- 19 hours ago
Jamie's Cook-Ahead Christmas - Season 1 Episode 1
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00:00A year can feel a little bit daunting, but not this year.
00:03We're going to cook ahead of time so it takes all of the kitchen chaos out of the big day.
00:11From what we can do well in advance to how to prep in the days and night before,
00:17we're talking delicious starters, epic desserts, incredible veggies and a genius way to cook the turkey.
00:27You'll be so far ahead, there won't be much left to do on the day and I'm going to be with you every step of the way.
00:35So grab your apron, roll up your sleeves and join me on this journey
00:40and make sure this Christmas is all about great food, great company and no last minute stress.
00:56In early December, we can get stuff done way in advance using the freezer as our best friend.
01:03A perfect cook ahead veggie centrepiece, gravy that's good for everyone, sensational stuffing, festive veg
01:11and a winning Christmas dessert already ahead of time so we can all relax on the big day.
01:18I'm going to kick things off by sharing with you the most delicious gratin.
01:27It's a great recipe because you can do it weeks in advance and I'm going to give you not one,
01:32but two ways of serving it so you've got all bases covered.
01:35This special cook ahead vegetable dish adds the perfect oozy cheesiness to your festive feast.
01:43A stunning combo of sliced potatoes and seasonal veg smothered in a herb infused cheesy garlic sauce.
01:52Frozen ahead of time, it's ready to be a potato and fennel gratin or transformed into a superstar centrepiece pie.
01:59I think learning how to do a delicious gratin is a really good principle recipe.
02:05It's going to start off with some milk and some cream and I'm just going to get a pan on to like a medium heat
02:14and put 300 ml of milk into the pan and 200 ml of lovely double cream.
02:22As that temperature comes up, we can get some herbs in there, a couple of bay leaves, get some rosemary in there,
02:29also a classic Christmas spice, nutmeg.
02:35Grate about half of it into this cream and milk with a pinch of salt and pepper.
02:44And then I'm going to take a couple of garlic cloves and just finely slice it.
02:49So this is going to infuse the milk in the most beautiful, garlicky, herbal, spiced way.
02:57It's going to be fantastic.
03:00So look, beautiful potatoes, 800 grams.
03:03I'm going to peel these and all those layers of sliced up potatoes and veggies with creamy, cheesy, herby gorgeousness.
03:12That for me is absolute heaven.
03:16So now that's come to the boil, let's turn it off.
03:19And that smells absolutely incredible.
03:21So I'll leave that for the moment.
03:23To go with these sliced potatoes, we're going to get some onion and finely slice them again.
03:29Now I'm going to use fennel.
03:31It's really fresh.
03:32It cooks super sweet.
03:34And these stalks you can just finely slice as well.
03:37They'll be utterly delicious.
03:39The best thing about this recipe is you can do it before Christmas.
03:44And once we've made it and cooked it, we can pop it in the freezer, no compromise, right?
03:50So we have this beautiful milk and cream, which is fantastically scented.
03:55Remove the herbs and the bay.
03:58They have done their job.
04:00I want to add some cheese.
04:01I'm going a little bit Italian with some parmesan, but then some great British farmhouse cheeses.
04:08So I've got some fantastic cheddar here, but you can pick the cheeses that you love.
04:13And I want about 100 grams.
04:17I'm just mixing the cheese and the residual heat from the milk and cream will just slowly melt that into a kind of rustic cheese sauce.
04:26That is the basis of our flavour.
04:29So, take a little dish, about kind of like 10 inches wide.
04:34I'm going to get some greaseproof paper, scrumple it up, and I'll give it a little season now with salt and pepper.
04:42So just fan that around like that.
04:45Any old hell, frankly.
04:48And another bit, shuffle in, pat it down.
04:52Then we can take our amazing cheese-scented sauce and just pour that over.
04:59Oh, yes.
05:02I love it.
05:04And as it cooks, all the veggies will soften up.
05:07And then the sauce will bubble up in and around everything.
05:11We're going to cook it now, cool it, and put it in the freezer.
05:14When I want it, I can take it out the day before, and then I can turn it into a fantastic side dish.
05:20Or you can turn it into the most amazing showstopper of a pie.
05:24This is about getting things done in advance, but giving you options.
05:28So, one great dish, two ways, giving you loads of choices.
05:32Happy days.
05:32Beautiful.
05:34That goes in the oven for one and a half hours at 180 degrees Celsius, which is 350 Fahrenheit.
05:46While that gratin is cooking, I want to show you how to make homemade pastry.
05:50Now, you can buy short-cross pastry, phyllo pastry, and puff pastry, but the texture is much more optimal when you make it yourself.
05:58It's a very simple recipe.
06:00Half fat to flour.
06:02Okay.
06:02So, we've got 500 grams of plain flour.
06:05And then half the amount in weight of butter.
06:09So, 250 grams.
06:11Get a nice pinch of salt.
06:13Then rub the flour into the butter.
06:16Almost into like little cornflake pieces.
06:20What I love about these get-ahead recipes is this idea that we can build up an arsenal of deliciousness in our fridge and freezers
06:30to make Christmas Day the easiest one ever.
