Jamie: Keep Cooking at Christmas episode 1 – Jamie’s back with two brand new Christmas specials full of delicious festive recipes for a magical time, whatever your plans. Whether you’re cooking for fewer guests than usual or want to rustle up easy edible gifts to share, embrace the holiday season and keep cooking!
Jamie shares his gorgeous festive food gift ideas, including a sumptuous roasted mulled wine ham, flavoured cheeses and a yule log, and shares some time-saving tips to plan ahead for the big day.
Jamie: Keep Cooking at Christmas episode 1 recipes
Mulled wine glazed ham
“Beautifully finished with a sticky mulled wine-inspired glaze, this is Christmas ham at its finest. Fragrant and full of flavour, it makes the perfect festive centrepiece. Plus, it’ll give you a stash of beyond-delicious leftovers. ”
Method:
- Take your meat out of the fridge and bring it up to room temperature before you cook it.-
- Place the gammon in your largest pot, then strip in the woody herbs and add the bay. Roughly chop the celery and carrots, peel and quarter the onion, and squash the garlic cloves, then add it all to the pot with the chilli and peppercorns.
- Cover with water, bring to the boil, then pop the lid on and simmer gently for 2 hours, or until the meat is tender, turning it halfway, topping up with water occasionally and skimming away any excess fat.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Transfer the gammon to a large roasting tray (save a little of the stock for later), then carefully remove the skin and discard, keeping the fat on the meat. Score the fat in a criss-cross fashion, then drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil. Roast the gammon for 20 to 30 minutes, or until lightly golden.
- To make the glaze, spoon the marmalade into a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat, pour in the red wine and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
Method part 2:
- Add the spices and bay, strip in the clementine zest using a speed-peeler, then pour in the pineapple juice, saving the fruit for later. Allow to bubble away and reduce by half, then switch off – it should be thick and syrupy.
- When the roasting time’s up, take the tray out of the oven, then arrange pineapple rings over the gammon, securing them with a few cloves. Arrange the rest of the pineapple in and around the tray, then pour the glaze over the meat.
- Spoon ½ a ladleful of the gammon stock into the pan you used to make the glaze, scrape up all the sticky bits from the bottom and pour into the tray, ensuring all the gammon and pineapple is coated. Roast for a further 20 minutes, or until beautifully glazed, basting with the glaze every 5 minutes.
- Remove the glazed ham to a serving platter, ready to slice hot, cold or at room temperature. Pour any remaining glaze from the tray all over the ham, and arrange the pineapple slices around it.
Baked cheese – Jamie: Keep Cooking at Christmas
“Tunworth is a creamy, Camembert-style cheese – it smells fabulously funky and tastes intense, rich and savoury. You can bake this studded beauty straight away to enjoy as a festive starter, or give your embellished cheese as a gift that’s ready to cook. Simply pop it back in the box once you’ve studded it, and finish it with a gift tag that has the cooking instructions on. Oh, and remember to keep it in the fridge (not under the tree!). ”
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
- Leaving a 1cm rim around the edge, cut the rind off the top of the cheese, and discard.
- Poke the rosemary sprig and cranberries into the cheese. Peel the garlic, then finely slice with the chilli, and poke those in, too.
- Roughly chop or bash the walnuts in a pestle and mortar, and use them to fill in the gaps, then drizzle with 1 teaspoon of oil.
- Cut out a round of greaseproof paper and place in the bottom of the box, pop the cheese back on top (this will prevent any cheese from escaping as it cooks), then bake with the lid off for around 15 minutes, or until beautifully gooey. Delicious served with toasted sourdough or crunchy crudités, for dunking.
Scrumptious yule log – Jamie: Keep Cooking at Christmas
“This indulgent and delicious triple chocolate yule log is filled with an amazing chocolate hazelnut spread and whipped cream, then topped with a luxurious chocolate buttercream. If you’re looking for an edible gift you can give friends and family, nothing says ‘I love you’ like this epic cake. ”
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4, and line a 25cm x 35cm baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- To make the sponge, first separate the eggs. Then, using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks with a pinch of sea salt. Gradually whisk in the icing sugar, then, one-by-one, whisk in the egg yolks until really pale and light. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder, add the vanilla bean paste, then fold everything together with a large metal spoon, so you keep in as much air as possible.
- Spoon the batter into the lined tray, then gently and evenly spread it out. Scatter the hazelnuts on a separate tray and bake both for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the sponge is just cooked through and springy to the touch.
- While it’s still hot and soft, turn out the sponge onto a large sheet of greaseproof paper (35cm x 45cm) on a flat surface. Peel off and discard the baked piece of greaseproof. With one of the longest sides in front of you, fold over the excess paper, then roll up the sponge with the paper inside (as it cools, this will set the shape but prevent the sponge from cracking). Leave to cool.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and butter for the hazelnut spread with a big pinch of sea salt in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
Method part 2:
- Once cool, blitz most of the toasted hazelnuts to a completely smooth paste, then mix into the melted chocolate and butter. Put one half of the mixture into a jar for another day (see tip), pour the remainder into a tin or bowl, then pop both into the fridge for 2 hours to set.
- For the filling, whisk the cream and icing sugar to soft peaks. To assemble, unroll the sponge so it’s flat, removing the paper. Spread the hazelnut chocolate spread all over and up to the edges, then repeat with the cream. Along one long edge, dot on the cherries and drizzle over a tablespoon of the juices from the jar, then grate on the clementine zest. Re-roll the sponge and pop into the fridge.
- Meanwhile, make your buttercream. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, then remove and leave to cool. Beat the butter in an electric mixer until pale, then, with the mixer still running, gradually add the icing sugar and cooled melted chocolate.
- Take the log out of the fridge, chop off a quarter at an angle – that’s the branch – and position it on your serving board like in the picture, using a splodge of buttercream to keep it in place. Evenly cover the whole log with buttercream, then use a fork to decorate it. Blitz up the reserved hazelnuts and dust them on top, along with some desiccated coconut, then decorate with plastic Bambi figures, whatever you like – go to town!