Get ahead prep for Christmas lunch

The day before Christmas:

• Potatoes - par boil your potatoes. Drain. Place in a roasting tin with some oil and salt. Coat the potatoes all over—place in a cold place, ideally a fridge overnight.

• Carrots – peel your carrots, bring a pan of water to the boil – boil the carrots whole for 10 minutes. Refresh with cold water under a tap until the carrots are cool. Slice into your preferred shape—place in a container with orange zest, a little oil and salt. Leave in the fridge overnight. Repeat this process for parsnips.

• Stuffing – finely slice 1 small onion. Grate 1 peeled apple. Lightly fry both in a little butter for a few minutes. Add the apple and onion to 500 g of pork mince. Add 3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs. Chop a small handful of sage leaves. Add a large pinch of salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients with your hands. Form the mixture into gold-sized balls and place in an oven dish or simply leave the mixture as it is in a small oven dish. Cover and put in the fridge.

• Turkey - Remove the giblets, stuff the turkey with half a lemon, a bulb of garlic and rub the skin with oil and salt and pepper. Store in the fridge.

• Red cabbage – finely chop 1 small red cabbage, and put it in a pan. Add 1 small peeled and diced eating apple. Add a tablespoon of soft brown sugar, a teaspoon of chopped garlic, 3 cloves, ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon, and 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Place a lid on the pan or use an oven dish with a lid. Cook on low heat in the oven (about 160) for about an hour or cook on low heat on the hob. Keep checking it and stirring. Cool and store in the fridge.

• Get ahead gravy – put a tray of chicken wings in an oven tray with a whole carrot, a whole peeled onion, a bulb of garlic, 2 star Anais, and plenty of salt and pepper. Roast slowly covered with foil for an hour and a half. Remove the foil for the last ten minutes to get caramelization. Remove the bulb of garlic and set aside on a plate. Using a potato masher, press down on the veg and meat. Push all the meat, veg, and juices through a sieve and into a pan. Discard what is left in the sieve. Scrape any brown or caramelized bits off the bottom of the oven tray – add this to the pan. Top with half a pint of water, and half a pint of red wine, squeeze out the cooked garlic and slowly simmer for 20 minutes. Add a tablespoon of cranberry sauce and then whisk in your favourite gravy granules to thicken to your liking. Cool and leave in the fridge overnight.

Christmas day:

• Cook the turkey per instructions. Bring it out of the oven and let it rest before serving. 10 minutes or so for a small turkey and so on.

• Put the potatoes in the oven to roast. After 30 minutes, turn the potatoes. Turn again after another 20 minutes. Cook until golden and soft in the middle. Add more oil or fat if needed.

• Reheat the red cabbage.

• Put the carrots in a large pan on the hob and gently cook in the oil for fifteen minutes. Add a good squirt of honey and a knob of butter right at the end and cook until caramelized. This should take another 10 minutes. Repeat this process for parsnips. You might like to add sage instead of orange.

• Cook the stuffing balls or tray of stuffing until cooked all the way through and caramelized on the top.

• Cook all your other accompaniments, such as pigs in blankets and seasonal greens.

• Re-heat the gravy.

• Take it all to the table and enjoy your Christmas lunch!