Minted peas and beans

Christmas dinners are rich and filling with stuffing, potatoes and lots of meet quickly filling the belly, while even the sprouts are rather dense, so it is important to offer some light vegetables to help balance the plate, while an injection of colour never goes amiss.

This idea is delightfully simple so it does not really constitute a recipe, but more of an idea.

All you need is frozen peas and fresh beans, which can be boiled or steamed for five minutes or so. Then before serving spoon in a teaspoon or two of mint sauce and a knob of butter. It make a pleasant difference and some simple veg suddenly become worthy of their place on the festive table.

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Enhanced stuffing balls for Christmas dinner

Stuffing comes in two very different types. One is using sausage meat and the other comes in a dried packet and this recipe is using the dried type that you get in a packet and this will show you how easy it is to enhance it and make it something quite special.

One pack of dried sage and onion stuffing
370ml boiling water
10 cooked chestnuts
liver from the giblets (turkey or goose is good here)
knob of butter

1. As per the instructions of the packet mix the boiling water with the stuffing and add the knob of butter and leave to cool.
2. Chop the chestnuts into pea-sized pieces and add to the mixture
3. Sautee the finely chopped liver in a pan for a few minutes and add to the mixture
4. When it is all cool roll into snooker ball sized balls and place on a greased baking tray.
5. Place in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees with 20 minutes. 

Easy, tasty and festive!

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How To Roast a Free Range Bronze Turkey

Cooking a turkey for Christmas or Thanksgiving is a scary task that many people dread as more often than not it will end up dry and uninspiring and the centre piece of the feast is not enjoyed, yet we return to this traditional bird again and again.

I can't promise that what I am going to explain will help you with your turkey as there are so many factors that can influence cooking time - size of the bird, stuffing, temperature of the bird, size of the oven, strength of the oven and the amount of times you open the door to check on your bird.

However, this worked for me and resulted in a moist and juicy bird that was full of flavour, so fingers crossed it wasn't a one off.

Ingredient

1 Turkey (We used a 5kg bird)
50g butter (soft)
Half an onion
Half an orange
Half a lemon
Six rashers of streaky bacon
Salt and pepper

1. Start by removing the string from the turkey and take out the giblets for use in the gravy. Leave the bird to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, while the oven is heating to 220 degrees.
2. Place the onion, lemon and orange deep inside the bird, but we are not going to put any stuffing inside as it does little for the flavour and complicates the cooking time.
3. Mix the salt and pepper in with the soft butter and rub this all over the bird, including the legs and wings. You really want to get your hands dirty for this job, so don't hold back.
4. Take out a pre-heated tray from the oven and place the turkey breast down and put the pan in the oven for 20 minutes.
5. Now take the pan out of the oven, closing the door to keep the heat in, and turn the turkey over. Use a plastic turkey tester and insert it an inch from the breast bone towards the front of the bird. This will pop out when the turkey is done.
6. Turn the oven down to 170 degrees and wrap the turkey in foil so that the pan is covered but that the foil is not too tight to the turkey.
7. The turkey should need 2 hours 30 minutes from this point, but you can use the temperature tester for guidance and when it pops up check the juices are running clear.
8. 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time, remove the foil and lay on the bacon across the bird.
9. Leave the turkey wrapped in foil to cool for 30 minutes before carving and use any extra juices in the gravy.

Enjoy!

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Cooking a Christmas Feast

It has been a long time since I blogged but after cooking a Christmas feast I felt compelled to share it with you all, while helping myself remember what I need when it comes to cooking again in twelve months time.

This is what the menu consisted of and you can click on each item for brief instructions on how it was prepared.

Free Range Bronze Turkey or Honey glazed goose
Enhanced stuffing balls
Pigs in Blankets
Roast Potatoes
Root vegetable mash with breadcrumb topping
Celeriac puree
Sprouts, Chestnuts and Pancetta
Minted peas and beans
Syrup glazed carrots
Bread sauce
Roasted baby potatoes
Turkey gravy or Goose Gravy

I hope some of the above inspire you for your  next festive feast and I'd love to hear suggestions on what can be added to the list, although we may need a bigger table if anything else is added.

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Tandoori Lamb Joint

This is a perfect way to cooking up a small leg of lamb or shoulder. Don't worry about overcooking the lamb as the crispy edges are gorgeous.

Ingredients and method

Liberally rub in tandoori spices, garam masala and chili powder into the lamb and then drizzle over the juice of one lemon.

Leave for at least 12 hours before cooking for two hours at 200 degrees. Turn over the piece of meat half way through.

Use the resulting meat fresh out of the oven, or cold.

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Hot vindaloo-style lamb curry with cooling option

The curry recipe below is not in any way a replica of a vindaloo, famous in England for being one the spiciest curries, but it generates a similar level of intensity and fiery flavour. So, if you can handle the spice you might enjoy giving this a try, although using a cooler such as coconut yoghurt means you can lighten the heat if required.

Ingredients

400g small pieces lamb (ideally cut from a nice leg of lamb)
1 tbsp tandoori spice mix
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 onion
1 small garlic (puree together with the onion)
4 cardamon pods
3 cloves
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp black pepper corns
1 inch of chopped ginger
2 red and 2 green chilies
1 tbsp of tomato puree
1 tbsp of chili powder
400ml lamb stock (or water)
1 tsp salt

Method

The night before cooking this curry rub in to tandoori spice mix, chili powder and garam masala.
Using a pestle and mortar lightly grind the cardamon, cloves, coriander seeds and black peppercorns.
Heat some oil in a saucepan and when hot add the mixture that has been grinded.
After 30 seconds add the chillies and ginger.
Stir well and after a minute add the pureed onion and garlic.
After three minutes add the lamb and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
Add the tomato puree, table spoon of chili powder, salt and lamb stock and simmer for 30 minutes.

Mix in some coconut yoghurt to cool if necessary.

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Crisp choc and raisin biscuits

As biscuits go these ones are easy to make, so how about letting the kids give you a helping hand for a special treat. As with all biscuit/cookie recipes you can change a number of the ingredients depending on what flavours you fancy.

This makes roughly 14 biscuits:

Ingredients

120g soft butter

160g soft brown sugar

210g plain flour

1 egg

1 tbsp syrup 

1 tsp ginger powder

2 drips of vanilla essence

50g raisins

50g chocolate pieces 

Method

• Start by creaming the sugar together with the butter.
• Add the egg and whisk and then repeat with the syrup.
• Mix together the flour and ginger powder before folding it into the mixture.
• Mix in the remaining ingredients and then roll the dough into a rather thick sausage.
• Cool in the fridge until firm and then cut into slices.
• Put the slices on baking paper and cook in a pre-cooked oven at 170 degrees with 15 minutes.

Eat warm while the chocolate is soft, or wait for a very crispy biscuit. 

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