Christmas Food with JP Passion – Delicious Roasted Christmas Veg

Ingredients – Serves 8

• 500g carrots cut into bite-sized pieces 500g parsnips as above
  3 tablespoons light-brown sugar
  3 tablespoons of whole grain mustard
  1 tablespoon of cider vinegar
  50g melted butter
  3 sprigs of fresh thyme
  Sea salt and ground black pepper

Method

1. Add the melted butter, sugar, mustard and vinegar into a large mixing bowl and mix together
2. Add in the prepared vegetables, fresh thyme and season with seal salt and ground black pepper and smoosh around to ensure all the vegetables are well-coated
3. Pop all of the ingredients into a large sealable freezer bag, seal and pop into the fridge until you are ready to roast them on Christmas Day
4. When you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 200° Celsius. Place on a roasting tray and roast for 40 minutes until tender and golden brown – serve immediately and enjoy with the main event and all the trimmings.

I’ve been making this stuffing every Christmas for 17 years now. This is my Nanny Rena’s famous stuffing recipe that when I was growing up was made for all the families on my Dad’s side.

I had to step in and learn how to make it the year my Nanny Rena was sick and spent Christmas in hospital and she kindly agreed to write it down for me.

I still have that handwritten recipe page that used to sit stuck on the inside of my kitchen press, but now I make it from memory and over the years I have adapted it somewhat but my version is still very true to the original recipe.

This is my Christmas Eve tradition; making the stuffing and the smell means for me, Christmas has officially arrived. I promise you it is out of this world.

Ingredients – (Will make enough stuffing to feed 10 + people)

• 225g butter
  1 large bag of white breadcrumbs – around 400g-450g
  1 large onion finely chopped
  3 medium potatoes
  1 large packet of Paxo sage and onion stuffing mix – this adds extra crunch.
  225 good quality sausage meat
  Drop of milk
  Fresh thyme – about 3 sprigs worth
  Sea-salt and ground black pepper for seasoning

Method

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and add the chopped onion and cook on a medium heat until the onion is nicely softened. This will take about 10 minutes
2. Peel the potatoes and cook until tender
3. In a large bowl add the breadcrumbs, Paxo mix, fresh thyme, sea-salt and ground black pepper and mix together
4. Add the melted butter and softened onion and combine all together
5. Mash the cooked potatoes, add to the breadcrumb mixture along with the sausage meat and milk. Mix all together, I find the best way to do this is by hand and squish everything altogether until everything is well combined. Pop into a tray cover in clingfilm and pop into the fridge until Christmas Day. Too cook roast for about 30 minutes covered with tinfoil, remove the foil, give it a good mix and cook for another 10 minutes until golden and crisp on top.

I always make double the recipe as I like to stuff the inside of my turkey. If stuffing the big bird remember to loosely pack the cavity – if overpacked there will not be enough air to circulate and your turkey and stuffing will take longer to cook. My brother Brendan who lives in London, still fights over the extra crunchy bits every year he comes home for Christmas and I’ve no doubt this year will be no different.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas – JP