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00:00Cooking the Christmas dinner year after year can feel a little bit daunting, but not this
00:08year. We're going to cook ahead of time so it takes all of the kitchen chaos out of the big
00:14day. From what we can do well in advance, to how to prep in the days and night before. We're
00:23talking delicious starters, epic desserts, incredible veggies and a genius way to cook
00:30the turkey. You'll be so far ahead there won't be much left to do on the day and I'm going
00:36to be with you every step of the way. So grab your apron, roll up your sleeves and join me
00:44on this journey and make sure this Christmas is all about great food, great company and
00:51no last minute stress.
01:02In early December we can get stuff done way in advance using the freezer as our best friend.
01:08A perfect cook-ahead veggie centrepiece, gravy that's good for everyone, sensational stuffing,
01:15festive veg and a winning Christmas dessert already ahead of time so we can all relax
01:22on the big day.
01:27I'm going to kick things off by sharing with you the most delicious gratin. It's a great
01:33recipe because you can do it weeks in advance and I'm going to give you not one but two
01:37ways of serving it so you've got all bases covered.
01:40This special cook-ahead vegetable dish adds the perfect oozy cheesiness to your festive feast.
01:48A stunning combo of sliced potatoes and seasonal veg smothered in a herb infused cheesy garlic sauce.
01:55Frozen ahead of time it's ready to be a potato and fennel gratin or transformed into a superstar
02:03centrepiece pie.
02:06I think learning how to do a delicious gratin is a really good principle recipe.
02:11It's going to start off with some milk and some cream and I'm just going to get a pan
02:16on to like a medium heat and put 300ml of milk into the pan and 200ml of lovely double cream.
02:27As that temperature comes up we can get some herbs in there, a couple of bay leaves, get
02:33some rosemary in there, also a classic Christmas spice, nutmeg.
02:40Grate about half of it into this cream and milk with a pinch of salt and pepper.
02:49And then I'm going to take a couple of garlic cloves and just finely slice it.
02:54So this is going to infuse the milk in the most beautiful, garlicky, herbal, spiced way.
03:02It's going to be fantastic.
03:06So look, beautiful potatoes, 800 grams.
03:08I'm going to peel these and all those layers of sliced up potatoes and veggies with creamy,
03:15cheesy, herby gorgeousness, that for me is absolute heaven.
03:21So now that's come to the boil, let's turn it off and that smells absolutely incredible.
03:26So I'll leave that for the moment.
03:28To go with these sliced potatoes, we're going to get some onion and finely slice them again.
03:34Now I'm going to use fennel, it's really fresh, it cooks super sweet and these stalks you can
03:41just finely slice as well.
03:42They'll be utterly delicious.
03:44The best thing about this recipe is you can do it before Christmas.
03:50And once we've made it and cooked it, we can pop it in the freezer, no compromise, right?
03:56So we have this beautiful milk and cream, which is fantastically scented.
04:01Remove the herbs and the bay.
04:03They have done their job.
04:05I want to add some cheese.
04:07I'm going a little bit Italian with some parmesan, but then some great British farmhouse cheeses.
04:13So I've got some fantastic cheddar here, but you can pick the cheeses that you love.
04:18And I want about 100 grams.
04:22I'm just mixing the cheese and the residual heat from the milk and cream will just slowly
04:27melt that into a kind of rustic cheese sauce.
04:32That is the basis of our flavour.
04:34So take a little dish, about kind of like 10 inches wide.
04:39I'm going to get some greaseproof paper, scrumple it up, and I'll give it a little season
04:45now with salt and pepper.
04:47So just fan that around like that.
04:50Any old how, frankly, and another bit, shuffle in, pat it down.
04:57Then we can take our amazing cheese-scented sauce and just pour that over.
05:04Oh, yes.
05:08I love it.
05:09And as it cooks, all the veggies will soften up, and then the sauce will bubble up in and
05:14around everything.
05:15We're going to cook it now, cool it, and put it in the freezer.
05:20When I want it, I can take it out the day before, and then I can turn it into a fantastic
05:24side dish, or you can turn it into the most amazing showstopper of a pie.
05:29This is about getting things done in advance, but giving you options.
05:33So one great dish, two ways, giving you loads of choices.
05:37Happy days.
05:40Beautiful.
05:44That goes in the oven for one and a half hours at 180 degrees Celsius, which is 350 Fahrenheit.
05:51While that gratin is cooking, I want to show you how to make homemade pastry.
05:56Now you can buy short-cost pastry, filo pastry, and puff pastry, but the texture is much more
06:01optimal when you make it yourself.
06:04It's a very simple recipe.
06:06Half fat to flour, okay?
06:07So, we've got 500 grams of plain flour, and then half the amount in weight of butter.
06:14So 250 grams, get a nice pinch of salt, then rub the flour into the butter, almost into like
06:22little cornflake pieces.
