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What's cooking this Christmas on BBC
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November 29, 2009
Planning to cook up a storm this Christmas? Having loads of guests and don't know what to cook? Help is at hand on BBC Lifestyle, which has a range of cooking shows devoted to Christmas fare. Here's the line-up:
Nigella's Christmas Kitchen (five episodes). Christmas is one of the few times when we are prepared to spend days stirring and stuffing, but as Nigella Lawson always says, cooking should be fun and if it isn't, then you're not doing it right.
Episode 1: Nigella shows how thinking ahead and filling the freezer can cut down on Christmas Day stress. Helped on by a Lychee Martini made with frozen vodka, Nigella makes and freezes a number of dishes including roast pumpkin and sweet potato soup with a stilton swirl and a Girdle Buster Pie which more than lives up to its reputation.
Episode 2: Time for stocking fillers such as spiced fruits in Ximinez sherry and Christmas Puddini truffles.
Episode 3: Nigella takes a trip to Paris to explore sweet dishes including chocolate Rocky Road and Christmas Pavlova.
Episode 4: Nigella's off to Salzburg to find inspiration in the Christmas market. She cooks up a fine selection of festive canapés, including Parma ham, goat's cheese and figgy wraps, and crab cakes.
Episode 5: Nigella prepares a super spiced roast turkey - a brined and spiced bird that is like no other. To go with it are pancetta and chestnut sprouts, gingerbread stuffing, maple syrup parsnips and vodka-flamed Christmas pudding.
Starts December 5 at 10.25am with the next episode at 10.50am. See episodes 3 and 4 on December 12. On December 19 all five episodes will be shown from 9am to 10.55am.
Rick Stein's Food Heroes: Christmas Special: In search of "food with honest flavour", Rick Stein and loyal pet dog Chalky seek out more passionate food producers across Britain and Ireland whose products are highly sought after all year round, but especially during the festive season. Turkeys, salmon, hams, puddings and geese are just a few of the essential delicacies they find on their festive odyssey. Highlights include a visit to wine expert Oz Clarke to sample Nyetimber Vineyard's award-winning English sparkling wine, and a belt-loosening session with the members of the Pudding Club.
December 5 at 11.15am
Bill's Food: Holly Days: It's Christmas time in Sydney. It's hot and seafood is on the barbecue. This is Bill's family Christmas, Australian-style, with a nod to tradition. Boxing Day is for relaxing and Bill puts together a laid-back picnic for friends and family by the harbour.
Starts December 8 at 5.30pm.
Oliver's Twist: Christmas: Jamie treats his office staff to a Christmas dinner to thank them for all their hard work over the year.
December 12 at 9.05am.
Gordon Ramsay's Christmas Cookalong Live: Charismatic Gordon Ramsay leads viewers through the preparation of a sumptuous Christmas feast. Filmed live, and with cameras in the kitchens of volunteer families across the UK, Gordon attempts to co-ordinate an extraordinary culinary feat.
With the ingredients known well in advance, the volunteers should be well prepared, but will it all come together under pressure?
On the menu are a seasonal chestnut soup, chicken fricassee with bread sauce and pan-fried sprouts, and there's a Christmas trifle to finish. Sounds delicious, but will the cookalong chefs manage to replicate Gordon's creations at home?
December 12 at 11.15am.
In Search of Perfection: Christmas Special: In this episode, celebrated chef Heston Blumenthal turns his attention to Christmas dinner.
His six guests have one thing in common - a genuine love of food - and Heston's aim is to make them feel like children again, albeit with some very sophisticated tastes.
Sir Terry Wogan, Kirsty Wark, Dara O'Briain, Rob Brydon, Richard E Grant and Sue Perkins have no idea what to expect, but the menu includes edible Christmas tree baubles filled with smoked salmon mousse, a dish inspired by gold, frankincense and myrrh, mulled wine that is both hot and cold in the same glass and goose fed on a mixture of ingredients including apples and grain.
As Heston says: "This is possibly one of the most remarkable meals I've ever cooked."
December 12 at 12.05pm.
Festive fare
Two fabulous recipes from our Christmas chefs which we can heartily recommend. Try them and prepare for praise.
Nigella's Incredibly Easy Chocolate Fruit Cake
350g prunes, scissored or chopped
250g raisins
175g currants
175g soft butter
175g dark muscovado sugar
125g (175ml) honey
125ml Tia Maria or other coffee liqueur
Juice and grated zest of 2 oranges
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tbs cocoa powder
3 eggs, beaten
150g plain flour
75g ground almonds
189 tsp baking powder
189 tsp bicarbonate of soda
For Decoration
25g chocolate-covered coffee beans
Edible gold stars and mini balls
Edible glitter.
