Hi guys hope you're well! So I am going to hold your hand through preparing, making, and
roasting the most amazing Christmas roast ham with black pepper and marmalade which is a classic,
it's delicious. So what we have here is a four, four and a half kilo chunk of gammon.
This has already been salted but it's not cooked. So what we do is we put it in a massive pot.
Let it sit in that water for maybe an hour or two, get rid of that water, and that's not cooked right
so we need to poach that. Put it on a heat with some root vegetables: carrots, celery, you can
put garlic in there if you want, a little bouquet garni or a mixture of herbs, I've got some orange
zest in mine, peppercorns. And we'll slowly poach that for an hour and a half - now I've done that.
So what we have here now is the skin attached to the fat. So I'll remove the string like that and
then I need to just pull them out like this. Now what we're going to try and do is keep as much of
the fat on this as possible. We're now just going to take a little pride in removing the skin but
also evening out the fat, so it's basically about that much all the way around. So we've trimmed
that skin off, now I want to use the knife to lightly score the fat, and what that's going to do
is two things: it's going to give you this kind of texture that allows the oven to render the fat
quicker, and go crispier. And once you've gone across the whole ham then simply turn it across
the other way and we'll go in a criss-cross. It's really easy it's really fun, don't spend hours and
hours doing this you've got way too much to do at this time of year. So now I'm going to put this in
the oven for about 20 minutes just to get the fat going and sizzling right, so the oven is at 170
degrees Celsius, which is 325 Fahrenheit. And then I'll come back and I'll show you what to do next.
Okay lovely people! So it's had 20 minutes, and in that 20 minutes
it's just enough time to get a sizzle on. We're going to take our little spoon out. You can angle
the tray a little bit. So we've already got juices coming out and we can start
the basting process. What we've done is just open up this texture to receive flavour. Now,
you can see I'm dusting this quite generously with black pepper, and I like that kick. Salt
is already in the story so we don't need to go anywhere near salt. So on the marmalade just
get that on the top and the heat will just start to naturally melt it anyway. So as time goes on
it gets thicker and thicker until it can't run off anymore, and that is when you achieve perfection.
You can see now can't you, that by creating those little crisscrosses
it's clinging on black pepper and marmalade, an amazing combination with that beautiful ham,
look at that! So this goes in the oven now for an hour, and it's going to go back in at 170 degrees
Celsius, 325 Fahrenheit. And that temperature is a good one because it's not too hot, it's
not too cool, and over that hour it's slowly gonna caramelise and kind of get tighter and thicker and
stick to it more, and keep glazing it until it is a thing of beauty. Right, back in the oven.
Okay so this bad boy has been going for about half an hour, let's have a look, come on! Look at that.
Let's get basting. You can get some of those juices going with a spoon, by all means.
What I've done is get a load of rosemary and tie it up,
and create a rosemary brush - now you might think I'm mad, but I'm going to use
the rosemary brush to not only impart flavour but also pick up that lovely marmalade and put
it back on the ham. It smells amazing, oh my lord! Back in you go, another 20 minutes to go.
So that beautiful ham has had a lot of love, care and attention, it's been poached and it's been
roasted and glazed. Here we are, oh my lord... look, look at that. Guys, look at it! Absolutely
stunning. Shining, salty sweet gorgeousness, so let's get this onto a board. Now while that
is still warm, just put the last remnants of that amazing marmalade on top. As it cools down
it will kind of firm up. I want you to go back to your black pepper and trust me, a beautiful
dusting is going to make a massive difference it's going to be so good. Guys look at that, come on!
That's what we wanted! Juicy, juicy inside, and that gnarly caramelised golden outside.
No matter how you serve that whether it's with a big old buffet - salads, cheeses, breads - or with
some mashed potato or fried egg or some bubble and squeak, that my friends is one hell of a beautiful
Christmas roast ham, enjoy. This year I'm cooking my bird two ways for maximum flexibility. Most
people's Christmas meals are centred around this, the mighty turkey. People are really thinking like
I am, like what size turkey do I get, a big one, a small one? I want to show you what I'm going to
do this year - I'm a massive lover of tradition at Christmas - but this year, I'm gonna change it up
for the first time and I'm really excited about it. So, the way I'm doing my turkey this year is
in two parts. So I'll use one stuffing for both the crown and the legs, it's going to be amazing
they both cook at the same time, they both cook to perfection, they're both really easy to serve.
