Hugh’s cut-price Christmas Feast: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall serves up a hearty (and healthy) festive banquet that won’t break the bank, with recipes from his latest River Cottage book
Hugh’s Two-Tray Roast Chicken Christmas Lunch
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall served up a hearty (and healthy) festive banquet that won’t break the bank, with recipes from his latest River Cottage book
It’s no secret that I don’t eat turkey at Christmas and I know I am not alone in replacing the traditional big bird with something different. So how about a free-range or organic roast chicken instead? It’s lighter on the pocket and quicker in the oven, and this year I shall be cooking my own organic birds. If, like me, you’re catering for a large family, two chickens may solve the unseemly fight over who gets a leg.
SERVES 4, with leftovers
For the Veg Tray
2 large onions, each cut into 8 wedges
About 600g (1lb 5oz) floury potatoes, scrubbed and cut into roughly 4cm (1½in) pieces
About 300g (10½oz) carrots, scrubbed or peeled and chopped into chunky pieces
About 300g (10½oz) parsnips, peeled and cut into pointy pieces
1 garlic bulb, separated into cloves (unpeeled)
2tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
For the Chicken Tray 1 free-range or organic chicken (1.5-2kg/3lb 5oz-4lb 8oz)
5 bay leaves
A sprig of thyme (optional)
1 celery stick (a stringy outer stem is fine), roughly chopped
1tbsp olive oil or softened butter
A glass of white wine (or water)
To serve
Cooked green vegetables of your choice
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6. Set aside half an onion and put the rest into a large roasting tray with the potatoes, carrots, parsnips, half the garlic cloves, the oil and some salt and pepper. Toss together thoroughly and set aside.
Put the chicken into a separate roasting tray (suitable for use on the hob because you’ll be making the gravy in this). Untruss the bird and discard any elastic or string. Pull the legs gently away from the body so there is space for air to circulate. Pop the remaining garlic cloves and a bay leaf or two into the cavity of the bird.
Scatter the remaining bay leaves, thyme (if using), celery and reserved onion wedges around the chicken (this will flavour the bird and gravy). Rub the oil or butter all over the bird, sprinkle the skin generously with salt and pepper, and turn it breast-side down in the tray.
Chicken is lighter on the pocket and quicker in the oven, and this year Hugh explained he would be cooking his own organic birds
Put the veg tray on a lower shelf in the oven and the chicken tray on the shelf above. Roast for 30 minutes.
Take the chicken out of the oven and turn it breast-side up. Use a large spoon to baste the breast with any buttery juices. Pour the wine (or water) around the bird (not over it). Return the chicken to the oven. Give the veg a stir, then roast the veg and chicken for a further 40-50 minutes, until the skin of the bird is crisp and golden, and the potatoes, carrots and parsnips are nicely coloured.
Transfer the veg to a warmed serving dish and place in an oven set to a low temperature. Test the chicken to see if it’s cooked: poke a skewer into one side, where the thigh meets the body, and check that the juices run clear, with no trace of pink. If you have a probe thermometer, push it into the same part; it should register 72°C or more. If the bird isn’t cooked, return it to the oven for another 10 minutes and then test again, repeating until it is cooked.
Transfer the chicken to a warmed plate and keep warm. This is the time to cook whatever greens you’d like with your roast, and to get on with the gravy (see below).
Bring the chicken, roast veg, greens and gravy to the table. Carve the chicken (ideally everyone gets something on the bone – a thigh or a drumstick or a wing, and some breast meat and crispy skin). Serve on four warmed plates with the roasted root veg, greens and gravy.
MY PROPER CHICKEN GRAVY
- 1 level tbsp fine plain wholemeal flour
- 200-300ml (7-10fl oz) hot, strong chicken stock (ideally homemade, but an organic ready-made stock is OK too)
Pour most, but not all, of the juices out of the roasting tray into a jug (discarding the herbs but retaining the veg). Put the tray over a medium heat, sprinkle in the flour and stir it into the remaining juices with a spatula, scraping up any burnt bits as you go.
Cook for 2 minutes, letting it bubble gently and stirring. If there’s a lot of fat on top of the juices in the jug, skim some off, then gradually pour the juices back into the tray, stirring them into the flour paste.
Stir in the hot stock and bring the gravy to a simmer until it thickens a little and tastes rich and full-flavoured. Pour through a sieve into a warmed jug. Use the strained veg to garnish the chicken.
SQUEAK AND BUBBLE
Good old bubble and squeak is a much-loved dish in the celebrity chef’s house – but this recipe is balanced towards greens rather than spuds
Good old bubble and squeak is a much-loved dish in my house. I thought I’d reverse the title to acknowledge that I’ve tipped the balance in this recipe towards greens rather than spuds. I can’t think of a finer way to use up the festive veggie leftovers.