06:25What I love about these get-ahead recipes is this idea that we can build up an arsenal of
06:33deliciousness in our fridge and freezers to make Christmas Day the easiest one ever.
06:40Now, the exciting thing about making your own pastry is you can flavour it, and I want to
06:45use walnuts.
06:46I've just got 50 grams here.
06:48If you grate them, you create a walnut flour.
06:52And then I'm going to take one lovely egg, give it a little whisk up.
07:01I'm not over-mixing it or kneading it, because I want it to remain short.
07:06Short means crumbly, like that.
07:09And you might need just a little splash of water.
07:15Just kind of almost hug it together.
07:18And cut this in half, and press it out into two, sort of two-centimetre discs.
07:25They'll defrost much, much quicker.
07:28Grab some greaseproof paper, so wrap it up for Christmas, literally for Christmas.
07:38So there you go, homemade pastry, ready and raring to go.
07:42This can simply go in the freezer until you need it.
07:48So this has been cooking for an hour and a half.
07:58Just carefully take the lid off.
08:00It'll be steamy, so watch out.
08:03Oh, goodness gracious.
08:07Let this cool down.
08:08I'll put the tin foil back on top.
08:10We can put it in the freezer.
08:11One week, two weeks, even months, okay?
08:14No compromise.
08:15Then, when you want it, the day before, we take it out of the freezer, okay?
08:19And we can turn it out.
08:21Now, if you want it as a gratin, you simply take that frozen gratin back into this dish.
08:26Bit of cheese on top.
08:27And then the next day, into the oven, 180, 40 minutes, golden, blipping, perfection.
08:32Fantastic.
08:33Or we can use it for the most amazingly insane vegetarian pie.
08:40So if we've made this and frozen it a few weeks before Christmas,
08:44I'm going to show you what to do on Christmas Eve
08:47to turn this delicious side dish into a show-stopping centerpiece.
08:53Whenever you want to use it, just get it out the day before and put it in the fridge.
08:57So I want to get our pastry.
08:59I did it into two pieces, remember?
09:01Once that's defrosted, take the greaseproof paper, like that.
09:05We put the pastry on top.
09:07Some more greaseproof paper.
09:09So the double greaseproof paper method guarantees you have no cracking or breaking.
09:16That is what we like at Christmas.
09:18So this is looking really good.
09:24Cut it into a little circle like that.
09:26Put a little bit of flour on there.
09:28Now go over with our gratin.
09:34Take this greaseproof off.
09:36I want about an inch around the outside.
09:40This is the base.
09:40Very flipping exciting.
09:45Then we'll go back to our pastry.
09:48And I'll do exactly the same.
09:50But this time, of course, we've got to go over the top and down the sides.
09:54So we need it to be slightly bigger.
09:55So a little flour here.
09:59Rolling pin.
10:01And then I'm going to get that pastry and roll it up over the rolling pin.
10:06Super simple, right?
10:07Put the pastry to one side.
10:09I'm going to get myself two eggs, two bowls, egg whites into one.
10:16What we can do is use the yolks for the outside to create the most incredible golden egg wash
10:24that will make it look so, so special.
10:27Then here with the whites, I can use to really stick the pastry to the pastry.
10:35So we don't waste anything.
10:38Then we simply take the pastry and we just casually roll it over like that.
10:45Then we press it on the top.
10:47Gently.
10:49And down onto the pastry.
10:51It's really easy.
10:52And we'll trim it off.
10:55Roughly an inch away from the pie.
11:01And then let me show you how we can do the edges here.
11:05I'm going to take my thumb and forefinger and use my finger to push it in between.
11:10And then we go to the next one.
11:12So we're sealing it and we're giving it a nice Christmassy flourish.
11:16Use the egg yolks on the top.
11:22Like that.
11:24And give it a nice little coat.
11:26But what you can do is take a little knife, get down on your knees.
11:30Just go from the center and using just the weight of the knife, don't push it down at all.
11:36Just score it down in a little curve.
11:40Because as that cooks, that little score is going to just open up and part slightly.
11:47Just get your knife in now, in a little crisscross.
11:51That lets the steam out.
11:53And look at that.
11:54That is a beautiful pie.
11:55That is a centerpiece.
11:56And what I do now is just get it carefully onto a tray.
12:01So in theory, if you're doing the whole get ahead thing, we would put that in the fridge,
12:04nice and safe.
12:05You could do it Christmas Eve or even the day before that.
12:08But I want to cook it for you now so you know what you're going to get.
12:11Simply put it at the bottom of the oven so you get a nice crispy bum.
12:14And we cook it for one hour at 180 degrees Celsius, which is 350 Fahrenheit.
12:26Come on.
12:28Look at that.
12:31I love the scores.
12:32I love the cracks where the juices are just spilling out.
12:36Let's get a nice little slice.
