Jamie: Keep Cooking at Christmas episode 2: Jamie gets creative with leftovers and makes a pie with turkey, stuffing, gravy and sprouts, melts cheese into a fonduta and creates an ‘anything goes’ strudel with mince pies and Christmas pudding.
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: Keep Cooking at Christmas episode 2 recipes:
Christmas hodgepodge pie
“I like to call this my Christmas hodgepodge pie. A glorious mixture of all those lovely roast dinner leftovers, enveloped in a smooth, silky sauce and hugged by beautifully crumbly pastry. ”
Method:
- For the pastry, put the flour and 1 teaspoon of sea salt into a bowl, cube and add the butter, then use your thumbs and forefingers to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Beat the egg, then stir into the bowl with 3 to 4 tablespoons of ice-cold water. Use your hands to gently bring it together into a ball, but don’t overwork it. Divide into two pieces and flatten each into a circle (for the top and bottom of your pie), then wrap in greaseproof paper and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Finely chop the bacon, then place in a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat with the butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil (or turkey fat, if you have any). Pick, roughly chop and add the rosemary, then cook for 3 minutes, or until golden.
- Wash, trim and roughly chop the white part of the leeks (save the green part for making stock or soup) and thickly slice the mushrooms, then add to the pan. Season with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then cook for 10 minutes, or until soft and caramelised, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the mustard, then the flour, and pour in the stock – any leftover turkey gravy will add great bonus flavour here, too. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes on a medium-low heat, then turn off the heat and add the crème fraîche. At this stage, you can either leave it chunky or use a stick blender to whiz it to your preferred consistency. Leave to cool completely.
Method part 2:
- Once cold, set aside half of the sauce to serve, then tear up the turkey meat and stir it into the pan, adding some stuffing, if you’ve got it. Trim, finely slice and stir in the Brussels sprouts.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas 3 and grease the bottom of a round 30cm pie dish with a little oil (or leftover turkey fat, if you have any). Roll out half the pastry on a clean flour-dusted surface to ½cm thick and use it to line the pie dish, then tip in your turkey pie filling. Dollop the cranberry sauce on top. Beat the egg, then use it to brush the edges.
- Roll out the remaining pastry to ½cm thick and a little bigger than the pie dish. Use a selection of cutters to cut out shapes in the middle, and set aside. Carefully place the pastry left behind on top of the pie dish and brush with beaten egg, then place the reserved pastry shapes on top, filling any gaps. Trim off any pastry, then roll out again and cut out more shapes, until all the gaps are filled.
- Brush the top with beaten egg, and press a fork around the edges to seal. Bake at the bottom of the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the filling is piping hot.
- When you’re nearly ready to serve, reheat the remaining sauce until piping hot, then take it to the table alongside the pie. Delicious with steamed greens and peas.
Anything goes Christmas strudel – Jamie: Keep Cooking at Christmas
“In Jamie: Keep Cooking at Christmas – at Christmas time, like any other, the Oliver household has lots of leftover mince pies, Christmas pudding, mixed nuts, chocolate, clementines and posh biscuits. I’ve used a humble pack of filo here to bring all those festive flavours together in layers of crisp, golden pastry. Delicious. ”
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Place the butter in a small saucepan on a low heat. As it melts, finely grate over the clementine zest and squeeze in the juice, add the cinnamon, then bring to the boil and turn the heat off.
- Lay out 4 sheets of pastry on a clean tea towel, slightly overlapping, so they cover the tea towel completely, with a little overhang at one of the shorter ends. Working quickly so your pastry doesn’t dry out, drizzle over half of the spiced melted butter, then brush all over, using it to secure the pastry where it overlaps – this will help protect the pastry and flavour it. Sprinkle over 1 heaped teaspoon of sugar to add a nice bit of crunch, then carefully layer the rest of the pastry sheets on top and brush over half of the remaining melted butter.
- Use your hands to crumble the leftover goodies over the pastry from a height, making sure they are evenly distributed, and leaving the two shortest edges empty (about 10cm). Bash up the nuts in a pestle and mortar, then add them to the party and break over the chocolate. Using a box grater, coarsely grate over the fruit (cores and all), break in the biscuits, then drizzle everything with the honey.
Method part 2:
- Fold the shortest edges inwards, then lift up your tea towel at one of the longest ends and use it to help you carefully roll up your strudel.
- Brush a large non-stick baking tray with a little of the remaining butter and confidently transfer the strudel to the tray. Brush or rub it all over with the last of the butter, then sprinkle over a little sugar. Bake on the bottom of the hot oven for 35 minutes, or until crisp, golden, and gorgeous.
- Once the time’s up, leave to cool, then dust with icing sugar and use a serrated knife to cut the strudel into 5cm slices. Delicious served with hot custard, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a dollop of Greek-style yoghurt.
Smoky veggie chilli – Jamie: Keep Cooking at Christmas
“If you want to get ahead, I have a hearty veggie chilli you can batch cook in advance for the perfect winter warmer. Here I’m dry-charring all the veg first to bring bags of smoky flavour. ”
Method
- Put a large casserole dish on a medium-low heat and a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat.