SERVES 2-3
1tbsp vegetable or olive oil (or lard or beef dripping)
1 large onion, thinly sliced
Sea salt and black pepper
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped (optional)
About 150-200g (5½-7oz) cooked potatoes (ideally still skin-on) or cold mash (you could also use a mixture of root veg such as potatoes, celeriac and parsnips, ideally skin-on)
FOR THE VEG AND FLAVOURINGS
Flavour bombs (optional)
1-2tsp curry paste or powder, or sliced olives, capers or chopped anchovies
Cooked greens
About 150-250g (5½-9oz) cooked kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and/or broccoli, roughly chopped or shredded
Uncooked greens
A handful of raw spinach, rocket or lettuce and/or 100g (3½oz) frozen peas
Herbs (optional)
1-2tbsp chopped chives, parsley or chervil, or a tiny bit of lovage
Heat the oil or other fat in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and some black pepper and fry gently for 10 minutes, or until it starts to colour. If you’re adding garlic and/or a curry paste/powder flavour bomb, stir into the onions and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Tip the potatoes (and other root vegetables, if using) into the pan. If they aren’t already mashed, crush them roughly with a fork or masher, but keep the texture quite chunky. Let the heat penetrate the potatoes for 1-2 minutes, then add the cooked and uncooked greens, and any herbs or other flavour bombs you are using, along with a little more seasoning. Stir, then press the whole lot down into a rough cake.
Cook the cake for several minutes, until it forms a good golden-brown crust on the base. It’s tempting to move it but try not to: it’s better that the base is a little overbrowned than that the whole thing is underdone and sticks to the pan. (It still might stick a bit, but you should get some really good colour this way.)
When the cake is nicely browned underneath, flip it over with a spatula and cook the other side. (If you are scaling up quantities and making a larger cake – one that pretty much fills the pan – you can cut it in half or quarters when the first side is crisped and flip over each half or quarter, one at a time.) From start to finish, your Squeak And Bubble will take 20 minutes or more to cook completely. Serve hot, topped with a fried egg if you like.
FESTIVE SQUASH WITH SPROUTS AND ROASTIES
This is one of the chef’s favourite recipes and it makes the ideal meat-free celebration centrepiece
This is one of my favourite recipes and it makes the ideal meat-free celebration centrepiece. It works brilliantly alongside the rest of the festive veggies like Brussels sprouts – simply blanch them and then flash in the frying pan for lovely caramelisation. If serving for vegetarians, use vegetarian cheese and make sure you cook your roasties in rapeseed oil, not goose or duck fat.
SERVES 4
1 medium or 2 relatively small squashes, such as Crown Prince, kabocha, delicata, red onion or butternut, about 1.5-2kg (3lb 5oz-4lb 8oz) in total
2tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing
Sea salt and black pepper
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
A few sprigs of thyme, rosemary or sage
2-4 bay leaves
1 large onion, chopped
250g (9oz) chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1 medium fennel bulb or ¼ of a medium cauliflower, roughly chopped
200g (7oz) frozen peas or sweetcorn (or half and half)
100g (3½oz) blue cheese, crumbled, or mozzarella, chopped, or Cheddar, grated
A pinch of dried chilli flakes or cayenne pepper (optional)
A handful of pumpkin seeds, or crumbled cooked chestnuts, or bashed walnuts
MY ALTERNATIVE LEMON AND RAISIN CHRISTMAS PUDDINGTo serve
Roast potatoes
Cooked Brussels sprouts
Vegetable or vegan gravy
Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/gas 5. Wash any earth off the squash(es). Slice in half through the centre as cleanly as you can, then use a spoon to scrape out all the seeds and any soft fibres around them.
Put the squash halves, cut-side up, in a roasting tin. Brush all the cut and scraped-out surfaces with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Drop half a garlic clove, a sprig of herbs and a bay leaf into each squash cavity. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes-1 hour, until the flesh is quite tender when pierced with a knife.
Meanwhile, heat 2tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, season with some salt and black pepper and get it sizzling, then turn down the heat and sweat for 10 minutes, or until softened.
Turn up the heat again and add the sliced mushrooms to the pan. Cook, stirring, until the liquid they release has evaporated. Keep cooking for a few more minutes, until there is some colour on the mushrooms and onion.
Add the fennel or cauliflower to the pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes, then stir in the peas and/or sweetcorn and cook for 5 minutes, or until everything is fairly tender.
Take the squash halves from the oven. Discard the herbs and set the garlic aside for a moment. Starting in the middle of the squash, scoop out around half of the roasted flesh with a teaspoon and put it into a large bowl. Leave a good 1-2cm (½-¾in) thick ‘wall’ all around the inside so the squash skin can hold its shape.
Add the vegetable mix and the reserved garlic to the scooped-out squash in the bowl, along with about three-quarters of the cheese, and stir together to form a rough mash. Add more salt and pepper, and a pinch of chilli flakes or cayenne pepper, if you like, to taste. Heap this mix back into the squash shells. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and the pumpkin seeds or nuts. Return the stuffed squash to the oven and roast for 15-20 minutes, until everything is molten and the exposed surface of the squash is nicely browned.
Give everyone a squash half (or if you’ve baked two halves of a larger squash, cut these in half again and put a quarter on each plate). Serve with roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts and gravy.
