Christmas made easy

Planning ahead makes our Christmas extra special - capturing memories.

As a family, we cherish the holidays, especially Christmas, and we always want to make our Christmas dinner special. To achieve this, we take the time to source our ingredients from local farms, ensuring that we use the freshest and highest-quality products. We also make a conscious effort to use organic vegetables as much as possible, as we believe it is better for our health, the environment, and the local economy.

My parents love turkey and we love goose, so I cook both on Christmas day so that we can share both birds. This year, we are particularly excited because we have discovered a local turkey farm called Brunsell Farm, which is based in Dorset. 

We have also placed our order for a fresh goose with M J Coleman & Son, a reputable and well-established farm located at Hewish Farm near Milton Abbas. 

We are eagerly awaiting our annual trip to their farm gates to collect them ourselves. Over the years we have experienced all weathers including deep snow, but the memories we make every year on the journey are amazing.

We take great pride in supporting our local farming community and are always excited to sample the delicious, high-quality produce that they offer. By sourcing our food directly from the farm, we can ensure that it is fresh, ethically raised, and of the highest possible quality.

Vegetables

There is definitely a difference in the taste of organic vegetables and therefore I've ordered from both Riverford and Abel & Cole this year. There will be no stress as I have all the vegetables I need arriving at my home. You can book your Christmas order now, use the codes below to get a discount off your first box, a perfect opportunity to get organic vegetables for your Christmas meal at a discount. I don't have to fight at the supermarket or risk the empty shelves in the days before.

Riverford

You can use a discount of £15 to really get started with Riverford - trying an iconic veg box, a recipe box for a dine-in treat, or ordering whatever they fancy. For each friend referred, we'll also add to our fund for harvesting and donating gluts of veg to FareShare South West, who fight hunger by redistributing surplus food. Help us feed those in need, and help friends live life on the veg! join Riverford

Friends get 50% off their first two fruit and veg boxes.

Join Abel & Cole

I've also started to stock up on store cupboard items such as vacuum packed chestnuts for my 
Chestnut Stuffing - I've already bought fresh cranberries so that I can make my Cranberry and Orange Sauce and will also make preserves ready as presents.

We can't wait to see how our Christmas dinner turns out this year!

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Christmas Wishes

Our preparations are underway, I'm getting ahead and pre-prepping everything that I can in the kitchen, then tomorrow I simply need to do the final cooking. We've collected the goose from Michael Coleman at Hewish Farm, the turkey from Danestream, and our organic vegetables, fruit, sausages and bacon have been delivered by Riverford.

This year's menu

Starter

Gravadlax with dill and mustard sauce, garnished with mixed salad leaves

Main

Roast Goose with sage and apple sauce

Roast Turkey and chestnut stuffing

Sprouts with chestnuts and bacon lardons

Carrot batons

Braised red cabbage with apple

Pigs in blankets

Bread sauce, cranberry sauce, cumberland sauce

Roast parsnips

Roast potatoes

Gravy

Dessert

 (for anyone that actually has room)

Christmas pudding with custard

I'm going to use one oven and roast both a turkey and goose for our Christmas dinner, so timing is everything as they don't both fit at the same time.

I'm intrigued that Raymond Blanc roasts his turkey in a very different way and in 1hr 30 minutes, I've spotted that he doesn't stuff the neck, so going to use his method this year and make stuffing balls to cook separately.

Michel Roux roasts a goose in 2hrs as he uses a ready cooked stuffing. I'm going to make my normal loose sage/onion/apple stuffing, that turns into a luscious apple sauce and goes perfectly with the richness of the goose.

The gravadlax is currently curing in the fridge, this was the first fillet before the curing mix was smothered over it.

It is so easy to make and tastes so much better when it's fresh.

A trick, once made, you can then freeze the other fillet for another time.

We find that one fillet gives enough slices for 5 of us as a starter. When slicing, you need to make the slices a little thicker than smoked salmon.

We love cranberry sauce with our Christmas Lunch, but also with cold meats and cheeses throughout the year.

I normally find some bargain cranberries in the shops and create jars of sauce to use or gift to friends.

Luckily cranberries also freeze really well, so the extra packet hubby came home with, have already gone in the freezer for another cooking session.

I've also created my special Cumberland sauce for my mum, due to being on warfarin, she's not allowed cranberries.

The red cabbage, is currently braising in a slow oven. This will be the first year I've served braised red cabbage, not sure whether my parents have ever eaten it, but it's lovely hot or cold and I know that my mum will adore the sweet and sour taste.

Now to prepare all the veg, parboiling the potatoes and popping them in their roasting tray with goose fat. Wrapping the pigs in blankets, making the stuffing balls, finishing the bread sauce. Then to prepare the carrots, sprouts and parsnips. Thank goodness we've just treated ourselves to a new fridge/freezer, it's like a tardis, just when you think it's full, you rejig the contents and there's more space.

Dinner tonight will be a lovely smoked ham glazed with some of my Cumberland sauce which I cooked this morning. It's a beechwood smoked, free range gammon from Waitrose. I boiled it for 2 hours then glazed in a hot over for 20 minutes. I'm really pleased with the result.

If I've been a good girl, I'm hoping I receive another cookery book from my hubby, every Christmas and Birthday he has given me a cookery book with an inscription inside.

I hope Santa brings you everything you wished for.

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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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