And we're going to use the trivet, we're going to use the giblets, we're going to make gravy,
this is going to be fantastic. Let's get going so, we have this amazing stuffing,
and take that neck skin and just slip it in there. It's super easy to do but what you get
is a lovely plump side of the turkey like that. That is the crown, and you might just want to do
that and it would be amazing! But this is where the fun starts because I was kind of thinking
okay, what do we do with the legs? When you go to Italy you have the porchetta, the rolled beautiful
loin and belly of pork. And I'm thinking I want to do that with my beautiful turkey legs. So,
I've got my butcher to take the legs off when he did the crown, and debone the leg. Then I can
take this stuffing, use this to kind of patch any gaps, roll it up, and that's what you get.
Don't worry if it's not perfect, the flavours are going to be amazing. So the great thing about this
is the crown and those rolled legs are going to cook at exactly the same time. Look at that!
Get some of those amazing juices there, it looks absolutely sumptuous. Just kiss those
with a little bit of honey, and that will just protect the lovely crispy skin,
beautiful way to finish it. Let that rest for an hour. We'll start with the beautiful
honey-glazed rolled turkey leg. It's beautiful, it's juicy, it's a bit different. Let's have a
little look at the crown here. That really is beautiful turkey crown, look at that.
That cross section of the white meat, the stuffing meat, the lovely gravy here. Come on,
I know you smelled the gravy didn't you? Yeah. You want to try it with a turkey? Yeah. Without doubt,
the kids are the toughest critics. There you go. Mm!
The skin on the brown meat is so crispy, the brown meat's falling apart it's juicy,
and the stuffing is really really good. Can I have some more? Yeah, white or brown? Er, brown.
Cured gravlax of salmon, with beautiful beetroot, horseradish, lemon and dill. It's got Christmas
written all over it, delicious. Here we have a beautiful sustainable fillet of salmon, rock salt,
brown sugar, lemon zest - grate into the salt - horseradish, this is hot and it's fragrant,
and then a beetroot. Vodka, three shots. Mix it up and then we just rub it all over the salmon,
both sides. Turn it, wrap it up, pop it in the fridge for a day and a half and let the fridge
do all the hard work for you Metallic bauble-red amazingness. I'm gonna take a little dill, you can
do this a week before Christmas, two days before Christmas, an amazing starter ready to go. Look
at the colour, come on come on come on come on! Let's have a little try. Oh look at that, oh wow.
Merry Christmas. With more and more of us eating less meat these days, the chances of you lovely
people having a vegetarian around the Christmas table is very high, so let me give you the most
incredible edible present that the veggies are going to kiss you for and the meat eaters are
going to fight you for. Introducing the one and only, veggie pithivier. It's the most incredible
French style pie, a parcel of puff pastry, crispy and gorgeous with layer upon layer of amazing
sweet slow-roasted celeriac, creamy gorgeous mushrooms, and even a little bit of sauce on
the side. Guys it starts here with celeriac. We're going to take the top off, you want to leave the
skin on. Take some olive oil, give it a drizzle up, sea salt, lots of black pepper. Get your
hands in there and have a little rub up. And when that starts to roast on the outside with the skin,
it's going to be truly delicious. Now I'm going to wrap it in tin foil, just put it over
like that and there you go. That now goes in the oven for an hour and a half and we're going
to cook it at 200 degrees Celsius which is 400 Fahrenheit, and the flavours that will happen
in here will be absolutely immense. Now it's time to make the sauce, a lovely Béchamel style
sauce with sweet leeks, garlic, and mushrooms, it's going to be a joy. So I have two leeks.
