Serves: 6

A fantastic alternative to turkey. Eat as the main meal, then use it for Boxing Day brunch or cook one as a back up for unexpected guests. The stock makes delicious gravy.

Ingredients

• Unsmoked ham 3½ - 4kg (7lb 10oz-9lb), boned, rolled piece
• Oranges 2, 1 cut into wedges, the other grated for zest and juiced
• Cinnamon stick 1
• English mustard 2 tbsp
• Black treacle 85g (3½oz)
• Cloves, handful
• Bay leaves, big bunch, to serve (optional)

STEP 1

If you need to soak the ham to remove excess salt, do so the night before.

STEP 2

Heat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/Gas 4. Place the ham, skin-side up, in a deep roasting tin, then add enough water to cover the base of the tin. Scatter the orange wedges and cinnamon stick around. Cover the pan with a tight tent of foil, then cook for about 2½ hrs. (If using a different weight of ham, you want 20 mins per 450g.)

STEP 3

While the ham is cooking, mix the mustard, treacle and orange zest together with enough orange juice to make a mixture loose enough to paint over the ham.

STEP 4

When the ham has had its time, remove the roasting tin from the oven and turn up the heat to 220°C / fan 200°C / Gas 7. Remove the foil, leave the ham until cool enough to handle, then pour away any liquid in the tin. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut away the skin to leave an even layer of fat. Use the tip of the knife to score the ham fat diagonally at 3cm intervals – first in one direction, then the other, to produce a diamond pattern. Liberally paint the glaze over the fat, then stud with the cloves at the points of the diamond shapes.

STEP 5

Roast the ham for 30 mins until glazed and just beginning to char around the edges. Leave to cool. Serve warm or cold, decorated with the bay leaves and orange wedges.

Perhaps it’s a good thing Christmas only happens once a year.  This decadent turkey grilled cheese sandwich with cranberry mustard might be a little over the top, but once a year, it seems reasonable, doesn’t it? The perfect way to use up all your leftover turkey! 

Use what cheese you have on hand. I happened to have brie, but any meltable cheese you like will taste good here. White cheddar, gruyere, mozzarella, swiss, etc. 

To make the Cranberry Mustard, simply mix cranberry sauce with whole grain mustard! It’s delicious!

Layer the bread, turkey, cheese, and a generous helping of cranberry mustard and a few leaves of thyme.

Pan-sear in a skillet on each side in a mixture of butter and oil, until perfectly golden. 

Finish the sandwich in a warm oven until the brie is melty. Cut and serve with a green salad.

Prep: 20 min

Broil: 5 min. + cooling

Makes: 24

Ingredients

1 French bread baguette
Mayonnaise 57g
Garlic paste 1-1/2 tsp
12 slices cooked turkey, halved
Apple sauce 57g

Fig jam/chutney 57g
24 fresh baby spinach leaves
Brie 120g
Sweetened dried cranberries 43g

Method

1. Preheat broiler. Cut baguette into 24 slices; place on foil-lined baking sheets. Combine mayonnaise and garlic; spread evenly over baguette slices. Add a half slice of chicken to each. Combine apple sauce and fig jam; spread evenly over chicken.

2. Add one baby spinach leaf and slice of brie to each slice.

3. Top with 3 cranberries. Broil 3-4 in. from heat until cheese is melted, 1-2 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Tips for serving your Christmas lunch at 2pm for 6 people. 

Dishes

Roast Turkey

Stuffing 

Getting ahead

Up to one month ahead

• Parboil and freeze the golden roast potatoes
• Make the stuffing and freeze
• Prep the spiced cabbage

Up to four days ahead

• Make the cranberry sauce 
• Bake the Christmas pudding if you have made this

Christmas Eve

• Roast the stuffing – keep in the foil
• Boil or steam the crisp topped sprouts and prepare the topping
• Steam the buttery carrots
• Defrost anything frozen in the fridge
• Cut the parsnips and roast

Christmas Day

9.30am: Stuff the turkey, weigh and calculate cooking time. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.

10am: Put the turkey in to roast (timings based on a 4.5kg turkey).

11am & 12pm: Check the roasting tin- add more cider if needed.

12.30pm: Remove the foil from the turkey to let it brown.

1pm: Leave the turkey to rest. Put the potatoes in the oven to roast, if frozen (if not, put in at 1.10pm). Make the gravy.

