LA RISATA'S HANDS-FREE CHRISTMAS FEAST

Cooking up the yearly Christmas feast is no child’s play. For time-poor and busy urban families, even family matriarchs should enjoy a well-deserved break during the festive season instead of slaving away in the kitchen. Give them a chance to join in the family bonding and entrust the cooking to La Risata chefs.

Designed to make life easier, La Risata’s festive selection allows you to ‘mix and match’ the resto’s offerings with home-made dishes of your own. The traditional Roast Turkey (4 kg each @RM338++) makes for an impressive centrepiece for your festive table as the huge bird’s sizeable enough to serve 10-12 persons. 

The most outstanding component of this offering is cranberry sauce, made from real cranberries cooked down to a thick compote; its subtle tanginess tempering the rich giblet sauce. Sautéed mixed vegetable and chestnut stuffing complete the dish.

 

Personally, I prefer the Roast Leg of Lamb (3 kg each@RM228++) which the chef acquitted to sumptuous tenderness; the blush pink centre of each slice oozing with juicy goodness. Faint whiffs of rosemary made it all the more droolworthy, augmented by sides of sautéed chat potatoes, grilled root vegs and rosemary sauce.

If you prefer to dine in at La Risata, the rustic Pizza Mozzarella is a ‘must try’. Thin yet sturdy enough to hold its shape, the crusty wood-fired pizza left us wanting more, thanks to its generous slather of tomato sauce and toppings of smoky mozzarella, strips of red and green marinated capsicums, anchovies and fresh basil.

In Italy, you can’t get more traditional than a portion of gnocchi to start with. These thick, soft knobs of doughy dumplings are notoriously difficult to make but La Risata chefs dressed up the Grilled Blue Fin Tuna with Squid Ink Gnocchis with a bright flavourful Lemon Butter Sauce. Bolstered by the smooth citrusy sauce, the tuna’s voluptuous richness was captured in the dainty, pillow-soft dumplings while any residual cloyingness was halted by fresh peppery rocket.  

Stumped for ideas on what salad to serve for your Christmas do? Here’s a simple but ingenious suggestion tossed up by La Risata. You’d hit the jackpot by rustling up Rocket & Pear Salad with Lemon Dressing and Shave Parmesan. Nobody can resist its vivacious spectrum of accents: sweet, tart, savoury and zingy in one go.

Sweeten the celebration with a takeaway Tiramisu (RM160++ per order, ample for 12 persons) or Pumpkin Pie (RM80++ each for 8-10 persons). Concocted with layers of espresso-soaked Savoiardi sponge fingers and mascarpone, it was a reliable albeit tame option among the dessert we sampled. 

Served with silky maple cream sauce, the Pumpkin Pie stole the thunder with its delicately sweet crumbly crust; the top adorned with a sprinkling of almonds. The pie filling itself was airy-light and redolent with the warm scent of cinnamon, something which I’d always associate with Christmas.

For dine-in, the perennial fave has to be Zucotto, a luscious domed cake with chocolate and vanilla cream studded with almond, chocolate and hazelnut nibs. It looked wickedly decadent but turned out to be feather-light with just a touch of indulgence.

Orders are accepted from now until 5 January 2016 while stocks last so make haste and call La Risata now, tel: 03-2031 6568. Reservations at the restaurant are advisable for the festive period.