I love Christmas cooking. There is something so lovely about coming together with family and friends to celebrate the year and be thankful for all our many blessings, as we indulge in a shared feast.

We travel at Christmas so dishes which can be prepared in advance are perfect for our contribution to the family feast. Such dishes also mean I can join in on the festivities rather than being in the kitchen for hours.

This year we are providing predinner nibbles, which is a course I love. Rather than a traditional cheese platter, we make up little bites of simple food and dress the plates in rosemary garlands. (As usual our rosemary is in abundance.) The presentation really elevates the dish, so it looks as good as they all taste.

Our favourite Christmas Bite is Marinated Fig and Fetta Toast. Poppy requests this every year so it has become a tradition. For me this tastes like Christmas!

Ingredients

• Mini Toast (I purchase these however you can toast your own bread)
• Olive Oil
• Good quality Marinated Fetta*
• Marinated Figs**
• Chives

Pre-Christmas Prep

*For an extra injection of flavour, you can swap out the Fetta for Blue Cheese.

**If your Christmas shopping is done, and you have time, you can choose to marinate the Figs at home. I’ve included the recipe for this below.

Christmas Day Assembly

Simply smash the Fetta with a little Oil so it is softened

Spread the Fetta on each Toast

Add a slide of Marinated Figs with some of the sticky juice

Sprinkle Chives

Marinated Figs

Note this recipe requires Figs to be soaked overnight, so plan ahead.

The taste of Christmas! You will only need a few Figs for your toast, however I always make extra as they are perfect with ice-cream as a dessert, to throw in a salad, add to a cheese platter, or to eat with ham as we indulge in Boxing Day leftovers.

Ingredients

15 White Dried Figs

Approx. 1 and then 1/2 cups of Boronia Marsala (Needs to cover the Figs in your chosen jar)

One Vanilla Pod sliced in long strips to release flavour

Cinnamon Stick

1/4 Cup of Honey

1/4 Cup of Orange Juice and a few strips of peel

The night before

Cut each Fig in half and place in a jar

Mix 1 cup Boronia Marsala and the rest of the ingredients

Pour mixture into jar over Figs

Use the remaining 1/2 cup of Boronia Marsala to top up the jar until covering your Figs

Cover the jar and place in fridge

The next day

Over a low/medium heat, gently cook decanted mixture until it reduces to a syrup

As it cooks, gently turn over the Figs so they maintain their structure

Cool and return to jar in the fridge. These are ready to serve immediately or will last a few days in the fridge (unless your husband finds them 😊)