Episode 2 Nigel Slater's 12 Tastes of Christmas

Christmas is my favourite time of the year.

Once the tree is up and the lights go on,

I'm really in the mood to celebrate.

I think there's no better gift than a feast full of delicious food.

And as a cook, it's using festive flavours

that especially helps to set the scene.

For me, there are certain foods that just taste of Christmas

and each year I try to put a twist on the traditional.

I've already embraced a few of those tastes

in my build up to the holidays.

But as the big day arrives, I'm going to be sharing a few more

special recipes that will make your Christmas something to celebrate.

So here are some delicious dishes to see you

through the big day and beyond.

From sweet treats to the ultimate luxurious roast.

Christmas is a time to let food make you feel nostalgic.

I'm doing this, cos it's the way my mum did it.

But also to create wonderful new memories.

This to me is what Christmas is about.

I'll also be bringing home a few quintessentially Scandinavian

flavours for my kitchen, after an inspiring trip to Norway.

That's so gentle.

So, with the shopping done, the presents wrapped

and loved ones on their way,

celebrate, indulge and enjoy my tastes of Christmas.

So, the big day has arrived and so have the guests.

This is the time to cook up a feast

and make the most of that special time together.

And when it comes to the roast itself, I'm a traditionalist

and I like to cook something easy, but that doesn't mean turkey.

In fact, there's no more time-honoured centrepiece

to the table than a goose.

The biggest decision for me at Christmas

is what bird is going to be in my oven -

is it going to be a turkey, is it going to be a goose?

I always go for the goose.

I love that dark meat and all the fat

and it's the fat that I really, really value.

Some of it is in the skin.

Some of it is tucked inside the body cavity.

There's no point in introducing butter or oil

when you've got all this luscious stuff to start with.

I'm using it to start the stuffing.

As all that fat melts, it'll add bags of flavour to my onions.

Now the heart and soul of my stuffing,

I like a bit of sausage meat.

I pick the butcher's best breakfast sausages and just unpeel them

and then what you end up with is this really tasty stuffing.

When you're cooking with a bird as flavoursome as a goose,

a kick of citrus to your stuffing is always welcome.

You can add the zest and the juice.

This is very rich food -

we want something fresh and bright and clean in there.

By now, my onions are just starting to become tender.

And I don't want a stuffing that's too smooth,

I want it to have a lumpy interesting texture,

so I'm going to add some chickpeas to this.

So crush them down a bit..

..and then they go in with your sausage and lemon.

Plenty of seasoning and some fresh mint

will make the stuffing smell wonderful.

Now some of this is going to end up as little balls around the goose

and the rest of it is going to go right inside the cavity.

So that as the goose roasts,

some of the fat runs down into the stuffing

and just makes it gloriously, gloriously delicious.

And do it by hand, just pack it in.

Save some of the mixture

and make use of the lemon halves to keep it all in one place.

Now there's no need to put any oil, any butter, anything on the bird.

It's all there. You do need to season it.

A bird this size is going to take

a good two and a half, three hours to cook.

Now I want some of the stuffing to be soft inside the bird,

but I also want these little balls which will crisp up.

And then for the potatoes.

It's got to be roast potatoes.

They're the best part of it, and particularly with a goose,

because they just soak up all that wonderful fat.

So about half way through cooking,

time to put the stuffing in and the potatoes in.

What's in the pan is the goose fat of legend.

This is the stuff that makes your roast potatoes the best ever.

And this'll need probably another hour, hour and a half.

There are few meals as highly anticipated

as the Christmas Day roast.

Those rich aroma's will tantalise everyone as the bird slowly cooks.

There is the glorious goose, all the roast potatoes,

almost translucent with fat and all that flavour.

Stuffing balls, ready to go.

You know I love cooking, but I also like taking food to the table.

And to walk in with something like this - glistening and roasted -

it is the most wonderful gift.

If you usually worry the turkey will be too dry,

or that any other cut just won't feel Christmassy enough,

then this year give the goose a go.

Once you've tried this glorious Christmas roast,

the family will always remember it and you'll never look back.

During my build up to the big day, I travelled to Norway,

for some festive inspiration.

