Our Christmas feast

We believe that it is important to make celebration meals key memories for the future and to be the best nature can provide, hopefully cooked to perfection.
Family traditions develop over the years. Over the years we have introduced a fresh free range Goose to our Christmas table, truly a seasonal meat, only available between Michaelmas and Christmas. Our supplier is now Michael Coleman at Hewish Farm near Milton Abbas. We've been buying our goose from Michael since 2006 and the trip to collect the goose is now the start of the excitement. Last year was the longest trip yet due to the snow, this year it was lovely and mild. We collect the goose on the 23rd of December having ordered it in November.
A couple of years ago at Christmas lunch my Dad said even though he liked the goose, he missed turkey, now here was the conundrum, do we swap to turkey? That would have caused a riot, so the alternative was, cook a turkey too. Last year I managed to pick up a turkey crown from Waitrose on Christmas eve at half-price, it was a Norfolk Bronze, and tasted great, but hubby and I vowed that we would try and source a local turkey this Christmas, perhaps Laura would actually eat some then, she has always loved goose and hasn't liked turkey in the past.
After plenty of research on the web, we decided that we'd order our turkey from Danestream Farm Shop near Bashley. After dropping the goose of at home, we drove to Bashley to collect the turkey, which was properly boxed, no plastic wrap in sight. The turkey was from a farm in Romsey, free range, a norfolk bronze. We also bought all the necessary additions, the chipolatas, streaky bacon, sausagement and a lovely smoked gammon to roast for Christmas Eve (hubby's traditional birthday meal). To top it off, all the butchers took your meat to your car for you, now that's what I call excellent service. We bought all our veg and fresh chestnuts too.
So Christmas Day arrived, hubby prepared the chestnuts for me (next year, these are going to be prepared Christmas Eve as they are really fiddly. I picked the fresh herbs from the garden and then made the chestnut stuffing. We aren't sure if Laura is wheat intolerant at the moment, so I used gluten free breadcrumbs in the stuffing. I used it to stuff the necks of both birds, perfect amount with no spare.
I always make my own Cranberry sauce and Cumberland sauce for Mum (for those on Wharfarin, who aren't allowed cranberries, this is a great alternative, the tang without the worry).

Menu

Gravadlax with Sweet Mustard and Dill sauce

Roast Turkey
Roast Goose
served with roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sprouts with chestnuts and bacon, carrots, pigs in blankets, cranberry and orange sauce, cumberland sauce, gravy

Christmas pudding

For the first time we also served sprouts with chestnuts and bacon pieces, I've always been a bit worried about whether Dad would like this, but decided to just go for it this year, a huge success, add that to our tradition.
Wow, the turkey was so moist, it was still oozing juices as Dad carved it, the goose was amazing and it was great having meat from both. AND Laura actually decided to try the turkey, and then had another slice as it was so delicious.
Traditions started this year, turkey from Danestream, sprouts with chestnuts.

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Cranberry and Orange Sauce

Ingredients

1 pack fresh cranberries
1 large orange
3 oz/75g caster sugar
3 tablespoons port

Method

Wash the cranberries, put in a pan with the zest of the orange and the juice, pop in the sugar. Put over a medium heat and cook until all the berries are burst, they pop as they cook. Taste and add more sugar if you prefer it sweeter. Remove from heat and add the port, stir well and pour into a serving dish. Serve either warm or cold.

Tip
If you can get hold of cranberries earlier or reduced, just pop the bags in the freezer and use from frozen in this recipe.

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Chestnut Stuffing

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 oz/100g chestnut mushrooms (optional)
1 pack sausagemeat
2 oz/50g breadcrumbs
1 packet/jar cooked chestnuts (fresh if you want to fiddle)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (remove leaves from sprigs)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
zest of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Method

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add onion and lightly season with salt, fry until soft. (If you season before you cook, the onions taste so much nicer). Add them to a separate bowl while you cook the mushrooms until soft, add the mushrooms to the bowl with the onions. Leave to cool while prepare the rest of the ingredients.
In a medium mixing bowl, put the sausagemeat, breadcrumbs, thyme, parsley, lemon zest (I do recommend a microplane grater, it produces the most amazing results). I chop the chestnuts into 4 pieces, I like some chunks in the stuffing rather than mush. Add in the onions and then season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and use to stuff the neck of the turkey/goose, you can also make stuffing balls with any left overs and pop them in with the pigs in blankets when roasted in the oven.

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