12:38That is like opening up a beautiful little edible Christmas present.
12:46Perfectly cooked pastry.
12:48Look at the layers.
12:50Right, let's have a try.
12:59We went in too fast.
13:02Oh, that is delicious.
13:04I mean, double carb with a flouncing of fennel and beautiful, oozy, creamy, cheesy,
13:13gorgeousness.
13:14The nutmeg here is just phenomenal.
13:17That is so, so delicious.
13:19That in the middle of the table with all the Christmas trimmings, it's going to be amazing.
13:23Two recipes in one.
13:25Give yourself options.
13:27Happy blooming Christmas.
13:34Behind every great roast dinner is an incredible gravy.
13:54And I want to show you a fantastic get ahead gravy that is not only going to please the meat eaters,
13:59but the veggies and the vegans and the gluten free.
14:01Yes, I've got you covered.
14:05This Christmas gravy is an absolute game changer.
14:09With a dried mushroom and herb stock, blackberry jam and festive port.
14:13It's rich, comforting and really is good for everyone.
14:18Perfect to get all wrapped up well ahead of Christmas.
14:22Now, for meat eaters, like having gravy made out of stock and bones and all the kind of meat drippings
14:27and stuff like that, that is easy big flavour achieved.
14:30But if we wind back to veggie and vegan world, you need a few bits of technique and ingredients to make it utterly,
14:37undeniably delicious.
14:39And I've written this recipe so we can actually look after everyone.
14:42We're starting with two onions, just roughly chop those.
14:47Nice big pan on a medium heat.
14:50In here we go with some olive oil.
14:51We're going to go in with our onions and we'll start to fry these off.
14:57Then I've got some lovely carrots here.
14:59So the carrots have had a nice little wash.
15:01Don't peel them.
15:02There's a lot of flavour in the skin.
15:04And we'll simply just split these in half and then roughly chop these as well.
15:11So, onions in, carrots in.
15:15Now, instead of just kind of putting liquid on there and boiling straight away,
15:18what I want to do is invest time into concentrating and caramelising all the natural sugars
15:24in the onion and the carrots, right?
15:26That's going to give us colour.
15:27We want gravy to be dark, right?
15:29And it's going to give us massive flavour.
15:32Season a little bit with salt and pepper.
15:34Now, celery is fantastic.
15:38It's fragrant and we're just going to roughly chop that up.
15:41And as that fries away, I want to start thinking about a nice, beautiful stock.
15:47I'm going to use dried mushrooms.
15:49Now, look at these.
15:50Dried mushrooms are amazing.
15:52You can get them from the supermarkets and when you dry mushrooms,
15:57it's really hearty flavours that you're going to get from this.
16:00And just a small amount will make all the difference.
16:03Put in here like a litre, litre and a half of boiling water.
16:07We're going to rehydrate the mushrooms and they'll start giving off incredible colour.
16:14So, what else can we do?
16:16Things like rosemary, you can put that also into this lovely homemade stock.
16:22We're going to go in with some bay leaves and some lovely thyme as well.
16:26It's all flavour.
16:27It's all flavour.
16:28I'll add now your typical veggie stock cube into here.
16:32Now, there's all kinds of different yeast extracts that you can get.
16:35This is a fantastic way to give your veggie vegan gravy more colour,
16:39more depth of flavour and a nice base of seasoning.
16:43So, let that infuse.
16:45Now, let's have a little look at the pan.
16:46It's getting dark now.
16:48Don't be afraid of that.
16:49Add fresh herbs to this as well.
16:52So, some rosemary goes in.
16:54Bay leaf.
16:55We take a little bit of thyme.
16:58Now, I'm going to use a couple of nice teaspoons of blackcurrant or blackberry jam.
17:04This sweetness balances your beautiful gravy.
17:07So, I'm going to stir that in with a nice lug of port.
17:10The jam and the pork makes this an amazing Christmas gravy.
17:17And then a little tomato puree.
17:20So, a couple of tablespoons.
17:23And then two tablespoons of gluten-free flour.
17:27And, of course, if no one coming to your party is gluten-free, just use regular plain flour.
17:34And then just a couple of tablespoons of vinegar will transform this.
17:37Like, you have to trust me.
17:40We want your taste buds to be firing on all cylinders.
17:43Like bass, mid and treble, right?
17:46Surround sound flavours.
17:49Now, this goes in.
17:50Let it sizzle up.
17:51It's all good.
17:52So, bring that to the boil and let that simmer for about 10 minutes.
18:04It smells incredible.
18:07Pull out the herbs.
18:09Like the rosemary.
18:11They have done their job.
18:12So, we can get rid of those.
18:14And ladle this into this liquidiser.
18:18The colour looks phenomenal.
18:22We're going to put this on top like that.
18:23We don't want any mishaps.
18:25And we'll start on the lowest setting.
18:27Super, super low.
