The Beginner s Guide to Christmas Dinner From Scratch

It's Christmas dinner, you've got all your sides ready and there is one side on the table that is there to impress everyone. In my opinion, the most important side is getting your roast potatoes bang on. So I'm going to show you how I like to do them. These are going to be super crispy, very indulgent but they are the best way to do them and I think you guys should recreate this too and do this for your Christmas dinner. So let's get stuck in and I'm going to show you how I like to do it. First off, grab yourself some King Edward potatoes. These are the best potatoes for roast potatoes. They get nice and fluffy and then when you leave them to steam dry later they get nice craggly edges and that's what gets you those really crispy three-dimensional potatoes. This is perfect and exactly what we're looking for. Peel two kilograms of King Edward potatoes then place these into a pan and cover with cold water. At this point you can also add a few garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs to the pan and bring this to a boil. We're going to cook these potatoes for about seven to eight minutes until fork tender. We don't want to cook them until they're mushy but equally so we want to make sure they're cooked throughout so we can get really crispy potatoes later on. Once the potatoes have cooked we're going to strain them in a colander or remove them with a slotted spoon and then lay them out on a rack to steam dry for a while. Meanwhile whilst they're steam drying add your chosen oil to the bottom of a tray and then place this oil in the oven of 200 degrees celsius to preheat whilst the potatoes are steam drying. Then we're going to remove the preheated oil after about 10 minutes in the oven and we're going to lay the potatoes into the pan. Using a spoon coat the potatoes in the oil and then place these back into the oven. We're now going to cook them for about an hour. We're going to keep a close eye on these turning them every 20 minutes so they can get evenly coated in that oil and they should turn out after an hour to be golden roasted crispy potatoes. These are amazing. Now a little thing we're going to pair with this is a rosemary lemon salt. Get one lemon and zest it then add this into a blender with a few sprigs of rosemary and two tablespoons of Maldon sea salt. Blitz this together until fine powder and we're going to sprinkle this over our roast potatoes at the end as the perfect extra garnish for the potatoes. You don't have to do stuff if you don't want to but I love to do this as it adds a really nice freshness to the rich crispy roast potatoes. Let's move on to the next side dish for your Christmas dinner. You cannot have a Christmas dinner without some stuffing. I'm going to show you two ways to make a stuffing. I'm going to be doing a meat one with sausage meat, lots of herbs and added chestnuts and then the second way is going to be a vegetarian stuffing. This is going to have stuff like dried apricots in it and it's going to be a really nice vegetarian version of the stuffing as well. So first off we're going to make the meat stuffing. To start the meat stuffing add three knobs or 45 grams of unsalted butter to a pan alongside two finely diced onions. Season with a pinch of salt and cook them over a medium heat for five minutes until translucent. At this point add 360 grams of pre-cooked chestnuts, six tablespoons of finely chopped sage, two tablespoons of finely chopped thyme and grated four garlic cloves. Season with some black pepper, now one and a half tablespoons of apple cider vinegar then cook for 10 more minutes to meld all these flavours together. Remove this from the heat and leave to cool slightly before moving on to the next steps. Into a new bowl add the cooled chestnut mixture alongside 900 grams of sausage meat, 200 grams of breadcrumbs, one teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 20 gratings of nutmeg, the zest and juice of one whole orange and two whole eggs. Mix this together well until it has all been combined and set aside until we cook the turkey. This can be stored in the fridge for up to three days in advance. To make the veggie stuffing we need to prep the first few ingredients now leeks often are still a little bit dirty before we cook with them so to make sure they're clean cut each end into quarters and just rinse them under cold water. To prepare these we're then going to roughly chop them into slices. The second key ingredient we need is mushrooms. Get yourself 25 grams of finely chopped dried porcini mushrooms and soak them in 200 milliliters of hot stock. Leave these to soak whilst making the rest of the stuffing. The third key ingredient we're going to talk about here are the apricots. Here we're using 150 grams of dried apricots which give a lovely sweetness to the dish. Simply chop these into small chunks or as fine as you can get them then set aside until ready to use. So to assemble the stuffing add three large knobs of unsalted butter to a pan over medium heat. Add the two cleaned and diced leeks, one finely chopped celery stalk, the 150 grams of chopped apricots and some sea salt to taste. Cook these for 10 minutes then add in the remaining ingredients. Three cloves of minced garlic, one and a half tablespoons of finely chopped rosemary, 25 grams of soaked porcini mushrooms with all of the liquid, 50 grams of chopped walnuts, one teaspoon of miso paste and then cook this for a final 10 minutes to meld all those flavors together. Once cooked set aside and leave to cool. Cut up 300 grams of crusty bread into small chunks then add this into a bowl with the cooled apricot mixture, two tablespoons of finely chopped parsley, two whole eggs, 20 gratings of nutmeg and some salt and pepper to taste. Mix this together well using your hands then cover and set aside in the fridge until ready to cook. This can again be stored in the fridge for three to four days in advance. Now we are ready to cook the stuffing. Here I'm using a chicken however this will work exactly the same for your Christmas turkey too. So for half of the stuffing we're going to add this into a high-sided baking tray. Using a portion of each put these in two halves of the baking tray and then set this aside. Now to put the stuffing in the bird we're going to get your hand under the skin and loosen this. This is