Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2009/January 2010 | Page 92

life

FOOD & DRINK with Alan Staley

A mouthwatering turkey served with roasted vegetables, crispy roast potatoes and real gravy

Great tips for a perfect
Christmas dinner
This issue I am going to give some
tips and tricks on cooking Christmas
dinner, so as to make the day a little less
stressful. The secret to this is all in the
preparation.
Whether cooking for 2 to 22 the same
philosophy applies, prepare as much as
possible the day before and Christmas day
itself will become a whole lot easier.
This is the basic principle of professional
restaurant cookery ‘mise en place’ or to
‘set up’ meaning to prepare in advance.
Mise en place is the chef’s religion and is
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Alan Staley
The Royal Hotel
Ventnor

the key to a good service; this can also be
applied in the domestic kitchen by doing
some of the following tasks on Christmas
Eve.

oven for about 40 minutes will become
nice and crisp.

1: Boil the potatoes for
roasting.

Green vegetables can be plunged into
boiling water (until cooked to your liking)
and then removed and placed in a bowl
of ice cold water under a running tap for
a few minutes. Drain the water off then
refrigerate. What is the point you may
think. Well when lunch is being served
on Christmas day itself, the hardest thing

Fully cook them but make sure they
don’t start to break up. Gently remove
them from the pan and leave to cool.
Place on kitchen paper overnight in the
refrigerator. They will dry out slightly but
when oiled, salted and placed in a hot

2: Cook as many of the
vegetables as you can.