I’m a kitchen expert, and you’re making your Christmas dinner all wrong, here’s how to save yourself almost three hours
COOKING the most highly anticipated meal of the year – the Christmas dinner – can be a stressful and time-consuming task.
However, you needn’t spend hours slaving away in the kitchen come December 25.
The kitchen experts at Tap Warehouse have shared six time-saving things you can make now – including roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, and gravy.
Keep reading to find out what you can cook now to free up two hours and 36 minutes of your morning on Christmas Day.
Parboil and freeze your roasties to get the perfect crunch and save 25 minutes preparing them on Christmas Day
Making perfectly crunchy roasties can be a challenge, however, parboiling and freezing them up to a month before Christmas can help to make them extra crunchy on the day.
Peel and chop your potatoes and parboil them for 5 to 10 minutes, then drain and return them to the pan before shaking the pan to make them rough around the edges.
Doing this on Christmas Day would take approximately 25 minutes according to recipes. Once the potatoes are cool, freeze them until December 25.
There’s no need to defrost these on the day, simply add them to a tray of hot olive oil or duck fat and cook in a fan oven at 200°C for 40 – 50 minutes until crispy.
Prepare your stuffing by adding the balls into ice cube trays saving you 40 minutes
Stuffing can be frozen for up to three months, so cooking and freezing your stuffing will save time when preparing the Turkey on Christmas Day.
When you need to use the stuffing, simply reheat it in the oven for 15 minutes at fan 180°C. It would take approximately 40 minutes to preparing the stuffing on the day according to recipes, so doing this now will buy you back time on Christmas Day.
To save space in your freezer, Tap Warehouse recommends using an ice cube tray to make stuffing squares instead of balls, as this will take up less room.
Honey roast your vegetables early to save around 35 minutes on the day
Carrots and parsnips can be honey-roasted and frozen until Christmas day. All you need to do on the day is take them out of the freezer and roast them in the oven for 15 – 18 minutes.
This is much easier than having to honey-roast them on the day which can take upwards of 50 minutes.
Save 17 minutes by freezing homemade yorkshire puddings
Homemade yorkshire puddings are a treat on Christmas dinner, however it can be tempting to opt for frozen ones to save time and the mess of having to make the batter on such a busy day.
Luckily, homemade yorkshire puddings can be made up to a month in advance of Christmas and frozen.
They can be reheated directly from frozen too, only taking 6 to 8 minutes to cook on the day at 200°C. This will save you 17 minutes as it would take approximately 25 minutes to prepare and cook homemade yorkshire puddings!
Freeze your gravy into ziplock bags saving you 15 minutes
Christmas dinner wouldn’t be the same without gravy, however making gravy on Christmas Day takes up another much needed hob space. But did you know that gravy can be frozen for up to 3 months?
We suggest making your gravy weeks ahead, then portioning it into ziplock bags and freezing. Then, on Christmas Eve you can place the gravy into the refrigerator to thaw it naturally before warming up fully. This will save you around 15 minutes preparing the gravy on Christmas Day.
Pigs in blankets are a necessity, so save 10 minutes with this tip!
Pigs in blankets are one of the most hyped up festive foods in the UK, and a novelty only usually eaten on a Christmas dinner. The last thing you want to do is forget them otherwise you could have some very disappointed guests on your hands!
You can easily make your own pigs in blankets using chipolatas and streaky bacon, or a vegetarian or vegan alternative. By preparing them sooner rather than later, you will not only save any disappointment on the day but 10 minutes of your time too!
They can be frozen for up to 3 months and defrosted overnight before cooking for 30 – 35 minutes at 170°C fan.