What to cook for Christmas week

Merry Christmas everybody!!!

Thank you once again for your support this year. I will be “cheersing” the lot of you on the big day. Are we all ready for the biggest food week of the year? ‘Tis the week for festive cooking (and freezing). If you haven’t started already, now is the time to get ahead in order to save yourself some effort on Christmas Day.

In this week’s newsletter I want to share (and re-share) some of my favourite make ahead recipes. I also want to share my “system” on how I’ll be tackling this week. We’ll be cutting ourselves some slack in the kitchen and make some easy yummy dinners that leave you with enough head space to get on with creating all the Christmas magic.

Here is the plan of action!

Saturday: Gratin of Fish with Cheese, Tomatoes and Herbs

Sunday: Roast Chicken. Nothing fancy. Just put it in the oven as you normally do. While the chicken is cooking I suggest making the stuffing, gravy and sprout gratin to stash in the freezer for Christmas Day. You can have a little of everything with your roast chicken too! Winner winner, chicken dinner

Monday: A super easy sausage tray bake with potatoes and tomatoes or more romantically “Salsicca Con Patate e Pomodori al Forno” by Dianna Henry

Monday: I’ll also make a big batch of Spiced Parsnip and Apple Soup and you’ve guessed it… freeze a batch!

Tuesday and Wednesday: Sticky Plum Chicken (batch cook)

Thursday: Take a break! Eat some cheese. Enjoy a glass of something lovely while you wrap pressies or whatever.

Christmas Eve. This is a great day to get ahead so you can enjoy Christmas Day:

• Make space in your fridge by taking out all the jars and vegetables that don’t really need to be there. Replace with wine! I mean, you’ll need space for other things, but you also need wine.

• Boil and glaze the ham (we’ll eat this for dinner with piccalilli, brown bread and a cheeseboard and a few roses)

• Take the stuffing, sprout gratin and gravy out of the freezer.

• Get comfy at the table or kitchen island, tunes on, pour a big mug of tea (or a baileys coffee), open the Christmas biccies and prep your veg.

  • Peel the potatoes (I’m not sure if this is an old wife’s tale, but tradition in our house passed on from Granny Flood is to scrub a piece of coal and pop it in with your peeled potatoes and cover with cold water. They will be perfect the next day)

  • Peel parsnips and cut into wedges along with some red onion, cover and place in fridge (which I’ll roast with olive oil, rosemary and honey)

  • Peel and slice the carrots diagonally, cover and place in fridge (which I’ll simply boil and dress in lots of butter, chives and a little bit of juice from a clementine)

  • Set the table

  • Organise your serving dishes and spoons

  • Put condiments into little bowls, wrap in cling film and put into the fridge

  • Make sure the dishwasher is empty

  • Delegate and remind yourself how great you are!

I know I haven’t mentioned dessert or starters at all! For dessert we usually buy a nice custard and have it with my aunties famous plum pudding along with some cream that has been whipped with vanilla, sugar and a drop of brandy. On the 23rd I will make a big rich chocolate cake for my husbands’ birthday. Anyone who doesn’t like pudding will have that warmed up with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. My sister will most likely douse it all in Baileys and reminisce about the days when I would make her chocolate souffle’s. No starters. There is a steady flow of sticky sausages, smoked salmon and tins of roses all day so by the time dinner comes a starter would be too much. I do make a smoked salmon roulade which I will be sharing on my insta page closer to the day.

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Gratin of Fish with Cheese, Tomatoes and Herbs

This is adapted from a Rachel’s Allen recipe on The Irish Examiner and heavily inspired by Mary Black on The Restaurant Christmas Special! The olives are totally optional. You can scatter a few breadcrumbs over the top too if you like but I think it’s better without.