a really essential technique that you want to do because this enables us to get as much stuffing as we can in between the skin and the chicken breast. Using your hands just scoop portions of this in until you can't get any more in and then anything else that is left over place this into the crevice of the chicken. Now typically here with the turkey you don't need to do this but with the small chicken I like to cut two little holes in the skin by the legs of the chicken and hook them in to each other so they stay together. However, like I did here I made a mistake and I cut right through it so kind of do what you can and pin these together if not just leave them as normal and it will be equally okay. I just like to do this to prevent any of the stuffing from falling out when cooking but if you keep an eye on it this shouldn't happen. Cover your chicken or turkey with some olive oil and a pinch of salt then cover this with foil and then place this into an oven of 180 degrees celsius. We're then going to cook this for one to two hours until it reaches an internal temperature of 70 degrees celsius. With the turkey you can be cooking this for up to three or four hours, roughly 30 to 40 minutes before you finish cooking the chicken. Remove the foil and leave the skin to brown slightly before removing from the oven. The stuffing should also be cooked by now too so remove this and set aside until we serve it later on. When it comes to serving we can just simply cut off the chicken breast and slice these across section this way you get a nice little bit of the chicken and the stuffing and the skin on top and then we're going to take the stuffing as well out of the crevice of the chicken and then we're going to serve this with the remaining ingredients on the plate and this makes for the best Christmas dinner I'm sure you guys will have had in a very long time. And that right there is how you make beautiful meat and vegetarian stuffing and cook it in the chicken at the same time. If you're doing this on Christmas day and you're using a turkey this will work equally as well. Honestly having a slice like this is so tasty so make sure you do this cook the stuffing both ways and you'll thoroughly enjoy your Christmas dinner. Now when it comes to Christmas dinner we got to have some good sauces so I'm going to show you how to make a delicious homemade gravy, a homemade cranberry sauce and a homemade bread sauce. For those of you who don't know a bread sauce is a traditional British sauce that they've been making for years and it sounds kind of weird but it works so well so if you have to try one thing definitely try making this don't use the packet stuff homemade bread sauce is the way to go. No doubt you cannot have a Christmas dinner without gravy you pour this all over the stuff perfect for the roast potatoes perfect for your meat of choice you need a good gravy to make a good Christmas dinner. A classic way of doing a gravy is making this straight after you've roasted the piece of meat of your choice. Usually you make a roux in the oils from the roast and then mix in the stock afterwards. I'm going to show you a way to get a really nice and a slightly different take on a gravy and this can be prepped well in advance and frozen or kept in the fridge and is stress-free on the day. What you can then do is add those juices from your turkey or other meat into the gravy on a day and this will make it taste that little bit better. The secret to this gravy is smoked streaky bacon and pancetta this adds a wonderfully deep and rich flavor to the gravy and mimics that of a nice roast once you've had all of those caramelized juices coming off the meat. Finely chop 200 grams of bacon and 100 grams of pancetta and add it into a cold pan then turn the heat up to medium and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until golden and crisp. As you can see this will all cook in its own fat as it renders and will continue to release more fat the longer we cook it. Once crisp remove the bacon from the pan and set aside. Into the same pan we're then going to add one diced onion and two cloves of sliced garlic. Cook them until they've completely softened and are starting to brown and caramelize then add one tablespoon of fresh thyme and cook for a few more minutes until fragrant. Remove this from the pan and set aside with the bacon. As you can see here we now have lots of fond and caramelizing at the bottom of the pan, this is going to be tons of extra flavor. To make a roof of this gravy add in three knobs of butter, cook over a medium heat until melted then add three tablespoons of flour. Mix this together well and once this is all combined cook for a few more minutes to remove any floury taste and gradually whisk in 700 mils of good quality beef stock. If you did the same thing as me and used a pan too small to start with, transfer the gravy to a larger pan then bring it to a gentle simmer. Meanwhile we're going to add the cooked bacon and onion into a blender and blitz this until finely chopped and almost paste like. Tip this back into the pan and mix it together, this helps with the texture of the gravy and also releases more flavor from the bacon and onions into the sauce. To add a little more flavor to this gravy we're going to add either 125 milliliters of beer or red wine. Add the wine or beer into the pan with then one teaspoon of marmite and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Both of these things help contribute to a wonderful umami-ness in the gravy. Bring this all to a gentle simmer then cover with a lid slightly ajar and cook over a low heat on the hob for two hours stirring every now and again or place this into a 160 degrees celsius or 320 degrees fahrenheit oven for two hours instead. After two hours the sauce should be And there you have a wonderful homemade gravy that you can make when in advance. For the second sauce I'm going to be making the cranberry sauce, a sharp tangy sauce, taste of cranberries, hints of orange, it goes great with a rich turkey and it's what you need to cut through all of the fats all the rich flavors it is perfect. To begin add 500 grams of fresh cranberries into a pan, six tablespoons of sugar with the zest and juice of two oranges, two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and then some sea salt to taste. It's as simple as that, we're going to cover