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Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Badger's Mate » Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:08 am

Look after yourself Zosh.

Another thumbs up for Boerewors from here too.

Our Christmas plans have turned upside down, not entirely unexpectedly. This morning I shall go to the butcher and with the air of the Prime Minister, completely reverse the instructions I gave him last week. "yes we do now need the goose before Christmas, and no, we don't need all that ham.."

Fortunately I'd anticipated the possibilities and have got a contingency plan for the next few days, but we're now stuck with a cake and a pud we were going to take over to bandit country. Nothing will go to waste of course. :D

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Busybee » Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:35 pm

I have ordered a turkey, which even though I asked fir the smallest they had, I think will be too big.

I can either Cook it whole and put leftovers in the freezer but I’m thinking of asking the butcher to cut it in half, I’ll cook half on Christmas Day and put the other uncooked half in the freezer.

Which would you do?

BB

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:43 pm

Busybee wrote:I have ordered a turkey, which even though I asked fir the smallest they had, I think will be too big.

I can either Cook it whole and put leftovers in the freezer but I’m thinking of asking the butcher to cut it in half, I’ll cook half on Christmas Day and put the other uncooked half in the freezer.

Which would you do?

BB


If you've got a butcher who can cut it up for you, I think I'd do that. Either in half as you suggest, or possibly into a crown, legs and wings??

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Suffs » Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:46 pm

We prefer cold turkey and pickles etc to having it hot so we’d cook the whole bird, have lots of cold meat and salads stuff, and turkey soup of course. But you could ask your butcher to ‘crown’ it and then roast the crown on Christmas Day and freeze the legs etc for boning out, stuffing and roasting, or casseroling and currying later.

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Earthmaiden » Mon Dec 21, 2020 2:20 pm

I always have too much turkey even with a turkey crown and freeze it ready cooked to have cold or in various dishes over the year. I rather like the idea of asking the butcher to joint it so you have manageable raw bits though. There's masses of stock and/or bones to freeze too so you have to make sure you've enough freezer space!

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Busybee » Mon Dec 21, 2020 2:31 pm

Earthmaiden wrote:I always have too much turkey even with a turkey crown and freeze it ready cooked to have cold or in various dishes over the year. I rather like the idea of asking the butcher to joint it so you have manageable raw bits though. There's masses of stock and/or bones to freeze too so you have to make sure you've enough freezer space!



I certainly haven’t, but Mum has! I hadn’t thought about asking them to joint/crown it. Good call.

We love turkey, and like to have cold cuts etc but I’m imagining a huge amount this year.

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby halfateabag » Mon Dec 21, 2020 3:02 pm

Thanks peeps, my chin is elevated....

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Suffs » Mon Dec 21, 2020 3:12 pm


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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Dec 21, 2020 3:54 pm

Kacey wrote:Chickpea Roast

2 tins drained chickpeas
6oz Wholemeal Bread
4oz Chopped nuts - your choice
4oz Sliced mushrooms
1 chopped onion
2 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 small tin sweetcorn
Seasoning and spices - your choice
Handful of chopped herbs to match your spices
4 tbs stock - perhaps make 1 of them brandy?
Puff pastry

Whizz the chickpeas, bread and nuts in a processor
Saute the onion, garlic and mushrooms
Mix everything together to end up with a sausage meat consistency, wrap in the pastry and bake. Around gas mark 6 or the equivalent. for about 30 mins

Its a really easy recipe using store cupboard ingredients bit I can honestly say it's really, really good. Even better, if there's any left, it slice just as well on Boxing day to have with left overs.

I've roasted the chickpea mixture in a loaf tin without the pastry and that works well too.


Kacey, I think I'm going to go with this recipe, thanks again! DS is not keen on mushrooms so I might sub spinach and just mix it in with the nuts and sauteed veg. Do you think frozen spinach would work, and if so, chopped or leaf? (If there's any choice!)

Interesting it doesn't need an egg to bind it together, I guess the wholemeal bread does that.

When you do it in a loaf tin, would it be a 1lb or 2lb tin? And would you still give it about half an hour?

Thank you :)

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Gillthepainter » Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:26 pm

If I was doing turkey, I'd make the chickpea roast too, as a "stuffing side". It looks excellent.
Mushrooms sub? I'd used something similar, KeenC2. A firm tofu.


Suffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm speechless, they all look fantastic.

Busy, if I were in your position, I'd cook the turkey.
And manage it over the following days as required. The put any remainder into the freezer after you've had your last meal and sandwiches with it (turkey curry in our house).
We get a 6kilo bird for the 2 of us :shock:

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:41 pm

Gillthepainter wrote:If I was doing turkey, I'd make the chickpea roast too, as a "stuffing side". It looks excellent.
Mushrooms sub? I'd used something similar, KeenC2. A firm tofu.


If only, Gill! Mr Fussy wouldn't approve :roll:

Maybe butternut squash would work better, I'm just amending my Asda order for Wednesday. They don't do fresh BNS but I can get frozen.

