Hogmany is the scottish word for the last day of the year and will stretch not only until the next day but also throughout the scottish bank holiday of 2nd January 2008.

The origins of hogmany date back to pagan times and the celebrations around winter solstice amoungst the Norse as well as Gaelic new year customs.

During the day of Hogmany the household would traditionally spend their time cleaning making sure the new year saw in a clean and tidy house, even fireplaces would be swept and it was considered bad luck to see in the new year with a untidy house. There is also the custom of first footing this is the first to cross the threshold of a house after the strokes of midnight on Hogmany. The visitor would bestow a gift of salt, coal, shortbread, whiskey, black bun(a fruit pudding) all of which are symbolic gifts to bring different kinds of luck to the householder. This was a important role and a suitable person would be found to undertake the role of the first footer. It is believed that this first footer would best be a tall, dark, handsome man being dark haired signified a fellow scotsman and was suppose to bring great luck for the coming year upon the household.

 Heres a traditional Hogmanay recipe I was given by a great family friend which I cook every year we all have a piece and a dram of whisky to see in the new year with our first footer!

Hogmanay Black Bun:

You will need - 1 tblsp dried yeast or a fresh piece (size of a walnut), 2 cups warm skimmed milk, 2lbs strong plain white bread making flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 3/4 lb butter. For the filling place these in a large bowl - 1lb currants, 1lb seedless raisins, 8 ozs stoned chopped prunes, 8 ozs chopped figs, and a few chopped dates, 6 tblsp oxford marmalade, 4 ozs flaked almons, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp ground cloves, 2tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cardamom, 1/4 cup whisky and for the glaze 1 egg yolk and 1 tblsp skimmed milk.

For the dough mix together the yeast and milk and allow to work for 15 mins. Sift the flour, salt into a bowl and rub in the butter. mix in the yeast mixture and knead until smooth on a floured worktop. Prove the dough in a covered oiled bowl until the dough is double its original size. All your filling ingredients as above should be mixed together in another large bowl. Then divide your dough in to two making one piece larger than the other. Taking the larger piece of dough flatten this out and lay the filling onto this piece of dough and then knead the filling and dough together until thoroughly mixed in together. Roll out your smaller piece of dough into a circle. Placing the bun of mixed dough and filling in the centre wrap this up completely pulling up the edges to the centre of the top with a pinching action.

Line your 25 to 30 cm cake tin and invert your bun in to the tim pinch side down. Cover and proce the dough for 40 minutes and using a skewer, skewer all the way through several times and glaze with the mixed egg yolk and milk. Now bake for 2 hours at 350 f and eat cold with a whisky at new year for a traditional hogmanay supper.

A wish for a prosperous and happy 2009 to you all keep cooking and I look forward to hearing from you and cooking with you next year!  Jacqui

My mother still loves to cook although her hands suffer terribly with arthritis and she struggles with opening can and jars.  Well I caught her talking to herself, (as we women do), when she said to me ‘I love your can opener, its so easy plus that gadget you use to open jars, I could do with one of those myself’. When I suddenly thought what a perfect gift which santa can bring my lovely mum this christmas, so I have brought her a Culinare can opener and jar opener. She loves them both and hasn’t got out of the kitchen since she’s had them, literally. These two very well designed products, make life so much easier for someone who has problems opening jars and cans or general hand mobility problems as my mother did have, but not any more!

The Culinare one touch jar opener simply opens jars incredibly easilly! Place the One Touch Jar Opener on top of the jar, press and hold the button for 3 seconds, and it automatically clamps the jar and undoes the lid! This device is completely hands free! Safe enough to use on any jar yet powerful enough to deal with the toughest jars. The One Touch Jar Opener will work on the smallest and the largest of jars.

• Opens any jar in seconds
• Perfect for anyone who suffers from problems with their arms, wrists or hands
• Fully automatic and works with batteries
• Batteries included
• Suitable for left and right handed people

For even more easy opening don’t forget the Culinare’s One Touch Can Opener its a must have for all kitchens! It does exactly what it says. It’s a can opener that opens your cans with the simple touch of a button! It is battery operated and the batteries are included. This is a newer model that is built so you can charge your opener once it is low on energy, this way you can never be without it!

