Coffee with the Girls - on that note …

I gave the Girls a run down of what I was “shipping” North for the holidays.

It went something like :

Christmas Day

Parmesan biscuits for the morning

Dry cured bacon for the late morning butties

Christmas Lunch – 5pm

Fillet steaks

Turkey crown, sliced

Gammon, sliced

Pommes Dauphinoise – my version which

is actually Alfredo Potatoes

Roast potatoes

Cauliflower cheese

Carrots baked in lemon and butter

Sprouts

To explain myself :

I made the parmesan biscuits ahead and then into the freezer.

The turkey crown was slow cooked ahead, sliced and then frozen. Ditto the gammon. The fillet was the only element not cooked. Ahead of the game I bought the fillet and cut into similar sized medallions, zip locked flat and into the freezer. Note – ship uncooked food separately.

As for the Alfredo Potatoes, as mentioned recently, I shipped cooked jacket potatoes wrapped in foil and made the sauce, boxed and safe therefore, to transport! Ditto the cauliflower cheese. The veggie option is a cheese and potato pasty, again made again and frozen.

I part roasted the roast potatoes then lifted them out of the oil, wrapped in foil and bagged.

Important note to self – take foil trays for the Alfredo and roasties – only 20 mins needed to finish. Everything goes into a pre-heated oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6.

If I have the time I'll prep the carrot batons and bag, but if that's the only job to be done on the day I'm not complaining. Wrap tightly in foil with butter, lemon and a sprinkle of salt and black pepper and place on a baking tray. They'll need 20 mins ahead of the trays of potatoes, cauliflower cheese and the veggie pasty.

In our family everyone gets a choice for the main course on the Day – the order was three fillet steak, one gammon and me – the veggie!