06:34Now, the exciting thing about making your own pastry is you can flavour it.
06:39And I want to use walnuts.
06:41I've just got 50 grams here.
06:43If you grate them, you create a walnut flour.
06:47And then I'm going to take one lovely egg.
06:52Give it a little whisk up.
06:56I'm not over-mixing it or kneading it because I want it to remain short.
07:01Short means crumbly, like that.
07:03And you might need just a little splash of water.
07:09Just kind of almost hug it together.
07:13And cut this in half.
07:16And press it out into two, sort of, two centimetre discs.
07:20They'll defrost much, much quicker.
07:22Grab some greaseproof paper.
07:28So wrap it up for Christmas.
07:30Literally for Christmas.
07:31So there you go, homemade pastry, ready and raring to go.
07:36And this can simply go in the freezer until you need it.
07:42So this has been cooking for an hour and a half.
07:52Just carefully take the lid off.
07:55It'll be steamy, so watch out.
07:58Oh, goodness gracious.
08:02Let this cool down.
08:03I'll put the tinfoil back on top.
08:05We can put it in the freezer.
08:06One week, two weeks, even months.
08:08Okay?
08:09No compromise.
08:10Then, when you want it, the day before, we take it out of the freezer.
08:14Okay?
08:14And we can turn it out.
08:16Now, if you want it as a gratin, you simply take that frozen gratin back into this dish.
08:21Bit of cheese on top.
08:22And then the next day, into the oven.
08:24180, 40 minutes.
08:26Golden, blipping, perfection.
08:28Fantastic.
08:28Or, we can use it for the most amazingly insane vegetarian pie.
08:35So if we've made this and frozen it a few weeks before Christmas,
08:39I'm going to show you what to do on Christmas Eve
08:42to turn this delicious side dish into a show-stopping centerpiece.
08:48Whenever you want to use it, just get it out the day before and put it in the fridge.
08:52So, I want to get our pastry.
08:54I did it into two pieces, remember?
08:56Once that's defrosted, take the greaseproof paper, like that.
09:01We put the pastry on top.
09:02Some more greaseproof paper.
09:04So the double greaseproof paper method guarantees you have no cracking or breaking.
09:11That is what we like at Christmas.
09:15So this is looking really good.
09:19Cut it into a little circle like that.
09:22Put a little bit of flour on there.
09:23Now, go over with our gratin.
09:29Take this greaseproof off.
09:31I want about an inch around the outside.
09:35This is the base.
09:37Very flipping, exciting.
09:40Then we'll go back to our pastry.
09:41And I'll do exactly the same.
09:45But this time, of course, we've got to go over the top and down the sides.
09:49So we need it to be slightly bigger.
09:51So a little flour here.
09:54Rolling pin.
09:56And then I'm going to get that pastry and roll it up over the rolling pin.
10:01Super simple, right?
10:02Put the pastry to one side.
10:04I'm going to get myself two eggs, two bowls, egg whites into one.
10:11What we can do is use the yolks for the outside to create the most incredible golden egg wash
10:19that will make it look so, so special.
10:22Then here with the whites, I can use to really stick the pastry to the pastry.
10:30So we don't waste anything.
10:33Then we simply take the pastry and we just casually roll it over like that.
10:40Then we press it on the top.
10:42Gently.
10:44And down onto the pastry.
10:46It's really easy.
10:49Then we'll trim it off.
10:50It's roughly an inch away from the pie.
10:56And then let me show you how we can do the edges here.
11:00I'm going to take my thumb and forefinger and use my finger to push it in between.
11:05And then we go to the next one.
11:06So we're sealing it and we're giving it a nice Christmassy flourish.
11:13Use the egg yolks on the top like that.
11:19And give it a nice little coat.
11:21What you can do is take a little knife, get down on your knees.
11:26Just go from the centre and using just the weight of the knife, don't push it down at all.
11:32Just score it down in a little curve.
11:35Because as that cooks, that little score is going to just open up and part slightly.
11:43Just get your knife in now in a little crisscross.
11:46That lets the steam out.
11:48And look at that.
11:49That is a beautiful pie.
11:50That is a centrepiece.
11:51And what I do now is just get it carefully onto a tray.
11:56So in theory, if you're doing the whole get ahead thing, we would put that in the fridge nice and safe.
12:01You could do it Christmas Eve or even the day before that.
12:03But I want to cook it for you now so you know what you're going to get.
12:06Simply put it at the bottom of the oven so you get a nice crispy bum.
12:09And we cook it for one hour at 180 degrees Celsius, which is 350 Fahrenheit.
12:13Come on, look.
12:24At that.
12:25I love the scores.
12:27I love the cracks where the juices are just spilling out.