• battery operated with batteries already included so it is ready for immediate use
• Place the One Touch on top of the can, press the button and watch it automatically rotate around the rim of the can; easily removing the lid
• best can opener to use ever!
• egnomic, clean and fast
• Hands free
• Opens most cans
• Indispensable tool for those with limited hand mobility
• A handy magnet in the base will lift the lid off the can for easy, clean and safe disposal

Have you found a great gadget to help someone in the kitchen who might otherwise not be able to cook, why not tell us about it?

Well you know what happens, with the best will in the world you will usually have some of your festive fayre left over but think again before you simply place these into your kitchen bin. Take a look below at some of my quick and easy ideas to save our planet from more methane waste and save you pennies by making use of your left overs by giving them a make over to create another dish!

Warming Turkey broth - Simply fry an onion and add turkey stock, pearl barley, diced potatoes, carrots and peas. Add in a can of cannellini beans and a bay leaf. Then simmer for about 40 minutes or until your barley is tender and serve. Great after a braising walk in the cold to work off those extra festive pounds.

Turkey Caesar Salad - Simply toss strips of turkey with coss lettuce and caesar dressing, sprinkle with croutons, parmesam shavings and freshly ground black pepper and its ready to go. Ideal after all those rich dishes.

Spicy Turkey Fajitas - Fry a finely chopped onion and chilli, with sliced red peppers and mushrooms and strips of your left over turkey. Spoon the mixture into tortillas and serve them with sour cream, salsa and guacamole.

Bubble & Squeak - Fry finrly sliced onions until soft, then add in your chopped cooked brussel sprouts and fry for a further 5 minutes (you can add in other left over vegetables too.) Then add in left over mashed potato and stir. At this point you can add the mash potato to the ingredients in a bowl and form into small patties before frying these for about 2 to 3 minutes each side or you can fry as one large pattie until golden on both sides and cutting into slices either way with chutneys & pickles this is great hot or cold.

Finally left over christmas pudding. I hear my friend Jane say as she is the only one in her house who eats christmas pudding but she always makes one. Well why not turn this into christmas pudding ice cream by crumbling your christmas pudding and a splash of brandy into a tub of vanilla icecream which has been softened in the fridge (takes about 30 minutes). Mix this together and spoon back into the tub and re-freeze its delicious served with left over fruits.

So think before you place those left overs into your bin there are some great alternatives to be had with a little thought. Send in your left over suggestions to me, its great to hear from you!

Well you have done all the hard work running around doing the food and present shopping, writing the cards and organising your christmas feast, so lets finish off the setting and nibbles so you to can enjoy your christmas!

Creating the scene for your table can be as simple or complicated as you like. Some of the best set festive tables are made simply from twigs. So here are a few of my tips. Try wrapping ivy around plain napkins for elegant place settings. Space it a crutial part of your christmas table, as when everyone is seated and the foods set upon it, space becomes very limited. So if this is you, your table centre piece needs to be slim but tall. If you have the space make a quick centre piece using holly, mistletoe and ivy tucking elegant coloured pillar candles amoung the foilage, and finish with glitter or even sugar coating for a snow effect. You can create a stylish centre piece by using a cake stand and placing coloured baubles and ribbon curls on this with ivy, which look’s terrific. Or take a tall vase and fill with glass beads or even fairy lights then fill with long stemmed twigs or branches which you can spray with snow or glitter and hang glass baubles and ribbon on; or you could hang your christmas biscuits from my earlier blog ready to be eatten later.  Make sure always though that you have the space for your guest and all your food and more importantly that your guests can see each other to keep conversation flowing and you can’t go wrong.

Effortless canapes, for you to serve your guests :

Seafood Bites - Take a couple of packs of garlic flatbreads and warm through as instructions, then simply slice up into bite size pieces and top with a generous amount of smoked salmon pate, prawns ground black pepper and snipped salad cress and serve.

