As I am always inundated by my colleagues and friends for these, I thought you might find these hints and tips on preparing your Christmas dinner timetable and cooking Christmas dinner helpful. Almost ALL of these are about reducing the need to juggle cooking times on the day.
When planning a starter, make sure it is cold so you can prepare it in advance . A couple of Christmas dinner menu ideas for cold starters are smoked salmon or pate, or if you are serving soup make it the night before and finish it on the day with cream. This is especially helpful if you are cooking Christmas lunch rather than dinner and are working to a shorter timescale.
When cooking Christmas vegetables it is far easier to prepare them the day before. In fact, green vegetables are actually better cooked in advance. Cook Brussels sprouts in boiling salted water for 3 minutes then plunge then into ice cold water. This will set the colour in them and allows you to reheat them either using boiling water or a microwave. This works well for most Christmas vegetables.
Another good Christmas dinner tip is boiling your potatoes the day before. Always boil potatoes in salted water so they will brown well when roasted. Leave them to steam dry and then place them in the fridge uncovered over night. The next day, simply place them into very hot fat in the oven this will create crisp roast potatoes.
Measure your oven and roasting tin before buying!
Finally, always remember to plan your Christmas dinner menu around your equipment and storage space. For instance if you have a 20lb turkey it is best to make sure that it will fit in your roasting tin AND your oven! If you find you haven’t got a roasting tin big enough you can buy disposable aluminium trays that are recyclable. The oven problem may still be there, however…
Happy Christmas from the kitchen team at Knebworth House!
