The 12 tips of Christmas: How to prepare for the unexpected and still make it special

Where do you start with prepping for Christmas this year? That’s the question we put to chefs, food producers, and drink extraordinaires across the UK. 

The general consensus seems to be to plan for a feast regardless, but be prepared to spend the festive period with fewer people that you might usually, and get inventive with leftovers. 

Here’s how you do that...

Tip 1: The time to plan is now

The one certainty we have this Christmas is we all need to eat (and drink). So, the sooner you start planning, ordering and shopping for your festive menu, the better. This is especially the case if you’re ordering in. Most food delivery services are expecting to be busier than ever this year, with more people at home for Christmas, so take the precaution of booking your delivery slot a few days earlier than usual if you can.

Also, plan for more people than you expect and make the freezer your new best friend in case you end up catering for less. That’s all well and good, but what’s on the festive menu exactly, you cry? Well, we asked for hints and tips for that, too...

Tip 2: The turkey

If you’re going for the Christmas classic, here’s the basics to help you to decide on what to order. According to Pipers Farm, for a traditional whole turkey, the rule of thumb is two portions per kilo. So, a 3kg turkey crown will feed around nine people (or three people, over three days).

Organic turkeys are slow-grown and so have been on the ground since July, so it is too late for farmers to produce smaller birds, explains Coombe Farm Organic.

If you find you end up with a larger bird than you need, Field & Flower suggests you butcher your turkey when it arrives, turn it into a crown for Christmas Day, and freeze the bits you cut off to use at a later date.  

If you’re cooking the whole bird remember white meat can be dry once cold, so darker meat is better for leftovers. The legs and wings have more fat so keep moisture for longer and work well in leftover curries and pies.

Tip 3: Vegan centrepiece: A swede pretending to be ham

Of course a vegan option doesn’t have to imitate a meat one, as award-winning chef and climate change campaigner Tom Hunt is fully aware. But this recipe from his latest book Eating for Pleasure, People & Planet is a fabulously festive Christmas dish.

“Swede is scrumptious roasted whole, however, coating it with sugar and mustard makes it irresistible, tipping the level of satisfaction to the extreme,” says Hunt. “This dish makes a great centrepiece for any table and is perfect served hot or even cold the next day, when I love it sandwiched between two thick slices of bread with extra mustard and plenty of watercress.”

Ingredients: 1 swede, about 500g; 12 cloves; glug of extra virgin olive oil; 30g unrefined sugar; 20g mustard. To serve: sauerkraut; watercress (serves 4-6).

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Score the swede all over with a knife, cutting about 1cm into the flesh in a criss-cross pattern.  

Stud the top with cloves, arranging them evenly over the surface. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle lightly with salt.  

Wrap the swede in a large sheet of unbleached parchment paper and place in a small ovenproof dish. Roast in the oven for 1 hour, then remove the parchment and return to the oven for a further 30-60 mins, or until the swede is well cooked.  

At this point, remove the swede from the oven and turn down the temperature to 120C/250F/Gas Mark 1. 

Mix the sugar and mustard together in a small bowl and coat the swede all over with the mixture. Return to the oven and cook for 20-30 mins.

Carve at the table and serve with sauerkraut and watercress, or set aside to cool and serve sliced in sandwiches.  

Tips 4 & 5: Leftover soups

Leftovers are the biggie, of course! Luckily, recipes to turn these into pretty much anything other than bubble and squeak are abound. So, we asked two chefs for two specific ideas on how to elevate our soup game. These also make really nice ideas to share with friends and neighbours.

Tom Hunt’s invent-your-own-soup recipe

“Leftovers are a blessing!” insists Hunt.  “Relieving the pressure on the next meal or the one after that. Think of leftovers as ready meals, or at least a part of one. Store leftover food in the fridge for up to five days or the freezer indefinitely, just remember to build them into your weekly meal plan.”

Here’s his foolproof step-by-step guide to inventing your own soup.

Recipes from Eating for Pleasure, People & Planet by Tom Hunt, published by Kyle Books, £26, octopusbooks.co.uk

Tom Barnes’s winning leftover turkey broth

“It would be a great shame to miss out on the traditional Christmas turkey this year due to the pandemic,” says Tom Barnes, Simon Rogan’s executive chef of L’Enclume and Rogan & Co, who you may also remember as a finalist from this year’s Great British Menu.  

