Ready, Set, Let's Go Christmas!
Words Talibah Simone
The festive season is fast approaching, supermarkets are full of cranberries, walnuts, advent calendars and mince pies! If mince pies are on the shelves, it’s an indication to start planning your Christmas dinner. It’s never too early! Undeniably, the heart of Christmas is food, it brings the family together. But often if you’re responsible for sorting out the food its often a daunting task. Last year I spent the entire Christmas Day inside the kitchen – simply due to being unorganised. This year we are doing things differently!
Here are a few ways to get you organised for the big day:
Decide which cuisine you want to cook and create your menu. Alternatively, like me, each year for my Christmas dinner I have a variety of dishes from British, Caribbean, African, Mediterranean (the salmon especially which I’ll post below).
Your menu should be finalised a week before Christmas LATEST!
Order a dish from your favourite restaurant as a treat (it also helps with the food load). You may need to order 2 weeks ahead.
There’s always one or two people in the family who can bring a dish, maybe a salad, coleslaw, a desert, some drinks! Speak to those in your family who usually cook at family dinners.
Prep as many things a few days before or the night before – notably the chopping of veggies or a desert like a cheesecake, seasoning meat, fresh mince pies, rum cakes
Set your table the night before. Buy your decorations weeks ahead - this also includes checking whether you have enough serving dishes and serving utensils (shop for these on John Lewis, Amazon & ASDA)
Create an itinerary for the day to keep you organised
Your food shopping will not be from one place! I shop in Lidl for their brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes; M&S for canapés and small desert cakes; Harrods for mince pies (however if you’re feeling adventurous you can test out my recipe below). I tend to go to the butchers for all meat, especially the main item on the table – The Christmas Turkey! In my case, I buy a Capon – it’s in-between a chicken and turkey, quite moist rather than a turkey which is dry in texture and larger than a turkey. I also buy a large fillet of salmon from the fishmongers; the supermarkets won’t sell a large slice fit for a guestlist of 15+ (my Christmas dinner guestlist is usually a minimum of 30 people).
Food shopping doesn’t have to be so expensive, it’s all about having a list and sticking to it. Sit down with the family and find out what food they want to eat. For most households you’ll definitely have a roasted meat but for some families your menu will be full of your cultural traditional foods. If you want to try something new it would be best to check which supermarkets/markets have the best quality for your ingredients.
Please do not ask me questions about calories on Christmas Day! Christmas comes once a year, let your belly down and eat what you like (key term is eat what you like not all you like – you don’t want to make yourself sick!)
Sweet Shortcrust Mince Pies !
This is the easiest and most delicious mince pie recipe – simply because it has way more pastry than mincemeat (and no there is not real meat in this). I would say get the kids involved as the pastry making is fun but this recipe contains alcohol so I won't encourage that.
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Yield: 12 mince pies
Ingredients
450g Plain flour
240g Soft butter
100g Icing sugar
3 egg yolks
3 tbs cold water
7 tsp mincemeat (alternatively you can make your own with 2 tbsp of currants, sultanas, raisins, Bramley apples, dark brown sugar, ground mixed spice, suet, lemon/orange zest and juice, splash of brandy and leave in air tight jar)
3 egg whites
1 tbs Disaronno
1tsp vanilla essence
Dusting sugar and caster sugar to dust the mince pies
Key equipment:
Cupcake tin
Circle cutter or 2 large mugs (a small and medium size)
Method:
In a large bowl, rub the flour, sugar and butter together making crumbs with your fingertips. Add the egg yolks, then use a fork to mix it through. Gently add the water bit by bit to create a smooth ball. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees (fan).
Once your pastry is chilled, roll out the pastry onto a clean, smooth and floured surface. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, grab 2 mugs, one smaller than the other. The larger cutter will be your base. Start cutting out your base pastry and gently slot them into your cupcake trays using your fingertips to gently press them into place.
In a separate bowl add mincemeat, Disaronno and vanilla essence and mix well. Using a teaspoon, fill the base with the mincemeat. Please do note that you can add more of the filling, I just prefer less.
Once the base is complete, using the smaller mug, cut out the pastry lids. Lightly whisk the egg whites and brush over each pastry lid and gently cover the pies. Using a knife, make 2 small slits in the middle of each pie and brush over with egg whites.
Allow to bake for 20 minutes in the oven. After 20 minutes, stick a knife in the middle to be sure it's ready.
Remove from the oven and allow the pies to cool for 5 minutes.
Dust with caster/icing sugar. Best served with custard, vanilla ice cream or evaporated milk.