Okay, it’s that time of year, it’s Christmas
and that means it’s not only the best time of year, but very possible the most stressful
time of year. So I have put together a whole load of tips, cheats, hacks, shortcuts, that
can help you make this Christmas the best one ever. Cranberry sauce making your own is a joy. I always use frozen cranberries, in my book
I’ve got the most fantastic cranberry sauce recipe with maple syrup and cinnamon and it’s
gorgeous but many of you, yes many of you get jarred cranberry sauce and it’s good,
it’s really good but what I want to show you is how you can cheat and really pimp up this
cranberry sauce to be even better then ever before but unbelievably simple. So think about
some fruits that are in season, apples, pears, quinces, slice them up. Get rid of the core
and just lightly fry them in a little butter and a few bay leaves, a little cinnamon in
there and a tiny bit of sugar and you can start to caramelise those fruits. Those chunks
and those flavours will really really lift the flavour of any standard cranberry sauce.
In a matter of minutes you can take shop bought cranberry sauce that’s very convenient and
make it super super exciting. That my friends is a brilliant little tip. Pigs in blankets are loved by people so much but they can be way more exciting. The original
pigs in blankets is a really good chipolata wrapped in smoky bacon. What I want to do
is embellish it by putting some sage on. I love sage. And then the next one, black pudding.
Just break it out the skin and then you can remould it almost like the same shape as the
sausage, so so good. And last but not least, fantastic brie or camembar cheese. You know
that that’s gonna cook up really really good. Take a little thyme and I also like to take
just a little bit of walnut. Look at that combo. So there in a oiled tray, they can go in a fridge for two days, you can put them in a freezer, you can cook them from frozen
till golden and crisp, about 20 minutes at 190 degrees celsius, 375 farenheight and there
you go that is a beautiful pigs in blankets and there cousins and friends and if you want
more ideas have a look in the book there’s loads. Another great little tip is to make a get ahead gravy. There’s a lot of things going
on on Christmas day so what I do, is simply roast of a load of veggies and chicken wings,
add some port, some flour, some stock. Simmer it out. I’ve got a beautiful recipe I can
give you but then most importantly, weeks in advance you can bag up incredible gravy
and then with this, I freeze it flat and when you put it in a freezer flat like this, it
will become like a little booklet and you can put that efficiently into the freezer waiting
for the big day. Now when it is the big day, no matter what you’re roasting, whether it’s
a turkey, a joint of beef, pork or whatever. You take that meat off to rest and then you
skim the fat off your roasting tray and then you can add a little water and then crack
open your get a head gravy. There’s nothing better then to make gravy with another gravy.
Double gravy double pleasure, what are you waiting for? Make this Christmas gravy the
best one yet. Go for it. Let me give you a tip, a hack that absolutely
rocks the world of the best roast potato. We have very agreeable looking roast potatoes,
they’ve been par boiled, they’ve then been tossed in a little butter and olive oil. They’ve
been roasted and now they are golden. Get something flat, like a masher, accentuate
this roast potato by just lightly squashing it. Making more surface area for the crispiness
and we’re letting the kind of inside just puff out. Once you’ve done this you will never
ever ever look back. Put the sage on the top like this. They go back in the oven for 10
minutes and these herbs will become delicious. Then there’s one last tip – vinegar. Get down
the chemist, buy one of those empty little spritzers, basically put vinegar in there
and as the potatoes come out you give them a little spritz like that, and it immediately
evaporates, and puts a kind of tang on your roast potatoes like you can’t believe. Beautiful
what you waiting for? Get roasting and get squashing. Good luck, I hope you have the
best Christmas ever without too much stress, take care. Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULoqXuEB7zk