12:31Let's get a nice little slice
12:36That he's like opening up a beautiful little edible Christmas present perfectly cooked pastry
12:45Let's have a try
12:54We're going to pop
12:59I mean
13:00Double Cobb
13:02We're a flouncing of fennel
13:04And beautiful, oozy, creamy, cheesy
13:07Gorgeousness, the nutmeg here is just phenomenal
13:11That is so, so delicious
13:13That in the middle of the table with all the Christmas trimmings
13:16It's going to be amazing
13:17Two recipes in one
13:19Give yourself options
13:21Happy Bloomin' Christmas
13:23Behind every great roast dinner is an incredible gravy
13:36Behind every great roast dinner is an incredible gravy and I want to show you a fantastic get-ahead gravy
13:51That is not only going to please the meat-eaters but the veggies and the vegans and the gluten-free
13:56Yes, I've got you covered
13:59This Christmas gravy is an absolute game-changer with a dried mushroom and herb stock, blackberry jam and festive port
14:08It's rich, comforting and really is good for everyone
14:12Perfect to get all wrapped up well ahead of Christmas
14:15Now for meat-eaters like having gravy made out of stock and bones and all the kind of meat drippings and stuff like that
14:22That is easy big flavour achieved
14:25But if we wind back to veggie and vegan world you need a few bits of technique and ingredients to make it utterly undeniably delicious
14:33And I've written this recipe so we can actually look after everyone
14:36We're starting with two onions
14:38Just roughly chop those
14:40Nice big pan on a medium heat
14:43In here we go with some olive oil
14:46We're going to go in with our onions
14:48And we'll start to fry these off
14:51Then I've got some lovely carrots here
14:53So the carrots have had a nice little wash
14:55Don't peel them
14:56There's a lot of flavour in the skin
14:58And we'll simply just split these in half
15:00And then roughly chop these as well
15:03So onions in
15:08Carrots in
15:09Now instead of just kind of putting liquid on there and boiling straight away
15:12What I want to do is invest time into
15:15Concentrating and caramelising all the natural sugars in the onion and the carrots
15:20That's going to give us colour
15:21We want gravy to be dark
15:23And it's going to give us massive flavour
15:25Season a little bit with salt and pepper
15:28Now celery is fantastic
15:32It's fragrant
15:33And we're just going to roughly chop that up
15:35And as that fries away
15:37I want to start thinking about a nice beautiful stock
15:41I'm going to use dried mushrooms
15:43Now look at these
15:44Dried mushrooms are amazing
15:46You can get them from the supermarkets
15:48And when you dry mushrooms
15:51It's really hearty flavours that you're going to get from this
15:54And just a small amount will make all the difference
15:57Put in here like a litre, litre and a half of boiling water
16:02We're going to rehydrate the mushrooms
16:05And they'll start giving off incredible colour
16:08So what else can we do?
16:10Things like rosemary
16:11You can put that also into this lovely homemade stock
16:16We're going to go in with some bay leaves
16:19And some lovely thyme as well
16:21It's all flavour
16:22I'll add now your typical veggie stock cube into here
16:26Now there's all kinds of different yeast extracts that you can get
16:30This is a fantastic way to give your veggie vegan gravy more colour
16:34More depth of flavour
16:35And a nice base of seasoning
16:37So let that infuse
16:39Now let's have a little look at the pan
16:41It's getting dark now
16:42Don't be afraid of that
16:43Add fresh herbs to this as well
16:46So some rosemary goes in
16:48Bay leaf
16:50We take a little bit of thyme
16:52Now I'm going to use a couple of nice teaspoons of blackcurrant or blackberry jam
16:58This sweetness balances your beautiful gravy
17:01So I'm going to stir that in with a nice lug of port
17:05The jam and the port makes this an amazing Christmas gravy
17:11And then a little tomato puree
17:14So a couple of tablespoons
17:16And then two tablespoons of gluten free flour
17:21And of course if no one coming to your party is gluten free
17:26Just use regular plain flour
17:28And then just a couple of tablespoons of vinegar will transform this
17:32Like you have to trust me
17:34We want your taste buds to be firing on all cylinders
17:38Like base, mid and treble
17:40Surround sound flavours
17:42Now this goes in
17:44Let it sizzle up
17:45It's all good
17:46So bring that to the boil
17:48And let that simmer for about 10 minutes
17:59It smells incredible
18:01Pull out the herbs
18:03Like the rosemary
18:05They have done their job
18:06So we can get rid of those
18:08And ladle this
18:10Into this liquidiser
18:12The colour looks phenomenal
18:14We're going to put this on top like that
18:18We don't want any mishaps
