Christmas Menu Ideas

I've got some Christmas menu ideas and lots of them based on vegetables, got some really nice tips for you. Carrots chopped down roughly, doesn't matter what size it is, on a tray, olive oil, salt and pepper, some nice honey, doesn't matter what honey it is, that's the sort of runny honey I use. Ready for the oven, 180 for about fifteen - twenty minutes, take it out, and get some butter through there.

Butter just makes it more luxurious, brings out all the flavour. Get it back in the oven, about another ten minutes, take it out, fresh herbs, just check that your carrots are cooked there. You've got honey, buttery, herby carrots on its own will speak for itself.

Got some leeks as well, they can be leeks or spring onion and with these again, cut down as small or big as you want or as thick, it doesn't really matter. In a hot pan, olive oil, salt and pepper, sweat them out very quickly, add a little bit of white wine to it to take off the edge of it, reduce down by half. Add some cream, a nice double cream, again, reduce down by half.

Cooking those leeks in that reduction, nice and slowly by half, take it off, take the pan off the heat, some smoked cheddar, three leeks, absolutely fantastic, lot of flavour, lots of green vegetables, you've got double cream, you've got your smoked cheddar, a beautiful vegetable for your Christmas Day turkey. Got some shallots, again, I've peeled them down. They can be blanched in, boiling the hot water for about ten to fifteen minutes until nice and soft, take them out, cut them in half, in a pan, with some olive oil and butter, and just caramelize them down.

They're absolutely fantastic to go with a turkey or any kind of meal you're doing for Christmas. If you're not too sure what you're doing, again, bring them to the boil, take them off, cut them in half, in a tray, with some olive oil and some butter, salt, pepper and just take them out when they're nice and golden brown and these will release their own sugar and will caramelize absolutely fantastically, a nice lot of flavour coming from that. Swede, carrot and ginger, an absolute must for any roast.

Peel the vegetables down, chop them down quite small but give them a good boil up with the ginger and adding all that flavour again, it's taken off, drain it down well and what I did say was when you're actually cooking the carrot and swede, add some orange juice as well, that just brings all out the flavour of the vegetables. So, you've added orange juice and water to them to the vegetables with that ginger. And they're just a few tips to spice up your festivity. .