Christmas Day lunch is always such a great feast that we all look forward to, but it can be a lot of work and leave you with lots of washing up!
Hopefully some of these tips will help to elevate your Christmas dinner and take the stress out of preparing for big day allowing you to spend more time with friends and family.
Christmas Dinner Ideas
Tip One: Brine Your Turkey
This is a game changer and essential for a great roast turkey. Brining the turkey not only seasons the meat but also helps to keep the meat moist. The addition of herbs and spices also help to impart flavour to your turkey. I like to place the turkey into the brine Christmas Eve morning for 12 hours, then rinse and pat dry before leaving uncovered in the fridge overnight to allow the skin to dry out as much as possible.
This recipe works for a 5kg turkey.
Ingredients
Turkey brine
6 litres water
400 g fine salt
200g caster sugar
4 bay leaf
½ bunch thyme
½ bunch rosemary
20 black peppercorns
20 juniper berries
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 cinnamon sticks
Peel of 2 oranges and 2 lemons
Method
Bring 3 litres of water to the boil with the sugar and salt. When the sugar and salt have dissolved, add all of the herbs and spices and the remaining 3 litres of water, then refrigerate until needed.
Place the turkey into a suitably sized container and cover with the brine, ensuring the turkey is completely submerged, then keep refrigerated for 12 hours.
Tip Two: Pre-boil your roast potatoes
This has 3 great benefits. Firstly, it saves time on the day, leaves one less saucepan to wash up and helps to achieve crispier roast potatoes. The day before, place your peeled and chopped potatoes into a large pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil.
Simmer until they start to break up around the edges. Strain through a colander and gently toss with sea salt. Spread them out evenly on a cooling rack set over a baking tray. This allows maximum moisture to escape, creating drier edges around the potatoes.
Once completely cooled cover and refrigerate. (This can even be done 1 month in advance, and they can be frozen into freezer bags)!
Tip Three: Perfect Pork, sage and apricot stuffing
This delicious stuffing can be made well in advance and frozen, ready to defrost ready to be baked on Christmas Day.
Ingredients
1 large onion, diced
50g unsalted butter
500g stale bread, blended into breadcrumbs
½ bunch sage, picked and chopped
½ bunch thyme, picked and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1kg sausage meat
200g dried apricots, chopped
Salt and pepper
Method
Heat a large heavy bottomed frying pan on a medium heat and add the butter. Add the onions and sweat for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and herbs and cook for a further 3-4 minutes and then add the breadcrumbs and apricots.
Season with salt and pepper, mix well and allow to cool.
Place the sausage meat into a large bowl, add the cooled stuffing and mix well. Transfer to an oven-proof dish, garnish with a picked sage leaves and then cover. Freeze until needed.
Tip Four: Prep the vegetables
Prepare all your vegetables the day before.
Carrots and parsnips can be peeled, Brussels sprouts can be trimmed and halved, and greens can be chopped.
All these little things save you valuable time on the day.
Tip Five: Get the family involved
Try getting the family involved, even the kids. Sit round the table and place all the veggies in the middle.
The work will be done in no time. Just remember to have enough peelers to hand!
Tip Six: Make sure the gravy is hot!
No matter how good your timings are, by the time everyone has pulled their crackers and told some jokes, the meal that you've worked so hard to prepare can start to get cold.
Making sure the gravy is piping hot will bring everything back to life.
Tip Seven: Don’t forget to rest the turkey
This is arguably the most important part of cooking the turkey. When you remove the turkey from the oven, cover the bird in foil and allow it to rest for at least 1 hour.
This allows the moisture to distribute evenly, creating a delicious, moist turkey.
This also frees up oven space for roasting your vegetables, your stuffing and don’t forget the pigs in blankets.
Tip Eight: The ultimate cranberry sauce
No roast turkey is complete without cranberry sauce. This simple recipe is quick to make but and will help to do your roast turkey justice.
Ingredients
500g frozen cranberries
200g muscovado sugar
Zest of 1 orange
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
50ml port
Method
Place the cranberries into a heavy-bottomed pan and cover with 250ml of water and set over a medium heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the spices, sugar and port.
Simmer for a further 5-10 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken. When the desired consistency is achieved remove from the heat and add the orange zest.
Allow to cool and then refrigerate until needed.
Tip Nine: Boxing Day breakfast
My favourite boxing day breakfast is bubble and squeak made with the left-over greens and roast potatoes from Christmas Day lunch.
Using a potato masher, mash your roast potatoes in a large pan and mix with your chopped up greens, an egg and some sliced caramelised onions.
Form into flat round puck shaped discs and pan fry in oil and a little butter until brown and crispy on both sides. Top with a fried egg. Delicious!
Tip Ten: Mince pie ice cream
If like me, you sometimes end up with an excess supply of mince pies in the cupboard, here’s a great way to use them up and create an amazing, sweet treat that the kids (and adults) will love.
Roughly break up the mince pie in a large bowl, then mix with softened vanilla ice cream and return to the freezer for when needed.
Great served on a slice of warm, toasted panettone.
