Firstly, I made Jamie Oliver's get-ahead gravy. I saw Jamie making this gravy on his Christmas Special show and decided it looked like a great idea. I made my own stock in my crockpot to use instead of water. I used a chicken carcass, celery, carrots, bay leaves, thyme and garlic.
The make-ahead gravy was delicious, and such a good idea. It made for one less thing to do on Christmas Day.
I also made two (yes, two!) different cranberry sauces to go with the turkey. A raw sauce and a cooked sauce. The raw sauce a friend made for a Thanksgiving Dinner she hosted, and it was amazing! So, I had to ask for that recipe! It's so simple - one cup of cranberries (you can buy them frozen at Moore Wilsons in Wellington), one cup of sugar and one whole orange (just remove the white pith in the centre of the orange). Blitz this all up in the food processor until you have a smooth-ish consistency. A little texture is nice, you don't want complete mush.
For the cooked sauce I used the same ingredients and quantities, and simply put the cranberries, sugar and copped (peeled) orange into a saucepan and boiled it up, as though I was making a jam.
The raw sauce was very sharp and fresh, the cooked sauce was much more deep and intense. It's hard to say which one I liked better, and there seemed to be no consensus on Christmas Day either, so I would say that either is a winner!
I also made stuffing to go with the turkey.
Firstly I finely chopped a carrot and celery and fried this slowly in butter. I took the very small amount of left-over turkey stuffing and some bacon and added this, continuing to fry gently. After removing from the heat I added dried cranberries, thyme, parsley, breadcrumbs, orange zest and orange juice. The mixture was quite soggy.
I greased and lined a loaf tin with tinfoil, leaving it overhanging the tin. I put the stuffing in and covered it with the overhanging foil. I cooked the stuffing in the oven for about an hour. It was delicious!
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