MY ALTERNATIVE LEMON AND RAISIN CHRISTMAS PUDDING
This is a lighter, fresher, speedier alternative to a traditional Christmas pud. OK, you can’t set fire to it, but you could still hide a coin if you wanted to
This is a lighter, fresher, speedier alternative to a traditional Christmas pud. OK, you can’t set fire to it, but you could still hide a coin if you wanted to. This is just the thing to cut through the richness and extravagance of the main meal.
SERVES 6-8
150g (5½oz) butter, softened, plus extra to grease the basin
100g (3½oz) raisins
150g (5½oz) fine plain wholemeal flour
2 level tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
75g (2¾oz) golden caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons and the juice of 1
3 medium eggs
For the Lemon Topping
Juice of 1 lemon (use the other zested lemon, see above)
2tbsp soft dark brown sugar
Grease an 850ml (1½pt) pudding basin. For the lemony topping, in a small bowl stir together the lemon juice and brown sugar until well blended (don’t worry if the sugar doesn’t fully dissolve). Tip into the buttered basin.
Toss the raisins with 1tbsp of the flour and set aside (the flour coating helps to stop the raisins sinking as the pudding cooks). Combine the remaining flour with the baking powder and salt.
Put the butter, sugar and lemon zest into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Using an electric hand mixer or the stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy. Add 1 egg, with a spoonful of the flour mix, and beat in. Repeat to incorporate the other 2 eggs.
Tip in the remaining flour and use a large spoon to fold it in lightly but thoroughly. Fold in the lemon juice, then lightly fold in the raisins. Spoon the mixture carefully into the pudding basin (the lemony topping will rise up the sides; don’t worry about this). Cover the basin with a pleated sheet of foil or a pleated double layer of baking paper; secure with string under the rim.
Put a small plate or trivet in the base of a large, deep saucepan and stand the pudding on it. Pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the basin. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and place over a low to medium heat to bring the water to a simmer. Steam the pudding like this for 2 hours, topping up the boiling water a couple of times as it cooks.
Lift the pudding out of the pan and remove the foil or baking paper. Loosen the sides of the pudding with the tip of a knife, then invert the pudding onto a plate and serve hot.
SIMPLY DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
Sometimes the best recipes are the simplest. Recipes for chocolate mousse come cooked or raw, spiked with booze or fruit or spices
Sometimes the best recipes are the simplest. Recipes for chocolate mousse come cooked or raw, spiked with booze or fruit or spices. But in the end, what we want for sheer indulgence is a mousse that’s really chocolatey. Add a contrasting finish if you like (see tip) – but when it comes to the actual mousse, don’t mess!
SERVES 6
100g (3½oz) dark chocolate, broken into pieces
50g (1¾oz) butter
100ml (3½fl oz) whole milk
2 medium eggs, separated
40g (1½oz) soft light brown sugar
Cream, to serve (optional)
Melt the dark chocolate, butter and whole milk together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water).
Set aside to cool slightly. When the chocolate mixture is no more than tepid, stir in the egg yolks.
In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites and soft light brown sugar together until the mixture forms soft peaks. Gently fold into the melted chocolate mixture.
Divide the mousse between 6 ramekins, teacups or other small individual dishes and refrigerate for several hours or overnight, until completely set. My favourite way to serve the chocolate mousse is with a little jug of cream on the side to trickle on top.
Sometimes the best recipes are the simplest. Recipes for chocolate mousse come cooked or raw, spiked with booze or fruit or spices. But in the end, what we want for sheer indulgence is a mousse that’s really chocolatey. Add a contrasting finish if you like (see tip) – but when it comes to the actual mousse, don’t mess!
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s cook book ‘good comfort: best-loved favourites made better for you’ was published by Bloomsbury
Enjoy £10 off
Adapted from River Cottage Good Comfort by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, £27, out now. To order a copy for £17 go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over £20. Promotional price is valid until 24/12/2022.
Olly Smith: Our Bubbly Drinks Expert
Olly Smith: Our Bubbly Drinks Expert
ROUNDS OFF A ROAST
Aldi Estevez Chilean Viognier 2021 (14%) £5.49
Texturally rich viognier like this has a beautiful apricot-peach-mandarin fruitiness, and this sensational bargain even has a flourish similar to gingery spice on the finish.
PERFECT WITH PUD
Definition Sauternes 2014 (13%, 37.5cl) £9.99 in a Mix Six, Majestic
A light glass of lemony sweet Sauternes is not as cloying as many sweet wines, so keep it in the fridge door ready for a small glass with Hugh’s prime pud.
SUPER WITH SQUASH
Ribolla Gialla Visintini 2021 (14%) £15.95, leaandsandeman.co.uk
What a find! This organic Italian ribolla gialla is divinely fresh and lightly floral, a classy drop that has the feeling of a special-occasion bottle.
A BUBBLE OF BLISS
River Cottage Oxney Organic Sparkling Wine NV (11%) £28, oxneyestate.com
This dart-sharp fizz created in collaboration with River Cottage is a delight with Hugh’s Squeak And Bubble, and abounds in tiny, brisk bubbles.
BAG THIS BARGAIN
Asda Extra Special Dão 2020 (13%) £6.50
This is terrific value for a complex Portuguese blend that combines savoury richness with long-lasting flavours. It tastes like a wine you would expect to cost a couple of quid more.
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