1.30pm: Turn oven up to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Turn the potatoes and add the stuffing to oven to reheat.

1.45pm: Cover the parsnips with foil and put into the oven to reheat. Finish sprouts, carrots, cabbage and cranberry sauce. Take foil off the stuffing.

2pm: Serve and enjoy! Warm the pudding in the oven’s residual head while you eat.

Serves: 6

Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients

1.25kg-1.3kg/2¾-3lb lean beef brisket joint
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
2 bay leaves, roughly broken
4 whole cloves
10 black peppercorns
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
30ml/2tbsp demerara sugar
30ml/2tbsp Worcestershire sauce
100g/4oz dried, ready to eat figs, left whole or halved
600ml/1pint mulled wine
30ml/2tbsp sunflower oil
175g/6oz carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
450g/1ib leeks, roughly chopped
4 small red onions, peeled and cut into quarters

STEP 1

Season the brisket and place in a large casserole dish. In a small bowl mix together the spices, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, figs and mulled wine. Pour over the brisket and mix to coat the joint. Cover, refrigerate and marinate for approximately 8 hours or overnight.

STEP 2

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 3, 170°C, 325°F.

STEP 3

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Remove the joint from the marinade (do not discard), pat dry and brown on all sides. Return to the casserole dish with the marinade mixture and add the vegetables.

STEP 4

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer on the hob or in the oven for 30-40 minutes per 450g/ 1lb of beef, plus 30-40 minutes.

STEP 5

Serve with the vegetables and creamy mashed potatoes.

Serves: 6

Cooking/prep: 1 hour

Christmas dinner pie is always a winner during the festive season, and this mouth-watering Christmas pie has to be one of the best ways to use up your leftover Christmas food. It’s the perfect Boxing Day treat, serving around 6 people and taking just 1hr to prepare and cook. This delicious Christmas pie is layered with leftover turkey, ham, stuffing as well as veggies too like carrots, Brussel sprouts and red cabbage. The shortcrust Christmas dinner pastry pie keeps all of the flavours and juices neatly tucked inside ready for the big reveal. This Christmas dinner pie recipe uses a genius time saving cheat of readymade shortcrust pastry but if you prefer making your own go for it! Serve with plenty of gravy and watch this meaty pie disappear in seconds. Trust us, the whole family will love this tasty Christmas dinner pie.

Ingredients

500g shortcrust pastry
1 egg, beaten
200g braised red cabbage
200g sage and onion stuffing
200g baked ham
200g roasted carrots
200g cranberry sauce
200g cooked turkey
handful Brussels Sprouts, halved
200g sausage meat stuffing
gravy, to serve

STEP 1

Lightly grease the base and outside of an up-turned 18cm round cake tin, line the outside of the base with baking parchment and cover the sides and edges with tin foil. Heat the oven to 200C, gas 6.

STEP 2

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a rough 32cm circle. Place over the outside of the lined cake tin, fold the pastry around the sides to line the sides tightly and trim. Brush with egg wash and chill for 30 mins, then bake for 20 mins, keeping it upturned.

STEP 3

Collect and roll out the pastry trimmings into a 20cm circle and chill for 30 mins.

STEP 4

Once the pastry has cooled, carefully remove the cake tin, plug any holes with any extra pastry and begin to fill the pie. Spoon in the braised red cabbage, stuffing, ham, carrots, cranberry sauce, turkey, sprouts, sausage stuffing and top with the pastry lid.

STEP 5

Brush with egg wash, cut a cross in the centre of the lid and bake for a further 20 mins. Slice and serve warm with gravy.

Copycat KFC? Is the “leaked” recipe the real deal? 

Ingredients
256g all purpose white flour
2 tsp table salt
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
4 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp celery salt
2 Tbsp garlic salt
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp dry mustard powder
3 Tbsp white pepper
1 Tbsp ground ginger
7 lbs chicken
Oil for deep frying

STEP 1

Mix all of the herbs and spices together first, making sure there are no lumps in the mixture from spices that have clumped in storage.

STEP 2

In a large bowl, add the herb & spice mixture to the flour and mix well until the spices are evenly distributed.

STEP 3

Cut 2 whole chickens into 9 pieces each (2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 side breasts and a centre breast)

STEP 4

Dip each of the pieces in plain water, shake and dredge in the flour and spice mixture. Repeat for all of the remaining pieces. Leave the pieces to sit in the dredge for 10-15 minutes while the oil heats up. This will help the coating stick to the chicken better.

