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