COOK WITH LOVE FOR XMAS
An easy vegetarian centerpiece dish using ready-made puff pastry, potatoes, shallots, mushrooms and blue cheese.
Ingredients
2 large potatoes boiled in their skins
350 g ready-made puff pastry
25 g butter
6 shallots, peeled and diced
150 g chestnut mushrooms, sliced or halved
150 g blue cheese, such as Stilton
1 pinch fresh thyme leaves
1 pinch each of salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Fry the shallots and mushrooms in the butter until the mushrooms are cooked and the shallots are translucent and soft.
- If you haven’t already cooked the potatoes, boil two large potatoes in salted water until they’re soft. Drain them and allow them to cool. When they are completely cool, peel and cut into thick slices.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease or line a pizza tray or pizza stone.
- Roll out the puff pastry into a large circle on a floured board. Spoon half of the shallot and mushroom mixture onto the puff pastry circle, leaving a 5cm border around the edge. Arrange half of the potato slices on top. Spoon the remaining shallot and mushroom mixture and the remaining potatoes over the top.
- Scatter the blue cheese over the topping with some fresh thyme leaves. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown, and cheese has melted.
- Allow cooling for two to three minutes before cutting into slices. Serve with coleslaw and salad, if you like.
Roast turkey with stuffing and gravy
A classic festive centerpiece turkey with two types of stuffing – meaty beef and onion, and apricot and walnut.
Ingredients
4.5 –5kg turkey
1 pinch each salt and pepper
1 onion, peeled
500 g minced beef (not too lean as a little fat helps the turkey stay moist)
100 g dried or fresh cranberries
25 g unsalted butter
1 small handful each of fresh sage, rosemary and thyme leaves, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 quantity of cooking juices from the bird
2 tbsp plain flour
1 glass dry white wine
500 ml chicken or turkey stock
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- For the stuffing: put the onion into a food processor and roughly chop. Add the minced beef, cranberries, butter, chopped herbs and a good seasoning of salt and pepper, and whizz briefly, just to combine. Use this to stuff the neck end of the turkey, push the bay leaf into the stuffing, and pull the skin over to enclose, securing with a few toothpicks.
- Weigh the turkey and make a note of the weight including the stuffing, then put the bird in a roasting tin.
- Spread the butter over the turkey and season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and cook for about 4–4½ hours, depending on the amount of stuffing. Remove the foil for the last 45 minutes to brown the bird.
- Remove from the oven, place the turkey on a board, cover with foil and leave in a warm place to rest for 1 hour before carving.
- To make the gravy: put the roasting tin with the cooking juices over medium-high heat, stir the flour into the juices and cook for a few minutes, scraping up the bits from the bottom of the roasting tin with a wooden spoon. Add the white wine and bring it to a rapid boil. Add the stock, bring it back to a boil and then strain into a saucepan. Place back over the heat and simmer for another 5–10 minutes until slightly thickened.
- To serve, carve the turkey. Slice the meat stuffing and serve with the turkey, with spoonfuls of the apricot stuffing and the gravy on the side.
Mix Baileys Irish Cream with cream and egg yolks to make this luxurious, grown-up crème brûlée.
Ingredients
600 ml double cream
200 ml semi-skimmed milk
6 medium free-range egg yolks
30 g caster sugar
4 tbsp Baileys Irish Cream
3 tbsp demerara sugar
Method
- Preheat the oven to 150°C. Pour the cream and milk into a saucepan and heat until almost boiling. Remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
- In a heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together with a balloon whisk until combined. Stir in the cream mixture and Baileys and pour into six small ramekins.
- Put the ramekins in a roasting tin and add enough cold water to the tin to come two-thirds of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Carefully put the roasting tin in the oven and cook for 30–40 minutes, or until just set. Remove from the tin and leave to cool, then chill for 2 hours.
- Preheat the grill to hot. Sprinkle the demerara sugar in an even layer over the brûlées and grill until the sugar has melted, about 2 minutes. Leave to cool until the sugar has set, then serve straight away.