Pancetta Breadsticks - Why not wrap pancetta rashers around some breadsticks and warm at 180c/gas 4 for about 5 mins for a great canape.

Smoked Salmon Nibbles - Take some potato slices which you have roasted and cooled, pile cream cheese on top and a piece of smoked salmon and dill to finish and serve delicious.

Stuffed Mushrooms - Take 12 mushroom caps and fill with  a mix of crabmeat, mayonaise, chopped celery stick, 1/2 chopped small onion, 2 tblsp breadcrumbs, 1 tablsp lemon juice, 1 tblsp dry sherry, dash of tabasco sauce. Then simply microwave these on high for 5 minutes and serve.

Quick Nacho Bake - Prepare a simply nacho bake for all the pick at by making a mix of 115g double gloucester cheese, 115g cheddar cheese, 1/2 diced red onion, 2 tblsp of diced jalapenos peppers and 4 tblsp fresh chopped coriander in a bowl.  On a microwave safe plate arrange a third of a big bag of tortilla chips and top with a third of the cheese mix and continue to layer finishing with cheese mix layer. Then cook on high for 2 to 3 minutes until cheese melts and bubbles and serve with sour cream and taco sauce, everyones favourite.

Savoury Spirals - take 225g puff pastry, 100g pitted finely chopped green olives, 1 crushed garlic glove, 25g parmesan grated, freshly ground black pepper, 1 egg beaten and paprika to dust. Simply roll out your pastry to 20 by 25 cm approximately and mix together olives, garlic, parmesan, pepper together in a bowl. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and spread the olive paste all over the top. Then tightly roll up to form a swiss roll from one long side to the other and place this in the frige to chill for about 30 minutes. Using a sharp knove cut in to thin slices and place on a baking tray and dust with paprika. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 220c/425f/gas 7 until golden and cool on a wire rack and serve.

Stilton & Mushroom Pate - Heat 1 tblsp olive oil in a frying pan and cook 75g sliced chestnut mushrooms and 1 tblsp chopped fresh sage for about 4 minutes until soft, drain and put on one side. Beat 100g crumbled stilton, 40g butter, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tblsp brandy and seasoning until fluffy (use your electric whisk). Then fold this into your sage and mushrooms. Line 2 ramekins (non-pvc cling film) and divide mixture between the two. Smooth top and chill for at least 3 hours. Turn out to serve with toasted foccacia or a selection of crackers.

Whats your favourite party nibble? Send in your favourite nibble to tempt us all?

May I wish you all a terrific Christmas and Keep reading the blog to get through New Year and another great 2009 full of great Food and great company! Best Christmas Wishes Jacqui X

Keeping with tradition, have you been to a Christmas Carol Concert yet? our annual concert held in the village square, by candle light, beside the enourmous christmas tree takes place this week. I must admit its superb. Everyone gets in the spirit and enjoys some christmas cheer! Along with this my family feel it just isn’t christmas with out a evening at our local theatre enjoying abit of slap and tickle humour of our local christmas pantomine. We all enjoy it, the theatre group always manage to get full audience participation and you can’t resist to join in, can you? with something for every age catered for.

Well I thought I would tell you a marvellous tale of culinery delights, which made our christmas that extra special one year!

This is one of those moments our family always recalls and it always brings a smile.  Christmas Eve in our house is manic the family decends on our little house to become full to the brim, its great to get everyone together. Its a bit of a family tradition that I have tried to continue. My grandmother being one of a number of children with her own 6 children would host Christmas. I remember them fondly as a child we would all be there and we all helped, cooked and enjoyed ourselves, she truely kept the family spirit alive. I do the same with my sisters and their families join us, aswell as my children and their families and other friends and family. Its a case of all of us joining in. The games become very competitive as it did on this particular year. We decided to have a competition between the women and the men to make the best mince pies. What fun we had, against the clock each groups representatives set about their task supported by the others. All the little children had by now become very tied and including my daughter Emma, had retired to a bed in one of my back bedrooms. Away from the noise we were all making, while all the fun continued downstairs. What a mess we had made of the kitchen and abit of a food fight broke out. I have to say on this occassion the girls had the edge just, and we laughed so much. Everyone recalls it. It got very late as we tossed a coin for who was going to chew rudolf’s carrot, (so carefully placed with a mince pie for santa and a shot of sherry too by the children earlier). Mark drew the short straw and set about creating the plate to look like santa had called for the children.

