Love, Anthea X
Hello,
Who decides to knock down a wall separating two rooms, one being the kitchen, and remove the contents of said kitchen just before Christmas? Only the stupid – or someone so desperate to go out for Christmas lunch they’ll resort to anything.
The good news is, it’s worked and for the first time in years Christmas lunch is not my problem and we’re going out, out – yippee! I couldn’t be happier. Nothing to prepare, no sweating over an oven and no washing up.
I’m going to make the best of it. Next year with my new oven firing on all six burners, I’ll be paying penance and some.
However this doesn’t stop me reminding you of my favourite time-saving tips to make Christmas Day run as smoothly as possible.
For me, good gravy is an art form. I begin the process like a lab technician, well ahead of time, boiling bones from my butcher with veg and herbs. All I have to do on the 25th is add meat juices, a slug of port, and serve.
The other trick is to make my roast potatoes the night before. I learned this in Mary Berry’s kitchen on a How To Use Your AGA course with Liz Earle. My potatoes are peeled, cut with edges, part boiled, drained, shaken around with salt, pepper and a little flour, then tipped into hot fat in a baking tray. I turn them until well anointed, the tray goes back into the oven, turn them again after 20 minutes, back in
