Showing posts with label Christmas Dinner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas Dinner. Show all posts
When I first moved over to the UK in the year 2000 I was thinking I was moving to an English speaking country and that things would not really be all that different. Oh how wrong I was.
Nothing would ever be the same for the next 20 years! And I say that in the nicest possible way! It was not just the accent that was different. Things had totally different names and the foods and traditions were vastly different than what I had grown up and lived with throughout my whole life.
I have to say that I came to embrace and love everything and there are many, many things that I am missing and will continue to miss in the coming years. The UK really holds a special place in my heart and always will.
One thing which I loved and totally embraced were their Christmas foods and traditions! The Christmas Cake, Christmas Pudding and Mince Pies were only a very small part of it all!
I adored the Christmas dinner, with Christmas Crackers, funny hats, jokes around the table and all the fixings. The dishes served in some ways were very similar to what I was used to eating at Christmas in Canada, but at the same time very different!!
Nobody does Christmas like the British. The whole month is a beautiful feast for the eyes, ears and palate! I really miss it.
To that end I decided to cook myself a little mini Christmas Dinner in the British Tradition, sized perfectly for two, with turkey, roast potatoes, sausage stuffing balls, pigs in blankets, parsnips, sprouts and all the other trimmings!! Minus the crackers, party hats and jokes, sigh . . .
And the whole thing was cooked in pretty much an hour and a half and all on one tray for the most part! It was also delicious and very much enjoyed by myself. I am really going enjoy the leftovers today!
If you are only one or two and are up for it, or for trying something totally new this year follow along!
I had bought a couple of bone-in, skin-on split turkey breasts back in October. I cooked one then and I used one yesterday.
(source)
It weighed .588kg/1 1/4 pounds. The perfect size for just two people and took approximately 45 minutes according to the above chart.
To prepare it I placed it onto a baking sheet, patted it dry with some paper towels, rubbed it all over with butter, and seasoned it with salt, pepper and some Bell's seasoning.
I had preheated my oven to 375*F/190*C/gas mark 5. I popped it onto a foil lined baking sheet and added some potatoes for roasting at the side.
I used one large baking potato, which I had peeled and cut into large chunks. I par-boiled these chunks for 5 minutes in boiling water and then drained them really well, returned them to the saucepan. Banged them about a little bit, drizzled with about 1 TBS of oil, turning them to coat them.
These then got added to the end of the baking tray and I popped the whole thing into the oven.
While that was roasting, I got on with the business of preparing the remaining sides and turkey garnishes which is what the pigs in blankets and sausage stuffing balls, etc. are often called.
One thing you will note is that the British Christmas Dinner, or Christmas Lunch as it is also called is very heavy on the meat. Typically there is sausage meat in the stuffing and there are pigs in blankets (chipolata sausages wrapped in bacon) served on the side as a tasty garnish.
In fact you will often find that the turkey itself, if being roasted as a whole, will be blanketed with bacon strips to help to prevent the breast meat from drying out.
The stuffing is an easy one to make. I used Delia Smiths recipe from her book, Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course, the classic edition, for Pork Sage and Onion stuffing.
Of course I had to cut it back substantially as the original made enough to stuff a 12 to 14 lb. turkey! I did not quite need that much!
Pork, Sage & Onion Stuffing
Yield: 2 - 3
This is a small portion designed to serve only a few people. It lacks none of the deliciousness of the full version!
Ingredients
- 1/2 a largish stale Ciabatta roll (70g) (The roll was 6 inches square in size)
- 2 fat banger sausages, skinned (about 1/3 pound/about 115g)
- 1/2 cooking onion, peeled and minced
- 1 TBS dried sage leaves
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make your bread into coarse crumbs. Place into a bowl along with the onion and sage and some seasoning. Mix together well and add about 2 TBS of hot water.
- Add the sausage meat and mix well together with your hands. The mixture should hold together well. If you find it is crumbly or falling apart, you can add a tiny bit more water or an egg yolk.
- Shape into balls using wet hands.
Once I had made the stuffing and shaped it into balls, I set them aside on a plate. It made about six 2 inch balls.
I then got on with making the pigs in blankets.
Pigs in Blankets
Yield: 2 - 3
This is a small portion designed to serve only a few people. It lacks none of the deliciousness of the full version!
Ingredients
- 6 chipolata sausages (in North American use breakfast sausage links)
- 3 slices of streaky smoked bacon, cut in half crosswise
Instructions
- Once you have cut your bacon in half crosswise, stretch each piece a bit and wrap one piece around each sausage link. Place onto the plate/oven tray seam side down.