18:19And we'll start on the lowest setting
18:21Super, super low
18:22Slowly, slowly
18:23Then we can increase that speed
18:29So that's it
18:31I'll push this through the core sieve
18:39Just look at that blipping away
18:41Beautiful
18:42Right, let's have a little try
18:43This is your opportunity to check the seasoning
18:47Big
18:51Bold
18:52Delicious
18:53Elegant
18:54That
18:55Is an epic gravy
18:56That is probably
18:57In my opinion
18:58One of the best veggie vegan gravies I've ever had
19:00Right
19:01And I like that consistency
19:02The colour's amazing
19:03We have now got epic gravy
19:06Done
19:07Right, weeks before Christmas
19:08The stress has gone
19:09We're never going to run out
19:10But also
19:11On Christmas day
19:12When you're resting the turkey
19:13Right, we just take that fat off the tray
19:15With all the sticky bits in the bottom
19:17And we put that in there
19:18Simmer it away
19:19And you're going to get the best turkey gravy as well
19:21This is a win-win scenario
19:22So
19:23You can put it in Tupperware
19:24You can put it in these little bags
19:26But it's just a brilliant thing that gives you choices
19:28And that's going to free up time
19:30And hopefully make this the best Christmas ever
19:33If you can make a really good stuffing at Christmas
19:45People seem to go wild for it
19:47And I've got an amazing recipe that you can do well ahead of the game
19:50Which means you can devote more time to flavours and textures
19:53We can make it up
19:54Get it in the freezer
19:55And then before Christmas day we can defrost it
19:57This is going to be good
19:59My festive get-ahead stuffing is brilliantly veggie
20:02Packed with scrumptious squash, herbs, spices, fruit and nuts
20:06Prep and freeze in advance
20:08As the perfect little present to yourself this Christmas
20:11So there's many, many ways you can do a stuffing
20:14And obviously the history of stuffing was all about stretching the meat further
20:19But we're going to make this vegetarian
20:21I want to introduce a few new flavours that I think are really Christmassy and really delicious
20:25So at the base of this is a button-up squash
20:28So get the tip of the knife
20:30Put it in nice and safely here
20:32And then just bring it down like that
20:34Then pick it up
20:35Move it around
20:36The tip is still in
20:37We're going to go down
20:39It's nice and easy okay
20:41Remove the seeds
20:43You don't have to remove the peel
20:45Because it's really delicate
20:47Really thin and sweet and nutty
20:49Go down the length of the squash again nice and carefully
20:52Some nice red onions
20:55And then cut them into quarters
20:58Add a little bit of sea salt
21:01We want some pepper
21:03And also best friends with squash by the way
21:06Is ground coriander
21:08So a teaspoon
21:10And a nice little pinch of cinnamon in there as well
21:13And then a classic spice
21:16That's often underloved
21:19Nutmeg
21:24Half a nutmeg goes in
21:26And then just a little olive oil
21:28So get your hands in there
21:30Toss it all up
21:32So this goes in the oven
21:33For about 40 minutes
21:34At 190 degrees Celsius
21:36Which is 350 Fahrenheit
21:38And this will be the base of the best stuffing ever
21:48So the squash is nearly done
21:49And I've got some lovely sage here
21:51And I want to show you a little tip
21:52That will transform this herb
21:54Into something very special
21:55Just a little olive oil
21:56And just massage it
21:58And then if I sprinkle this over the squash
22:00Just for 5-10 minutes in the oven
22:02They will go crispy crisp
22:04So if you have a little look at this
22:07You can see it's already shrunk
22:10And that shrinking is concentration of flavour
22:12Then sprinkle this over the top
22:14And putting that back in the oven now
22:16For 5-10 minutes
22:17These will go really crisp
22:24So a typical stuffing would often have
22:26Nearly always
22:27Bread
22:28Breadcrumbs
22:29500 grams I've got there
22:31Remove
22:32The crust
22:33First
22:34And traditionally
22:35You would always make stuffing
22:37With stale bread
22:38So what I'm going to do
22:39Is rehydrate it
22:40With milk
22:43And we're just going to pour
22:44Some milk in
22:45Let's say a couple of hundred mils
22:47And it will just soften it up
22:49Squeeze it out
22:51So this excess milk here
22:54We can just lose that
22:55So look you can see
22:57Now this is light
22:58And spongy
22:59Let me just touch my hands
23:00Now currently this stuffing is vegetarian
23:02If I swap the milk for water
23:03Which is still very traditional
23:04It will be vegan
23:05And if you wanted to
23:06You could take a little batch
23:07Of this beautiful stuffing
23:08And mix it with some sausage meat
23:09And have a meat version as well
23:10They're all incredible
23:11So look
23:12Oh the colours and the smells
23:25And you can see how crisp this has gone