18:28Slowly, slowly.
18:29Then we can increase that speed.
18:40So, that's it.
18:41I'll push this through the core sieve.
18:43Just look at that, flipping away.
18:46Beautiful.
18:48Right, let's have a little try.
18:50This is your opportunity to check the seasoning.
18:53Big, bold, delicious, elegant.
18:59That is an epic gravy.
19:02That is probably, in my opinion, one of the best veggie vegan gravies I've ever had.
19:06Right?
19:06And I like that consistency.
19:08The colour's amazing.
19:09We have now got epic gravy done.
19:12Right?
19:12Weeks before Christmas.
19:13The stress has gone.
19:14We're never going to run out.
19:16But also, on Christmas day when you're resting the turkey.
19:18Right?
19:19We just take that fat off the tray with all the sticky bits in the bottom.
19:22And we put that in there.
19:23Simmer it away.
19:24And you're going to get the best turkey gravy as well.
19:26This is a win-win scenario.
19:28So, you can put it in Tupperware.
19:30You can put it in these little bags.
19:31But it's just a brilliant thing that gives you choices.
19:34And that's going to free up time.
19:35And hopefully, make this the best Christmas ever.
19:39If you can make a really good stuffing at Christmas, people seem to go wild for it.
19:52And I've got an amazing recipe that you can do well ahead of the game.
19:55Which means you can devote more time to flavours and textures.
19:58We can make it up.
19:59Get it in the freezer.
20:00And then, before Christmas day, we can defrost it.
20:03This is going to be good.
20:05My festive get-ahead stuffing is brilliantly veggie.
20:08Packed with scrumptious squash, herbs, spices, fruit and nuts.
20:12Prep and freeze in advance as the perfect little present to yourself this Christmas.
20:18So, there's many, many ways you can do a stuffing.
20:20And obviously, the history of stuffing was all about stretching the meat further.
20:25But we're going to make this vegetarian.
20:27I want to introduce a few new flavours that I think are really Christmassy and really delicious.
20:31So, at the base of this is a button-up squash.
20:34So, get the tip of the knife.
20:36Put it in nice and safely here.
20:37And then, just bring it down like that.
20:39Then, pick it up.
20:41Move it around.
20:42The tip is still in.
20:42We're going to go down.
20:45It's nice and easy, okay?
20:47Remove the seeds.
20:48You don't have to remove the peel because it's really delicate, really thin and sweet and nutty.
20:54Go down the length of the squash again, nice and carefully.
20:59Some nice red onions.
21:01And then, cut them into quarters.
21:04Add a little bit of sea salt.
21:07We want some pepper.
21:09And also, best friends with squash, by the way, is ground coriander.
21:14So, a teaspoon and a nice little pinch of cinnamon in there as well.
21:19And then, a classic spice that's often underloved, nutmeg.
21:29Half a nutmeg goes in.
21:32And then, just a little olive oil.
21:34So, get your hands in there.
21:36Toss it all up.
21:37So, this goes in the oven for about 40 minutes at 190 degrees Celsius, which is 350 Fahrenheit.
21:43And this will be the base of the best stuffing ever.
21:53So, the squash is nearly done.
21:54And I've got some lovely sage here.
21:56And I want to show you a little tip that will transform this herb into something very special.
22:01Just a little olive oil and just massage it.
22:03And then, if I sprinkle this over the squash, just for 5-10 minutes in the oven, they will go crispy crisp.
22:10So, if you have a little look at this, you can see it's already shrunk.
22:15And that shrinking is concentration of flavour.
22:18Let's sprinkle this over the top.
22:19Right, I'm putting that back in the oven now for 5-10 minutes.
22:23These will go really crisp.
22:24So, a typical stuffing would often have, nearly always, bread.
22:33Right, breadcrumbs.
22:34500 grams I've got there.
22:36Remove the crust first.
22:40And traditionally, you would always make stuffing with stale bread.
22:43So, what I'm going to do is rehydrate it with milk.
22:46And we're just going to pour some milk in.
22:51Let's say a couple of hundred mils.
22:53And it will just soften it up.
22:56Squeeze it out.
22:58So, this excess milk here, we can just lose that.
23:02So, look, you can see now, this is light and spongy.
23:07Let me just touch my hands.
23:10Now, currently, this stuffing is vegetarian.
23:12If I swap the milk for water, which is still very traditional, it will be vegan.
23:17And if you wanted to, you could take a little batch of this beautiful stuffing
23:22and mix it with some sausage meat and have a meat version as well.
23:26They're all incredible.
23:27So, look.
23:29Oh, the colours and the smells.
23:32And you can see how crisp this has gone.
23:38Unbelievable.
23:40Amazing flavour.
23:41So, now what we can do is bejewel this beautiful stuffing.
23:48I've got some cranberries, a nice little handful, sweet and sour.
