Darina Allen shows you how to make a traditional festive spread
As well as the traditional roast turkey bolstered up with lots of our best-loved fresh herb stuffing and all the trimmings, I’ve included a goose with our favourite potato stuffing, lots of gravy, and tons of roast potatoes cooked in the goose fat — you’ll need to do twice the amount as they are so crunchy and irresistible.
Slow-cooked red cabbage will complement the goose deliciously but so too would a dish of cauliflower cheese or creamed celery — a bit 1970s, but so delicious.
Don’t forget to make a bowl of Bramley apple sauce — all of these vegetables, sauces, herb stuffings can be made ahead of time to lighten the pressure and workload on Christmas Day.
Brining the turkey also makes a phenomenal difference to the flavour, (see recipe).
Many families have a favourite starter. We love native Irish oysters as a starter on Christmas day. But I can well understand that they don’t tick everyone’s box.
So how about another timeless favourite, Grape, Melon and Mint. It’s light and refreshing and loved by everyone from toddlers to aged great aunts.
A green salad is essential after a rich meal. It has the magic potential to make you feel less full so you have room for pudding.
Make it with organic leaves for extra deliciousness and a few foraged greens, a subject for lively conversation.
There’s lots of navelwort or pennywort, wintercress, wood sorrel and watercress in season at present. These little gems are available in the urban areas as well as the countryside.
The revised edition of A Simply Delicious Christmas, published by Gill and Macmillan to celebrate it’s 25th anniversary is choc a bloc with traditional and alternative recipes.
Darina Allen launches our festive food edition with her guide to cooking the perfect turkey – and all the trimmings
Brine
6 litres (10 1/2 pints) water
600g (1 1/4lb) salt
Fresh Herb Stuffing
175g (6oz/3/4 stick) butter
350g (12oz) chopped onions
400-500g (14-16ozs) approx. soft breadcrumbs (check that the bread is non GM) (or approximately 1lb 4oz of gluten-free breadcrumbs)
50g (2oz) freshly chopped herbs eg. parsley, thyme, chives, marjoram, savoury, lemon balmsalt and freshly ground pepper
neck, gizzard, heart, wishbone and wingtips of turkey
2 sliced carrots
2 sliced onions
1 stick celery
Bouquet garni
3 or 4 peppercorns
For basting the turkey
225g (8ozs/2 sticks) butter
large square of muslin (optional)
Bread Sauce (see recipe)
Cranberry Sauce (see recipe
large sprigs of fresh parsley or watercress
Brining the turkey ahead is so worthwhile. It adds immeasurably to the flavour and wrapping it in muslin means you don’t need to baste it during cooking.
We are finding a turkey that has previously been brined is taking a little less time to cook.
This is my favourite roast stuffed turkey recipe. You may think the stuffing seems dull because it doesn’t include exotic-sounding ingredients like chestnuts and spiced sausage meat, but in fact it is moist and full of the flavour of fresh herbs and the turkey juices.
Cook a chicken in exactly the same way but use one-quarter of the stuffing quantity given.
(4.5-5.4kg) 1 x 10-12lb, free-range and organic, turkey with neck and giblets)
Frist brine the turkey overnight — not essential but it makes for moist, tender and flavourful eat.
Add the salt to the water and stir to dissolve. Put the turkey crown into a clean stainless steel saucepan, plastic bucket or tin. Cover with the brine and a lid and chill for 24 hours.
Drain and dry well. This is of course optional, but it hugely enhances the flavour of the turkey.
Remove the wishbone from the neck end of the turkey, for ease of carving later.
Make a turkey stock by covering with cold water the neck, gizzard, heart, wishbone, wingtips, vegetables and bouquet garni. (Keep the liver for smooth turkey liver pate.) Bring to the boil and simmer while the turkey is being prepared and cooked, 3 hours approx.
Sweat the onions gently in the butter until soft, for 10 minutes approx., then stir in the crumbs, herbs and a little salt and pepper to taste. Allow it to get quite cold.
If necessary wash and dry the cavity of the bird, then season and half-fill with cold stuffing. Put the remainder of the stuffing into the crop at the neck end.
Weigh the turkey and calculate the cooking time. Allow 15 minutes approx. per lb and 15 minutes over.
Melt the butter and soak a large piece of good quality muslin in the melted butter; cover the turkey completely with the muslin and roast in a preheated moderate oven, 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4, for 2 3/4-3 1/4 hours.
There is no need to baste it because of the butter-soaked muslin. The turkey browns beautifully, but if you like it even browner, remove the muslin 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
Alternatively, smear the breast, legs and crop well with soft butter, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
If the turkey is not covered with butter-soaked muslin then it is a good idea to cover the whole dish with tin foil. However, your turkey will then be semi-steamed, not roasted in the traditional sense of the word. The turkey is cooked when the juices run clear.
To test, prick the thickest part at the base of the thigh and examine the juices: they should be clear. Remove the turkey to a carving dish, keep it warm and allow it to rest while you make the gravy.
The turkey is done when the juices run clear. To test, prick the thickest part at the base of the thigh and examine the juices, they should be clear.
Remove the turkey to a carving dish, keep it warm and allow it to rest while you make the gravy.
