One of the nice things about Hong Kong is the availability of food items from around the world, but it can be fun to introduce a local flavor to a traditional menu.

Although turkey is the bird of choice nowadays, traditionally Christmas meant a plump, succulent goose. A goose may seem like too much for two people, but with leftovers next day and the bones turned into a good consomme - believe me it will easily disappear.

Instead of the traditional dinner; soup, roasted bird and all the trimmings followed by Xmas Pudding with Brandy Butter, here is an easier menu: Caviar Creme, Roast Goose, Water Chestnuts & Snow Peas, Wild Rice & Long Grain Rice, Effortless Trifle.

Start 4 hours ahead of time: Light the oven, inspect the goose and remove any quills with a pair of tweezers, then rinse it inside and out with a mixture of lemon juice and water, dry well and prick the skin lightly all over with a fork.

Place the goose in a deep roasting tin in the oven and roast at Gas Mark 4 (180 C) for 30 minutes, then at 20 minutes per pound after that, that's just over 4 hours for a 12 lb bird so there's plenty of time to make the rest of the meal.

In the meantime, prepare the trifle; split a sponge cake in half, spread apricot jam on one half and place in a round bowl, add 1 tin of mixed fruit in light syrup, put the other half sponge on top. Mix 1 glass of sweet wine and 1 small glass of Grand Marnier (orange flavored liqueur) and pour over all. Whip 6 ozs cream with 1 teaspoon icing (powdered) sugar and cover/peak it over the trifle, you can add a few crystallised cherries as decoration or be extravagant - add Marron Glace and grate a little chocolate over the top. Cover with cling film and put in the fridge until needed.

Now prepare the rest. Wild rice needs longer to cook than long grain rice. Measure 2 ozs wild rice, wash 3 times, drain and put in a pan with 2 1/2 times the amount of water - it will expand 3 or 4 times so be conservative, set to cook on a low heat for 35 - 40 minutes, it will open slightly like a butterfly. Also cook 2 ozs long grain rice in water for 18 minutes. You can reserve the rice covered in the refrigerator and re-heat both in a little butter when the goose is being carved.

Peel and slice the water chestnuts, put in cold water with a squeeze of lemon until you are ready to use, they only take minutes to stir fry along with Snow peas.

Caviar Creme is a treatment not a recipe: to 1 small jar of Danish lumpfish roe add 4 ozs of pasteurised cream (whipped very gently), some black pepper and juice of a small lemon, stir carefully, pile into a glass dish and place this dish into a larger bowl half-filled with crushed ice at the time of serving with hot toast and cold champagne.

To get the best result, after removing the goose from the oven, let it sit for 15 minutes before carving.

Don't add oil or fat to the goose - it sheds lots of fat as it cooks. so make sure the roasting tin is deep, and reserve the fat (there's usually a lot of it) to make real potato chips next day to accompany leftover goose - not French Fries but "chips" very thinly cut slices of old potatoes deep fried in goose fat - super delicious! Do rinse the sliced potatoes well and dry thoroughly before frying or they will stick together and go black!

Cover the table with a pretty cloth, polish the cutlery and glasses until they sparkle, add two candles and get ready to enjoy a festive dinner for two.

(HK Edition 12/04/2010 page4)