23:29Unbelievable
23:30Amazing flavour
23:31So now what we can do
23:33Is bejewel this beautiful stuffing
23:36I've got some cranberries
23:37A nice little handful
23:38Sweet and sour
23:39Secondly
23:40Like a little handful
23:41Of pistachios
23:42And just cut through some of these
23:43I'm going to use some of these vat packed chestnuts
23:46That is the flavour of Christmas
23:47Come on
23:48So we can leave some whole
23:49Some halved like that
23:50And then we can just cut through some of these
23:51I'm going to use some of these vat packed chestnuts
23:53I'm going to use some of these vat packed chestnuts
23:58That is the flavour of Christmas
24:02Come on
24:03So we can leave some whole
24:04Some halved like that
24:06And then some we can literally break up
24:08Like a little powder
24:09And sprinkle that on top
24:12Now in with the bread
24:14I use the back of the spoon to kind of squash it
24:18So this is done now
24:21Right
24:22You can put it in the fridge for like two or three days
24:24Easy peasy
24:25Or get it in the freezer like weeks before
24:26If you want to be super in advance
24:28It's a great job
24:29Done and dusted
24:30So what I would do if it was frozen
24:32Is just take it out on Christmas Eve
24:33Let it defrost
24:34And then once that's defrosted
24:36I like to do two things with the stuffing
24:38The first thing is I take a third
24:40And I'll stuff that into the turkey
24:42And that way it'll absorb all the cooking juices
24:44It'll be soft and gorgeous
24:46But then I take the other two thirds
24:48And I love to put it into a bowl
24:50Or a tin
24:51And then that way we can roast it in here
24:54And get crispy edges
24:55A completely different experience
24:56And I promise you people will be screaming
24:58About your stuffing
24:59So
25:00This is non-stick
25:02So I just like to double make sure it's non-stick
25:04By rubbing it with some olive oil
25:06Then I'm going to take two thirds of this lovely mix
25:09And pop it in here
25:11Think of it almost like
25:13Just like the most delicious Christmasy edible sand castle
25:19This goes into the oven at 180 degrees Celsius
25:21Which is 350 Fahrenheit for about an hour
25:24Until golden, crisp and delicious
25:26Look at that
25:37Come on
25:38So simply get your mould
25:40And then hope
25:41For a turnout that works
25:45I'm feeling good about it
25:47Look at the sage as well
25:50Look at the sage as well
25:51That
25:52Is exactly
25:53What I wanted
25:54Get in there
25:55Look at that
25:56Crispy on the outside
25:57Soft in the middle
25:58And
26:05Obviously I've just cooked this to show you
26:07But I have to taste as well
26:09To give you my professional opinion
26:15It's really soft and light
26:17On the inside
26:18On the outside
26:20It's crunchy
26:22And those little kind of bejeweling
26:24Of lovely cranberries
26:25And the lovely pistachios
26:27And the chestnuts
26:28It's absolutely blooming delicious
26:30That's another really important job
26:31Done and dusted
26:33So it's going to make your Christmas
26:34A little bit easier
26:35This year
26:36Love it
26:57Flavoured butters
26:58I think
26:59Are an amazing principle
27:00That will serve you and your family
27:01Really really well
27:02And especially at Christmas
27:04This is like a little bank
27:06A little library of flavours
27:07In the form of butter
27:08That can go into so many dishes
27:10Leftovers
27:11Christmas Day
27:12Boxing Day
27:13And beyond
27:14My flavoured butters
27:16My flavoured butters
27:17Are the easiest way
27:18To get ahead
27:19With big flavour
27:20This Christmas
27:21I'm making one
27:22With fresh parsley
27:23Watercress
27:24And hot horse reddish
27:25To go with a gorgeous
27:26Platter of greens
27:27And a mouth tingling
27:29Prosecco
27:30Orange and cumin
27:31Butter
27:32That's perfect
27:33With carrots
27:34Super simple
27:35And done in advance
27:36To add big flavour
27:37To veggies
27:38On Christmas Day
27:39So
27:40In here
27:41Pestle and mortar
27:42Get some lovely parsley
27:44Storks and all
27:45I've also got some watercress
27:47It's nice and mustardy
27:48And beautiful
27:49So
27:50Just pound it up
27:51A little seasoning
27:52Of salt
27:53Helps create a little bit of abrasion
27:56Just give it a bash
27:57For 20 seconds
27:58Hardcore
28:01And look at it
28:02It's green
28:03Rustic
28:04Now
28:05This is a fresh horse relish
28:06You just give it a little peel
28:08And then you can grate it
28:09And of course
28:10It's hot and spicy
28:11You can buy the jarred stuff
28:13Creamed or not
28:14It doesn't matter
28:15So
28:16We've got parsley
28:17Watercress
28:18And horseradish
28:19Nice
28:20And then something that works
28:21Really really well
28:22With this
28:23Is lemon
28:24We'll use the zest
28:25Because it's our best friend
28:26And the juice
28:28So
28:29Make up your own combos