1 Preheat the oven to 150° C/Gas 2.
2 Line the sides and bottom of a 20cm/9cm deep, round loose-bottomed cake tin with a layer of reusable silicon baking parchment. When lining the tin with the parchment, cut the material into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself (it is easier to use two shorter strips of parchment, than one long strip); the height of the strips protects the cake from catching on the outside of the cake tin.
3 Place the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange juice and zest, mixed spice and cocoa into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
4 After 30 minutes, the mixture will have cooled a little. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate soda, and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula until the ingredients have combined.
5 Carefully pour the fruitcake mixture into the lined cake tin. Transfer the cake tin to the oven and bake for 1190 to 2 hours, or until the top of the cake is firm but has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a sharp knife into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.
6 Place the cake on a cooling rack. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.
7 To decorate, place the chocolate-covered coffee beans in the centre of the cake and arrange the gold stars around the perimeter of the top of the cake. Then sprinkle some gold mini-balls over the whole of the cake. Sprinkle the edible glitter over the top of the cake.
(I've made this cake several times and its fabulous and doesn't taste of prunes! - Ingrid Shevlin)
Jamie Oliver's Christmas Jerk Ham
(Serves 15-20)
For poaching:
1 x 5kg leg of ham
1 tbs whole black peppercorns
1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
6 Scotch bonnet chillies, halved
2 tsps whole cloves
1 stick of celery, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 small leek, washed and roughly chopped
3 bay leaves
189 bunch thyme
1 cinnamon stick
For the jerk marinade:
6 fresh bay leaves
2 tbs cinnamon
2 tbs allspice
1 tbs cloves
2 tbs ground nutmeg
1 tbs sea salt
1 tbs fresh black pepper
8 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 red onions, peeled and quartered
8 Scotch bonnet chillies, stalks removed
250ml dark rum
250ml malt vinegar
A small bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked
For the ham glaze
190 jar good-quality, fine-cut marmalade
125ml golden rum
1 Preheat oven to 150°C/gas mark 4. Put ham in a large roasting pan with all the poaching ingredients. Add water until it comes halfway up the side of the pan. Cover the ham with tinfoil (making a tent over the ham to allow the steam to circulate). Bake for 2 hours or until pink and cooked through, then remove from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes, remaining covered.
2 Prepare the jerk marinade while ham poaches. Add bay leaves, dry spices and garlic cloves to a food processor. Give it a good whiz so it forms a paste, then throw in your onions and chillies and whiz for a few more minutes. The chillies have a fiery, almost apricoty, sweetness to them and will start making the seasoning really hot. Pour in the rum and malt vinegar and keep whizzing everything around while you add the thyme. Once you've got a nice loose consistency your jerk marinade is ready.
3 When the ham is done poaching, transfer it to a roasting tray and let it cool down a bit. While still warm, put your hand underneath the skin and gently pull it away from the meat, leaving the bit of the fat underneath attached. Using a sharp knife score the ham by lightly making diagonal cuts across the leg.
4 Spoon the jerk marinade over the pork and use the back of the spoon to smear it all over the ham and into the scored fat. If you want to use your hands then make sure you use rubber cloves, because this marinade is hot! If you like, you can cover the meat in cling film and refrigerate it overnight or you can also cook the ham straight away.
5 Pour a small glass of water into the bottom of your roasting tray and put the ham in your preheated oven at '176C/gas mark 4 for 2 hours. Baste every half hour so it gets nice and dark. Once it comes out of the oven, scrape off a bit of marinade with a spatula. Spoon about 190 of a jar of marmalade over the ham and pour a good swig of dark rum on top.
Smear this mixture all over and let it drip down the sides of the ham.
Spoon the juices off the bottom of the tray and back over the ham. Put it back into the oven, at the same temperature for another 30 minutes, basting every 5 to 7 minutes.
4 Spoon the jerk marinade over the pork and use the back of the spoon to smear it all over the ham and into the scored fat. If you want to use your hands then make sure you use rubber cloves, because this marinade is hot! If you like, you can cover the meat in cling film and refrigerate it overnight or you can also cook the ham straight away.
5 Pour a small glass of water into the bottom of your roasting tray and put the ham in your preheated oven at 180°C/gas mark 4 for 2 hours. Baste every half hour so it gets nice and dark. Once it comes out of the oven, scrape off a bit of marinade with a spatula. Spoon about ¾ of a jar of marmalade over the ham and pour a good swig of dark rum on top.
Smear this mixture all over and let it drip down the sides of the ham.
Spoon the juices off the bottom of the tray and back over the ham. Put it back into the oven, at the same temperature for another 30 minutes, basting every 5 to 7 minutes.
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