So many Scandinavian flavours feed in to our Christmas menus

and the wide-open spaces are a great escape from the busy shops at home.

Not only did I get the chance to choose the tree

for London's Trafalgar Square.

-Good job, good job.

-It's your tree?

-Yes.

But I also managed to truly indulge in some Christmas flavours.

I think it works beautifully.

Take salmon, remote smokehouses on the shores of Norwegian fjords.

The smell in here!

Delicately infuse this fish of the season.

That's so gentle and it's very subtle and mild.

And gravlax, with its classic dill and mustard flavours,

are one of my yuletide favourites.

-Now this is just blissful.

-Would you like a piece?

-That is so gorgeous.

Being such a fresh and versatile fish,

it inspired me to come up with a whole new way

of working this taste into my Christmas.

Gravlax and smoked salmon are a timeless Christmas tradition,

but my new dish deserves its place at the table.

This is actually good enough to be my centrepiece.

I'd be happy to bring this in on the day itself.

Whenever I think of salmon, I always think of cucumber.

They go together perfectly.

Now, because this cucumber is going to be used as a stuffing,

I'm going to discard the seeds in the middle.

Because there's a lot of water in there

and it'll just give a soggy stuffing.

A couple of cucumbers will give you enough for a relish

as well as a filling.

So into the coolness of that cucumber

I want to put some seasonings.

And the first is mustard.

It'll add a welcome intense flavour.

A good five tablespoons will do the trick.

And then a generous helping of honey will sweeten the mix.

And something to sharpen it up -

a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar.

Now for me, salmon and cucumber are ingredients that beg to be introduced to dill.

It is absolutely one of my favourite herbs.

Finely chopped.

And then a good stir up.

Now this is going to be one of the star dishes of my Christmas

and I want to bake this wrapped in pastry.

I just need a piece of ready-made puff pastry

rolled on to a lined baking sheet.

So I'm going to take one piece of salmon...

..and then some of my cucumber stuffing.

Now on top of that goes the other piece of fish.

I want this Wellington to be a real golden showpiece.

It's just having something to bring to the table

that just looks majestic and festive.

Just brush this all the way round the outside of the pastry.

Pull the pastry up, put it over the salmon, sealing the ends...

..and leaving a bit of a gap in the middle.

That way you can see what's going on

and the beauty of the salmon can be seen when you bring it to the table.

And then I'm going to brush it again with a little bit more egg.

By doing this it comes out of the oven glistening.

Give it a good seasoning of black pepper

before it goes into the oven at 180 for 45 minutes.

And the cucumber relish goes into the fridge to chill.

Isn't that beautiful?

So I've got layers of salmon, cucumber and crisp pastry.

A slice of these delicious flavours will delight your guests

at any time - on the big day or beyond.

It's a lovely change to Christmas food,

with something fresh, bright and light.

This dish is a triumph.

It's earned its place on the Christmas menu

and will doubtless be back year after year in the Slater household.

# Jingle bells! # Jingle bells!

# Jingle all the way

# Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh! #

From the bottom of my stocking, to clove-covered decorations,

my next festive taste has been a shining star

of my Christmas for as long as I can remember.

But something bright and refreshing to break up a mountain

of indulgent dishes on the Christmas table is my best use for oranges.

There are lots of flavours that instantly say it's Christmas,

but there's also the smell of things too

and for me the first of those is orange.

And I'm going to use an orange as the base for a fruit salad.

But first some biscuits to go with it.

So I want 60g of butter.

And a couple of tablespoons of caster sugar.

And then the same of golden syrup.

What I'm making here are biscuits that will shine and glisten

and be very crunchy to go with the fruit salad.

And just let that melt with the butter and sugar.

Now I'd like a little bit of spice in here.

Going to put a little bit of ginger in.

Barely a teaspoon.

Now as soon as the butter has melted

and you've got a mixture that looks like thick honey,

then in goes the flour.

About four good heaped tablespoons.

Stir that in.

And because it's Christmas a drop of brandy.

A few roughly chopped pistachios

will add a bit of texture to these festive brandy snaps.

As you spoon on little mounds of the mixture, sprinkle them on top.

Before going in to the oven at 150 for ten minutes or so.