28:30Look
28:31There's no real right or wrong
28:32And
28:33Little bit of lemon juice
28:34Goes in here
28:35Salt and pepper
28:37Pepper
28:38To season it
28:39And then we'll go in
28:40With a pack of butter
28:41Now if you think about
28:44Having three or four
28:45Of these in your freezer
28:46At Christmas time
28:47Then you can dedicate
28:48One combo
28:49To Brussels sprouts
28:50And then one combo
28:52To some lovely carrots
28:54And for me
28:55When you look at the Christmas table
28:56When each thing
28:57Has got its own single mindedness
28:59And unique flavour profile
29:01That
29:02Is when you've got a feast
29:03Of all feasts
29:04Now I want to show you
29:06How to store
29:07This flavoured butter
29:08Let me just wash my hands
29:10Cut
29:11Two sheets of greaseproof
29:13Into quarters
29:14Like this
29:15Get
29:17This butter
29:19Divided
29:20Into four
29:21Put this on top
29:22Like that
29:23And press it down
29:25Because it's nice and thin
29:26When it's frozen
29:27It's going to be a nice little envelope
29:29And I can just put it over
29:30A plate of something
29:31And it just goes
29:32And melts
29:33Straight away
29:34And each one of these
29:35Little envelopes
29:36Is like a little love letter
29:38To a piece of fish
29:39Or a little bit of greens
29:41And that's the way I look at it
29:42So
29:43In the freezer we go
29:44Let me show you
29:45Because I've got
29:46One that I made earlier
29:47If I just peel this off
29:49What we have
29:50Is a lovely little disc
29:52And they melt
29:53Really really quickly
29:54Right
29:55Classic combo
29:56We're going to go
29:57Orange
29:58And cumin
29:59And that
30:00With veggies
30:01Particularly carrots
30:02Is absolutely amazing
30:04So in a pestle and mortar again
30:05I'll go in with some salt
30:07Some pepper
30:08Some thyme
30:09You could use any woody herb
30:10But I think thyme
30:11And carrots
30:12Is really really nice
30:13So I'm just going to pick off
30:14The leaves
30:15Like that
30:16We'll get into a pan here
30:18Just like
30:19A couple of teaspoons
30:20Of cumin seeds
30:21And just toast it up
30:23By toasting it
30:24You'll just reawaken
30:26Those natural oils
30:27And the flavours
30:28And it'll just make
30:29A massive difference
30:34Couple of little bashes
30:37And we're done
30:38Back to our little zester
30:40Orange
30:41Cumin
30:42Thyme
30:43And garlic
30:44An amazing combination
30:45So again
30:46Using that pestle and mortar
30:48Or it could be a food processor
30:50Or a lot of chopping and scrunching
30:52So I'm going to go in now
30:53With two cloves of garlic
30:54And we've got the toasted cumin there
31:00Just kind of crack them
31:02Oh the smells
31:04And then in with the butter
31:06And then in with the butter
31:12Let me show you a different format
31:14To store this flavoured butter
31:18I just get a bit of grease proof
31:20Like that
31:21And get the butter in there like that
31:23And then roll it up
31:25Twist up the ends like a Christmas cracker
31:27Get it nice and tight
31:28And then if you put that in the freezer
31:30For like five minutes
31:31It'll firm up a bit
31:32Then you can slice it
31:33Into little pre-portioned discs
31:35And then later on
31:36Weeks, months later
31:37Take a little disc
31:38And put that on something delicious
31:40To make it extra, extra special
31:42Right, let's get this in the freezer
31:45So if you've got ahead
31:46And frozen your butters
31:47A few weeks before Christmas
31:49I'm going to show you
31:50Exactly what to do on Christmas Day
31:52To give your veggies
31:53A big hit of festive flavour
31:56I'm going to give you two recipes
31:58To celebrate these gorgeous butters
32:00This Christmas
32:01The first recipe I just love
32:03Because it's a little bit bonkers
32:05It's a little bit eccentric
32:06It's very Christmas
32:08So it's carrots in the bag
32:10Simply get a wide piece of tinfoil
32:12On the bottom I'll have two pieces
32:15Like that
32:17And then grab a little plate
32:20Press the tinfoil down
32:22Into the shape of the plate
32:23Then I've got some lovely carrots here
32:26Look at these
32:27These have been washed
32:29Cut them
32:30Into little angled pieces
32:32Like this
32:33Cooking in the bag
32:35Is primarily about steaming
32:37Right
32:38The moisture goes to the top of the bag
32:39And then evaporates down again
32:40And goes to the bottom
32:41And boils up again
32:42You're just kind of basting
32:43Whatever you're cooking in that bag
32:45With that flavour
32:46So it's clever
32:47Let's get
32:48Our beautiful butter
32:50Out of the freezer
32:51And a little bottle of something nice
32:53Because it's Christmas time
32:55So in this recipe
32:57You've got that incredible marriage
32:59And combination
33:00Of butter
33:01And then liquid
33:02Which is in the form
33:04Of some nice bubbles
33:05Right?
