refrigeration
The picture in the cookbook-which actually looks like a ganache cake rather than a mousse cake
6. When it comes time to serve, combine the sugar syrup, pomegranate molasses and olive oil and pour over the cake. Dress with pine nuts, mint leaves and redcurrants or pomegranate seeds.
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51 Comments | Add your own
That cake! I think the cake and I could become good friends…but I expect I would have to be quick because everyone else would want to be friends with the cake too!
It is so beautiful. It looks like a cake you would take for a picnic in the forest on a sunny day:)
Looks & sounds wonderful. Merry Christmas xx
Lovely dinner Lorraine
I missed ur blog last nite i dun think u updated? lol i’m so use to refreshing ur blog at that time of the nite with a new post hehe
I’d love to try the chocolate pomegranate cake!!!
I had a really nice buffet dinner with Mr Bao and will have another gathering with friends tomorrow.
Enjoy your day! Merry Christmas!!
We wil be having both mothers here for a fairly simple lunch. Merry Christmas to you. Have a great day!
Merry Christmas Lorraine. Your Christmas dinner looked wonderful. But as for me…I really must put away the lap top and prepare a 6kg turkey and an 8kg ham in time for a family lunch. xx
Gorgeous, gorgeous ham. Gorgeous, gorgeous cake. Gorgeous, gorgeous toddler.
The Mexicans actually cook several meat dishes, including ham, in coca cola–I had never seen it before, but it is delicious, as I am sure your ham was. Looked perfect!
This year I, too, am having a Christmas Eve celebration, Latino style, with the family of my son’s girlfriend. Should be raucous and delish!
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Lorraine! x
Beautiful, I have never seen a ham crust like that before. Happy Holidays and dont eat too much!
That is a gorgeous cake and fabulous holiday ham, but of course Aura Lily steals the show. Looks like a wonderful way to spend the evening. Merry Christmas! xoxo Mum
Merry Christmas Lorraine, Mr.NQN and your lovely family. What a wonderful spread, you never cease to amaze with your adventurous spirit .
So glad you like my Biscottini, I feel very special that they are part of your Christmas feast, as you know I only give then to very special people!
Aura is such a sweetie and must have been the centre of attention.
Christmas Eve for us consisted entirely of Seafood, Oysters,Scallops,Mussels, Scampi and Tuna Carpaccio, Grilled Swordfish with Green Salsa on a bed of lentils, salad, fruit platter and last but not least an assortment of sweets ( including the Biscottini)!
Today, we are off to my sister-in-law’s for
the traditional turkey etc but I’ll be preparing the Entrees ,with lovely seafood. More Oysters, Seafood Cocktail, cooked Prawns and Smoked Salmon canapés .
Merry Christmas to all NQN readers and stay safe over the festive season.
The cake looks beautiful, even if it is not what you were expecting. It sounds as though you and Mr NQN are the classic ‘opposites’ but have come together to really compliment each other’s characters. I have no idea how you find time to share all of this with us, but I for one am glad you do! Again, Merry Christmas
xx
Hi Lorraine, merry Christmas to you and all your readers. The food looks delicious, the ham looks incredible! By the way where did you get the reindeer? it is so adorable.
That ham looks awesome, and the cake, I couldn’t figure out which photo came from the book and which was real. Most important is that is tasted divine, screw the photos. I heard some photographers use mashed potato in place of ice cream, and you mention some guy using colored water instead of wine. Taste counts, maybe colored water tastes good too. I wish you a Mary Xmas and all the best for 2012, may all your dreams and wishes come true
Now what comes first this Christmas Day [which you should have taken off, lady
!]: Methinks the gorgeous Aura Lily [sorry, but I have my priorities!! Then that beautiful cake, which I’ll see each morning as my computer background until New Years’ at least! And the scrumptious ham: OK, I am a seafood gal also for Oz Christmases, but the photo where you present it cut is ‘to die for’!! Have a wonderful day today and the rest of the holidays and warm regards to Mr NQN also 
!
It all looks so yummy! The glaze looks lovely, so sticky and sweet, and that cake is so on my list foot new years- I love pomegranates.
Baby is gorgeous too, abc those red shoes are stunning. Very sweet!
Our real Christmas meal will be tomorrow, when we get to have all our family favorites. Today is in laws choice
Merry merry Christmas, i hope you have an awesome day, xox
OMG we share the habit of biting loved ones!
Merry Xmas to you and yours Lorraine!
Merry Christmas… and thank you for all your wonderful blogs. This cake looks incredible, and I have a bottle of Pomegranate Molasses in the cupboard…looks like this will be my NY cake.
Hope you and your family have a fabulous day.
Lorraine, that has got to be the best and most beautiful ham I ever saw and we see a lot of ham in these parts. Merry Christmas, friend and cheers to another fab year of food and drink and friendship. xoxo
Merry Christmas! Love your photos
Aura Lily looks so adorable! The cake looks so sweet and indulgent, I want to dig in right now. 
Wait a cotton picking minute… Where did you find bottled root beer in Australia? It was my favorite in Canada, but in Sydney all I can find is Phillipines-imported cans, or the occasional stubby of Sioux City Root Beer.
Like the previous commenter, I too have seen chicken cooked in coca cola, Mexican-style, but never root beer. The minute you put your mind to it, it makes sense.
Wow this ham looks fab! We did ours in cider – was sooooo good
They both look incredibly good!