The ends I'll just take off. Get your knife, run it down the length of the leaf and just go
as thin as you can. Let's get cooking. We're going to put some butter on the white part of the leeks,
get yourself two cloves of garlic slice it up, garlic goes in. Look at that, already smells
amazing. We've got our standard button mushrooms and our chestnut mushrooms, but absolutely you can
upgrade for wild mushrooms at this time of year. Whether you go for the cheapest mushroom or the
most expensive it's still blooming delicious. So in the pan with our mushrooms - cook those
for about 10-15 minutes. And it's this stage of making a sauce that's going to give you the oomph,
the flavour. I'm going to use a teaspoon of English mustard, and then I'm going to use
two heaped tablespoons of just plain flour, that's your thickening agent. And then we're
gonna let it down with 800 mils of milk, and as I add the milk it will start to just get silkier.
We'll let that simmer now, just enough time for me to get some herbs chopped up. So just finely slice
the parsley, you can see it's nice and thick, I'm going to turn off the heat. And there's one
last ingredient, 120 grams of beautiful blue cheese. Have a little taste, oh! Beautiful.
Now let's make the filling. Right let's have a little look. Look at that, there you go,
you see it's caramelised, it's shrunk a little bit. And then slice it like a piece of ham, don't
worry if it breaks or if there's a few bits that sort of plop off. Get yourself a regular bowl,
olive oil, and then just put the cling film through like that. Use your hand to push it
into the corner. And now what i want to do is take beautiful slices of the celeriac,
place that just up the side like that. And it doesn't matter if you do this well or badly,
right, just line the side. Don't panic, don't stress, and then a base like that. That is what
you end up with. Then we're going to go over to our sauce, just put a little bit of that in there,
and then again layer that celeriac. Beautiful, creamy sauce. The last layer push it right around,
and use those last little bits to make your topping. And then at this stage we'll use that
cling film, just pull it tight. Get yourself a little plate so you can weigh it down, and then
if we put that in the fridge overnight the fridge temperature is going to make it really firm,
and then it's really really easy to turn into the most incredible pie. It's gonna be beautiful.
This has been in the fridge so it's firmed up, but then we need to encase it in some pastry.
I'm cheating, I'm using all butter puff pastry, it's even rolled out for us. Take it as a square
like that, all the way, so we now have the base. I've got some egg yolks here. Take our filling,
just turn it out into the middle of our pie like that. And then I'm gonna use another roll and we
want to flap it on top. So line up and just go over, and this is almost like making the most
incredible little Christmas present right. Pat the top, we go to one side right into the corner,
define that shape, and we want to cut about a centimetre and a half around the pie like
this. We don't have to waste this right, you can put parmesan in there a bit of cayenne pepper,
a few little twists, do a nice little nibble. Get yourself a little chair, come down to this
beautiful pie's level. Get myself some flour. Take one finger, forefinger, you push it in, you take
your thumb and forefinger and squeeze around it. And as you squeeze, pinch it at the end,
and you get that. And what's great about this is it seals the two bits of pastry together.
We'll put a little cross in there, that'll let the steam out, and I'm going to give it a really
nice glaze. And this is going to give it the most incredible bronze tan. This is a french pie that's
come truly via Essex, look at that tan, come on! And then I'll take my knife from the centre
and just turn it and score it, and I go back, and then I'll turn it and score it. You do not want to
cut all the way through. Now last but not least a little bit of my offcuts. Cut a little circle out,
find something round, you can just cut out that centre part like that, and then lay that
over our little cross. And you can do that one, two days before Christmas. That is a celebration
of a dish. Now because it's Christmas get yourself a wodge of rosemary, get some olive oil on there,
and dress it up, it's gonna smell nice, look nice, it's like a little wreath. That will be
cooked at the bottom of the oven at 180 degrees Celsius which is 350 Fahrenheit for two hours.
Look at that! It's a thing of beauty.
Yes! This is a veggie dish that meat eaters will fight for, so good.
Come on, a nice little drizzle of the sauce, come on. Just beautiful. Let's go for the end.
Wowzers. Your guests will not know what's happened, merry veggie Christmas!