33:06Because it's Christmas time
33:07But it could be white wine
33:08It could even be red wine
33:09It could be cider
33:10It could be orange juice
33:11It could be water
33:12Merry Christmas
33:15So look
33:16Just put a little splodge
33:18Of the good stuff in there
33:20And
33:22I'll have a little splodge of
33:24Stuff in there as well
33:26If you want to put some herb in
33:28Time tips
33:29I'll take a bit of that
33:31So two pieces of tinfoil in the bottom
33:33Just to keep it nice and solid
33:34One piece on the top
33:36If you egg wash the side
33:38Of this little envelope
33:39When you seal it
33:40No steam will get out
33:42And all of that flavour
33:44And that liquid
33:45Will stay
33:46In that little foil envelope
33:48And then it will puff up
33:50Like something crazy
33:51Out of a cartoon
33:52So just put that
33:54Over the carrots like that
33:55Fold it up and pinch
33:57And you can see
33:58This is quite a robust thing now
33:59This can go in the fridge
34:00You can do it the day before Christmas
34:02Two days before Christmas
34:03And then on the big day
34:04You can do this on the hob
34:06Which is really convenient
34:07And as this starts puffing up
34:09A little bit
34:10And you'll hear the tinfoil
34:11Just going kink kink kink kink
34:13Then turn it down to medium
34:14Give it about 20 minutes
34:16And you'll have the most
34:17Delicious carrots ever
34:19Right
34:20Let me show you how to take
34:21Simple humble greens
34:22And make them spectacular
34:24At Christmas time
34:26Oven space and hob space
34:27Is at a premium
34:28So when you can't go out
34:29You go up
34:30So what we're going to do
34:32Is have boiling
34:33And steaming
34:34So brussels sprouts go in
34:36And then when it comes to your layers
34:38What I love about this
34:39Is you just get another little steamer insert
34:42And you can add another veg
34:43Right
34:44Like a cabbage leaf
34:45Just kind of have fun with it
34:46Whatever your family loves
34:47And then if you wanted to add some peas
34:50You absolutely can
34:51And then with five minutes to go
34:54Before you want to eat your Christmas dinner
34:56Kettle boiled
34:57Brussels
34:58Come up to the boil
34:59Then we'll go on
35:01With our steamer
35:02All very chill
35:03All very nice
35:04They'll literally only need like
35:06Four, five minutes max
35:08And then
35:09It's butter time
35:10So we can take our fantastic frozen get ahead butter
35:20And I'll lay that on the top here
35:23Lid back on top
35:25And that butter is just going to
35:27Over the peas
35:29Broccoli
35:30Charred
35:31Through the holes
35:32Onto the lovely cabbages
35:33And the last bits going through the holes
35:35And the last bits going through the holes
35:36Will go onto the brussels down the bottom
35:38Happy days
35:44So let's get a nice little platter
35:46We can lay out the
35:48Different veggies
35:49The lovely peas
35:53Cavalloneer and kale
35:54And then with the last empty steamer
35:57We can use that as a colander
35:59And if you need any liquid for your gravy
36:01You can use that
36:05And look at that
36:06A lovely little platter
36:08Of quickly cooked greens
36:09Let's have a little try
36:13Delicious
36:14Horseradish, watercress
36:15It's an amazing combination
36:18Let's do the carrots
36:19Come on
36:20Look at that
36:21It is brilliant
36:22Get our platter
36:24It's hot so use a pair of tongs
36:26Just to pick it up
36:27Imagine that going to the Christmas table
36:29The turkey platter
36:30The gravy seeming away
36:32You've got the veg
36:33But then at the table
36:34All confident
36:37And that
36:38Is the coolest thing ever
36:39I think this
36:40Is the quickest
36:41Easiest way
36:42To big flavour
36:43On Christmas day
36:44I've got a delicious festive dessert
36:59That is the perfect get ahead recipe
37:01This is my Christmas arctic roll
37:02The fantastic principal recipe for any time of the year
37:04But I want to show you how you can make it incredibly Christmassy
37:05My get ahead chocolate arctic roll is the perfect combination of festive flavours
37:08And the best bit, it can all be done well in advance
37:11With a clementine flavoured no-churn ice cream and cranberries wrapped in a decadent chocolate sponge, this is the ultimate treat to add a bit of sparkle to your Christmas table.
37:26It is so, so simple.
37:27First up, let's choose the flavour, clementines, the flavour of Christmas.
37:41Remove just the beautiful orange zest. This is full of flavour. So, get a pan on the heat. By squeezing this juice into the pan, right, we'll reduce it down and it will give this beautiful ice cream the most amazing flavour. I'm going to use five nice juicy clementines. Now in the bowl here, we're going to go in with 600 millilitres of double cream.
38:11And start to whisk it up. Get the air into it. You want it to be soft peaks, which is thickened and definitely not thick. Don't over whisk it.
38:22So that is how I want it. Nice and soft, nice and delicate. So, into here, I'm going to get a tin of condensed milk. This is normally about 400 grams.
38:32So think of this almost like your basic vanilla ice cream. We've got the syrup here. You can see the juice.
38:39You can see the juice has gone down by a quarter. If you want to cool it down quickly, literally just get the pan and I just hold it into a little bowl of cold water.
38:49This is Christmas intensified. Then we back it up with the zest and then we just fold it through.
38:58And put it into a little tray like this. Flatten it out a little bit. That tiny little bit of zest leftover. Beautiful. And you can do this a week, two weeks, three weeks in advance.
39:13But I want to show you how you can turn this into an epic classic Christmas dessert.
39:19Whack that in the freezer for three or four hours and then it will be ready and raring to go.
39:23Right, let me show you how to make the simplest chocolate sponge. Get yourself three lovely large organic eggs into our mixer.
39:35And in with 100 grams of golden caster sugar.
39:49I think that is looking pretty good. So the way to tell if it's ready is you can see that it's like almost tripled in volume.
39:59Then I'm going to take 75 grams of plain flour, put it through a sieve and I'm going to flavour it with cocoa powder.
40:0925 grams. Pretty much a heaped tablespoon. And then we're just going to fold it through.
40:16So what I've got here is a typical baking tray. This is 38 centimetres by 25. I've rubbed it with butter, bit of greaseproof paper.