Serves 4

• 1 cup (100 g) grated Gruyère cheese

• 1 cup (100 g) grated Swiss cheese (Emmental cheese)

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 5 tablespoons cream

• Salt and black pepper

• 1 punnet (9 oz/250 g) cherry tomatoes, halved

• 3 cubes frozen spinach defrosted

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

• A handful of black olives chopped

• 1 1/2 lb (750 g) white fish fillets, such as hake or cod, skinned and deboned. Ask your fish monger to do this!

• Boiled new potatoes, to serve

Method

1.       Preheat the oven to 180 (fan)

2.       Place the grated cheeses, mustard and cream into a bowl and mix well. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside.

3.       Put the spinach and the fish in a gratin dish in a single layer. Dot the cheese mixture over the fish, then scatter the tomatoes and herbs on top. Transfer the fish to the oven and cook for 20 to 30 minutes (or 15 minutes for single portions), until the cheese is golden brown and the fish is cooked through.

4.       Scatter the fresh basil and black olives over the top to serve

Sausage tray bake with potatoes and tomatoes or more romantically “Salsicca con patate e pomodori al forno” by Dianna Henry

Ingredients:

• 8 chunky, spicy, good quality Italian sausages

• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds slightly bashed

• 2 onions sliced fine

• 450 g potatoes, cut into thinnish pieces, don’t bother peeling

• 3 garlic cloves, sliced fine

• 1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced

• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

• 250 g cherry tomatoes

• 30 g pecorino or parmesan cheese, grated

• 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley or fresh oregano leaves

Directions:

1.       Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas mark 5.

2.       Cut each sausage into three, widthways. Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a wide, fairly shallow ovenproof dish or pan (about 30cm across). Quickly brown the sausages – just to get a bit of colour, not cook them through.

3.       Add the chilli and fennel seeds and cook for another minute. Toss in the onions, potatoes, garlic and peppers and season.

4.       Add another couple of tablespoons of olive oil (unless a lot of fat has come out of the sausages – some exude a lot, others don’t). Finish tossing, leaving most of the sausage lying on top.

5.       Cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Take the dish out of the oven and stir everything round. Put the tomatoes on top, season, sprinkle on the cheese and drizzle on a little more oil.

6.       Put back in the oven and cook for another 30-40 minutes (or until everything is golden and the potatoes are soft), gently stirring in your herbs 10 minutes before the end. Serve from the dish.

Sticky Plum Chicken

The smell when this cooking really will certainly make your mouth water. I often serve this with mashed parsnip! Weird I know but it just works. You can also serve it with rice and some gently cooked greens.

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken fillets

• 6 plums

• 1 red onion

• 1 inch piece of ginger

• 2 tbsp dark soy

• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• 1 tbsp honey

• 250ml chicken stock

• 1 tsp of Chinese five spice

• 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil

• 1 tbsp of plum jam/plum sauce/a pouch of prune puree (yes really!)

Method:
1. First things first, get all your bits prepped. Dice up your red onion. Grate the ginger and garlic. Cut your plums up into little wedges.

2. Sear the chicken fillets in a casserole dish and set aside. Add the onion, ginger, garlic and half the plums. Cook them on a low heat for 5 minutes. Add the Chinese five spice and let it cook for another minute.

3. Add the honey, soy, plum jam/puree, soy, balsamic and stock. Give it a good stir, bring to the boil and place in an oven at 180 for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, add the rest of the plums and give it another 5 minutes to allow them to soften. These ones will stay whole and give a little tangy kick to the otherwise sweet sauce.

Serve with rice

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I hope that leaves you with a lighter load on Christmas Day. We eat dinner at around 5 so I’ll be sharing some bits of the day on insta. I find the most stressful bit is getting everything to the table HOT! Might I suggest carving up the meat and portioning it out onto a roasting tray. Add a tiny drop of water and cover with foil. This can be placed into a warm oven while you get your sides into serving dishes. Piping hot gravy and warm plates are essential. Please feel free to message me with any questions!

That’s it folks, chat to you on the 27th/28th for some great recipes to use up all the things we don’t get around to eating.

Merry Christmas to you and yours,

Mx