Christmas dinner for me is the best meal to sit down and enjoy. I love cooking Christmas dinner. In the past I’ve cooked it for 16 people and just for 2, the same effort and passion goes in to it regardless of numbers.

It was a big thing in my house growing up so I’ve tried to carry it on.

Most of the items are none negotiable!!

A must…lovely crispy roasted potatoes and parsnips, pigs in blankets, turkey crown, stuffing, dauphinois potatoes & homemade gravy!!!

1. Turkey crown.

I always use the same method. Preheat your oven to 190c. Cook the crown for 70 minutes plus 20 minutes per kilo. I cover the crown in butter and season well with salt & pepper. The crown is cooked with foil covering it to trap in the moisture. For the final 30 minutes the foil is removed and replaced with bacon 👍. Ensure you have a meat core temperature of between 65c / 70c. Once out of the oven it’s covered again with the same foil so it can relax. I have to say, this year it was the best it’s tasted. So juicy it was unreal.

2. Roast potatoes.

Usually these are cooked in goose fat. It’s the only time of year I used goose fat. However, I wasn’t prepared to pay £4.30 for a jar in Sainsbury’s as sorry Mr Sainsbury’s this is pure profiteering!! So I cooked them as I always cook them. Firstly, when cutting your potatoes make sure they are evenly sized as they will cook at the same speed. I par boil them in salted water. Drain but I keep this water for my gravy. Whilst they are sat in a colander I gently rough them up. I always allow them to cool properly. Heat my roasting tray up with olive oil. Once the oil is spitting hot I add my potatoes….never move them as when they hit the oil a good crust is formed straight away which prevents them from sticking. I roast them for an hour. Before I put them in the oven I season them well!! About 30 minutes into cooking them I add in the par boiled parsnips. At this point turn your potatoes. 10 minutes from the end I add in fresh thyme leaves.

3. Pan fried brussel sprouts and bacon.

We eat brussel sprouts all year round. We add them to a number of dishes but I only usually cook them this way for Christmas. I cut up 3 or 4 rashers of bacon and add them to a frying pan. Once they are crispy I remove them to a side plate. Add 2 or 3 large knobs of butter to the pan to deglaze it. Once the butter is flavoured with left over bacon the half cut brussel sprouts are added plus any outer leaves that have come off. Seasoned well with salt and pepper plus a large tsp of sugar. Add another couple of knobs of butter whilst frying. I like to keep a crunch on the sprouts. Add the bacon back into the pan and serve.

4. Dauphinois potatoes.

A family favourite and really simple. When I’m preparing my roasties and peel another 5 or 6 potatoes. This are thinly cut in to shapes like crisps and placed in salted water. Again I par boil them but only for a couple of minutes as I want them to remain firm and not break down. They are drained and allowed to cool. Several garlic cloves are finely diced plus two good handfuls of cheese is grated. Before I start the process of layering up the dish I get a garlic glove and push it around the tin to coat the tin with garlic. Then I repeat this with butter. The dish is layered with the sliced potatoes. A handful of grated cheese is placed over the potato slices plus garlic slivers, pepper and a sprinkling of ground nutmeg. This process is repeated and your dish is full. Top it with grated cheese and nutmeg then add a good serving of double cream. Place in the over for 40/50 minutes until you have a nice bubbling dish with a crusty top.

5. Pigs in blankets.

We are very fortunate to have a very good butcher close by. When we order our meat package the pigs in blankets are always included. Heavenly.

6. Homemade gravy.

In the past I’ve made this a few days prior to Christmas but roasting veg and chicken wings together, crushing them all down, pushing through a sieve and reheating. This year time was against me so I used the potato stock which was added to the roasting tray juices of the turkey. Brought to a good simmer and thickened with cornflower. As simple as that! The gravy is already seasoned from the turkey crown plus the fat that’s dripped into the tray adds so many layers of flavour it’s unreal.

7. Stuffing.

We usually change our stuffing mix every year. This year it was packet ready cranberry and sage stuffing which was very tasty to be fair. We used this as I bought it in error a few months ago so it had to be used plus it was convenient.

8. Vegetables.

We mix this up every year. This year we have broccoli, carrots and peas. Par boiled the usual way!

Thank you for reading my ramblings if you’ve not fallen asleep and managed to get this far.

I have to say…the day started well as we had poached eggs and salmon gravlax with a honey and mustard with dill dressing for breakfast ❤️

Thank you all ❤️