40:28And then in we go with our lovely chocolate sponge. Get it to those corners.
40:35So this goes in the oven for just 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, which is 350 Fahrenheit. Nice and gently.
40:52The sponge has had just under 10 minutes. I've got a damp clean cloth here, which I'll lay out.
40:59And then I'll get some greaseproof paper.
41:04And then I want a little bit of golden caster sugar just to sprinkle on top.
41:08This just gives the sponge a little finish. Super old school. Love it.
41:12OK. Let's get our sponge.
41:15And I'm just going to turn it out super confident. One, two, three.
41:20And then while it's warm, just start getting that bit of greaseproof paper.
41:28It's very satisfying.
41:31What I'm going to do is fold over the greaseproof paper and start to loosely fold it up.
41:38By rolling this up while the sponge is still warm, it's flexible.
41:43If I let that flat sponge cool down and then I went to roll it up, it would most likely crack multiple times, which isn't as cool.
41:50So let that cool down. Let the ice cream freeze.
41:53And when that's ready to go, then I'll show you how to put this all together.
41:56The ice cream has just frozen beautifully.
42:11And then whenever I want to use it, I just place it in the fridge for like 15, 20 minutes.
42:17And it's scoopable pretty quick.
42:19Here is the sponge part, which has cooled down.
42:22And I'll just unfold this.
42:26I'm going to take this beautiful cranberry sauce and I'll give it a nice thick layer.
42:35Then I've got some chocolate orange here.
42:37Take a little wadge and then break it up over the top like that.
42:42But do whatever chocolate you like.
42:45Right, push this to one side.
42:47Then we've got our beautiful no churn ice cream.
42:50So this is a fun bit.
42:51I'm going to take a bit of the greaseproof paper.
42:55And I'm going to take this ice cream.
43:01Then I'm going to grab the greaseproof.
43:04Don't worry about it getting messy.
43:06Roll it up and use your hands just to push it into a kind of cigar shape.
43:11Squeeze the sides and we can just roll that like that.
43:14Don't worry about the mess.
43:15Get your sponge.
43:17And then basically we can unravel it.
43:20Just put it on like that.
43:22Then we roll it up as tight as possible.
43:27Then get yourself some foil.
43:30Roll it up and really put pressure on it as you do it.
43:33Then you can go to the outside like a Christmas cracker and squeeze it and roll it up.
43:40And then you get that fantastic shape.
43:42Right.
43:43So that now goes in the freezer.
43:44You can do this a week before, two weeks before.
43:46It is the most brilliant get-ahead dessert.
43:49Whack it in there and then you're ready and rocking.
43:53So if we've made this and frozen it a few weeks before Christmas,
43:57I'm going to show you exactly what to do on Christmas Day to serve up this deliciously decadent get-ahead dessert.
44:05So once it's frozen up, it's really robust.
44:08And when you're ready and raring to go, I'm going to wrap it like a Christmas present.
44:12Actually, this is a nice Christmas present.
44:16Now, I quite like the idea of giving it a dusting of cocoa powder.
44:22Right, just to give it that nice finish.
44:25After like a couple of minutes out of the freezer and you can slice through.
44:32Hallelujah, hallelujah.
44:35It's just beautiful.
44:37Go for another one.
44:40Look at it.
44:42Guys.
44:43Retro.
44:45Arctic roll.
44:50Merry Christmas.
44:52Honestly, Santa's going to be so proud of you.
44:56To start kind of like taking holly and all that kind of melarchs.
45:00Come on, let's make it look nice.
45:02I want something for the top.
45:03Take a little bar of chocolate.
45:06Right, and we're just going to slowly but surely drag this towards you.
45:10And that's what you get.
45:15Put it on the top.
45:16Let me show you on the white chocolate.
45:21Let's get Rudolph in on the act.
45:23You can take little sparklers.
45:28Come on.
45:29Merry Christmas.
45:31And if I just try a little bit here.
45:33Oh, come on.
45:34The sourness of the cranberry with that beautiful clementine ice cream is a thing of joy and wrapped in that chocolate sponge is just so good.
45:53That is what it's all about.
45:56This really could be the best Christmas ever.
46:00Next time I'll show you how we can get ahead in the days before Christmas with a stunning starter.
46:06The most incredible way to cook turkey.
46:09And a batter for an epic Yorkshire pudding.
46:13All done and dusted ahead of time.
46:16Merry Christmas everyone.
46:17That's being served up next Monday night at eight or right now if you just can't wait and have a few quid in your pocket stream the whole series on channel four plus go on call it an early Christmas present to yourself.
46:34Next tonight minute by minute a brand new troubling case comes under investigation in 24 hours in police custody.
46:41Into the information Rel realms.
46:55We sorry the tijd alluminates will be a valuable resource.
46:57You know all about the shortcomings of Rochester Doesn't know that at least you should never die.
47:01And this evening, the Pandemic Inter Ronaldo and the Yorker Mon эту chit no one can show you what you want to know.
47:05And they're happy to see us getting to each other's house.
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