Christmas Dinner with Chicken and Chestnut & Onion Stuffing.

 The  components were: roast Maris Piper potatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts, sliced chicken breast, a sausage meat and chestnut and onion stuffing, oven roasted sausages dressed in bacon (pigs in blankets), and a chicken and onion gravy.

The main trick is to get all of the components hot at the same time, and delivered to the plate within a couple of minutes. Everything was prepared the previous day. A microwave oven was used to reheat the sprouts and carrot (in one glass tray), the chicken and onion gravy. The chicken slices were wrapped in some aluminium foil, and reheated for ten minutes in a fan-assisted oven. The roast potatoes were reheated in the microwave. The chestnut and onion stuffing was also reheated in the microwave,  along with the chipolata sausages wrapped in bacon (the 'pigs in blankets').

What follows is the initial cooking process on Christmas Eve, which took half the day. I started with the vegetables, the gravy, and the potatoes. That took three pots. Allowed to cool, and placed in the fridge. The  gravy was made with chicken stock and some onion gravy granules.

The chicken breasts (four altogether) were cooked in in the oven, in a lidded casserole dish on a bed of diced onions. cooked for around 45 minutes at 200 deg C. Allowed to cool and placed in the fridge.  The next morning the chicken breasts were sliced with an electric knife. The chicken was very tender when served.

The pigs in blankets were cooked from scratch at 180 deg C, for a notional 25 minutes. I wrapped them in some aluminium foil so they would not burn.  Cooked for twenty five minutes, and then for another five to ten minutes unwrapped, in order to brown.

The next item was the chestnut and onion stuffing. Cooked in the oven as a block, and uncovered, for thirty-five minutes.at 180 deg C,  The sausages can be cooked along with the stuffing, if you watch the timer carefully.

 I've blogged about roasting potatoes before, so search on roast potato for the details. In this case I used  goose fat, which is a popular choice at Christmas, but isn't strictly necessary to get excellent roast potatoes. In a nutshell, parboil the potatoes, drain, shake around a lidded pan, and then roast at about 200 degrees C for thirty-five to forty minutes after drizzling them in goose fat. Watch carefully!

All components of the meal were thoroughly heated and cooked and still hot before serving. All components were on the plate quickly, starting with the sausages and the stuffing, followed by the chicken, the roast potatoes, the vegetables and the chicken and onion sauce. Serve with Cranberry Sauce jelly!