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Minted peas and beans

>> Monday 27 December 2010

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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