Meat eaters may be best advised to phone an order in to avoid disappointment, particularly if fancying duck or goose. We suggest a crown of turkey (boned & rolled) for ease of cooking – sourced from 1 of the butchers above, it’ll still eat like a dream.
We like chipolatas and bacon rolls with turkey; along with bread sauce (made from a packet is fine) and cranberry sauce or similar. On occasions we revert to a really old-school Christmas menu of roast rib of beef and batter (Yorkshire) pudding.
Our favourite festive vegetarian dish is a pastry parcel surrounding a block of cheese with a cranberry sauce layer; with an egg wash sprinkled with seeds. Serve with all the winter veg (or as an everyone Boxing Day meal). Super simple.
Don’t forget the roasting potatoes (we add sweet potatoes), parsnips, brussel sprouts and frozen petit pois.
It seems crazy, but we’ve developed a Christmas Eve roast gammon habit – as a warm up! This gives us cold ham to compliment other leftovers to carry us through Twixmas. Roast squash and peppers, red cabbage and cauliflower cheese all goes well with hot ham (plus a smear of mustard).
Don’t be mean with the roast veg – the leftovers swirl up into a delicious soup.
As for the Christmas pudding: pop it in the microwave to dodge hours of steaming. Clotted cream is an essential accompaniment in Cornwall (replacing the brandy butter)
The finishing touches to us are satsumas, nuts, dates, cheese and biscuits, and pickled onions/beetroot. And Christmas crackers – for the jokes, the hats and the trinkets. It comes but once a year after all.
