A Wintry Lunch

20121223-141745.jpg. What a wintry day! On the way home from the last Mass of Advent, we stopped and watched the waves crashing on Queensland beach. The ocean in winter has awesome power.

Arriving back at the house, we busied ourselves with cleaning out foods from the fridge, in preparation for all the upcoming meals at the homes of friends and family. Today’s lunch: chicken and white bean soup, with oatmeal batter-bread. Instant warmth!

Advent Begins with Christmas Tree Cauliflower

20111127-205228.jpg Today Advent begins. We’re well underway with the secular preparations for Christmas, but now we start the real work of preparing ourselves to celebrate the holy feast.

Even the food begins to take on a more symbolic character. So for our dinner, we prepared a roast chicken breast, the whole thing, just with legs and wings removed. We coated the roast with some Daily Dijon from Kozlik’s, thyme, and orange zest. After nestling it on a bed of onion in a Dutch oven, we added the juice of the orange, and a splash of white wine.

We popped the whole thing in a 450F oven uncovered for half an hour. Then we covered it until done. (Depending on the size and how cold it is when you start, this will take 1/2 hour to an hour more. Your instant-read thermometer should be at 185.

At the same time we roasted some beets.

While the finished chicken rested for 10 minutes or so, we steamed this varietal cauliflower – it looks like tiny Christmas trees on the plate. It was delicious and for that we’re very thankful.