We tried between us to clear up the mess we had all made and after all feeling rather merry, and the christmas dinner well in hand we retired to our beds. It was abit like the waltons on TV taking 30 minutes for all of us to say good night to each other and also trying to bring quietly, (which is no mean feat) a sack of presents for each child to be placed at the foot of their beds and sleeping bags.

At last a huss decended on the house at some unearthly hour of the morning. Then the screams and shouts of children and one particular high pitched squeal of my little 6 year old daughter at the time Emma could be heard above all else. To the extreme we thought something was wrong and all ran to her aid. As we gathered around the christmas tree in our front room there was one little girl whose smile was so big it filled her face, when we asked what on earth was wrong it was amazing:

It wasn’t the huge sack of presents which were still by her bed, but she was stood by santa’s plate which had all been eatten (as we know by mark earlier). But, it was something else, as she pointed down to the floor, “Look!”, she screamed “its really santa, he’s really been look at his snowy footprints”.  It was one of those moment’s to cherish, as all the children looked down and gasped in amazement at what they thought were santa’s snowy footprints. While all of the adults giggled as we realised in all the fun and games and mayhem of christmas eve, we had all walked floury footprints around the house and Mark had taken them straight to Santa’s plate. None of the children realised there was no snow outside, they just all knew he had really been!

It was marvellous for something so simple had made a christmas so very special and we all remember this particlaur christmas with great fondness even now!

Whats you great christmas moment? Let me know, can you beat this one?

Grandparents and parents a like love a homemade gift, even friends and aunts and uncles. Here are some great and easy sweets to make. Whether you want to place them in a homemade box or brought box to give as a present or even WOW! factor on christmas day to serve your own superb truffles with port and wine or coffee. They are so easy even the kids can make them.

In order to make things like truffles for instance its always a good idea to have a range of mixing bowls to hand in your kitchen. I have a selection of ceramic and stainless steel and I use some for baking and others for whisking etc so make sure you have a range to assist you in a wider range of cooking. Another great gift idea is to take a good mixing bowl and fill it with ingredients for a dish, cake or something like biscuits or truffles. Cover with cellophane and a ribbon and a great gift for the little and large cooks in your family or friends.

Chocolate Chestnut Truffles - 120ml double cream, 275g plain chocolate, 15g butter, 2 tblsp brandy or rum, 175g unsweetened chestnut puree, 50g unsalted pistachio nuts finely chopped, 1 tblsp sifted icing sugar, 2 tblsp cocoa sifted. Put cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil, remove from heat and add chocolate and stir until melted, add the buuter, brandy or rum and mix well. Pour the mixture into a bowl and refridgerate for at least 2 hours, until it starts to firm up. Beat the chestnut puree until smooth and fold into the chocolate mixture and refridgerate again until firm. Dust your hands with a little icing sugar and taking small amounts roll in to ball shapes the size of a walnut. Roll 1/3rd of the truffles in pistachio nuts, 1/3rd in icing sugar and 1/3rd in cocoa then return to the fridge to firm up before serving or boxing. (Keep refridgerated)

Cream Truffles - Melt 225 broken dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Then stir in 142ml Double cream, 2 tblsp Tia Maria and 2 tsp instant coffee until dissolved. Chill in the fridge for about an hour until firm, then shape spoonfuls in to balls and roll in cocoa, white, dark and milk chocolate shavings and store in the fridge until needed.

For an alternative to the above use white chocolate and replace the tia maria and coffee with 2 tblsp of Malibu Coconut liqueur. You can then roll and coat in coconut or white chocolate shavings/fine gratings.