- Prick the peppers, then sit them directly on the gas flame, or under a hot grill, for 10 minutes, until charred (keep an eye on them!). Meanwhile, scrub the sweet potatoes and slice into 2cm chunks (there’s no need to peel them), then char in the hot, dry frying pan for 5 minutes, turning them halfway through.
- Meanwhile, peel the onions and cut into 1cm chunks, then dry-fry in the casserole dish for 3 minutes until softened. Push them to the side and drizzle in 2 tablespoons of oil, then stir in the cumin seeds, paprika, cocoa powder and peanut butter. Add 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and scrape up any sticky bits from the bottom of the pan, then stir in the charred sweet potato.
- Prick the chillies and blacken all over in the hot frying pan or directly over the gas flame. Carefully place the charred peppers on a board, then deseed and roughly chop, adding them to the casserole dish as you go. Carefully remove the charred chillies to a board, then finely chop and add to the mix.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
- Strain the butter beans in a sieve over the casserole dish, so the juices go straight in, then tip the beans into a the hot, dry frying pan and leave them in an even layer, without stirring, until they start to char and pop, then tip into the veg.
Method part 2 :
- Tip in the chickpeas (juice and all) and scrunch in the tinned tomatoes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon, then pour in 1 tin’s worth of water. Finely chop and add the coriander stalks (saving the leaves for later), season with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and stir well, then pop on the lid, leaving a little opening, and cook for 1 hour, or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, scrub the potatoes and dry with a clean tea towel. Prick them all over with a fork and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt, then place on a baking tray and bake for 1 hour, or until crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle.
- For the salsa, peel the onion and thinly slice with the apple, then tip into a small bowl, dress with the lime juice and season to perfection.
- For the cheat’s chilli sauce, blitz the jalapeños and their vinegar with the mint in a food processor until smooth.
- When you’re ready to serve, finely chop the coriander leaves and stir through the chilli with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Grate the cheese and click off the lettuce leaves.
- To serve, cut a cross into each baked spud, pinching the bottoms so they open up, and transfer to serving plates. Top with the cheese, stuffing it in well, then add a good spoonful of the chilli and serve with the lettuce leaves, a dollop of yoghurt, a sprinkling of the salsa and a drizzle of the chilli sauce.
Christmas sausage roll wreath
“This is a Christmas wreath of two halves. First, we have the classic sausage roll, using shop-bought sausages for a perfectly seasoned filling, then we have a veggie cheese roll, packed with a beautiful flavour combo that makes the squash really come to life. It’s big and it’s silly, but that’s Christmas for me, and this sausage roll wreath makes me really happy. ”
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Bash the cinnamon stick, coriander seeds and chilli flakes in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of black pepper until fine.
- Scrub and cut the squash in half lengthways then remove the seeds (see tip below). Cut each half into four, then transfer to a baking tray and drizzle over 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with the seasoning and roast in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until soft and sweet.
- Remove the tray from the oven (leave the oven on) and set aside half of the roasted squash to use another day (see tips below). Use a fork to mash the remaining squash (skin and all) in the tray, then crumble over the chestnuts and sprinkle with the cranberries. Grate over 30g of the Cheddar cheese and mix together.
- Unroll the puff pastry onto a flour-dusted surface, cut each piece in half lengthways (so you have 4 long pieces), then spoon the squash mixture along one piece of pastry and shape down the middle.
- Cut a slit along each sausage and squeeze the sausage meat out of the skins along the length of two pieces of the pastry, then shape down the middle (leaving you with one piece for the plait). Beat the egg with the mustard in a small bowl and brush over the exposed pastry, then fold it over the fillings and gently press out any air with your thumb.
Method part 2:
- Trim the edges and use a flour-dipped fork to crimp and seal them, then cut one sausage roll into 8 and the other sausage roll into 16. Cut the squash and Cheddar roll into 16.
- Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper. Place a small bowl upside down in the centre of one of the trays and arrange the larger sausage rolls around it, leaving space in between each one. Then use the smaller sausage rolls to fill the gaps (as per the picture above). Remove the bowl and place the squash rolls in the centre. Any remaining rolls can be frozen for another time (see tip). Brush all the pastry with the remaining egg wash and sprinkle with the sesame and poppy seeds. Rub the rosemary sprigs and bay leaves with ½ a tablespoon of olive oil, then stick into the pastry around the wreath.
- To make the plait, cut the remaining pastry in half lengthways. Place the tip of the knife near the top of the pastry and cut each half into three lengthways, making sure it remains connected at the top. Grate over the rest of the Cheddar (50g) and then weave into two plaits. Pinch the ends together to join them up into one long plait and form into a circle, patting any cheese that falls off back onto the pastry. Place on the lined baking tray, then transfer both trays to the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden, crisp and bubbling.
- Lay the plait above the wreath and decorate with ribbon or baubles, if you like, before serving.