23:52Secondly, like a little handful of pistachios.
23:56And just cut through some of these.
24:00I'm going to use some of these vat-packed chestnuts.
24:05That is the flavour of Christmas.
24:07Come on.
24:08So, we can leave some whole, some halved like that.
24:11And then some, we can literally break up like a little powder.
24:16And sprinkle that on top.
24:18Now, in with the bread.
24:19I use the back of the spoon to kind of squash it.
24:23So, this is done now, right?
24:27You can put it in the fridge for like two or three days.
24:29Easy peasy.
24:30Or get it in the freezer like weeks before if you want to be super in advance.
24:33It's a great job done and dusted.
24:36So, what I would do if it was frozen is just take it out on Christmas Eve.
24:39Let it defrost.
24:40And then once that's defrosted, I like to do two things with the stuffing.
24:44The first thing is I take a third and I'll stuff that into the turkey.
24:47And that way, it'll absorb all the cooking juices.
24:50It'll be soft and gorgeous.
24:51But then I take the other two thirds and I love to put it into a bowl or a tin.
24:56And then that way, we can roast it in here and get crispy edges.
25:00A completely different experience.
25:02And I promise you, people will be screaming about your stuffing.
25:05So, this is non-stick.
25:07So, I just like to double make sure it's non-stick by rubbing it with some olive oil.
25:12Then I'm going to take two thirds of this lovely mix and pop it in here.
25:17Think of it almost like the most delicious Christmassy edible sandcastle.
25:22This goes into the oven at 180 degrees Celsius, which is 350 Fahrenheit for about an hour
25:29until golden, crisp and delicious.
25:41Look at that.
25:42Come on.
25:44So, simply get your mould and then hope for a turnout that works.
25:51I'm feeling good about it.
25:55Look at the sage as well.
25:56That is exactly what I wanted.
26:04Get in there.
26:05Look at that.
26:06Crispy on the outside, soft in the middle.
26:10And obviously, I've just cooked this to show you.
26:13But I have to taste as well to give you my professional opinion.
26:16It's really soft and light on the inside.
26:24On the outside, it's crunchy.
26:28And those little kind of bejeweling of lovely cranberries and the lovely pistachios and the
26:33chestnuts.
26:33It's absolutely blooming delicious.
26:35That's another really important job done and dusted.
26:39So, it's going to make your Christmas a little bit easier this year.
26:42Love it.
26:54Flavoured butters, I think, are an amazing principle that will serve you and your family really,
27:07really well.
27:08And especially at Christmas, this is like a little bank, a little library of flavours
27:13in the form of butter that can go into so many dishes, leftovers, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and beyond.
27:21My flavoured butters are the easiest way to get ahead with big flavour this Christmas.
27:26I'm making one with fresh parsley, watercress and hot horse reddish to go with a gorgeous platter of
27:32greens.
27:33And a mouth-tingling prosecco, orange and cumin butter that's perfect with carrots.
27:38Super simple and done in advance to add big flavour to veggies on Christmas Day.
27:45So, in here, pestle and mortar, get some lovely parsley stalks and all.
27:51I've also got some watercress.
27:52It's nice and mustardy and beautiful.
27:54So, just pound it up.
27:57A little seasoning of salt helps create a little bit of abrasion.
28:02Just give it a bash for 20 seconds hardcore.
28:04And look at it, it's green, rustic.
28:09Now, this is a fresh horseradish.
28:12You just give it a little peel and then you can grate it.
28:15And of course, it's hot and spicy.
28:17You can buy the jarred stuff, creamed or not, it doesn't matter.
28:21So, we've got parsley, watercress and horseradish.
28:25Nice.
28:26And then something that works really, really well with this is lemon.
28:29We'll use the zest because it's our best friend and the juice.
28:33So, make up your own combos.
28:36Look, there's no real right or wrong.
28:38And a little bit of lemon juice goes in here.
28:42Salt and pepper to season it.
28:44And then we'll go in with a pack of butter.
28:49Now, if you think about having three or four of these in your freezer at Christmas time,
28:53then you can dedicate one combo to Brussels sprouts and then one combo to some lovely carrots.
29:00And for me, when you look at the Christmas table,
29:02when each thing has got its own single-mindedness and unique flavour profile,
29:07that is when you've got a feast of all feasts.
29:11Now, I want to show you how to store this flavoured butter.
29:14Let me just wash my hands.
29:16Cut two sheets of greaseproof into quarters, like this.
29:21Let me just get this butter divided into four.
29:27Put this on top like that and press it down.
29:31Because it's nice and thin when it's frozen, it's going to be a nice little envelope.
29:35And I can just put it over a plate of something and it just goes and melts straight away.
29:40And each one of these little envelopes is like a little love letter
29:44to a piece of fish or a little bit of greens.
29:47And that's the way I look at it.
29:48So, in the freezer we go.
