Christmas Day

Was a nice quiet one in many respects, but as usual I was in the kitchen juggling as usual.  Fortunately this time round never dropped a ball once apart from not taking a photo of the cooked Turkey.

I buy a lot of fresh veg.  I prefer fresh veg all round if I can. However that is not always possible.  One thing I do tend to do at Christmas is buy a stalk of Brussel Sprouts.  They keep marvellously fresh in this fashion as they are. They also provide a small "cabbage" at the top which can be steamed and served with a little butter.  One of the advantages of a fresh stalk of Brussels.  Also keeps the Brussel Sprouts fresher being on the stalk.  We love Brussel sprouts here and they soon get eaten. Leftovers are usually turned into Bubble and Squeak, which is why I always cook mashed potato with the Christmas dinner.

Equally, a lot of preparation takes place on Christmas Eve.  A lot of the veggies get prepared in particular, including the chopped veggies for the rich home made gravy which are then roasted in a little butter and oil until they have caramelised. This time I used courgette, pumpkin, onion, shallot, leek, carrot, potato, and swede.  

Mine then got thrown into my Soup maker/Steamer/Liquidiser with some chicken stock, seasonings and liquidised and then stored in the fridge until ready for making the gravy, at which point the meat juices, seasoning, extra flavourings, Redcurrant jelly etc are added and then whizzed up again.  They are then added to the meat pan to cook the gravy through and thicken it.

If I have too much fresh veg under normal circumstances, I freeze it usually myself. However, no freezer at the moment hopefully will be remedied soon so it is going to be a case of using up what I do have to hand in various recipes.

We had our Christmas dinner later in the day.  I wanted to watch the Return of Mary Poppins; I saw the bulk of it but a little bit I missed so I am hoping at some point to watch the full programme. I thoroughly enjoyed what I did see though.  We then got our meal for about 5pm.

Our meal yesterday consisted of the following:

A beautiful 16-18lb Turkey, barded with smoked streaky bacon.

Home made sausage meat, onion, sage, cranberry stuffing.

Two trays of pigs in blankets.

Home made fresh Cranberry and Orange sauce.

Home made Bread Sauce.

Brussel sprouts.

Roast potatoes.

Roast Parsnip.

Roasted Shallots.

Carrots.

Broccoli.

Peas.

Mashed potato.

Home made roasted veggie gravy.

The meal did not disappoint.  It was absolutely delicious.

I am so glad I went back to my favourite butcher for the Turkey i.e. Johnsons of Old Hurst. They in the past have provided the best Turkey we ever had and it has lived up to those expectations this year. The meat was tender and very tasty. 

We treated my step-daughter to a Turkey and she is now a convert. We had treated her to one last year which was from another local Butcher and it was really good and was her favourite.  (Although we did have a conversation yesterday on how to cook it properly).  She has since texted to say that this one is her best yet.  From our perspective our meal was very tasty and very filling. It is quickly being used up  as cold cuts which are an expected part of our Christmas celebrations. That is one of the reasons why I do so much preserving of pickles, chutneys etc. Today the Peach and Chilli Chutney and the Pickled onions were attacked.  Very delicious too.

I have plans over the next few days to make a Roasted Leek and Mushroom Quiche, yet again to go along with cold cuts.  I have cheese for cold cut platters as well as what I term my cooking cheese.

I also have plans to make a broccoli, cauliflower and blue cheese soup - this is something I am particularly fond of.  Soup is a meal in itself, and is a very good way of using up lots of bits and bobs and making something special out of them. Something for nothing.  Sometimes it is worth cooking extra veggies with a meal, and make use of them in this way.  Means that you get the most out of your ingredients and power used for cooking them in the first place.

I do hope that you have all had a lovely peaceful Christmas even if it may not have been the Christmas anticipated.  Sometimes just being in the moment and not having expectations create their own peace and quiet.  Simple but very rewarding.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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