I have a turkey breast in the oven with veg & yorkshire puds for British Mr Phunk
I could never eat a ham basted in Coke but Root Beer for sure, I love it. It looks like a delicious ham and certainly worth traveling for. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Xx Linda V
Aw, Lorraine, I’m with T (as he is now)! Don’t ever change
Hope you had an utterly perfect Christmas Day. Mine had my parents, brother, grandparents, great aunt, aunt, uncle, and little cousin, and it was lovely. I may have to blog the slow motion video of me leaping around the kitchen that my brother took… 
If I truly decide to give up all pride forever more.
What a wonderful meal. The ham looks fabulous. I’ve made Nigella’s coke soaked ham before but it certainly didn’t look as wonderfully glazed as this. We always celebrate on Christmas eve with a three bird roast. This year it was a pheasant inside a turkey, inside a goose. Delicious! GG
Hi Lorraine, we had our first Christmas dinner last night at my brother’s house; my family is European so we celebrate Christmas Eve. Tonight we shall be celebrating Christmas Day with JT’s family. My brother made a ham with scalloped potatoes it was delicious, and tonight there is turkey! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a safe, healthy and happy new year!
Wow, what decadent feast! I think your cake looks nicer than the original! And the root-beer ham sounds amazing too! I haven’t worked up the courage to bake an entire ham myself yet, maybe next year! Merry Christmas to you and Mr NQN. Thank you for another year of fine reading and may there be many more!
Looks like a wonderful Christmas at your place! And I think your cake looks a lot better than the one in the photo
Am yet to do my own ham… Have previously failed a turkey but that was the oven’s fault for breaking down.
Wishing you all the best for 2012!
What a feast! Oh, to be on your guest list!
Happy Christmas to you, dear NQN! xxx
We’ve cooked ham in Coca-cola and Sprite, but root beer?! What an exciting, tasty notion!
We had beef and duck this year at home. A quiet Christmas, yes, but nevertheless a merry one.
How delicious? Would you believe when we were kids my parents served the ham cold (and still do)? Gasp! Now my siblings and I compete with our own marinated ham recipes. Maybe I’ll try this one for New Year. Yesterday I had Christmas in the country at my sister’s farm. Her hubby cooked and basted the ham on the BBQ to her recipe, which involves Merlot, brown sugar and a few other ingredients. It was delicious. My nephew and his wife brought crispy dusk; baked (in duck fat) potatoes, garlic, pumpkin, parsnip, purple carrots; there were also brussel sprouts, gravy, and yorkshire puddings. Nigella’s (the other one’s) caramel croissant pudding, my sister-in-law’s boozy trifle, and plum pudding and custard for the oldies for dessert. Was lovely, every year is different.
Merry Christmas Lorraine. I hope you had a wonderful day. I did lots of eating and had a fabulous time!
What a fab looking Xmas ham. And that cake is surely on my to make list! I have had pomegranate molasses for ages and no clue how to use it – this would be perfect.
What a great different take on a Christmas cake – I love pomegranates and as for chocolate as well – perfection. Merry christmas Lorraine!
Wow does that cake look stunning! Amazing and all too festive! Beautiful! And I always think that it is hysterical that you and Mr. NQN are so much like me and JP…. yes, now he is doing things in public that he always said I did and embarrassed him by doing! Love it! Wishing the both of you a very Joyous Holiday Season! Now I have to make this cake (which is better your way than in the book…)
I am so ready to make that ham. It looks divine, and I bet if there are leftovers they make a great sandwich.
stunning! this cake looks simply divine, I can’t wait to show my mum! We had a small red hill christmas. it was nice
mum did all the cooking but I helped!
Heidi xo
Yes indeed where did you get the root beer??? Would love to try it,always assumed it was the American version of ginger beer, is that correct??? Enjoy the rest of the silly season!
Delicious! Merry Christmas once again.
Hi Stefanie-I bought the reindeer quite randomly at Borders in their paper and gift section
It came in a box which I threw away so I’m afraid I don’t know the brand (and it’s not on the reindeer itself). Sorry! 
Hi Lucas and Carol-I found the root beer in Chinatown at the New Yen Yen Supermarket in Haymarket (8 Quay Street Haymarket). It was $4.10 for a 1.5 litre bottle. I was so happy to have found it!
what a gorgeous photo of the cake – and a gorgeous cake – sounds like a great christmas feast – love those chubby hands on aura lily!
glad mr NQN appreciates your quirkiness – as do your many readers, myself included! hope you are having a lovely festive season
This cake looks amazing. Big fan of pomegranate. Have some molasses I haven’t used yet and my christmas is next week. Might have to make this!
We had Prime Rib roast for Christmas
The roasting part was easy. The cleaning up part after cooking is not. Hehehe.
aura lily is a lovely name, and that’s one heck of a lovely cake.
Hi Lorraine, thanks for the response re. the reindeer. Interestingly I have a polar bear that I bought from Borders also
I insist on using it as a Christmas decoration much to the protest of hubby who wonders what polar bears have to do with christmas…think he may be right 
Gorgeous cake – the decorations are so festive.
Wish we could get such large bottles of A&W here, it’s surprisingly not that easy to come by.
I love ham and I love root beer. Definitely trying this one!
Happy New Year!
What a perfect ham
love it!!! Merry Christmas Lorraine 
The cake looks so festive and pretty but you totally sold me on the crunchy breadcrumb crusted ham. Will definitely try that one Xmas!
the chocolate cake looks divine! Cute chocolate christmas tree too =)
This is truly a feast ^^
I just made this cake last week and also thought it looked nothing like the picture in the book. It tasted delicious, but definitely looked different … my version was similar to yours.
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