If you often end up resigned to the kitchen on Christmas day, these timesaving preparations will make sure you have more time to spend with loved ones.
For most adults, when the magic of Father Christmas and his reindeer are a fond, but distant, memory, the most exciting thing about Christmas Day is the feasting. But why do we spend hours in the kitchen toiling over the oven on Christmas Day to rustle up a meal when it’s over in the bang of a cracker?
Wouldn’t it be nice to swan into Christmas morning knowing that all you’ve to do is pop a few things in the oven? Here, some of the UK’s top chefs give us their tips on prepping ahead for the big day.
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Rick Stein gets ahead with gravy
The beloved Cornish chef will release his first ever dedicated Christmas book this December, Rick Stein’s Christmas, and it is stuffed with juicy tips on making your Christmas as easy, and delicious, as possible.
Rick isn’t shy of a shortcut, and in Rick Stein’s Christmas he tells us his gravy is made on Christmas Eve “from the giblets that came with the goose (ed. Rick’s a fan of goose on Christmas day, but this could apply to any bird you’re roasting) and some chicken stock I had in the freezer.” Rick assures his readers that this gravy method achieves the same depth of flavour as “the sticky bits in the (meat) roasting tin” that most people will attempt to use for their gravy, but without the hassle of doing it on Christmas morning.
Rick adds that his goose giblets also come with a lump of goose fat from the cavity of the bird. He puts this in a shallow pan to render in a hot oven, before pouring over potatoes for roasting.
Rick also makes his stuffing the day before, with a few shop bought items. This could probably be made a few days before Christmas to really get ahead. In the book he explains that he uses sage from his garden and a packet of peeled chestnuts. This is combined with some reduced chicken stock and put in the oven for half an hour before serving everything on Christmas Day.
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Plan your spuds
Tom Earnshaw, Head Chef at Michelin-starred Bohemia does his spuds on Christmas eve too. “Boil your potatoes in heavily salted water the day before until just tender, then shake to fluff the edges. Season while still hot, then chill overnight.” Tom’s advice is to roast the potatoes on Christmas Day in hot oil at 200°C+. Adding for the perfect restaurant-worthy crisp, they should be be turned every 30 minutes.
Take it easy on Christmas eve
Chef and food writer Sarah Rankin, author of Feast, recommends keeping things as simple as possible the day before, to minimise your time in the kitchen. Her suggestion is to set the table ‘‘with some delicious Scottish smoked trout and salmon…supplement with a few quality British cheeses, a few jars of chutney, pickles and mustards, crackers and some crusty bread.” Perfection.
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Just roll with it
Sarah also has a great idea for those betwixt-mas moments when you’re not sure what you want to eat. She recommends making a few batches of sausage rolls before the holidays even start so there’s you aways have something to pop in the oven when you’re too tired, busy, or too full of mulled wine to prepare anything from scratch. She instructs her readers to “pimp up a standard sausage meat filling by adding nduja, haggis or leftover chicken curry – trust me, it’s delicious – and use ready rolled puff pastry.’’ These should be put in the freezer uncooked and then brushed with an egg and sprinkled with nigella seeds before being baked.
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