with a lid and we're going to cook over a medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes until the cranberries are broken down and the sauce is ready. Once this is cooked remove the lid from the pan and using a fork mash up some of the cranberries if they haven't broken down fully, mix this in until it's all combined and then tip this out into a container and leave to cool until you're ready to serve. My third and final sauce is our classic traditional bread sauce. Now hear me out on this one, bread, cream, spices, onion flavor, doesn't sound great but it is delicious so trust me on the process, follow this recipe and I'm sure you guys will really like it. In a large pan add 1.1 litres of whole milk and then we're going to add in two whole onions cut into halves with the skin removed, add these into the pan of the milk with 15 peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, 20 cloves, heat this milk up over a medium heat until it's hot and then turn off the heat, cover with a lid and leave this to steep for a few hours. This is an essential step to getting loads of flavor into the bread sauce. Once the milk has steeped with all of those wonderful flavors remove the onions, discard of the spices, then we're going to put the onions into a blender with steeped milk making sure to remove the bay leaves and the peppercorns too and then blitz this up until it forms a nice paste. Tip this sauce back into a pan and then add 350 grams of bread crumbs, mix this together well until it has all incorporated, then add in 75 grams of unsalted butter, 4 tablespoons of double cream, season with salt and pepper to taste and then mix this together over a medium heat until it is warm and emulsified and there you have it, your bread sauce ready to serve. For the next side dish we're making Brussels sprouts. Hear me out, I know a lot of you will hate Brussels sprouts, they're little cabbages, they can taste a little bit funky sometimes but I know a really good way of doing this. I love them and I think you guys will too after I've showed you this recipe so just stick around and try this out and I think I will change your mind if you don't already love them. To make the Brussels sprouts cut 650 grams of sprouts in half and then mix them with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, some sea salt to taste and 2 tablespoons of honey. We're then going to sear these in a pan over a medium high heat until they're charred on one side. As soon as they're charred on one side we're going to remove them from the pan as we do not want to overcook them, there's nothing worse than the soggy overcooked Brussels sprout on Christmas day. Once you've removed all the sprouts from the pan add 400 grams of spicy Calabrian sausage into the pan. We want to take this out of the skins here as they can get a little bit chewy and in the way and then break this up using a spatula and cook for 15 minutes over a medium heat until crisp. We're then going to add in one clove of garlic minced and then cook for a few more minutes. We're going to add in 100 millimetres of double cream, another little squeeze of honey and then cook this for about 5 to 10 minutes until all of the flavours have melded together. Now you should end up with a really delicious spiced sausage creamy sauce and this goes perfectly with the sprouts. Mix it together to coat all of the sprouts nicely in that spicy creamy sauce and then when they're ready we're going to toast some breadcrumbs in a separate pan. Here I've just got 50 grams of breadcrumbs mixed with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Mix them together well and then cook them over a medium heat until they're golden brown. Now everything's ready we're going to plate the brussel sprouts up. Add the sprouts into a bowl and then top with the breadcrumbs and then they are ready to serve. If you don't already love brussel sprouts this will change your mind. You've got the slightly bitter but perfectly cooked sprouts, the honey glaze, the sweeness, you've got the spiced sausage which adds a really nice meatiness to it as well, you've got the cream, you've got the breadcrumbs, honestly this is to die for. Give it a go and trust me it will change your mind if you don't already love them. I say this about every side dish but this might just be everyone's favourite, a pig in blanket. I'm going to show you my take on a pig in blanket. I'm not going to make a sausage from scratch but I'm going to do some nice little twists that take it from just some sausages wrapped in bacon to something a bit more fancy and that bit more special for Christmas. To begin get a hold of 10 full-sized tipalatas and 10 to 15 pieces of stroopi bacon. Lay the bacon out onto a board and place two small rosemary springs at each end and lay down one sage leaf in the middle. These herbs are a lovely touch and add a beautiful flavour to the pigs in blankets. Place the chipolatas onto them and then roll them up at a slight angle to cover the entire sausage. Then place them onto a tray and cook in an oven of 200 degrees celsius or 390 degrees fahrenheit for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Whilst the sausages are cooking we're going to make a simple glaze to pair with these. Into a pan over a medium heat add a few knobs of butter, roughly 40 grams, and six tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. We're using a whisk until the sauce is emulsified and thickened and is not split. Once it is fully warmed through remove the pigs in blankets from the oven after about 20 minutes and brush them with some of this glaze. Return the pigs in blankets to the oven to finish cooking and once they're cooked place them onto a plate, drizzle over any excess sauce and serve. This tangy balsamic sauce pairs incredibly well with the rich pork sausages. The addition of the herbs inside the bacon adds such a nice flavour, it's almost mimicking that of the sausage itself with all the herbs inside it, it's really really good. There we have it, our Christmas dinner is ready. We're let's taste all the goods we've just made. Please do remember to subscribe and give this video a like, it means the world to me and I hope you guys enjoy making the recipes. Time to eat! It only seems right after all this work to test it. I hope you guys liked the video, until next time let's do some cooking and happy Christmas!