2.3 kg/41⁄2 lb. turkey crown
1 tsp olive oil
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
1 whole head garlic, sliced in half widthways
3 red onions, peeled and cut into wedges
4 bay leaves
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Maple & ginger glaze
2 banana shallots, peeled and finely chopped
1 x 5-cm/2-inch thumb of ginger, peeled and grated
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp olive oil
Grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of 1 orange
2 tbsp kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp maple syrup
Serves 6-8
Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) Gas 5.
Put the turkey crown into a large roasting pan with plenty of space around the sides. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover the turkey with foil and put into the preheated oven to roast for 20 minutes per kg or 12 minutes per lb. plus 1 hour 10 minutes. Halfway through cooking, add the sweet potatoes, garlic, onions, bay leaves and rosemary to the pan and season. Return to the oven to finish cooking while you make the glaze.
Put the shallots, ginger, garlic and olive oil in a small, heavy saucepan and cook over a low heat for about 5–7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the remaining ingredients, then bring to the boil and cook, stirring, for 3–5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes until thickened. Strain out the onion, ginger and garlic and finely mince using a sharp knife, then stir back into the glaze. Remove from the heat and leave to cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate the glaze until needed.
When the turkey has 20 minutes left, carefully remove from the oven, remove the foil and brush with the maple and ginger glaze. Add the devils on horseback to the pan now, if using. Return the turkey to the oven (uncovered) for the remaining 20 minutes.
Check that the turkey is cooked through by piercing the thickest part with a knife – the juices should run clear. Transfer the cooked turkey to a warm serving plate but keep the veggies and devils on horseback warm in a low oven. Cover the turkey with foil and rest for at least 10 minutes before carving and serving.
Devils On Horseback
12 pecan nuts
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
12 prunes, pitted
12 Parmesan shavings
6 pancetta slices, halved widthways
Sea salt
Season the pecans with sea salt and drizzle with oil, then stuff one inside each prune where the pit would have been (using a knife to make a larger incision if needed) with a shaving of Parmesan.
Wrap each stuffed prune in a piece of pancetta and set aside until ready to cook with the turkey. Alternatively, bake separately in an oven preheated to 190°C (375°F) Gas 5 for 20 minutes.
This recipe is from Roast Revolution by Kathy Kordalis.
Home-smoking is very easy and adds a deep layer of flavour to lots of dishes, including homemade vegan meats or cheeses. Jackie Kearney uses a large lidded pan (only used for smoking) and a steamer basket – the kind that makes a raised layer and adjusts to the size of the pan. Smoking chips are available from cook shops or online. You can cheat by adding smoked essence to the mixture, but this doesn’t infuse in the same flavourful way as actual smoking.
For the roasting pan
1 litre/1 quart vegetable stock
2 onions, quartered, skin on
1 glass of white wine (optional)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
A handful of fresh herbs, such as thyme and rosemary
1 garlic bulb, halved
1–2 lemons, halved
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
For the stuffing
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 slices white or brown bread
12 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
½ teaspoon chopped zest and freshly squeezed juice of ½ lemon
½-1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
50 g/⅓ cup pine nuts
For the dry rub
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried herbs
1 teaspoon salt
For the roast
400g/14oz. vital wheat gluten flour
45g/⅓ cup chickpea/gram flour
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons Herbamere seasoning
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
60 ml/¼ cup tahini
280–400ml/10–14 fl.oz. vegetable stock
2 teaspoons smoked essence (optional)
Large muslin/cheesecloth sheet, approx. 60cm/24inches square
Twine or string
Large handful of smoking chips and foil (or substitute 3 teaspoons smoked essence)
Large lidded pan and metal steaming basket
Serves 7–8
Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F) Gas 4.
Add all the roasting pan ingredients into a large deep pan with 1 litre/1 quart water and set aside.
To make the stuffing, in a large frying pan/skillet, add the olive oil, onions and garlic and fry over a low heat for about 8–10 minutes until well softened. Turn up the heat to medium-high and continue to fry the mixture so that the onions start to brown slightly. Remove the pan from the heat and tip the contents into a large bowl. Leave to cool.
Blitz the slices of bread in a food processor to make fine breadcrumbs. Add these to the stuffing mixture, along with the sage, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper. Roughly chop the pine nuts and add to the bowl. Mix well with your hands. Set aside.