Those biscuits are go to with my fruit salad

and we'll start off with a good juicy base.

I'm using a whole juicy orange, and their juice is quite sweet,

so I like to put something in there that'll sharpen the whole thing up.

So, a nice soft ripe lemon.

And then for real sparkle, I'm going to stick in the juice of a lime.

What we've got here is a lovely bright-tasting citrus base.

So got some little clementines here

and they smell instantly of Christmas

and everyone will get one of these a piece.

So far, so traditional, but now for a few exotic and indulgent treats.

Some glorious mango.

A few jewels of sharp pomegranate.

And finally these little caped gooseberries - physalis.

So that I'm going to chill very thoroughly in the fridge

and bring it out with the warm biscuits.

Now when these come out of the oven,

they are quite soft and very pliable.

Which means I can pop them round my rolling pin

so they make a sort of groovy curved shape.

These warm, rich brandy snaps will make such a delicious contrast

to the fresh, sharp flavours of my fruit salad.

Now I'm just going to take these in to the room.

And then everybody can have some of the fruit

and the orange juice and then can dunk their biscuits.

That will look great on the Christmas table.

When you're desperate for something refreshing, this dish is a cracker.

And served with the crisp brandy snaps,

it still feels wonderfully indulgent.

There are lots of great flavours here,

but the orange for me is the Christmas star.

When doing my Christmas shopping in Norway, I couldn't resist

stocking up on one of Scandinavia's most famous exports.

-Hi.

-Hello there.

The Norwegians celebrate the unique flavour of marzipan.

For them, it's much more than simply something to wrap round a cake.

I know somebody who'd love that.

Can I have one of those please and a marzipan pig?

-And a cake?

-Yes.

-Of course, no problem.

It got me thinking that we all love something sweet

to reach for on Christmas Day afternoon.

So perhaps I could do something

a little more creative with my next taste.

I love the stuff.

Occasionally I'll wrap it round a Battenberg cake

and then I got an idea to put it in a cake.

And I start my little marzipan cakes with 180g of butter.

Some caster sugar. The same, 180g.

And that I put onto the machine to cream

until it's really light and fluffy.

While the ingredients are mixing, lightly beat a couple of eggs.

When the butter and the sugar are really pale and fluffy,

you just start to add the beaten egg.

Next comes 80g of plain flour.

And then the first kick of festive flavour, 150g of almonds.

This is where my marzipan comes in.

Going to drop these little nuggets of marzipan

- about 100g of it - into the mixture.

And what will happen is that when we eat our little cakes...

..we'll just get the odd mouthful.

After a brief final mix,

simply spoon little mounds of the mixture onto some greaseproof paper.

Now so far so sweet.

But what I want is something in each of those

that will balance the sweetness of the marzipan.

A sort of sharp little fruit.

And my little fruits are blueberries.

And then into the oven. 180 for about 30 minutes.

So, as it's Christmas, a little bit of icing sugar.

And then as soon as they're cool, you can eat them.

If you can wait that long!

It's that little nugget of marzipan that makes this.

When you're eating and you suddenly

come across this almost molten marzipan.

It's delicious.

Marzipan is an ingredient we should embrace at this time of year.

These little cakes really celebrate its festive flavour.

They're a subtle yet sublime treat

to round off a wonderful Christmas Day.

The big day may have passed in a haze of great food,

fizz and gifts, but there's still plenty of merriment to be enjoyed.

In fact, the Boxing Day lunch in my house champions

one of the greatest Christmas tastes of all.

Every Christmas I love to have a ham in the house.

I love the juicy pink meat and I love the fat too.

But I also like the crust that I put on it.

This year I'm covering my ham with a bacon crust.

Which I'm going to marinate with some maple syrup -

a good three tablespoons.

And then three tablespoons of black treacle.

Just cover all the rashers

and I'm going to leave this in a cool place to marinate.

Three or four hours minimum

and next time we see that the bacon will be very dark.

These flavours are going to intensify with time

and give my ham a luscious crust.

Now, I think the best way to cook a ham is poached in liquid.

And for me, it's got to be apple juice.

It just imparts a very gentle flavour.