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Gillthepainter » Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:54 pm

Tofu isn't for everyone.
I don't get it myself, as I think tofu is a fabulous ingredient. Mmmmm mmmmm.

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby karadekoolaid » Mon Dec 21, 2020 8:02 pm

Tofu isn't for everyone.
I don't get it myself, as I think tofu is a fabulous ingredient. Mmmmm mmmmm.


Tofu, ricotta cheese and polenta are on my list of " what´s all the fuss about - tasteless!" ingredients.
HOWEVER - it´s not what they taste like on their own, IMO, it´s what you prepare them with, what condiments you add, how you make them interesting.
I could not imagine sitting down to a plate of plain tofu - but if you add , for example, some Szechuan spices, it´s a wonderful protein.
Ricotta has to be the blandest cheese ever; but pair it with spinach, or broccoli, and some garlic, and it brightens up a treat.
Polenta with fresh (or wild) mushrooms is delightful. On it´s own, it reminds me of school dinners - bland .

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby ZeroCook » Wed Dec 23, 2020 6:22 pm

Haven't checked this thread for a while- all looking good!

Wholefoods got in some very irresistible miniature organic turkeys so I grabbed a 3.5kg one but have benched it for NYE possibly.

We've had a last minute menu change too. It's to be a side of wild Alaskan salmon with roast potato wedges or fat frites and tartar sauce or Gill's Frankfurter sauce if I can wing the herbs:)

Chateaubriand - what's not to love, Gill! A fine choice :) And how do you like to do your frites?

Busy Bee - I concur - cook the whole turkey and freeze cooked if needed. Love cold turkey too.

Halfateabag - guinea fowl n fixings sound fab and you'll love boerewors! Tho might be a lot together with the bird. Lovely menu and clever on the prepping ahead of time.

Extra firm tofu would work as a mushroom sub - if you want to sub at all, that is, KC2, but it can lend a mushroomy texture. It sizzles up wonderfully when cubed, marinated (soy, oyster sauce, Worcestershire, that sort if thing) and floured - think agadashi. Big fan :)

I've never made a nut roast in my life, but if I did I think I would bind it with chestnut puree ... :D

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Renee » Thu Dec 24, 2020 8:47 pm

Busybee, I bought a turkey that was too big and am just cooking for myself. I wanted a freerange bronze feathered turkey, but they only had crowns and there weren't many turkeys left, so I ended up with a large freerange turkey. I have just made two different types of stuffing. The sausagemeat, onion, celery stuffing is for the neck end and I've made herb stuffing with bread, onions and thyme for stuffing balls. I am also making bacon wrapped chipolatas. I plan to eat at 1pm and in the afternoon, I will strip the meat off the turkey and freeze it down, with the stuffings, sausages and gravy and freeze down individual portions, so that I can have the Christmas meal about 7 or 8 times after Christmas! This works well.

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Gillthepainter » Fri Dec 25, 2020 11:05 am

7 or 8 Christmas meals afterwards is excellent planning, Renee.
I've got the crown defrosting in the garage for tomorrow's sliced meats and pickles. I'll cook it in the morning.

Change of plan here too, the chateaubriand will be for New Year's Eve meal.
The fries I cut, parboil and toss in a little bit of oil, and freeze (I did this last month). They go into the airfryer frozen, and come out crisp and golden.

fat frites and tartar sauce


Nice.
Talking of which, I've completely forgotten the tartar that Tony loves with smoked salmon at breakfast (it's easier to buy it for one person).
I've got capers in, so first job this am is making some tartar for him. I needed to boil some eggs anyway for tomorrow.

Salmon sounds perfect for a Christmas meal. Maybe next year.

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Dec 25, 2020 2:16 pm

I'm having salmon twice - lunch will be smoked salmon, with avocado as I can't have cream cheese, dinner will be salmon en croute, salmon and croute (puff pastry) thawing in fridge, slightly bemused by the instructions for thawing the individually wrapped salmon fillets; which are to remove them from the wrapping, put them in a bowl and cover them with cling film to thaw - I am ignoring this and thawing them in their little pouches as I always do

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Binky » Fri Dec 25, 2020 4:01 pm

Hello everyone, here's hoping that you all are preparing and eating some lovely Xmas food. Last night we had this - Felicity Cloake's gougere with ratatouille and baked potatoes. Cooked by OH of course.


Image

We had smoked salmon and scrambled egg for brunch this morning, and OH is busy prepping roast beef and usual accompaniments for a late lunch.

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Dec 25, 2020 5:18 pm

That looks good, and it all sounds great Binky

Wishing you, and your resident cook of course, a Merry Christmas :chrissytree1

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Re: Christmas recipes foods, and cooking ideas

Postby Gillthepainter » Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:49 am

Brilliant cooking from your OH, Binky. He's great isn't he!
Not so much to do today, morning work really: cook a turkey crown, cook a small gammon ham that's been soaking, and finish off the Spanish apple custard pie (there's 3 processes)

Yes, I definitely feel I'd like salmon next year, Sue.

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