There can be a lot of pressure around a Christmas dinner – especially when serving to larger groups – but Stratford chef Lee Cresswell has offered his advice to help the day run smoothly.
Lee is head chef at Stratford-upon-Avon’s award-winning 2 AA Rosette No 44 Brasserie restaurant, which is part of The Arden Hotel, on Waterside. We caught up with him to find out more about how to handle the big day with ease.
What are your top three tips for a Christmas dinner?
I think the first is to remember you can get some of it ready in advance, like prepping the roast potatoes and vegetables, and having your turkey stuffed and ready to go.
Secondly, always remember to take your turkey out of the fridge so it’s kept at room temperature to help it cook properly. If it’s not cooked properly, it will ruin the whole dinner.
My last tip is not to be tight on the gravy! A nice gravy can really help bring everything together. I’m one of those who loves my Christmas dinners absolutely covered in gravy.
How do you make the perfect roast potatoes?
Cut your potatoes to a decent size and boil them off until the outsides are starting to break down, and after you’ve let them steam out in a colander for a few minutes, return them to the pan to fluff them up.
You want to let them dry out so put them in the fridge overnight to remove all the moisture, and then the next morning put them in a deep tray of hot fat – beef or duck is my favourite – along with garlic, rosemary and thyme, and a good sprinkle of salt. They’ll be nice and cold so they’ll soak it all up beautifully.
Bang them in the oven at 190c for 45 minutes to an hour, turning them every 15 minutes. The key is to not overcrowd the tray as you want them to cook evenly.
How do you prepare and cook the turkey?
Always make sure it is left at room temperature the night before as otherwise a cold piece of meat straight into the oven will just tense up.
Most people at home will have a crown and roast it on the bone, and you’ll want to put some soft butter under the skin of the bird and massage it into the breast, so it melts through throughout the cooking.
You can cook it on a trivet which is just some root vegetables, carrots, onions and celery and that way the air circulates throughout the whole bird and also flavours your gravy at the end.
Cook it at 190c at 40 minutes per kilo and keep on basting it. Once you remove from the oven test that the bird is at 75 degrees centigrade, and leave it to rest for about an hour.
You mentioned the gravy there, what else do we need to do to get it right?
Once you’ve got all the juices from the roast and the vegetable trivet, add some stock, and then cornflour to thicken it up or wait for it to reduce in the pan.
Then right at the end add some garlic, rosemary and thyme to get some fresh flavour to it.
What vegetables would you serve?
Parsnips and carrots, for sure. I would cut them into nice chunks and roast them with some oil, salt and thyme and when they are pretty much cooked I would pour over some honey for the last 10 minutes and some butter.
You’ve got to have sprouts as well, haven’t you? You can do them a number of ways, but personally I would par-boil them, cut them in half and then roast them in the pan with some butter and a little bit of bacon.
There’s a bit of a divide on whether mashed potatoes belong on a Christmas dinner plate – where do you stand?
I love mashed potato, so for me they are in! The trick I always use is bake the potatoes instead of boiling them so they’re really dry. You can use Maris Piper, put a few holes in them and roast them in the oven like a jacket.
When they are cooked cut them in half and scoop the insides out. You then have this beautiful dry potato and you can add your cream and butter until it’s melted and slowly pour it in until you get the desired consistency and finish it with a little bit of salt and nutmeg.
What other sauces would you serve it with?
Cranberry sauce and bread sauce goes well. Along with the gravy it’s the only sauces I’d really have.
What’s the best dessert option?
I always go for Christmas pudding – you can’t go wrong with it. Some nice brandy custard and a bit of ice cream as well. You’re going all out, so why not?!
What are you drinking with your Christmas dinner?
Anything goes really. A nice glass of white wine is nice, and a glass of champagne is a nice touch too. But for me a pint of beer goes down well!