These were also placed on a plate and then I popped the plate into the refrigerator to keep the meat chilled while I prepped the other vegetables.
I trimmed the brussels sprouts and cut them in half.
I peeled one carrot, one parsnip and a 1-inch thick slice of a small rutabaga/swede/turnip. I cut each vegetable into evenly sized batons/sticks, and then par-boiled them in some boiling water for about 5 minutes.
I then tossed them together with 1/2 TBS honey, 1/2 TBS melted butter and the finely grated zest of 1/2 unwaxed lemon. (Or a waxed one scrubbed in warm water. In any case I scrub my lemons anyways.)
I then removed the tray from the oven. I tested the breast meat and it was done. (Internal temp of 165*F/75*C. Note that if you cook it to just short of that (162/73), it will continue to cook while it rests and your meat won't be dried out.)
I set the meat aside, lightly tented and kept warm while the rest of the dinner cooked.
As you can see the potatoes are starting to get a nice golden crust on them. I flipped them over and then added the sausage balls, pigs in blankets and roasting vegetables to the tray, and increased the oven temperature to 400*F/200*C/ Gas mark 6.
I then returned the tray to the oven to cook at the higher temperature for about 35 minutes, flipping everything over halfway through the cook time.
While they were cooking I got on with making the gravy and cooking my brussels sprouts. I used my Perfect Gravy from Scratch recipe, and then steamed my brussels sprouts for about 5 minutes. (They were large and cut in half.) Those I cooked right at the last minute.
The stuffing balls and pigs in blankets were done when no longer pink inside and the vegetables were nicely caramelized as you can see.
You can also see how nice and crispy my roasted potatoes were.
Everything was simply cooked to perfection, and I wasn't long sitting down and enjoying my beautiful traditional British Christmas Dinner/Lunch for Two!!
TIMELINE FOR COOKING THE DINNER
- Place the turkey and prepped potatoes onto a foil lined baking tray. Put the turkey in about 1 1/2 hour prior to you wanting to serve the meal along with the parboiled potatoes for roasting, at 375*F/190*C/ gas mark 5.
- While they are cooking make your sausage stuffing and pigs in blankets. Prep any other vegetables needed.
- Remove the turkey about 45 minutes to one hour later. The exact time will depend on the size of your piece of meat. Remove it, tent and set aside to keep warm.
- Turn over your potatoes. Place the stuffing balls, pigs in blankets and prepped parsnips/carrots and swede the baking tray. Increase the oven temperature to 400*F/200*C/gas mark 6. Return the baking tray to the oven and cook for a further 30 to 35 minutes until everything is cooked through, golden brown and the vegetables are just beginning to caramelize.
- While the stuffing, etc. is cooking make your gravy and then steam your brussels sprouts at the last minute.
- Carve the turkey and serve.
And there you have it! The perfect Traditional British Christmas Dinner, perfectly sized for just two to three people from start to finish.
I have not included the dessert. Most people will have mince pies, Christmas Pudding, Christmas Cake and often a Trifle. You can find my recipe for a Traditional Christmas Trifle here. Its delicious and very traditional. It is also full sized.
For the smaller family I would cut recipe in half, but set it up in individual dessert glasses, You will have enough dessert for two days, but I don't think anyone will be complaining!
All in all this is a lovely meal. I really enjoyed it and am contemplating doing a full sized one for my family come Christmas time. My oldest boy is supposed to come over with his wife and two sons. I am not sure they would appreciate all the extras however, so I will ponder on that!
If you would like full sized recipes for the stuffing or anything else just ask and I will happily give them to you!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I did kind of a dry run for Christmas dinner the other week. Its never a good idea to try out new recipes ON the special day so I usually try them out ahead of time.
I never mind really because, if its good, I get to actually enjoy a special meal twice and we all know how much I love my food!
Turkey is the meat of choice in most homes for Christmas Dinner. I know that it is also the choice of meat for the holidays in Canada. In America, probably not, since they just had turkey for Thanksgiving, but if they are anything like me, they never quite get tired of eating turkey.
Well, just so long as it is cooked well that is. Ain't nobody going to like a poorly cooked dry turkey!!!
This year I decided to try cooking a Turkey Crown in the slow cooker and I have to say that I was totally pleased with the results.
It was so easy to do, and resulted in a perfectly cooked and deliciously moist turkey! I adapted the idea from a recipe I discovered on Skinny Taste.
So not only is this delicious, but it is also relatively low in fat as well. If you really were craving a brown looking turkey, you could finish it off in the oven for about 15 minutes, but I did not bother.
