Get festive with Luke Mangan

When it comes to Christmas entertaining, celebrity chef Luke Mangan has this tip—"Don’t be afraid to delegate. Don’t feel like you have to do everything. Most guests don’t like to come empty handed anyway, so let them be a part of the preparation."

The award-winning chef, restaurateur and cookbook author should know. He has a string of restaurants in Australia, Singapore and Japan, including the new Chicken Confidential at Sydney Airport and signature restaurants on board five P&O cruise ships.

One of seven brothers, Christmas was always a special time of year in the Mangan household. “Mum spent hours behind the stove cooking everything from scratch and we had all the trimmings every year. Just the smell of her pudding brings back memories.”

When entertaining at home, Luke likes to keep it simple. “You don’t always have to go fancy, and most of all keep it relaxed and fun. If you’re relaxed then your guests will be relaxed, too.” On Christmas day, that usually means an alfresco lunch that mixes traditional Christmas fare with more contemporary dishes.

“I always like to have a nice glazed ham on Christmas day with a variety of seafood as well – fresh prawns, oysters, smoked salmon. It’s perfect for a Sydney Christmas day. There’s always some beautiful champagne to start with and then I’ll open some special bottles of wine to share around.”

Christmas changes every year for Luke Mangan. Some are spent in Sydney or Melbourne with family. Others are spent travelling the world and making the most of the downtime in his restaurants. This year will be a very different Christmas for the chef.

“We opened our new Salt grill & tapas bar in the Ginza earlier this year so I will be spending some time in Tokyo. Christmas lunch this year will probably involve a good amount of sushi and sake!”

As for his mum’s cooking, “Nothing beats Mum’s Christmas pudding,” he says. Not having the recipe though, he decided to come up with his own version. “It’s the perfect pairing - ice cream but still keeping with the tradition of having a pudding on Christmas Day.”

Luke's Ice Cream Plum Pudding with Spiced Poached Cherries and Bitter Chocolate

Serves 6

1 ice cream plum pudding (recipe below)

Spiced poached cherries (recipe below)

120g bitter 70% cocoa chocolate, melted (melt in a bowl over hot water or in a microwave on a low setting)

Plum pudding

1 litre good quality vanilla bean ice cream

6 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted

3 dessert spoons maraschino or glacé cherries, chopped

2 dessert spoons sultanas

2 dessert spoons dried mango, chopped

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon Irish cream liqueur

1 tablespoon Cointreau

Combine all the ingredients except the ice cream in a bowl and allow to stand for 1 hour for the flavours to infuse. Spoon the ice cream into the nut, fruit and almond mix and mix with a spoon until everything is fully combined. Spoon into a ceramic bowl, cover with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.

Sliced poached cherries

500g cherries, stones removed

500ml water

125g caster sugar

Pinch ground allspice

Pinch ground ginger

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick, split in half lengthways

½ vanilla bean, split in half, beans scraped out

Place all the ingredients in a pan, bring to the boil and gently poach for approximately 5-8 minutes or until the cherries soften.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for all the flavours to infuse. If required, strain the poaching liquid off the cherries and reduce in a pot on the stove until the liquid has thickened to the desired consistency.