Jamie's Turkey Wellington with all the trimmings

By Chris,

Main Ingredients:

• 1kg turkey breast
• 1/2 jar cranberry sauce
• Smoked lardons
• Duck liver pate and puff pastry

I hadn't planned to do a festive post, but after watching Jamie's Christmas with Bells On, I was inspired to try something new on Christmas Day. The turkey Wellington recipe takes all the best parts of a roast and wraps them all inside a puff pastry crust. It was quite stressful to make, but in the end it was a total triumph.

First separate the turkey breast from the carcass and the skin. It's best to buy a crown (as I did) so you only get breast meat, but if you have a full bird then Jamie suggests making gravy out of one of the legs.

Next, split open the breast, season, oil, and smear it with the cranberry sauce. The breast I was using fell in half when I took the skin off, so I had to pin it back together with several cocktail sticks before seasoning with thyme, covering with tin foil and whacking it in the oven at gas mark 4 for an hour.

Next the meat was left to cool while the bacon and the pate were prepared. Jamie suggested making a mushroom pate out of dried porcini, but I HATE mushrooms, so I used a pack of duck liver pate instead - much easier and tastier.

The bacon was then fried in olive oil until crispy and a few sprigs of rosemary were added at the last minute. Thinly chopped streaky bacon was called for, but I used a pack of lardons instead and whacked them in the food processor, once fried, to make a nice crumbly topping.

To assemble the Wellington, simply lay out half the roll of puff pastry, spread over a layer of pate, then plonk the bird on top. Then top with more pate (this uses up about half a pack) and the bacon bits. The remainder of the pastry goes on top and is crimped to resemble a giant cornish pastie.

I then baked this mammoth concoction for another hour at gas mark 4 until crispy and golden on top. I was terrified that I might either undercook the meat and ruin everyone's Christmas by salmonella, or overcook it and ruin £20 worth of turkey meat.

But it turned out to be one of the best roast turkeys I've ever had - the meat was kept nice and moist by the cranberry and the pate, and the combinations of flavours was fantastic. The pastry was a bit soggy and could have done with more time, but I'd definitely try this again. 

I'm not even going to bother trying to calculate the price per head, but let's say it was more than a fiver each, when you add roasts, sprouts, parsnips and all the essential add-ons.

So thanks for reading us all through the year, have great time over the Christmas holidays and we hope you try some new food in 2012!

Best for... Christmas lunch with a luxurious twist that you won't regret

Taken from... Jamie Oliver - Christmas with Bells On

Helen says... Everything you want from your turkey - moist, sweet and smoky. Well done and Merry Christmas!

Hugh's Pot Roast Poultry

By Helen
Main Ingredients:

• Guinea fowl
• Chorizo
• Butter beans
• Butternut squash

First things first: this recipe was actually for pheasant but I still live in East London and am largely reliant on Tesco.

While staring at the supermarket shelves the guinea fowl seemed about the right size - and I have to admit that cutting each one in half and plonking on a plate was a lot easier than carving a chicken for four (surely the worst bit of the usual roast?)

The birds were browned on each side in a frying pan and pot-roasted with onions, thyme, garlic, wine, chicken stock, a tin of butter beans and half a chorizo. Today was Hugh-inspired from start to finish as I accompanied the birds with mashy squash (with sage and garlic) and buttery greens. Plus the carrier bag of greengages I was given by my parents at the weekend was turned into a clafoutis - basically a sweet toad-in-the-hole where the halved fruits were baked in a batter of flour, eggs, milk and sugar til it was set.

I hate to say it but to me the meat didn't taste that different to chicken, although I very much approve of the way it was cooked. The chorizo was rich and sweet and the beans absorbed lovely cooking juices and mashed into the gravy nicely. Plus the pudding was a surprise hit too - even plum-phobic Chris enjoyed the custardy, sweet, tart-without-pastry effect.

At £3.16 a head it wasn't the cheapest meal but definitely worth trying - all in all a different take on a roast chicken which felt like a real treat.

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day
Best for... Treating some good friends who have moved out of the city
Chris says... Very nice and rich, but I wouldn't have noticed if it was chicken instead...

Hugh's Roast Chicken with Pearl Barley

By Helen
Main Ingredients:

• Whole chicken (obvs)
• Pearl barley (natch)
• Dried apricots
• Onion and garlic

Pudding month over and one of my least-new New Food Mondays so far.

My former housemates will tell you I'm no stranger to a roast chicken, but I don't usually bother with stuffing since it makes the whole thing take even longer and I'm not a fan of the slightly slimy sage and onion variety.