I basically was just wanting to see how the recipe worked and how it tasted.
I was so pleased with the results that I am doing it again on Christmas Day, which works perfectly for me as this year Christmas is on a Sunday and we will be spending an hour in church in the morning, so I won't be home to tend any turkeys.
Not only was this simple to do and the meat tender and delicious, but the gravy was some of the best gravy I have ever eaten. I give this recipe a resounding ten out of ten!
*Crock Pot Turkey Breast*
Makes 10 servings
I don't know about you, but for me, the stuffing is the best part of any holiday dinner. I could eat a whole plate of stuffing and nothing else. If there is no stuffing . . . it's not a celebration in my books.
Oh, and by the way, Stuffing is dressing, stuffed into the bird, and Dressing is stuffing baked outside of the bird. I make no distinction. I adore them equally, and to me they are both one and the same.
So what is it that makes this version the "Best?" It's moist and yet at the same time it has all these crunchy little bits all around the outer edges . . . I love crunchy bits.
What is your favourite part about stuffing/dressing? To be honest, I could eat just this and nothing else.
You can make it totally ahead of time, except for the baking bit. Just mix everything together and cover it and put in the refrigerator.
You will need to bring to room temperature prior to baking . . . half an hour on the countertop will do it.
It has the perfect balance of herbs. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Just like the song.
There is also plenty of aromatics like celery and onion as well. I always like to include some of the celery leaves.
It is easy to throw together and the most important quality of all . . . its totally delicious! In my opinion, this is the best stuffing/dressing ever.
Oh, and it is totally adaptable. If you like you can add fried mushrooms, or chopped giblets, crumbled cooked sausage, etc. This dressing is a delicious canvas you can build upon.
This is simple to make and always turns out fabulous. Perfect for the holidays!
180g butter, plus more to butter the baking dish (3/4 cup)
Bring on the holidays. I can't wait! There is so much deliciousness to look forward to! Bon Appetit!
I am in the process of testing out which recipes I am going to use as side dishes for my Christmas Dinner this year and it occurred to me that they would also make very delicious Thanksgiving sides and so I thought I would share this really delicious potato one that I made at the weekend.
Do note, that because there are only two of us normally, I have been cutting the dish portion sizes down and making smaller amounts ( and quite successfully too, I might add) . . . this way I don't have any waste, and yet we get to try them ahead of time.
The first recipe I tried out is this roasted potato dish. Roast potatoes are a must with pretty much any British Sunday Lunch or Holiday Dinner. WE do love our roasties!! Normally they are par-boiled, rolled in some fat and then roasted at a high temperature until they are golden and crispy.
This recipe today dispenses with the par boiling . . . and there is not a lot of fat in it. Instead it relies on a mixture of an herby salt and fine cornmeal/polenta to give them their crunch. The herby salt was very easily made. The original recipe in the BBC Good Food magazine, December issue 2012, called for fresh herbs to be used to make the salt. I used dry because that is what I had and it really made no difference, except that I can save any extra in my cupboard to use another time without fear of it spoiling.
Fresh herbs would mean that I would have to keep it in the fridge and use it up quickly.
These turned out really nice and golden brown with a delicious crunch . . . soft and fluffy in the middle . . . and not at all greasy.
The herbs gave them a really nice flavor, which we both enjoyed a lot!
I loved that there was only one dish to wash! Instead of the two or three that normal roasted potatoes would use. Less washing up is always a plus with me!
I would say that these are a definite contender!! I think they would make a fabulous Thanksgiving side as well! Let me know what you think!!
*Crunchy Potatoes with Herby Salt*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe
Adapted from a recipe in BBC Good Food Magazine, December 2012.
1.25kg/2 pounds 12 oz potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
3 TBS vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed oil
1 TBS fine polenta or cornmeal
For the Herby Salt
2 tsp dried rosemary leaves
2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp dried sage leaves
3 TBS coarse sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Have a large roasting tin ready.
Make the herby salt by putting everything into a mortal and pestle and grinding hen together until you have a fine salt, with lots of green flecks. Toss the potatoes into the roasting pan with the oil, 2 TBS of the herby salt, the cornmeal and some black pepper (to taste) until they are coated evenly.
Roast in the heated oven for 30 minutes. Give them a good shake and roast them for a further 15 to 20 minutes until they cooked through and the edges are nicely crisped. Serve hot.
The people at Piper's Farm recently contacted me to see if I would be interested in trying out some of their Christmas line and I jumped at the chance. After having tried some of their other products earlier this year, I knew I was in for a real treat!
