Prue Leith: My quick and easy tips for a stress-free Christmas lunch

With Christmas cancelled and no hope of seeing my son and daughter’s families (they are Tier 4 Londoners) it looks like my lovely 12lb organic bird (from Copas Traditional Turkeys) will be consigned to the freezer, to be resurrected, God and Covid willing, for Easter.

Also, I’m moving house after 44 years , so the loss of our planned ‘last hurrah’ family Christmas has got me thinking wistfully of the good old days. For all the years that our children were growing up, my brother Jamie and I took turns to do the big Christmas Day blowout. And because I am a bossy woman and a master delegator, the minute his family stepped in the door on Christmas Eve, poor Jamie would be ordered into the kitchen to bone the turkey.

In those days we used to bone the turkey, spread it out, skin side down, put a line of large lumps of cooked ham down the middle, neck to tail, spread sausage meat on top of the ham, and chestnut stuffing on top of that, pressing everything together to eliminate air pockets, then bring the sides of the turkey up to join at the top, and sew them together to make a giant turkey roll, which I’d roast, seam side down. Carving is quick and easy, and everyone gets turkey, ham, stuffing and sausage meat in a single slice. The disadvantage is it takes forever. And not everyone has a willing brother.

Nowadays, I’m all for the simple life. I still do turkey and all the trimmings, but I’ve got it down to a fine art. It goes like this:

The turkey – I untruss the turkey before roasting, otherwise the breast can be overcooked by the time the legs are done. Then I soak a threadbare old tea towel in melted butter and drape it over the bird. This eliminates the need for basting. You can take it off 20 minutes before the cooking time is up to brown.

The gravy – This is the most important thing. If the gravy is delicious and very hot, it will disguise any imperfections in the cooking. I make it in advance by boiling a large glass of red wine down to a few tablespoons. Then I fry chopped onion and carrot, stir in flour (one tablespoon per pint of stock), then chicken stock (stock cubes are fine), a teaspoon of redcurrant jelly and the reduced red wine, and stir until boiling. If it looks a bit pale, I’m not above a blob of gravy browning.

When the turkey is cooked, pour off the fat from the roasting pan, leaving the juices. Tip your gravy into the pan and scratch up any stuck brown bits while reheating. I sometimes make a lot of this gravy base and freeze it in half-pint pots to use for lamb, beef, whatever. It’s the juices you add it to in the roasting pan that make the difference.

Sausagemeat and/or stuffing – I roll this into balls and cook, coated in oil, in a separate roasting pan.

Sprouts – This is a recipe for sprout-haters, which can be done in advance and microwaved to reheat. Halve the sprouts, boil for four minutes, then drain and, while hot, chop in a food processor. Add double cream, cream cheese, clotted cream or mascarpone. Season with black pepper, salt and nutmeg.

Roasties – Boil for 10 minutes, drain and shake to roughen, roast in any fat with a handful of breadcrumbs.

Christmas pudding – Most children hate Christmas pudding; adults love it. But everyone likes ice cream, so I mix softened vanilla ice cream with crumbled-up Christmas pudding and refreeze in a pudding bowl. To turn out, dip the bowl in hot water to loosen it. Stick a bit of holly on top and flame with brandy. Delicious.

Of course, things go wrong sometimes. Once I opened the oven, expecting to find my slow-cooked leg of pork done to perfection. But it was raw. A well-brought-up nephew clearing up after his breakfast fry-up, had switched off the oven. (We cut the pork into slices, turned them in soy sauce and honey and fried them fast. It was fine). Another time the dog ate the ham. Once I dropped the turkey – and, yes, of course, we still ate it.

My worst disaster was when I’d heard that the way to peel the skin off fresh chestnuts was to boil them first. So I thought, if boiling works, deep frying will be quicker. What I didn’t know is that you need to make a slit in the skin so the chestnut can expand. Soon they were exploding, sending showers of boiling fat all over the kitchen – which prevented my getting anywhere near to turn it off. Eventually, I managed by cowering under my husband’s overcoat. Drenching a favourite coat in chip fat is not a recipe for marital harmony.

For me, this Christmas is proving a bit challenging. We are halfway through a move to a new house down the lane, and my children and their families are in the old one. So, every time I want the nutmeg grater or the wok, they are in the wrong house, or taped up in a tea chest.

But, hey ho. Accidents happen. And the only answer is to laugh and shrug your shoulders. These things don’t matter. If you are able to see your family, you can be sure they haven’t come to award you Michelin stars; they’ve come to see you. And they want you happy and relaxed, not stressed. Christmas is supposed to be happy, loving and very good fun. Let’s make it so.

The Great Christmas Bake Off 2020 is on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve at 7.40pm, with a New Year’s special on January 3 at 7.45pm

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