To make the roast, mix together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a jug/pitcher, mix together the tahini and stock (add the smoked essence at this point if using). Make a well in the centre of the bowl, and pour in ⅔ of the stock mixture. Combine the ingredients to make a stiff dough. Add the remaining liquid if needed; the dough should be nice and firm. Knead well for a minute or two, then leave to rest for 5–10 minutes.
Place the dough on the work surface and roll out to an oblong shape about 2–3 cm/®˙–1®˘ inches thick. It is very springy to work with so you will need to be patient and firm. Mix together the dry rub ingredients and scatter on the work surface. Place the flattened dough piece onto the dry rub. Press down slightly, then lift and place, rub-side down, onto a very well-oiled muslin/cheesecloth.
Scoop up the stuffing using your hands and make a fat sausage shape of stuffing down the centre of the dough. Carefully roll the gluten dough up around the stuffing, using the muslin/cheesecloth to help you. Try to seal the ends as much as possible. Twist the ends of the cloth to make a tight fat sausage shape. Tie with twine to secure. Add an additional loop around the centre of the roast if needed.
Place the roast into the prepared roasting pan. Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour 50 minutes. Turn once halfway through cooking. Remove the foil cover and return to the oven for a further 30–40 minutes, turning the oven up to 200˚C (400˚F) Gas 6. Then remove from the pan and set aside to cool slightly on a plate for about 1 hour. Remove the muslin/cheesecloth.
Lay out a large square of foil and place a handful of smoking chips in the centre. Spread out slightly and then wrap the foil around to create a fairly flat parcel. Lay in the bottom of the smoking pan, and stab a few small holes in the top of the foil. Lay the steamer basket on top of the foil package and place the roasted joint on top of this. Put on the lid of the pan and place on a high heat on the hob/stovetop. It usually takes about 5–6 minutes to create enough heat to start the chips smoking. Once they start to smoke, turn down the heat to low, but do not remove the lid as the smoke needs to stay trapped inside the pan. After another 5–10 minutes, I place the pan outside in the garden (but you can keep it indoors off the heat). Leaving the lid on, leave it to smoke away for 20 minutes or so on its own. The longer you leave it to smoke (reheating the chips periodically in between), the stronger the smoky flavour will be.
Remove the roast from the pan. To reheat for serving, the roast can be placed back into a roasting pan, covered with foil and then warmed in the oven at 170˚C (325˚F) Gas 3 for 10–15 minutes or warmed in the microwave on High for 2–3 minutes. Serve in thick slices with mashed potato and miso gravy.
This recipe is from Vegan Mock Meat Revolution by Jackie Kearney.
A Dickensian Plum Pudding
Plum puddings were ideal for special occasions; even the poor who had no oven could boil one up in the washing copper, like Mrs. Cratchit. Eliza Acton had almost certainly read A Christmas Carol; two years after it was published she was the first to rename plum pudding “Christmas Pudding.” Her recipe is still recommended by modern cookery writers for being both light and rich:
This recipe is from Christmas with Dickens by Pen Vogler.
Clash of Stags Cocktail
Top off your festive feast with Jason Clark's Clash of Stags, complete with Christmassy cloves, cinnamon and orange zest. This cocktail was inspired by the desire to create a masculine interpretation of the Espresso Martini for those wanting a heavier hit of coffee and liquor, served in a more robust glass. It brings together two unlikely liquid personalities, both of which use a mighty stag in their logo.
15 ml/½ oz cola
35 ml/1¼ oz Glenfiddich 12 Years Old
22.5 ml/¾ oz Jägermeister
7.5 ml/¼ oz Vana Tallinn liqueur
45 ml/1½ oz cold brew coffee
1 star anise
3 cloves
1 orange zest (4 cm/1½ in)
To garnish
Cinnamon cocoa dust
1 star anise
Add the cola to a chilled rocks glass. Add the remaining ingredients to a cocktail shaker, fill with cubed ice and shake well. Strain into the glass over the cola. Garnish with the cinnamon cocoa dust and star anise.
This drink is pretty versatile with regard to coffee due to the other robust flavours, so give it a go with whatever strong cold brew you have to hand.
Jägermeister and malt whisky work wonderfully together with the cold brew. Vana Tallinn liqueur, a lovely citrus, vanilla, cinnamon, rum-based liqueur from Estonia, is not essential to the recipe, but does pair really well with the other ingredients. If unavailable, it can be substituted with Cointreau.
This recipe is from The Art & Craft of Coffee Cocktails by Jason Clark.