This nice big juicy ham and the apple juice

will tolerate plenty of aromatics.

So in goes the onion - whole, pierced with a few cloves.

You can just throw the cloves into the apple juice if you want,

but I'm doing this cos it's the way my mum did it.

A handful of whole black peppercorns and a bay leaf.

And then a couple of stars of anise

and that will give a very, very gentle aniseed flavour.

And I'm going to bring that to the boil, turn it down to a simmer

and leave it for about an hour and a half on a low heat.

This is one of those dishes that will always

lend a hand over Christmas.

Whenever anyone's peckish, they'll always reach for the ham.

Once it's had its time absorbing all those wonderful flavours,

it's ready for my marinated crust.

Smells gorgeous.

And the bacon has gone really sort or treacly and interesting.

I'm going to spoon a little bit of the marinade over the top.

The perfect partner to ham is, for me, the pumpkin.

This bright, wintry vegetable has been softening in the oven,

seeds removed, trickled with oil

and given plenty of butter and black pepper.

And it's looking great.

A little bit crusty and black on the outside

and then really tender on the inside.

While that rests and gathers its thoughts,

my ham goes into the oven for 15 minutes,

to let its crust darken and the flavours intensify.

By now, the kitchen smells pretty wonderful.

The bacon is glossy.

Nice and crisp in parts.

And it's going to be absolutely delicious.

Got succulent ham in there.

Soft scoop of roast pumpkin.

And then still got a little bit of my apple juice.

Pour that all over.

It's a fabulous plate of food for a cold day.

The Boxing Day gammon never fails to delight.

Thank goodness there's plenty left over.

There's always that moment at Christmas when you think,

"Am I ever going to use up all those leftovers?"

But this is a time that I relish.

Even those little delights sitting on saucers wrapped up in film

can be turned into the ultimate comforting feast.

I call my final recipe my bauble and squeak -

where anything goes, even that classic taste of Christmas...

sprouts!

It's a sort of Christmas one-pan supper.

It needs a savoury base, it needs something to bring it all together.

So over a moderate heat I'm going to soften the onion,

maybe even let it brown a little bit.

It's a dish that welcomes some juniper.

This is a spice that tastes of winter to me,

it's very clean-tasting.

And I've got a bit of ham going in here

so it's going to work very nicely.

So these are my goodies, this is a treasure I found in the fridge.

And it's very tempting when you're doing this sort of left-over dish

to chop everything too finely,

but I like to rip the pieces into chunks and then drop them in.

And I've got some goose there,

I've also got some bits of cold ham.

Keep it chunky.

And a bit of bacon too.

Just tear this into strips.

Got some skin from the goose.

So I'm going to put the soft stuffing in.

And the crisp stuffing balls. That'll work too.

And then I'm going to put these roast potatoes in.

I'm going to break them up,

just push it in around the other ingredients.

Give it a little bit of a stir, but don't over mix it.

Otherwise you'll end up with one stodgy mass - which we don't want.

Now here I've got beautiful roast pumpkin.

This will hold everything together.

Just spread it throughout.

And who would ever cook anything new after Christmas

when you've got all the stuff in the fridge just waiting

to be put into a pan, all these flavours, all this treasure.

And then the special ingredient -

those fresh Christmas greens that didn't make the big day roast.

I think this is the time to use up the remains of the sprouts.

It's just that injection of freshness and vitality

into what is a pan of quite rich sweet flavours.

If, like me, you once felt that sprouts outstayed their welcome

at Christmas, cook them up in this and I guarantee

you'll be surprised and delighted.

You can hear that crust forming on the bottom.

All the flavours of Christmas coming together in one pan.

You know I love the roast,

I love bringing it out onto the table and carving it,

but I'm sorry I'd rather have this.

This to me is what Christmas is about.

This is the perfect end to an indulgent Christmas

and the best way to let sprouts win over even

the most resistant members of the clan.

By cooking them in this unconventional dish,

you'll realise what a treat you've been missing all these years.

This Christmas, let food be a celebration.

Seek out those festive tastes

and let them inspire you to make show-stopping dishes.

If there's ever a time to let food do the talking, this is it.

Let yours say a big cheery Merry Christmas.