As the big day approaches, I am starting to make the final preparations for the festive meal.
We are going to have the four bird roast from Marks and Spencers with Parmentier Potatoes and a spread of vegetables.
Hopefully it should all go to plan.
2008 – Year of the Potato
2008 is (according to the UN) will be the year of the potato!
The BBC has a nice series of images on the humble potato.
The humble potato in all its thousands of varieties is gaining more and more importance as a food source for developing nations, and the UN has declared 2008 the international year of the potato.
See the pictures.
Crushed Potatoes
This is a nice accompaniment to many different dishes.
Take some new potatoes and boil for about fifteen to twenty minutes, drain (and importantly allow to dry).
In a large frying pan, fry off some pancetta and rosemary before adding the potatoes. Cook the potatoes and if required crush and then serve.
Don’t visit the supermarket at Christmastime…
Well you walk around the supermarket this Christmas, do not under any circumstances be tempted by the Christmas prepared goodies you see on the shelves. You will find that you are much better off, cooking nice recipes yourself, as often these (so-called) goodies are just full of sugar or have even less of the nice stuff in it then the label or name suggests.
The Guardian sent three foodie experts to test out the goodies from leading supermarkets.
This year, you don’t even need to peel a potato for Christmas dinner. From gourmet seafood starters to exotically stuffed turkeys and hand-decorated cakes, you can buy all your celebration food ready made from the supermarket. But do these time-saving dishes taste any good? Our three expert foodies tested ranges from the five leading chains.
One thing for example, is roast potatoes cooked in duck fat, well you would think that was roast potatoes cooked in duck fat wouldn’t you. Well they aren’t they are roast potatoes cooked with 2% duck fat and a lot of rape seed oil!
Cook your own (organic) potatoes, get some duck or goose fat and use that, don’t buy the prepared veg, cook your own!
Hassleback Potatoes
A different way of cooking potatoes.
Take a spoon, place the potato on it, and then with a sharp knife make some slices ensuring you don’t cut all the way through the potato.
Place the potatoes in the roasting tray and baste the potatoes with a blend of olive oil and melted butter.
Roast for an hour and then grate some parmesan on top (if you so wish) and roast for a further ten minutes.
Really tasty.
Spanish Chicken
Tonight I had a very nice spanish chicken dish (that was cooked for me). Containing tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, potatoes and chicken and cooked in a single pot, it was delicious. The main seasoning was freshly ground black pepper which to me gave it a very spanish feel, as did the potato.