JOHN AND LISA’S COSY CHRISTMAS
The TV chef couple talk about seasonal family traditions as well as festive food – like a Christmas dinner tray bake!
John Torode and Lisa Faulkner are looking forward to the festive editions of their popular cookery series as they turn their attention to Christmas, both on and off screen.
As they approach their second Christmas together as husband and wife, they will be creating some easy and heart-warming dishes in John &L is a’ s Weekend Kitchen (ITV) including the perfect crab cocktail, Lisa’s Ultimate Nut Roast and a remarkable Christmas Dinner Tray Bake, guaranteed to remove the heat from any kitchen!
“This year for Christmas we have taken it back a little bit, with the full knowledge that maybe we won’t be able to have as many family members around celebrating with us,” says John. “So, rather than doing massive feasts, we have lots of little tips for people to help get them through, and ways of doing things to just take the stress away. But yes, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day… all those things are in there and all kinds of stuff to do with the leftovers.
“Lisa has created this one-tray Christmas dinner tray bake, which is amazing. Lisa takes an idea and thinks, ‘Well, why can’t we do this?’ She spent days on it and worked it all out until it was right, tasty and hassle-free.
“It’s a full-on Christmas dinner with pigs in blankets, stuffing, the whole works!”
The pair, who met when Lisa was a contestant on John’s show Celebrity MasterChef, live in London with her teenage daughter, Billie, from an earlier marriage. John also has four children from previous relationships.
“John’s a trained chef and he has been in the business since he was 16, so he’s done it for years and years,” says Lisa (48). “I’m constantly learning from him and I think he’s amazing and there’s nothing that you can ask him that he doesn’t know! I’ve worked in restaurants and I really did go and work and train as much as I could, while still doing another job and working at other things.
“I come from the whole thing as a home cook, so I think I probably know a lot of shortcuts and cheats. But I think t we make a good team. I’ll I always ask him the questions q that a lot of people I suppose would ask – because b I’m interested and I want w to know.”
Like most families, they have h their festive traditions.
“It wouldn’t be Christmas fo or me without a phone call to my dad,” says John (55). “It’s always the most difficult part for me because I may have left my home many years ago [in Australia] but Christmas is one of those times that I will always talk to my dad.
“I usually call on Christmas morning, which is evening for them so they’ve had their Christmas Day. He’s usually at my brother’s house so I’ll get to see the family and have a chat. And they may have had a few jars by then, so they’re always a bit more rowdy than our part of the world!
“When I was a child, my Santa pillowcase at the end of my bed was full of presents,
“WE WON’T HAVE ALL THE FAMILY BUT IT WILL STILL BE A GREAT CHRISTMAS”
and I still have it! It’s just a normal size pillowcase and it still goes out and Santa puts things in it. If you don’t believe, Santa doesn’t come!”
Lisa laughs. “It’s true. He does that. When I was really young I thought I saw Father Christmas because I was sure that I saw a red coat go past my bedroom door. I remember saying to my sister, ‘I saw him!’
“Then there was a Christmas where my sister and I got walkie-talkies. We saw a present on the landing between our bedrooms and thought Father Christmas had dropped
it. And then we realised that it was for both of us and we opened it and we were like,
‘Oh my God, we’ve got walkie-talkies. We can speak to each other all night!’”
John smiles. “I love giving people gifts and I also like buying a few festive things like a bauble for the tree. I recently bought some napkin rings that I will get out. We may not be able to have all the family around at one time, but we will still have a lovely Christmas.”
WATCH THE FIRST FESTIVE EPISODE OF JOHN& LISA’ S WEEKEND KITCHEN ON ITV ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, AT 11.40AM