Easy Christmas Dinner

Christmas Dinner can be overwhelming when you are the one cooking it. I know, everyone says “Oh it’s just a Sunday roast with bells on” but there can be a LOT of bells. And when you add into the mix entertaining, looking half decent with a nice frock on, Christmas present overseeing (my husband is no help to anyone as he is assembling Lego from morning to night), and well, just, life (the dog still needs a walk on Christmas Day, the cats need feeding, and Dad wants another glass of wine…) – then Christmas Dinner can be a really stressful meal to prepare!

Over the years I have really gone to town with every single side dish having its own luxurious slant – Parmesan parsnips, braised red cabbage with apples, sprouts with chestnuts and pancetta etc etc. But to be honest I’ve come to realise that it’s really not that different if you scale back a bit; everyone will enjoy it just as much. My secret to it still feeling special and luxurious is to focus on one element that is very much homemade, and take a few short cuts that, seriously, no one will notice.

When Crisp ‘n Dry got in touch to ask me to make a Christmas ‘Crisp ‘n Dry-Run’ (ha! geddit?) of the big meal itself, I already had this idea in mind. After slaving away last year I thought, next year I am making life easier for myself and streamlining this whole thing. But I’d never done it before, so it was nice to have a practise…

I hate having a big carcass that hangs around for days afterwards. So I’ve chosen a 2.0kg turkey crown, stuffed with sausagemeat and cranberries and covered in pancetta. This was SO easy to do – and it really looks impressive as you carve into it. To go with this I did a Christmas veggie traybake with parsnips, sprouts and carrots – literally couldn’t be easier. And some simple roasties. By the way, Crisp n Dry is a fantastic alternative to goose fat.

This meal didn’t feel difficult and would be a fab way of scaling down the stress at Christmas, maybe it’s your first year hosting – or maybe like me you just don’t want to be enslaved for hours in the kitchen!

Makes: enough for 4-6 people

Takes: 2 hours

Turkey crown stuffed with sausagemeat and cranberries

• 2.0kg turkey crown (mine was frozen so I defrosted overnight first)
• 350g sausagemeat (this was seasoned so if yours isn’t feel free to season and add finely chopped herbs too)
• Handful of cranberries
• 180g sliced pancetta
• 1 onion, peeled and sliced into 4 thick rounds, for the turkey to sit on

Roasted Christmas veggie traybake

• 200g sprouts, topped and tailed
• About 4 parsnips, cut into chunks
• About 4 large carrots, cut into chunks
• Few tablespoons of Crisp ‘n Dry vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper

Roasties

• Red skinned potatoes, peeled and halved and par boiled
• Salt
• Few tablespoons of Crisp ‘n Dry vegetable oil

To serve:

• Gravy (I use granules to thicken)
• Bread sauce

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Take defrosted turkey out of fridge at least 1 hour before cooking.
2. Get your hand under the skin and loosen it up. Smush the cranberries and the sausagemeat together – season if it isn’t already done.
3. Stuff the crown with the stuffing and smooth it over. Cover with pancetta slices. Pop on chunks on onion in a pan.
4. Roast for 1 hour 20 mins. Half way through add a few glasses of water to pan. Cover with foil loosely if bacon is burning. Take it out and rest for at least 30 mins. Once resting and out the oven you can start on gravy. Simply pop the roasting pan on the hob and turn on heat high. Add wine if you like, and then some gravy granules to thicken.
5. Meanwhile also peel and toss your carrots, parsnips and sprouts in Crisp ‘n Dry vegetable oil and salt and pepper. Roast for about 40 mins or until nice and golden.
6. Par boil the potatoes in salted water. Drain and ‘chuff’ – pop a lid on and chuck them about to create rough edges. Preheat Crisp ‘n Dry vegetable oil  in a pan and then pop the potatoes in. Roast for about 45-50 mins.
7. Make your bread sauce from a packet (SHOCK!!! Well, this is an Easy Christmas Dinner recipe!! I know, homemade is lovely and if you want to make it then here is my bread sauce recipe)

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. All links are no follow.