STEP 5

Preheat a vegetable oil filled deep fryer to 340 degrees F

STEP 6

Shake off the excess coating from the pieces and fry for up to 18 minutes for the largest pieces. Wings generally take 8-10 minutes, drumsticks about 12-15 minutes depending on size. I use a meat thermometer to test the pieces and remove them individually when they reach an internal temperature of 180 degrees F.

STEP 7

Place cooked pieces on a rack that has been placed on top of a cookie sheet.

STEP 8

Hold the cooked chicken in a 150 degree oven if you need to cook the chicken in multiple batches. In that always start with the latest pieces and end with the smallest to minimize the time in the oven.

Serves: 6

Prep: 45 minutes

Cook: 2 hours 

The Malpass family used to make this hearty meal on a Monday with the leftovers from Sunday’s roast dinner (that’s any roast, although ideally lamb or beef). Part casserole and part hash this recipe exudes flavour, warmth and comfort.

Ingredients

Knob of butter
Vegetable oil for frying
1 onion, finely chopped
4 carrots, chopped into 1cm dice
½ swede, chopped into 1cm dice
3 parsnips, chopped into 1cm dice
2 celery sticks, cut into 1cm pieces
4 potatoes, chopped into 1cm dice
400g leftover roast meat from the Sunday roast (ideally lamb or beef)
250ml Sunday’s leftover gravy – one with a punchy flavour (or use a readymade rich wine gravy)
A few rosemary or thyme sprigs
500ml chicken or beef stock
400ml tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp caster sugar
2-3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Small bunch fresh flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped

For the Yorkshire puddings

225g plain flour
3 medium free-range eggs, beaten
300ml whole milk
1 tbsp beef dripping/sunflower oil
You’ll also need…

12-hole muffin tin

STEP 1

For the Yorkshires, sift the flour with a pinch of salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the eggs and gradually whisk in the milk to form a thick, smooth batter. Leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.

STEP 2

Meanwhile, heat the butter and a splash of oil in a casserole over a gentle heat. Add the onion and fry for 15 minutes. Stir in the rest of the vegetables and cook for 8-10 min until starting to colour and soften a little.

STEP 3

Add the meat, gravy, rosemary or thyme, stock, tomatoes and sugar, bring to a simmer, then stir in the Worcestershire sauce, taste and season. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours for a rich, thick gravy. Take off the lid after the first hour.

STEP 4

After 50 minutes of cooking, heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7.

STEP 5

Put ¼ tsp dripping or oil in each hole of the muffin tin, put in the oven and heat until smoking hot. Carefully spoon in the rested batter and cook for 30 minutes until golden and crisp. (You may need to reduce the heat once the puddings have risen to make sure they’re cooked right through. If the puds are ready too early, set them aside until needed, then warm them for 5 minutes or so before serving). Serve the Yorkshires with the hash, sprinkled with parsley.

Serves: 8

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Instead of fighting with the chicken or turkey this year, opt for a tray full of stuffing that the whole family will enjoy. Get ready to say hello to a whole new side of Christmas comfort food.

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch sage leaves
½ bunch marjoram leaves
60g butter, plus extra for greasing
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
100g pancetta, finely chopped
90g prunes, chopped
30g parmesan, finely grated
350g Sourdough bread, torn into chunks
180g pecans
500ml Chicken Style Liquid Stock

STEP 1

Finely chop half the herbs. Heat butter and oil in a large frypan over medium heat. Add chopped herbs, onion, garlic and pancetta, cook for 4 – 5 minutes until softened. Transfer to a bowl and toss with remaining ingredients, except the herb leaves. Set aside to soak for 10 minutes.

STEP 2

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 20 x 30cm baking dish. Add stuffing mixture and top with remaining herb leaves. Bake for 1 hour until golden.

Cold weather means stew weather, and there truly isn’t a dish that’s much more comforting than beef stew. When cubes of beef, sweet carrots, and potatoes cook slowly together in a savoury sauce, the resulting stew just makes you want to grab a hunk of crusty bread and dig in.

While there’s no denying that a pot of stew bubbling away for a few hours on the stovetop makes for an amazing-smelling kitchen, slow cookers instead makes for a beef stew that can go from pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator to sitting down at the dinner table in just about an hour. Here’s how to do it.