Phil Vickery's tart up your Christmas
It’s 10 o’clock on Christmas morning, so there’s only one place you should be - the kitchen! But if you’ve put all your attention on the turkey, Phil Vickery’s got his simple tips you'll need to tart up your trimmings. So whether you need help sprucing up your spuds and sprouts, or adding some sparkle to your stuffing, Phil is showing you how to make your sides extra special.
Phil Vickery’s Roast Potatoes
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
1 kg peeled potatoes, Rooster or Maris Piper are good roasters200mls sunflower or rapeseed oil
Seasoning2 chicken stock cubes, crumbled1 level tsp table salt2 level tsp ground pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, Gas 6.
2. Place a pan of cold water on the stove and bring to the boil, add salt and re boil. Pop in the potatoes cut into large 1/4 ‘s. Bring back to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the outsides start to fall away, carefully drain.
3. Place the oil in a baking tray, pop into the hot oven and heat for 10 minutes, or until just smoking.
4. When drained, remove the tray from the oven carefully, add the potatoes to the hot oil, season well with a little salt and pepper and pop into the oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes.
5. When the bottoms are very crisp and golden, turn over and return to the oven and cook for a further 35-40 minutes, until both sides are crisp and golden. The inside will be soft and powdery with 2 crunchy edges, perfect!.
6. Mix the stock cubes well with the salt and pepper. Remove the potatoes from the oven and sprinkle over the seasoning. Mix well and serve.
Phil Vickery’s Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Chesnut
Serves: 4
Ingredients
500g fresh Brussels sprouts2 bulbs fresh garlic2 tbsp mayonnaise350g prepared chestnuts, roughly chopped but not too bigSaltGround pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas 6.
2. Cut the garlic bulbs in half, place back together and wrap in foil. Pop in the oven or roast in the pre heated oven with the roast potatoes until really soft.
3. Place the sprouts into a pan and cover with cold water, add a little salt and cook for 8-10 minutes or until half cooked. Drain well, place in a baking tray and drizzle with a little oil and mix well. Cook until golden.
4. Once the garlic is cooked and supersoft, remove from the foil and squeeze into a bowl. Add the mayonnaise and chestnuts to the sprouts and mix well, then season with salt and pepper.
Phil Vickery’s Roast Carrots and Parsnips
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
500g parsnips500g carrots200ml sunflower or rapeseed oilSalt and freshly milled black pepper2 tbsp runny honey
For the seasoningJuice and finely grated zest of 2 lemons100-150g sage and onion stuffing mix½ tsp ground nutmeg
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, Gas 6.
2. Peel the parsnips and carrots. Split in half from top to tail, then cut into quarters, leave the core in.
3. Heat the oil in a baking tin in a hot oven for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the parsnips and carrots then bring back to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes maximum, or, they will start to fall to pieces.
4. Drain well, then carefully lay in the hot oil, season well with salt and pepper and return to the oven. Cook for 35 minutes, then carefully turn over and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes more, until crispy on both sides.
5. Pour on the honey, and cook for a further 5 minutes to glaze. They will burn very quickly, keep an eye on them.
6. Once cooked add the lemon juice and zest and mix well. Then add the stuffing mix and nutmeg mix well and serve straight away.
Phil Vickery’s Roast Christmas Cake Stuffing
Enough for a 5kg bird
Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped1 tsp allspice2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped500g good quality sausage meat200g Christmas cake, no icing or marzipan, crumbledAbout 6 tbsp natural dried breadcrumbs1 whole medium egg150g dried cranberriesSalt and freshly milled black pepper
Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onions, allspice and garlic and cook for a few minutes until soft and translucent.
2. Add the sausage meat and stir well. Just break down the sausage meat but do not actually cook it through. Then cool slightly, add enough bread crumbs to stiffen up the mixture, but remember that they will continue to thicken as they reconstitute themselves so take care not to add too many.
3. Stir in the whole egg and cranberries and beat the whole mixture well.
4. Finally, add the Christmas cake and some salt and pepper. Use to stuff the turkey when required.