The Ultimate Cotswold Veg Box Christmas Dinner Guide.
We’ve spent the past year testing and tweaking our favourite roast dinner staples to bring you the ultimate Christmas dinner guide. It’s extra perfect because we’ve made it so easy that you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen on Christmas Day and miss out on the best bits of the big day with your loved ones.
So pour a glass, put your feet up and get hungry.
TIPPLE
There is so much pressure for Christmas to be the most perfect day that it can end up being quite stressful, so I highly recommend welcoming your guests with a cocktail and de-tensing before you start cooking the dinner!
Dip the rim of your glasses into water and then into sugar. Place upside down while they set - in the fridge if there is room!
Mix 1 shot of Limoncello and 1 shot of Vodka per cocktail in a shaker, with a ton of ice.
Pour into glasses and top with Prosecco and a twist of lemon.
Maybe add a smoked salmon blini in the other hand and be merry!
MEAT
I know, I know - we’ve gone rogue and not included the traditional turkey but I don’t think there’s anything more show stopping than a pork loin with perfect crackling and here’s our trick on how to achieve it.
Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees. Meanwhile get the loin out of the fridge and score the fat. Rub a generous amount of sea salt into it and leave to get to room temperature. Just before it goes into the oven, I rub a bit more salt into the fat. Cook the same way as the potatoes, high heat for 20 minutes and then knock it down to 180 for about an hour. This cooks a kilo of pork perfectly but you’ll need to adjust for smaller/bigger joints!
Told you it was easy - the key is starting with a decent quality cut and that’s why we use David Moore’s Family Butchers for all our meat.
SPUDS
Learning to make the perfect roastie is possibly the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done for my waistline.
Plop a generous dollop or two of goose fat (we use this one!) into a dish large enough for a single layer of spuds and place into the oven while it pre-heats. While the oven is heating up, boil some spuds. We use Maris pipers and cut each one into 6 chunks, you can do less if you like a bigger ‘tater but I do smaller for maximum crunch. When they can slide off a knife, drain them, pop a lid on and shake, aggressively. Throw the term ‘rough with a fork’ out the window because that will absolutely not cut it for the perfect roasties. They should look like this –
Then tip into the dish, pop into the oven, along with your pork and leave for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, knock it down to 180 and leave for about an hour, turning occasionally. You’ll know when they’re ready because you’ll want to sprinkle them in salt and eat one. But don’t, because they will be very very hot - trust us.
ROOTS
Honey Roasted Roots were possibly the best thing to come out of my stint at Peach Pubs and they are a staple in the CVB house for almost every winter meal.
Cut some carrots and parsnips into quarters, lengthways, peel if you prefer. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with Hard to Find olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
Pop them into the oven once the pork and pots go down to 180 and leave for about an hour while you prep/cook the remaining bits, turning once. 10 minutes before everything is ready, drizzle them with some Hard to Find honey.
SPROUTS
If you think you don’t like sprouts, you just haven’t cooked them properly. Here’s how we do ‘em:
Score some chestnuts, and pop in the oven for 20 minutes. Once roasted and cooled slightly, give the shell a little squeeze to loosen and then peel. Chop into pieces and set aside.
Rope a couple of little hands in to prep the sprouts and then cut them in half. Blanch them slightly but retain some bite (3-5 mins) - an al dente sprout if you will. Slice some decent quality chorizo Ibérico and cut into small chunks. Get those in a frying pan and let sizzle until the juices come out. Add the sprouts and chestnuts and fry for about 5-10 minutes until browned slightly and serve!
CAVOLO NERO
This is our side dish of dreams and we could eat it by the bowlful. It only takes a few minutes so is worth leaving until the very end while someone else dishes up - oh to be so lucky!
Fry some garlic, chop your cavolo (always add more than you think you need!) and add to the pan along with some salt and chilli flakes. Add a glug of veg stock (about 100ml per 100g of cavolo) and cover with a lid. Steam for about 2 minutes or until the stock has just been absorbed - but don’t let it burn!
RED CABBAGE
This was actually my first attempt at braised red cabbage, I didn’t follow the recipe properly and it received the most compliments at the dinner table!
Thinly slice a red cabbage, leaving the core behind. Thinly slice a red onion. Add both to a saucepan. Pour over a glass worth of red wine (and one for yourself!), about 70ml of cider vinegar, a decent glug of veg stock, add 50g of brown sugar and a healthy teaspoon or two of cinnamon and bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and leave for a couple of hours. The liquid doesn’t need to cover the cabbage, just stir occasionally and season as appropriate.
NUTELLA AND CHOCOLATE
‘BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING’
I’m not going to tell you how to make the best ever Christmas Pudding because
1. It is too late, 2. I don’t know how and 3. Does anyone even like it?!
I am however, going to share my happiest ever accident when I ruined breakfast earlier in the year by letting some croissants go stale and made the most unreal bread and butter pudding (without any bread or butter actually in sight!). I apologise to all croissants everywhere for ever letting you go stale but for this recipe but it was absolutely worth it. I used about 4 large croissants and about half a panettone to serve 4-6.
Rip your croissants into chunks and layer with panettone, chocolate and the occasional dollop of Nutella. Pack in tightly.
Heat 400ml double cream and 200ml milk until just boiling. Whisk 4 egg yolks and 3 tablespoons of caster sugar and add to the cream/milk. Pour over the pudding and let soak for an hour.
Bake for 30 minutes at 180’ and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving with ice cream… maybe even a drizzle of Baileys if you’re feeling extra indulgent.
Minimal effort and guaranteed to send your guests to actual heaven.
And that’s your lot! At this point everyone should be ready for a nap but if not, pour yourself a healthy measure of wine, open the Quality Street and put your favourite Christmas film on (it’s Die Hard in this house!).
Wishing all of our Cotswold Veg Box customers a very merry Christmas after another difficult year. Thank you always for your continued support.
P.S. If you liked any of these recipes give CVB (@cotswoldvegbox) me (@tiramisu.and.toast) a follow on instagram for much more of the same - hearty and sometimes healthy!