“Of course, a turkey is too big for only a couple of people, so with the leftovers why not try this light, flavoursome broth for the next day? It’s a lovely alternative after a day of rich food.”

Turkey stock

Ingredients: Bones from the turkey; 2 carrots; 2 onions; 4 celery sticks; 1 head of garlic; 1 leek; 5g thyme; 1 bay leaf.

Chop the bones from the turkey and roast in the oven at 180C until golden brown (approx 20 mins).

Peel, wash and chop the vegetables into small pieces then sweat the veg in a pan with a little oil until lightly caramelised.

Put the roasted turkey bones into the pan with the vegetables and cover with water. Simmer stock for three hours, strain and reserve the stock.

Turkey broth

Ingredients: 3 litres turkey stock; 750 ml mirin; 300ml soy sauce; 50g brown sugar; 150g finely sliced ginger; 1 head of garlic, halved; 5 shallots, roughly chopped; 4 strips mandarin rind; 4 cinnamon quills; 4 star anise; 3 red chillies, roughly chopped.

Bring all the ingredients to the boil, turn down to a simmer and simmer for three hours, strain and reserve the stock.

Then shred the turkey leftovers and add them into the hot broth. Add a handful of chopped shiitake mushrooms and allow to cook for 2 mins.

Add a handful of sliced bok choy and allow to wilt in the broth

Finish the broth with slices of fresh spring onion, red chilli and finley sliced ginger to your liking.

Serve with either steamed rice or noodles (both good!).

The broth will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge or will be good in the freezer for up to a month. If freezing, freeze the broth and the turkey only, add the other ingredients fresh once the broth has been defrosted and brought back to the boil.

Tips 6 & 7: Entertaining drinks and nibbles  

Master of plant-based cooking and award-winning chef Kirk Haworth’s zero-waste cocktail and canape pairing will impress your guests and, importantly, can be prepared in advance. Who would have thought that two cans of chickpeas would be the key ingredient?

Oven-roast chilli chickpeas

Ingredients: 2 cans chickpeas; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1½ tsp chilli powder; 1 tsp black pepper; 1 tsp cumin; ½ tsp smoked paprika; ¾ tsp kosher salt.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Rinse and drain the chickpeas. Keep the brine in a separate bowl.  

Place the chickpeas on a towel and pat gently to dry. Place another towel on top, then use your hands to rub the chickpeas and remove as many of the chickpea skins as possible. Do this once or twice; it should only take a few minutes and it’s not necessary to remove all of the skins.

In a medium bowl, stir together chickpeas with the olive oil, chilli powder, black pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, and kosher salt.

Pour chickpeas onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread them into a single layer. Bake for about 45 to 60 mins until crispy and dry, shaking the pan every 15 mins. The exact bake time varies, so watch closely in the final minutes, taste test, and remove when the chickpeas are browned but before they become very dark and hard. Allow to cool for about 10 mins before storing; the chickpeas will crisp up even more as they cool. Stored in an airtight container in a dry cupboard, the chickpeas will last for up to one week.

Smokey glazed almonds

Ingredients: 450g almonds; ⅓ cup sugar; ½ tbsp salt;  ⅛ tsp white pepper; 1 tsp chilli powder; ¼ tsp cayenne pepper; 1 tsp Spanish-style smoked paprika; 1 tbsp garlic powder; ½ tsp ground cumin seed; 50g chickpea brine; 1 tbsp water; 3 dashes tabasco sauce; ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce.

In a mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix. Add the almonds and the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread out on a tray and bake at 180C for 10-15 mins until golden. 

Aquafaba clover club

Ingredients: 35ml gin; 15ml lemon juice; 15ml dry vermouth; 15ml sugar syrup;  3 raspberries; 15ml Aquafaba from chickpeas; ice (makes one cocktail).

Create the sugar syrup by combining 50g of sugar of your choice with 150ml of boiling water, and stir. Cool and store in a glass bottle in the fridge. Carefully place your cocktail glasses in your freezer, for several hours if possible.