29:50Let me show you, because I've got one that I made earlier.
29:53If I just peel this off, what we have is a lovely little disc.
29:57And they melt really, really quickly.
30:00Right, classic combo.
30:02We're going to go orange and cumin.
30:05And that, with veggies, particularly carrots, is absolutely amazing.
30:10So, in a pestle and mortar again, I'll go in with some salt, some pepper, some thyme.
30:15You could use any woody herb, but I think thyme and carrots is really, really nice.
30:19So, I'm just going to pick off the leaves like that.
30:22We'll get into a pan here, just like a couple of teaspoons of cumin seeds and just toast it up.
30:28By toasting it, you'll just reawaken those natural oils and the flavours and it'll just make a massive difference.
30:35A couple of little bashes and we're done.
30:43Back to our little zester.
30:45Orange, cumin, thyme and garlic.
30:48An amazing combination.
30:50So, again, using that pestle and mortar, or it could be a food processor.
30:56Or a lot of chopping and scrunching.
30:58So, I'm going to go in now with two cloves of garlic.
31:03And we've got the toasted cumin there.
31:07Just kind of crack them.
31:08Oh, the smells.
31:11And then in with the butter.
31:12Let me show you a different format to store this flavoured butter.
31:24I just get a bit of greaseproof, like that.
31:27And get the butter in there like that, and then roll it up.
31:30Twist up the ends like a Christmas cracker.
31:33Get it nice and tight.
31:34And then if you put that in the freezer for like five minutes, it will firm up a bit.
31:37Then you can slice it into little pre-portioned discs.
31:41And then later on, weeks, months later, take a little disc and put that on something delicious
31:45to make it extra, extra special.
31:47Right, let's get this in the freezer.
31:50So, if you've got ahead and frozen your butters a few weeks before Christmas,
31:54I'm going to show you exactly what to do on Christmas Day
31:57to give your veggies a big hit of festive flavour.
32:01I'm going to give you two recipes to celebrate these gorgeous butters this Christmas.
32:06The first recipe I just love, because it's a little bit bonkers.
32:10It's a little bit eccentric.
32:12It's very Christmas.
32:13So, it's carrots in the bag.
32:16Simply get a wide piece of tinfoil.
32:19On the bottom, I'll have two pieces.
32:22Like that.
32:23And then grab a little plate.
32:26Press the tinfoil down into the shape of the plate.
32:29Then I've got some lovely carrots here.
32:32Look at these.
32:33These have been washed, cut them into little angled pieces like this.
32:39Cooking in the bag is primarily about steaming, right?
32:43The moisture goes to the top of the bag and then evaporates down again and goes to the bottom
32:46and boils up again.
32:47You're just kind of basting whatever you're cooking in that bag with that flavour.
32:52So, it's clever.
32:53Let's get our beautiful butter out of the freezer and a little bottle of something nice,
32:59because it's Christmas time.
33:02So, in this recipe, you've got that incredible marriage and combination of butter and then liquid,
33:08which is in the form of some nice bubbles, right?
33:11Because it's Christmas time.
33:12But it could be white wine.
33:14It could even be red wine.
33:15It could be cider.
33:15It could be orange juice.
33:16It could be water.
33:17So, Merry Christmas.
33:21So look, just put a little splodge of the good stuff in there.
33:26And I'll have a little splodge of stuff in there as well.
33:32If you want to put some herb in, time tips, I'll take a bit of that.
33:37So, two pieces of tinfoil in the bottom, just to keep it nice and solid.
33:40One piece on the top.
33:42If you egg wash the side of this little envelope when you seal it,
33:47no steam will get out.
33:49And all of that flavour and that liquid will stay in that little foil envelope.
33:54And then it will puff up like something crazy out of a cartoon.
33:59So just put that over the carrots like that.
34:02Fold it up and pinch.
34:03And you can see this is quite a robust thing now.
34:05This can go in the fridge.
34:06You can do it the day before Christmas, two days before Christmas.
34:09And then on the big day, you can do this on the hob, which is really convenient.
34:13And as this starts puffing up a little bit and you'll hear the tinfoil just going kink, kink, kink, kink, kink.
34:18Then turn it down to medium.
34:20Give it about 20 minutes and you'll have the most delicious carrots ever.
34:25Right.
34:25Let me show you how to take simple humble greens and make them spectacular.
34:30At Christmas time, oven space and hob space is at a premium.
34:34So when you can't go out, you go up.
34:36So what we're going to do is have boiling and steaming.
34:40So Brussels sprouts go in.
34:42And then when it comes to your layers, what I love about this is you just get another little steamer insert and you can add another veg, right?
34:49Like a cabbage leaf, just kind of have fun with it, whatever your family loves.
34:53And then if you wanted to add some peas, you absolutely can.
34:57And then with five minutes to go before you want to eat your Christmas dinner, kettle boiled, Brussels come up to the boil.
