Baby's First Christmas

Hope everyone had a good Christmas!

Definitely we did... it was our 7 month-old Saphira's first Christmas. It was great to open presents with our wide-eyed daughter. The snow was gently falling while christmas songs played in the background. What a heart-warming day!
Starting at 2pm, I cooked a turkey feast ... in true Noppe fashion, we didn't eat until 10 pm, though! I'm painfully slow in the kitchen but my wife usually appreciates the outcome...

I almost never use recipes, preferring to let my inspiration come from the fresh shopping experience and any creative juices flowing while I prepare and cook (and maybe drink some red) ;-). I think our turkey stuffing worked out well so I'll try to write it down in hopes that maybe next year someone else can use it as a starting point for their own kitchen adventure. By all means, leave yours to share, too!
Measurements will just be a guess, with some unconventional units.... ;-)


I have a big thick plastic sheet that I got at Ming Wo on 4th Ave many years ago; it has an honoured place in my kitchen. Makes it easy to cut a lot of things together. It can be rolled up at the sides to slide all the ingredients into a pan or mixing bowl afterwards...

K, here we go. Whenever possible, I use organic or at least local ingredients.

Brian's Turkey Stuffing 2007

After thoroughly rinsing with water, start soaking one cup of short grain brown rice and a half cup of wild rice for at least 2 hours in water.

Then chop all the following ingredients up into small pieces for easy eating...
enough to end up with one handful each of:

fennel,
italian parsley,
red pepper,
celery,
carrot,
onion,
brown (crimini) or portabello mushrooms.

Then chop up 5 cloves of garlic.

Put all of this into a mixing bowl and add:

a few spoons of currants,
a handful of hazelnuts,
a few sprigs of rosemary, stems removed,
a big spoonful each of thyme and sage,
two spoons of sea salt,
a spoonful of hazelnut or extra virgin olive oil.

Drain the rice and mix it in a bowl with everything else. Stuff the turkey; I used the rosemary stems to skewer the skin flap closed and keep the stuffing in.