To make the gravy: Spoon off the surplus fat from the roasting pan. De-glaze the pan juices with fat-free stock from the giblets and bones.
Using a whisk, stir and scrape well to dissolve the caramelised meat juices from the roasting pan.
Boil it up well, season and thicken with a little roux if you like. Taste and correct the seasoning. Serve in a hot gravy boat.
If possible, present the turkey on your largest serving dish, surrounded by crispy roast potatoes, and garnished with large sprigs of parsley or watercress and maybe a sprig of holly.
Make sure no one eats the berries.
Serve with Cranberry Sauce and Bread Sauce.
175g (6oz) fresh or frozen cranberries
4 tablespoons (60 ml) water
75g (3oz) granulated sugar
Cranberry sauce is also delicious served with roast turkey, game and some rough patés and terrines.
We enjoy this simple cranberry sauce best. It will keep in your fridge for several weeks. It is also great with white chocolate mousse, as a filling for a meringue roulade.
Serves 6 approximately.
Put the fresh cranberries in a heavy-based stainless steel or cast-iron saucepan with the water.
Don’t add the sugar yet as it tends to toughen the skins. Bring them to the boil, cover and simmer until the cranberries pop and soften, about seven minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar until dissolved.
Serve warm or cold.
Fresh cranberries keep for weeks on end but also freeze perfectly.
It should be soft and juicy, add a little warm water if it has accidently over-cooked.
600ml (1 pint/2 1/2 cups) whole milk
75-110g (3 - 4oz) soft white breadcrumbs
2 medium onions, each stuck with 6 cloves
35 - 50g (1 1/2 - 2oz) butter
salt and freshly ground pepper
75-110ml (3-4 fl oz/scant 1/2 cup – 1/2 cup) thick cream
2 good pinches of ground cloves or quatre epices
I love bread sauce but if I hadn’t been reared on it I might never have tried it — the recipe sounds so dull! Serve with roast chicken, turkey and guinea fowl.
Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3.
Bring to the boil in a small, deep saucepan all the ingredients except the cream. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Transfer to the preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the onion and add the cream just before serving. Correct the seasoning and add a little more milk if the sauce is too thick. Serve hot.
The bread sauce will keep in the fridge for several days – the remainder can be reheated gently – you may need to use a little more milk.
Quatre Epices is a French spice product made of equal amounts of ground white pepper, cloves, nutmeg and ginger.
4.5g (1 x 10 lbs) approx. goose
Stock
Neck, giblets and wishbone of goose
1 sliced onion
1 sliced carrot
Bouquet Garni
a sprig of thyme
3 or 4 parsley stalks
a stick of celery
6 or 7 peppercorns
cold water to cover
Potato Stuffing
30g (1 oz/ stick) butter
450g (1 lb/4 cups) chopped onions
450g (1 lb) cooking apples e.g. Bramley Seedling, peeled and chopped
1 fl oz (25ml/1/8 cup) fresh orange juice
900g (2 lbs) potatoes
1 teaspoon each, thyme and lemon balm
3 teaspoons finely grated orange rind
salt and freshly ground pepper
Roast goose with potato stuffing is almost my favourite winter meal. However, a goose looks enormous because it has a large carcass. Many people have been caught out by imagining it will serve more people than it does. Allow 450g (1lb) in cooked weight per person. This stuffing is also delicious with duck but use a quarter of the quantity below.
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the onions, cover and sweat on a gentle heat for about five minutes; add the apples, herbs and orange juice.
Cook covered until the apples are soft. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in their jackets until cooked, peel, mash and add to the fruit and onion mixture. Add the orange rind and seasoning.
Allow it to get quite cold before stuffing the goose. To prepare the goose: Gut the goose and singe off the pin feathers and down if necessary.
Remove the wishbone from the neck. Combine the stock ingredients in saucepan, cover with cold water and simmer for 1.5 to 2.5 hours.
Season the cavity of the goose with salt and freshly ground pepper; rub salt into the skin also. Stuff the goose loosely and roast for about 2 hours in a heated moderate oven, 180°C/350°F/regulo 4.
Prick the thigh at the thickest part; the juices which run out should be clear.
If they are still pink, the goose needs a little longer. When cooked, remove the goose to a serving dish and put it in a very low oven while you make the gravy.
Spoon off the surplus fat from the roasting tin. Add about 1 pint (600ml/2.5 cups) of the strained giblet stock to the tin and bring to the boil.
Taste for seasoning and thicken with roux if you like it so. If the gravy is weak, boil it for a few minutes; if it’s too strong, add a little water or stock.
Strain and serve in a hot gravy boat.
Carve the goose and serve the Bramley apple sauce and gravy separately.
1lb (450g) cooking apples, (Bramley Seedling)
1-2 dessertsp. (2-4 American teaspoon) water
2oz (55g) sugar approx. depending on tartness of the apples
2-4 rose geranium leaves
Peel, quarter and core the apples, cut pieces in two and put in a stainless steel or cast iron saucepan with the sugar, water and rose geranium leaves. Cover and put over a low heat.
As soon as the apple has broken down, stir and taste for sweetness.
Serve warm with the duck, goose or roast pork.
