3 Delicious Recipes For A Beautiful Christmas Feast

Impress loved ones with a beautiful table setting and a delicious feast!

Entertaining this festive season doesn’t have to be complicated to be impressive. A simple and wholesome roast meal to wow your guests is only a couple of nifty tricks away. My go-to's this season are the baking dishes from Staub cookware, premium Japanese knives from Miyabi, beautiful Splayd cutlery, and Cole & Mason salt & pepper mills to complete my table. For your feast, there is no doubt that everybody will enjoy a roast chicken made with love and a tasty stuffing. The aromatic flavour of sage will fragrance your roast beautifully when stuffed in between the skin and breast. Then, hasselback potatoes are easy and quick to make with a good Japanese knife for smooth, precise cuts. Be warned, these potatoes may even result in a fight between guests for the last one! Complement your mains with a simple salad of your choice. I usually like to make the most out of this time of the year with colourful and tasty mangoes or pomegranates that are in season. To end, you can’t go wrong with the humble yet wicked tiramisu. Find this delicious Christmas menu below: First main: Roast Chicken with Pistachio and Sage Stuffing Second main: Hasselback Roast Potatoes Dessert: Tiramisu

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Creating your Christmas tablescape

Now that your dishes are sorted, lay the table for a beautiful, festive table setting. Every Christmas I am guaranteed to use my favourite cherry coloured Staub cookware. The baking dishes not only cook the food to perfection, but they are also beautiful enough to be placed directly onto the centre of the table from the oven or fridge. This even minimises washing up – win-win! For all knife tasks, Miyabi's range of extra sharp Japanese knives are my go-to for quick and effortless cutting and slicing quickly. I also love gorgeous serving cutlery such as those by Splayd to add a nice, luxurious touch to my desserts. And to complete my table setting, I bring out my beautiful Cole & Mason salt & pepper grinders as a finishing touch.

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First Main: Roast Chicken with Pistachio and Sage Stuffing

Ingredients

• One whole free range roast chicken
• 50gms unsalted butter
• Two big glugs of olive oil
• 2 bunches of sage
• 50gms pistachios
• 2-3 slices day old bread
• 50gms currants
• 1 Lemon rind
• Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Method 1. Preheat the oven to 180C 2. Place the chicken in a large, good quality baking dish such as the Staub Ceramic Gratin Rectangular Baking Dish 3. Lift the skin on the rear of the chicken, separating it from the breast 4. Slice the butter into four pieces and stuff underneath the skin with the leaves from one bunch of sage 5. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a generous amount of sea salt 6. For the stuffing, in a food processor, blitz together the remaining bunch of sage, pistachios, bread, lemon rind, and salt and cracked pepper until well combined and moist 7. Mix in the cranberries 8. Using your hands, shape the stuffing into a long oval shape and fill the cavity of the chicken with it 9. Roast in the oven for one hour until golden and you can see the cooking juices being released from the chicken (cooking time will vary depending on the size of the chicken) 10. Rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving

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Second Main: Hasselback Roast Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1kg baby potatoes
• 50gms unsalted butter
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bunch of rosemary, thyme or both
• Sea salt

Method 1. Preheat oven to 180C 2. Place the baby potatoes between two parallel positioned chopsticks or two wooden spoon handles of the same height (this will stop your knife short of slicing through the potato) 3. Using a very sharp knife with a very fine blade such as the Miyabi Sujihiki 24cm slicing knife, slice the potatoes at evenly spaced intervals of up to 5mm 4. Place the potatoes in a pot of cold water and bring to a boil on the stovetop for 15 minutes until slightly softened 5. Strain the water from the potatoes and line them up in a roasting dish such as the Staub Ceramic Oval Roasting Dish 6. Dice the butter and scatter on top of the potatoes 7. Add the olive oil ensuring it covers and slightly enters the sliced areas of the potatoes for optimal crunch 8. Sprinkle with herbs and sea salt 9. Roast in the oven for 1-1 ½ hours until golden and crisp

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Dessert: Tiramisu

Ingredients

• 1 cup strong espresso coffee (cooled)
• 200gm savoiardi lady fingers
• 5 medium egg yolks
• ½ cup caster sugar (halved)
• 250gm mascarpone
• ¾ cup thickened cream
• Cocoa powder to dust

Method 1. Pre prepare the espresso and ensure it is chilled 2. In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, mix the egg yolk and ¼ of a cup of the sugar until pale, fluffy and doubled in size 3. Thoroughly clean the bowl with the whisk attachment and whisk the remaining ¼ cup of sugar with the marscapone, cream and vanilla until medium peaks are reached 4. Gently fold the whipped cream mixture into the whipped egg mixture with a spatula until fully combined 5. In a rectangle baking dish such as the Staub Ceramic Gratin Rectangular Baking Dish in 27cm, submerge each lady finger briefly into the espresso one at a time. Place them into the baking dish in a uniform flat row 6. Once you have fully covered the bottom of the baking dish with the soaked biscuits, lather them with a layer of the whipped cream mixture until fully covered 7. Repeat the step of soaking the lady fingers in coffee and continue to create another layer 8. Repeat the step of covering the biscuits in the whipped mascarpone cream mixture 9. Cover the tiramisu with cling wrap and place in the fridge overnight, allowing it to set 10. Before serving, dust with cocoa powder or shaved chocolate 11. Serve individual portions into your favourite bowls. Enjoy every mouthful using dessert cutlery to cut through the tiramisu and capture every morsel of mascarpone

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Next Read: Homemade Christmas Spiced Sloe Gin

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