6 chefs dream up their perfect Christmas

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Christmas. Yes or no? In the yes camp is anyone aged 12 and under, or who has multiple staff ready to deck the dining table so it looks like something out of a Donna Hay magazine. In the no camp, is anyone with a dysfunctional family – clearly, a tiny minority of Australians – or a dysfunctional bank balance. Ahem.

Then there are those who fall somewhere in between. Here at Life & Leisure, we feel it would be a shame to abolish December 25 entirely, and not just because it would ruin our chances of scoring dress-circle seats in heaven. But a little disruption? Now you’re talking. What if Christmas could be rearranged so you and your loved ones actually enjoyed it?

With this radical, possibly heretical, thought in mind, we asked a bunch of top chefs and restaurateurs around Australia what their dream Christmas Day might look like.

JOE MAMMONE
Restaurateur, Marameo and Bar Carolina, Melbourne

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Joe Mammone says sharing a Christmas feast with family makes it taste better.  Kristoffer Paulsen

Dream destination New York City. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll never see me skiing down any alps, but I love the thought of being in Manhattan when there’s snow on the streets and you’re all rugged up. I think cold weather brings the family together better than when it’s hot. In Australia, after lunch people just run off to the beach and do their own thing.

The food I love the Christmas feast. I have three sisters and 14 nieces and nephews and we all bring something for lunch and there’s nothing I’d rather eat. We’ll have fresh ravioli with a surprise filling, perhaps cheese and eggplant; Mum will cook porchetta, there’ll be lamb that my sister has probably overcooked and I usually bring a whole lot of expensive seafood. Wow, I can’t wait to put that big chunk of lobster flesh in my mouth. Afterwards there’s cherries – every Italian family has a big bowl of cherries at Christmas time.

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Bar Carolina in South Yarra, which Mammone owns.  Chris Hopkins

Dream dish You could put any restaurant dish in front of me at Christmas, and I would not get the same feeling as I do when I’m sharing the feast with my family.

To drink Franciacorta from Ca’ del Bosco. And Dad’s homemade wine; it’s about 18 per cent alcohol and I’ve been drinking it with lemonade at Christmas since I was about five. It’s pretty bad.