Want to cook a Christmas dinner for your friends or housemates but not sure where to start? We've out together some easy to follow recipes for a complete Christmas feast! All of the ingredients are available from The Market.
Enjoy!
Camembert, apple and cranberry pies
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 apple (peeled and grated)
1 wheel of camembert
Cranberry sauce
Pack of short crust pastry
2 tablespoons of dry stuffing mix
1 raw grated potato
Seasoning (salt and pepper)
Flour for dusting
- Grease a muffin tray with oil and dust with flour
- Roll out the short crust pastry and line the muffin tray. Leave enough pastry to make the lids
- Place the grated apple, camembert (broken into pieces) into a bowl and mix
- Spoon the cheese and apple mixture into the pastry cases until half full
- Add a teaspoon of cranberry sauce to each pie and top up with the remaining cheese/apple mixture
- Top each pie with the remaining pastry, crimp the sides and put a hole in the centre of each lid
- Bake in a preheated oven 180 Celsius for 20 minutesuntil golden brown
- Do not try to remove the pies immediately from the trays. Allow them to rest for 5 mins before serving
Roasted cauliflower with cashew nuts
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 fresh whole cauliflower
Seasoning (salt, pepper and garlic)
Oil
- 100g cashew nuts (roasted or salted)
- Prepare the cauliflower and break into florets (remove green outer leaves). The leaves can be added to the gravy pot once washed
- Blanch in boiling salted water and refresh in cold water, set aside
- Cover with oil, garlic and seasoning and bake in a preheated oven 180 Celsius for 20 minutes
- When the cauliflower is golden brown add cashew nuts in the last 5 minutes of cooking and then serve
Honey roasted parsnips
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
8 parsnips
Honey (can be substituted with a syrup alternative)
Melted butter or vegan spread
Seasoning (salt and pepper)
Oil
- Prepare the parsnips by cutting the tops, bottoms and peeling them. Cut into batons
- Blanch in boiling salted water and refresh in cold water, set aside
- Cover with oil and seasoning and bake in a preheated oven 180 Celsius for 20 minutes
- Add honey and butter in the last 5 minutes of cooking
- Serve when golden brown and sticky
Hassel back potatoes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
2.5kg bag of potatoes
Seasoning (salt and pepper)
Oil
- You can leave the skin on the potatoes, or peel them
- Blanch in boiling salted water and refresh in cold water
- Cut into the potatoes to provide Hasselback slices (use chop sticks for an even cut)
- Cover with oil and seasoning and bake in a preheated oven 180 Celsius for 40 minutes before serving
Green bean and fakcon lardons
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
2 packs of green beans
Pack of fake bacon
Seasoning (salt and pepper)
- Prepare the green beans by cutting off the tips from both ends
- Blanch in boiling salted water and refresh in cold water, set aside
- Cut fake bacon into lardons and fry. Set pan and lardons to one side
- Place green beans into the pan with lardons and reheat and serve
Buttered carrot and sprouts
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Any vegetables can be used depending on your taste. If you have limited time, frozen can be used as a substitute.
1 bag of carrots
1 bag of sprouts
Seasoning (salt and pepper)
Knob of butter before serving
- Prepare the carrots by cutting off both ends and peeling, The washed skins can be added to the gravy pot for extra flavour
- Prepare the sprouts by cutting off the base, removing wilted external leaves and crossing the stalk
- Blanch in boiling salted water and refresh in cold water, set aside
- Plunge into boiling water to reheat
- Serve with a knob of butter (optional)
Cranberry gravy
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes
A few stalks of celery
2 onions
2 roughly chopped carrots
Stock – vegetable water from blanching vegetables
Cranberry sauce (can be served separately)
Gravy mix
Oil
- Prepare the carrots by cutting off both ends, peeling and roughly chopping them
- Prepare the onions by cutting off both ends, peeling off the first layer of skin and leave the rest and roughly chop
- Prepare celery by cutting off both ends and roughly chopping
- Fry off in a saucepan with a splash of oil. Get some colour onto the vegetables as this will colour the gravy
- Add cooking liquor from blanching vegetables
- Strain liquor from vegetables and add gravy mix to liquor, and thicken
- Add a spoon of cranberry (optional)
- Serve piping hot
Stuffing mix
- Roughly chop a handful of dried apricots and cover with just enough boiling water, so the apricots plump up. Cover and set aside
- Add the dried stuffing mix to a bowl with boiling water, allow to cool slightly
- While still warm, roll into balls and oven bake – to save on trays place the balls with the potatoes for the last 10 mins of cooking time
Handy tips
- There is prep that can be done ahead of time, so you and your guests have a great time
- Save the water you use to cook your vegetables for your gravy
- Use vegetable oil as a unflavoured medium
- Chopsticks will give even cut on the potatoes and prevent you cutting too low
- Tasks you can prepare in advance:
- Part boil the potatoes
- Make the stuffing
- Blanch: carrots, green beans, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and parsnips
- Make the pies and freeze them
Left over bubble and squeak on Boxing Day
Keep any leftover vegetables and potatoes for boxing day. Mix in a bowl and mash together. This can be made into patties by hand moulding them and frying or put the mix in a tray and oven bake.
Finish with a poached egg and grated cheese.
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