First let me tell you a bit about Piper's Farm though. Located in Devon, Piper's Farm has over 20 years of experience at rearing, producing and selling and delivering consistently good quality meats and poultry. All the meat and poultry they sell, they produce themselves, and is free from preservatives and additives. It's free range and organic, with every detail controlled, allowing their animals to grow slowly, naturally and free from stress. You can read more about my past experience with them here. I have always been suitably impressed with it all.
I was not disappointed this time either. About 4 days ago, I looked out the door to see a delivery man struggling up my path with a HUGE box in his arms. Oh my what could it be? It was just like Christmas morning. As soon as I saw the Piper's Farm logo on the box I got really excited! Inside was a wonderful assortment of different goodies, which I couldn't wait to get started on. Everything arrived perfectly packaged and still frozen. These people know how to do this right and it shows in every detail.
Their Christmas Line of goodies is just as impressive as their everyday line. You can choose from a variety of beautiful meats and accompaniments to suit just about any budget and taste, with everything available from Turkey to Goose, Venison and everything in between.
(Doesn't this look delicious!)
For instance they offer a very delicious looking Turkey alternative to the traditional whole roasted bird. The Simplest Turkey combination consists of a boned, stuffed (Apricot and Hazelnut stuffing) and rolled Bronze turkey breast, a boned stuffed and rolled Bronze turkey thigh joint (for the dark meat lovers in the family), some scrummy bacon wrapped chipolatas and turkey stock (ideal for the gravy) all sold together and working out at roughly £6.50 per serving, which isn't all that bad really. AND . . . you can have it all cooked in about an hour! What a time saver!
One of my earliest Christmas memories is staying up late to watch A Christmas Carol on the telly with my mother. It was the old film, black and white and scratchy with Alistair Sims in it. I'm not sure how much of it I actually took in . . . but I do remember the mention of a Christmas Goose.
Goose is not something I have ever eaten, although to be sure, I have used my own fair share of goosefat to do roast potatoes in and let me tell you . . . they are fabulous.
I was really excited when I discovered that one of the products in my box was their Simplest Goose range, in a two portion size just perfect for Todd and myself. The Simplest Goose breast comes with their home-made fresh prune, apple and onion mixture which perfectly complements the goose along with some pure goose stock. Also added is a tub of goose fat for the most amazing roast potatoes.
I could hardly wait to cook this up for Todd and myself!
They always include cooking instructions and tips in the packaging so that you know exactly what to do with it all with no surprises or mysteries involved, something which was really important to me as I had never cooked or eaten goose before.
Their free range goose is grown slowly to natural maturity and grass fed. Following their instructions, we ended up with a beautiful dinner of tender and moist slices of goose breast with a wonderfully delicious prune and apple sauce, and some crispy golden roasted potatoes. This line is a bit more expensive than the turkey line, working out at £9 per portion . . . a bit pricey, but for a special meal like Christmas and with a small family it would be just perfect for us!
The meat was delicious, not gamey at all like I was expecting . . . well, I don't really know what I was expecting, but it was most certainly not disappointing in the least!
It was most, most delicious and we both really enjoyed this very much.
Next up was their delicious Venison Haunch. I served this the other night as a treat for the Missionaries and we were all delighted. Boneless and completely fat-free, it was beautifully tender with a mild venison flavour, and once again very easy to cook as per their instructions. I served it up with a variety of roasted vegetables and a red currant sauce. It was just beautiful and works out at roughly at a cost of £8 per person, which again, isn't bad. (This is not my picture. The lighting was so poor due to the time of the day we served it I couldn't get a good picture, but let me tell you in reality it looked every bit as scrummy as their picture on the site, and tasted even better!)
There were a few other things in the box, which I will talk about on another day, so stay tuned!
I am planning on ordering one of their Ruby Red Beef Roasts for our own Christmas Dinner this year (just for a change from Turkey) and some of their delicious meat pies or maybe a gammon for boxing day. Their delivery service is reliable and their packaging is exemplar. With free delivery and a 10% discount on your first order I reckon it's a pretty good deal all round, and what's an even bigger bonus . . . I won't have to suffer the crowds and chaos in the Grocery shops in the days running up to the big day!
Thank you Piper's Farm for once again treating me to your wonderful products. Please feel free to read more about their award winning meats and poultry on their homepage, and follow them on their Facebook page and Twitter. as well as their You Tube Channel.
(A fun video which shows you how brilliant their packaging is!)
Baking in The Cottage today, delicious Caramel Squares!
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