35:04Then we'll go on with our steamer, all very chill, all very nice.
35:10They'll literally only need like four, five minutes max.
35:13And then it's butter time.
35:22So we can take our fantastic frozen get ahead butter and I'll lay that on the top here.
35:28Lid back on top and that butter is just going to over the peas, broccoli, chard, through the holes, onto the lovely cabbages.
35:39And the last bits going through the holes will go onto the Brussels down the bottom.
35:44Happy days.
35:49Let's get a nice little platter.
35:52We can lay out the different veggies, the lovely peas.
35:55And then with the last empty steamer, we can use that as a colander.
36:04And if you need any liquid for your gravy, you can use that.
36:10And look at that.
36:11A lovely little platter of quickly cooked greens.
36:14Let's have a little try.
36:18Delicious.
36:19Horseradish, watercress.
36:21It's an amazing combination.
36:22Let's do the carrots. Come on.
36:25Look at that.
36:26It is brilliant.
36:27Get a platter.
36:29It's hot.
36:30So use a pair of tongs just to pick it up.
36:33Imagine that going to the Christmas table.
36:34The turkey platter.
36:36The gravy seaming away.
36:37You've got the veg.
36:38But then at the table, all confident.
36:42And that is the coolest thing ever.
36:45I think this is the quickest, easiest way to big flavour on Christmas Day.
37:01I've got a delicious festive dessert that is the perfect get-ahead recipe.
37:12This is my Christmas Arctic Roll.
37:15A fantastic principal recipe for any time of the year, but I want to show you how you can make it incredibly Christmassy.
37:21My get-ahead chocolate Arctic Roll is the perfect combination of festive flavours.
37:28And the best bit, it can all be done well in advance.
37:32With a clementine flavoured no-churn ice cream and cranberries wrapped in a decadent chocolate sponge,
37:38this is the ultimate treat to add a bit of sparkle to your Christmas table.
37:42It is so, so simple.
37:46First up, let's choose the flavour.
37:48Clementines, the flavour of Christmas.
37:51Remove just the beautiful orange zest.
37:54This is full of flavour.
37:56So, get a pan on the heat by squeezing this juice into the pan.
38:01Right, we'll reduce it down and it will give this beautiful ice cream the most amazing flavour.
38:06I'm going to use five nice juicy clementines.
38:09Now, in the bowl here, we're going to go in with 600 millilitres of double cream.
38:15And start to whisk it up, get the air into it.
38:19You want it to be soft peaks, which is thickened and definitely not thick.
38:24Don't over whisk it.
38:25So that is how I want it.
38:29Nice and soft, nice and delicate.
38:31So, into here, I'm going to get a tin of condensed milk.
38:35This is normally about sort of 400 grams.
38:38So, think of this almost like your basic vanilla ice cream.
38:42We've got the syrup here.
38:44You can see the juice has gone down by a quarter.
38:48If you want to cool it down quickly, literally, just get the pan and I just hold it into a little bowl of cold water.
38:56This is Christmas intensified.
38:58Then we back it up with the zest and then we just fold it through.
39:06And put it into a little tray like this.
39:09Flatten it out a little bit.
39:11That tiny little bit of zest left over.
39:14Beautiful.
39:15And you can do this a week, two weeks, three weeks in advance.
39:19But I want to show you how you can turn this into an epic classic Christmas dessert.
39:24Whack that in the freezer for three or four hours and then it will be ready and raring to go.
39:29Right, let me show you how to make the simplest chocolate sponge.
39:35Get yourself three lovely large organic eggs into our mixer.
39:40And in with 100 grams of golden caster sugar.
39:55I think that is looking pretty good.
39:58So the way to tell if it's ready is you can see that it's like almost tripled in volume.
40:05Then I'm going to take 75 grams of plain flour.
40:09Put it through a sieve.
40:11And I'm going to flavour it with cocoa powder.
40:1425 grams.
40:16Pretty much a heaped tablespoon.
40:19And then we're just going to fold it through.
40:25So what I've got here is a typical baking tray.
40:28This is 38 centimetres by 25.
40:31I've rubbed it with butter, bit of grease proof paper.
40:34And then in we go with our lovely chocolate sponge.
40:39Get it to those corners.
40:43So this goes in the oven for just 10 minutes at 180 degrees celsius.
40:47Which is 350 fahrenheit.
40:50Nice and gently.
40:50The sponge has had just under 10 minutes.
41:02I've got a damp clean cloth here which I'll lay out.
41:05And then I'll get some grease proof paper.
41:07And then I want a little bit of golden cast sugar just to sprinkle on top.
41:14This just gives the sponge a little finish.
41:16Super old school.
41:17Love it.
41:18Okay.
41:19Let's get our sponge.
41:21And I'm just going to turn it out super confident.
41:24One, two, three.