This recipe appealed as Hugh claimed that the barley, gently simmered with the onions, garlic, cumin and carraway in chicken stock would turn into a lovely risotto which would mean no need for potatoes, and which would seem all the more special once I stirred in chopped dried apricots, walnuts, parsley and lemon.

Unfortunately as Josh (...and Chris and Rowena and Andy) will tell you, I am also no stranger to kitchen clumsiness, and I managed to utterly ruin the first batch of stuffing by grinding pepper a little too enthusiastically and accidentally emptying a whole tub of peppercorns into the lovely mixture. Once that was binned I could move onto attempt two - which may have been a little less carefully prepared but still had a really good mix of flavours - sweet apricots, warming spices and sharp lemon.

As promised, the mixture (once stuffed) absorbed chickeny juices and swelled up into an arancini/porridge consistency which prompted even the most traditional eater at the table to go back for 'more of that cereal stuff'.

Overall a lighter, summerier stuffing than usual which will make a good packed lunch with the last of the chicken this week. Cost: only £2.30 a head, including three vegetables and a free-range chicken.

Tastiness: 3/5
Easiness: 2/5
Value for Money: 3/5
Feelgood Factor: 4/5
Overall Rating: 3/5

Best for...Making a chicken go a long way without feeling cheated
Taken from...Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day
Chris says...Nothing (away on business)

Delia's Crisp Roast Duck with Confit of Sour Cherries

By Helen
Main ingredients:

• Duck legs
• Dried cherries
• Red wine
• Watercress
• Potatoes and parsnips
  

This is a recipe I'd been meaning to try for a few weeks but never managed the necessary preparation - soaking the cherries in wine for 24 hours and drying the duck legs to achieve the desired crispy skin. 

Thankfully both were a good use of time - the cherries were sweet, sharp, and juicily delicious once they had been simmered for an hour with a little sugar and balsamic vinegar, and the duck legs (salted and roasted for around an hour) were excellent.

The watercress garnish looked oddly ornamental in Delia's photo but provided a fresh and welcome alternative to cabbage, and would have been even better if there'd been any leftovers for sandwiches the next day. We ate this with roast potatoes, honeyed parsnips and garden peas, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole meal - definitely quicker and tastier than your average roast chicken, and not bad value at £2.75 a head. 

The only change I'd make would be increasing the volume of sauce, or reducing it a little less to make sure there was more to go around.

Best for...A rich (but not bank-breaking) Sunday lunch with plenty of wine
Taken from... Delia Smith - How to Cook: Book Two

Chris says... Very rich and tasty, the cherries were definitely worth the extra effort, but a right bugger to wash up!

Hugh's Slow-Roast Shoulder of Lamb with Merguez Spices

By Helen
Main ingredients:

• Shoulder of lamb
• Spice mix: cumin, coriander, paprika, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, black pepper, fennel, garlic, rosemary and oil
• Butternut squash
• Savoy cabbage

After last week's 30-minute marvel, I decided to take advantage of the Bank Holiday and cook something from the other end of the timescale.

Although the sight of a dinner-plate sized chunk of lamb was a little intimidating, I wrestled the thing home and made a start. After slashing the skin and rubbing in the mixed spice goop, the lamb was roasted for half an hour and then slow-cooked under foil at a much lower temperature.

As always with H F-W's recipes, the timings and weights are pretty flexible - he recommended a staggering six hours of slowcooking but our shoulder was falling off the bone after four and a half. In fact I didn't need to carve it at all, just pull out the three clean bones and slice up the remainder.

The mix of spices was warming and aromatic but surprisingly subtle after the long roast - I wimped out of spooning any of the juices back over it as they seemed to be mostly fat but I'm sure they were delicious too. We served this with buttery Savoy cabbage and butternut squash roasted with chilli, more rosemary and garlic (from the same book). To be honest this could have been more exciting - maybe by chucking in more chilli - but I'm a fan of squash anyway and it made a lovely colourful accompaniment.

As we already owned pretty much all the spices, the raw ingredients came out relatively cheap. The lamb fed four of us with plenty left over for sandwiches, meaning a per-head cost of only £2.35, although this doesn't include the cost of running the oven for most of the day.

Best for... A winter's evening after a long day out in the cold - giving you plenty of opportunity to walk back in and and appreciate the glorious smell.
Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day
Chris says... I am ill. So ill. The lamb smelt amazing when it was cooking, but I lost my appetite and only ate half of it. Fortunately, I'll get to eat it all week, so here's hoping I recover before we run out of lamb...