12 chefs and food experts share their top tips for the festive season, including two ttips for roasties… don’t do Christmas without this!
Craig Nicholson
Blackfriars Cookery School
Cook what you know
After spending the last seven years in Asia at Christmas, this year I’m really looking forward to a traditional Christmas at home.
My most important piece of advice is to cook what you know. You don’t want to be cooking something new on Christmas Day – it’s stressful enough as it is!
Also, don’t do it all yourself; make it a family event that can become part of your family traditions.
Jane Pikett
Editor, Appetite
The 12-month cake rule
Make your Christmas cake a year in advance. Yes, I realise this sounds just a bit too keen, but I become even more of a cooking machine at Christmas than at any other time of year, and when I’m lucky enough to have a few days off over the holiday period, I like to put together next year’s cake. This feels so much more fitting than trying to motivate myself to do it at the end of the summer, when I am totally not in the mood. Doing it over the Christmas break ensures I’m properly in the festive spririt, we have some booze in the house in which to soak the dried fruits, and it’s got 12 months to mature (and be given several drinks) before it’s eaten.
Tom Sturman
Tomahawk Steakhouse
The ultimate roasties
For the ultimate roasties, par boil until softened and while they’re still warm, get a fork and drag along each potato so they are indented. Ask your butcher for some beef fat and render that down and toss through the roasties. Failing that, buy the best quality goose or duck fat you can find. Roast with plenty of garlic, rosemary and thyme until crisp and fluffy.
James Close
The Raby Hunt
Perfect roast potatoes
Peel Maris Piper potatoes and cut them into equal sizes. Boil the potatoes with no salt until they’re soft but not falling to bits. Drain and fluff up by shaking the pan with the lid on. Put the potatoes in the fridge for an hour – this increases the surface and will make them crispier. Melt the best quality duck fat you can find and put the potatoes in the fat. Put in the oven at 180C/Gas 4. Halfway through cooking, turn them over in the fat and continue to cook until golden and crispy.
Kathryn Nicholson
Nicholsons Butchers
Festive fridge fillers
Here are a few things you can have ready in the fridge for guests over the festive period. Left over ham – we love to cook ours in marmalade and cloves, and top it with glazed orange segments, it’s so festive and succulent and it’s perfect to just carve slices off when visitors arrive.
A good stash of pies – our festive pies are really popular over Christmas for people to cut into whenever guests arrive – turkey, sausage and stuffing, or turkey, ham and cranberry are the most popular choices.
Simon Walsh
Longsands Fish Kitchen
Orange, Chestnut & Cranberry Butter
Ingredients
200g unsalted butter
50g cranberry sauce
100g chopped chestnuts
juice & zest of 2 oranges
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp chopped sage
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
pinch mixed spice
Method
Soften the butter and mix all the other ingredients into it. Stuff under the skin of your festive turkey or chicken to help to keep it
moist and add a lovely flavour.
Catriona Macdougall
Cook Yourself Happier
Walnut Crumble Sour Cream Cake
Perfect for afternoon guests!
Ingredients
For the crumble:
50g butter
70g plain flour
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
pinch salt
100g toasted walnuts, chopped
For the cake:
180g butter
300g caster sugar
3 eggs
300ml sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
325g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
Method
Line a loaf tin and preheat oven to 160C/Gas 3. Place all crumble ingredients apart from the nuts in a bowl and rub in until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the walnuts. For the cake, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well. Mix in sour cream and vanilla extract. Sift together flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt and fold into the mixture. Spread half the cake batter evenly in the bottom of the tin. Sprinkle half the crumble mix over. Layer remaining batter over the crumble (it helps to use wet fingers). Sprinkle remaining crumble over the top. Bake at 160C/Gas 3 for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.
Anna Hedworth
Cook House
Spiced Winter syllabub
This is great on topped with pomegranate seeds and toasted nuts, and as a an accompaniment for chocolate tart, chocolate
and almond cake or Christmas pudding.
Serves 8
Ingredients
75g sultanas
4 tbsp sherry
juice and zest of 1 orange
juice and zest of 1 lemon
4 tbsp brandy
75g dark muscavado sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
600ml double cream
seeds of 1 pomegranate
2 balls candied stem ginger, cut into small cubes
Method
Soak sultanas in the sherry, preferably overnight.Combine orange and lemon juices and zest in a bowl, add brandy, sugar, cinnamon and ginger and whisk together by hand. In a separate bowl, whip cream with an electric whisk to soft peaks, then fold in the citrus and spice mix.
Deseed the pomegranate and put the seeds in a bowl, reserving a few for decoration. Add the candied ginger, the boozy sultanas and any remaining sherry, then add this to the cream and fold through until incorporated. If this is too loose, just fold a bit more vigorously. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve. This can be made the night before. Serve in small bowls or glasses topped with more pomegranate seeds.
Man Singh
Dabbawal
Turkey Berry Kebabs
Serves 1
Ingredients
2-3 tbsp oil
½ tsp chopped ginger
½ tsp chopped garlic
70g chicken mince
1 tsp dried cranberries
salt to taste
200g turkey fillet
For the marinade:
3 tbsp Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp mascarpone cheese
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
½ tsp garam masala
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp green cardamom powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp cumin powder
Method
To make the marinade, put the yoghurt and mascarpone in a bowl, add the spices, mix well and set aside.
Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the ginger, garlic and chicken mince and stir. After a minute, add dried cranberries and salt to taste. Cook for 5-10 mins, mashing it as smooth as possible and set aside.
Roll the fillet into three tubes and stuff the chicken mince mixture inside. Place in a dish, generously spread the marinade over and set aside for 2-3 hours. Place on a baking tray and cook at 180C/Gas 4 for 10-15 mins, turning over half way. Serve with seasonal salad and chutneys.
Mark Bennett
Ramside Hall Hotel
Make the most of cranberries
My top tip at Christmas is to make the most of cranberries. They’re a fantastic addition not just to your Christmas dinner, but with cold roast turkey the next day. Use them as a sandwich filler or to give an extra touch to a turkey pie.
Also, it doesn’t matter if you’re a professional chef or a home cook – one rule always stands, preparation! We’re lucky at Ramside to have a full brigade of chefs so everything works like a well-oiled machine, but you can ensure Christmas Day cooking is stress-free by getting your prep done the day before.
Jamie Walsh
Eslington Villa
Apricot & walnut stuffing
Ingredients
400g sausage meat
1 onion
100g chopped dry apricots
100g chopped walnuts
140g of soft breadcrumbs
1 egg
salt and pepper
Method
Mix all the ingredients in a clean bowl. Wet your hands under warm water (this helps the stuffing not stick to your hands), and roll the mixture into even sized balls. Place on an oiled roasting tray and cook at 180C/Gas 4 for approx 15-20 mins (depending on the size of your balls). They’re cooked when they feel firm when pressed.
Ronald Robson
Leila Lily’s
Tips for terrific turkey
To keep it moist, cook the turkey upside down. Popping the turkey breast-side down for the first hour or so of roasting means the bird essentially bastes itself. And if you can manage to turn it a few times throughout the cooking process it will encourage the juices to stay inside.
Once it’s cooked, let the turkey rest. The heat of the oven forces the juices into the middle of the bird so, once you’ve extracted it from the oven, let the turkey rest for around 20 mins under some foil before carving it. The juices will redistribute, and you’ll have moister meat.