41:25And then while it's warm just start getting that bit of grease proof paper.
41:34It's very satisfying.
41:37What I'm going to do is fold over the grease proof paper and start to loosely fold it up.
41:42By rolling this up while the sponge is still warm it's flexible.
41:48If I let that flat sponge cool down and then I went to roll it up it would most likely crack multiple times.
41:54Which isn't as cool.
41:56So let that cool down.
41:57Let the ice cream freeze.
41:59And when that's ready to go then I'll show you how to put this all together.
42:13The ice cream has just frozen beautifully.
42:17And then whenever I want to use it I just place it in the fridge for like 15-20 minutes.
42:23And it's scoopable pretty quick.
42:25Here is the sponge part which has cooled down.
42:28And I'll just unfold this.
42:31I'm going to take this beautiful cranberry sauce.
42:35And I'll give it a nice thick layer.
42:40Then I've got some chocolate orange here.
42:42Take a little wadge and then break it up over the top like that.
42:48But do whatever chocolate you like.
42:50Right push this to one side.
42:52Then we've got our beautiful no churn ice cream.
42:55So this is a fun bit.
42:56I'm going to take a bit of the greaseproof paper.
43:01And I'm going to take this ice cream.
43:06Then I'm going to grab the greaseproof.
43:10Don't worry about it getting messy.
43:11Roll it up and use your hands just to push it into a kind of cigar shape.
43:17Squeeze the sides and we can just roll that like that.
43:20Don't worry about the mess.
43:22Get your sponge.
43:22And then basically we can unravel it.
43:26Just put it on like that.
43:29Then we roll it up as tight as possible.
43:33Then get yourself some foil.
43:36Roll it up and really put pressure on it as you do it.
43:39Then you can go to the outside like a Christmas cracker and squeeze it and roll it up.
43:46And then you get that fantastic shape.
43:48So that now goes in the freezer.
43:50You can do this a week before, two weeks before.
43:52It is the most brilliant get ahead dessert.
43:55Whack it in there and then you're ready and rocking.
43:59So if we've made this and frozen it a few weeks before Christmas.
44:02I'm going to show you exactly what to do on Christmas day to serve up this deliciously decadent get ahead dessert.
44:11So once it's frozen up it's really robust.
44:14And when you're ready and raring to go, unwrap it like a Christmas present.
44:18Actually this is a nice Christmas present.
44:22Now I quite like the idea of giving it a dusting of cocoa powder.
44:28Right just to give it that nice finish.
44:29After like a couple of minutes out of the freezer and you can slice through.
44:38Hallelujah, hallelujah.
44:41It's just beautiful.
44:42Go for another one.
44:45Look at it.
44:47Guys, retro, arctic roll.
44:56Merry Christmas.
44:57Honestly, Santa's going to be so proud of you.
45:02And start kind of like taking holly and all that kind of melarchs.
45:05Come on, let's make it look nice.
45:07I want something for the top.
45:09Take a little bar of chocolate.
45:11Right, and we're just going to slowly but surely drag this towards you.
45:15And that's what you get.
45:21Put it on the top.
45:22Let me show you on the white chocolate.
45:27Let's get Rudolph in on the act.
45:30You can take little sparklers.
45:32Come on, Merry Christmas.
45:37And if I just try a little bit here.
45:47Oh, come on.
45:49The sourness of the cranberry with that beautiful clementine ice cream is a thing of joy.
45:56And wrapped in that chocolate sponge is just so good.
45:59That is what it's all about.
46:01This really could be the best Christmas ever.
46:06Next time, I'll show you how we can get ahead in the days before Christmas.
46:11With a stunning starter.
46:13The most incredible way to cook turkey.
46:15And a batter for an epic Yorkshire pudding.
46:19All done and dusted ahead of time.
46:21Merry Christmas, everyone.
46:29That's being served up next Monday night at eight or right now.
46:32If you just can't wait and have a few quid in your pocket, stream the whole series on Channel 4+.
46:36Go on, call it an early Christmas present to yourself.
46:39Next tonight, minute by minute, a brand new troubling case comes under investigation in 24 hours in police custody.
46:51Do you know what you're doing here?
46:52It's super fun.
46:53Nobody's going to use it.
46:54The last thing I'm doing is to tell you about the instructions.
46:55I'm going to ask you a couple of questions to get back on your phone.
46:56I'm going to use a couple of questions.
46:56If you can't wait and have a couple of questions....
46:58I'll check if I'm going to get back in the second time, and do you now?
46:59Then you have an email.
47:01You just can't wait and see a couple of questions.
47:02Yeah.
47:03You can't wait and see.
47:04Yeah.
47:05And you can do a couple of questions that I can have a lot of questions or a couple of questions.
47:06I don't see any other questions.
47:07How do you have to answer those questions?
47:10We can do that?
47:10I want to wait and put them in the comments anyway.
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