Combine all of the ingredients from the recipe in a blender with 3 ice cubes. Blend until fluffy and the ice cubes have disappeared. Pour into a frozen glass.

Tips 8 & 9: Alcoholic drinks

Are impromptu visits going to be a thing over Christmas? We assume not, but there are no certainties this year. So, always having a bottle of something in the fridge to serve to people who come to you, or to take if you’re visiting someone else, goes without saying.  

You might want to make sure your wines are vegan (Pale Fox Prosecco and Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial are two sparkling recommendations from Kirk Haworth).

If you want to make something a little fancy here’s a recipe from Ryan Chetiyawardana, aka Mr Lyan, who has won an incredible amount of awards for his innovation in the international bar scene.

He says: “Having drinks prepared for the season, or even having pre-made liqueurs, such as our Plum kernel Baileys) can mean there’s always a perfect drink to quickly knock up for friends dropping in. Drinks lengthened with bubbles also provide the perfect feeling of celebration!”

Plum kernel Baileys

Perfect notes that are evocative of the holiday period, but with a complexity and balance that feels more considered and nuanced.

Ingredients: 400ml Empirical Spirit The Plum, I Suppose; 300ml double cream; 300ml condensed milk; 5ml instant coffee; 5ml vanilla pod seeds.

Scrape seeds from vanilla pod and place into a NutriBullet or blender. Combine other ingredients and blitz briefly. Strain into a clean bottle and refrigerate. Serve into delicate cocktail glasses, or pour over ice and garnish with dark chocolate.  

Bottled St Clements

Ingredients: 400ml VSOP cognac; 100ml Merlet Triple Sec; 150ml Lillet Blanc; 5ml Angostura bitters.

Mix all then bottle. To serve, chill and serve over ice or serve in a highball over ice and top with chilled ginger ale. Garnish with an orange wedge studded with cloves.

If you want to serve something fancy but don’t want to make it yourself, check out cocktail delivery kits from the likes of award-winning Soho-based cocktail bars Swift and Nine Lives.

Black Cow Vodka has launched a limited-edition Christmas spirit, which is essentially the ingredients of a Christmas pudding macerated in vodka. Serve neat, or in bubbles.  

Tip 10: Non-alcoholic drinks

For a non-alcoholic treat, Mr Lyan’s Gluh No-wine (Glühwein, get it?!) also tastes wonderfully Christmassy.  

Gluh No-wine

Ingredients: 25ml Seedlip Spice 94; 35ml tart cherry juice; rosemary; 100ml ginger ale; lemon wedge.

Add all ingredients to a wine glass filled with ice. Stir, add more ice, then add chilled ginger ale. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

There’s also some great non-alcoholic options on the market including aperitif Everleaf and sparkling wine alternative Real Kombucha. 

Tip 11: Gift food ideas to hand-deliver

Whatever tier you’re in, the reality is people still may feel unsafe mixing with one another. Of course, spending Christmas with me, myself and I is an understandable choice for many. But the gift of food is a nice way to show you care.

If you can do some doorstop visits or deliveries then homemade soup in a beautiful jar is almost as good as a hug (see tips 4 & 5 for recipe ideas).  

Bottling a homemade cocktail is also a great idea (see tips 9 and 10). “Having something that has nostalgic flavours can be a wonderfully contemplative drink to have solo,” says Mr Lyan. Alcoholic cocktails could also make Zoom calls a little more fun, too. Beware, this could be a dangerous game depending on potency, so always make cocktails responsibly.

Tip 12: Gift food ideas to order  

If you need to send something via post then Simon Rogan at home has an incredible five-course fine-dining experience to be delivered for one person or for six. Pipers Farm’s Foragers Feast Box of sloe gin and soft and creamy goat’s cheese also makes for a very seasonal gift.  The Exploding Bakery Letterbox Brownie is also a tasty new gifting service that delivers freshly made, delicious and ethical (because all profits are shared among the people that contributed to making them) brownies to the letterboxes of those you care. 

Why not wash it all down with a specialist Christmas coffee package from Old Spike Roastery? It puts 65 per cent of profits into supporting people experiencing homelessness through training and employment at the company’s dedicated barista school, so it’s a gift that keeps on giving.  

Lizzie Rivera is founder of sustainable lifestyle site Live Frankly