Festive Feast

With some forward planning and a little organisation, Rachel Allen shows how cooks can still have fun at Christmas. Photography by Tony Gavin

At this time of year, it’s important to have a few clever tricks up your sleeve. If you are the one cooking the Big Meal, then trying to do everything the morning of Christmas Day will be a fairly overwhelming task, even if you’re not doing it alone. Christmas dinner is a proper, old-fashioned, no-holding-back feast, which does take some work, but the more people to help, the better, and offers of assistance should (hopefully) be forthcoming in this season of giving. So food that can be prepared in advance, should be!

I’m definitely a traditionalist at this time of the year. I reckon that there are 364 other days in the year to experiment with something different and new, but if I didn’t eat the obligatory sprouts and turkey, ham or goose on the 25th, then I wouldn’t feel like it was truly Christmas. Years ago, I spent Christmas Day in Mexico, eating pizza on the beach, and while it was dreamy, it was missing the “Ho-ho-ho!”

These are some of my favourite Christmas recipes that I come back to time and time again. For me, the centrepiece of the Christmas table is the meat. Whether it’s turkey and ham, or roast goose, it’s worth going the extra mile to make a delicious stuffing or glaze.

The turkey, right, is something that I adore, not least for the leftovers. My favourite Stephen’s Day meal is a turkey and ham pie. Make it by adding cream to the gravy, and thickening it with a roux. Put the creamy gravy in a pie dish, with the turkey and ham chunks, and top the lot with some fluffy, buttery mashed potato.

If you haven’t tried this potato and apple stuffing (see page 24) for the goose, which also works fabulously with duck, then I can recommend it wholeheartedly. Any leftover goose will be delicious after Christmas in a salad with lentils, shredded red cabbage, chopped parsley or coriander, and a punchy dressing.

The ham (see page 24) has that amazing salty-sweet balance from the sugar, and the warm spice of the cloves makes it a lovely option for your Christmas table. The leftovers are a gift — not just the meat, but also the ham cooking-water, which makes a really good basis for soup. If you’re just feeding a few, then you could downsize to a loin of bacon instead of the whole ham, and cook it in the same way. It’ll take less time to cook, and you won’t need to make as much glaze, either.

Whichever meat you choose will be a great centrepiece to the assorted cast of divine supporting dishes, such as the herbed roasted potatoes with garlic, the roasted Brussels sprouts (a must for me at Christmas) with bacon and thyme, and the glazed roasted parsnips, all of which are on page 26.

If, like me, you are an avid list-maker, then now is also the time to write a list, and check it twice. A bit of organisation will go a long way. You might want to do what we teach the students at the cookery school: write an order of work, with estimated cooking times attached. So, working backwards from the time you’d like to eat (not forgetting to rest the meat, for at least half an hour), write down the whole menu and the order in which the dishes should be prepared. All this preparation and organisation should hopefully leave you with enough time to sit and sip something delicious with your loved ones.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!