Tasty Truffles - Another version which my lot enjoy is this one including cake crumbs if you have some left over from making your trifles (see my earlier blog 6/12/08 terrific trifles). Melt 150g broken dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simering water. Meanwhile mix together 100g cake crumbs like madeira and 50g ground almonds. Stir in the dissolved coffee liquid made up of 1 heaped tsp instant coffee in 1 tblsp hot water and 2 tblsp amaretta liqueur, rum or brandy. Pour in the melted chocolate and stir well. Chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes and form mixture in to small balls by hand. Roll some in cocoa powder, some in chopped almonds, Some in chocolate or coconut. Pack your sweets in a box or cellophane and store in the fridge. If you did want a non-alcoholic truffle you can replace the alcohol with orange juice and roll in orange one hundred and thousands.

Enjoy yourself and have fun let the children experiment if they are helping too and let them decorate homemade boxes with snowmen and santas etc!

While we are all busy running around, thinking about the food for the actual day, and of course preparing the house with decorations, besides writing christmas cards to post before the last posting date, and not to mention christmas present shopping, attending the nativity plays, and carol concerts; I’m sure I’ve missed something!

Anyway, let us find a few hours to have some fun with young or old. My mother loves to help me make these great christmas biscuits, which we not only save in a tin for guests but hang on the tree too. Even my son joins in, although his icing of the angels can become a little naughty by the end of the night, but good fun and laughter is had by all!

So inbetween the seventh batch of mince pies I have made this year, of which I am beginning to wonder if my sister is collecting them and selling them at work, its time to make our christmas biscuits!

Firstly check out the biscuit cutters available if you haven’t already got some here. Prestige actually do a cookie factory  (see left), which I have to say is a fantastic present for either children who love cooking or a cook who makes their own biscuits as the battery powered cookie maker can make 2 different sized biscuits, with 25 different shapes available at the touch of a button.  

My biscuits take only minutes to make, then simple cut out any christmas shape you fancy, including making your own template from greaseproof paper if you wish.

You will need: 275g plain flour (plus extra for dusting), 1 tsp each of ground ginger and ground cinnamon, a pinch of both ground nutmeg and ground cloves, 1tsp bicarbonate of soda, 125g butter, 40g dark brown sugar, 50g caster sugar, 4 tblsp golden syrup and 1 medium egg, beaten. Also icing sugar, natural colours and decorations and finally ribbon to hang your biscuits.

Firstly sift the flour into a large bowl and add the ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, bicarbonate of sode and a pinch of salt. In a separate bowl place the butter and add both of the brown and caster sugars. Whisk this with an electric whisk until light and fluffy and then add the golden syrup along with your flour mix you prepared earlier and anough of the beaten egg to bring it all together and mix well. Wrap this dough in clingfilm and chill. (You can make this and chill overnight if you wish.)  Preheat your oven 180c and gas mark 4. Divide your dough in two. Roll one peice out on a lightly floured surface until 5mm thick. Cut out your biscuits. (If you intend to hang your biscuits on your tree make sure you make a hole in the top of the biscuit using a skewer inorder to thread a piece of ribbon through once cooled down to hang your biscuit on your christmas tree with.) Carefully transfer your cut dough to a non-stick baking sheet (as previously covered in my blogs). Repeat with the remaining piece of dough and then bake them for 10 to 12 minutes until golden and just firm. Place your cooked biscuits onto a wire rack to cool down.

To decorate - Make up some icing sugar using cold water and pipe on to your christmas shaped biscuits to make characters or pipe the edges, decorating with any decorations of glace fruits or sweets. Allow the icing to set. You can then store your biscuits in a airtight tin for guests or gift wrap as a perfect gift for grandma or grandad or even an aunt. (They will keep for a week)

One word of warning though, watch out for the family dog, ours mastered very quickly how to remove a biscuit when we left the room, leaving only the ribbon on the tree and the tree still standing. So we have to make sure there higher up the tree now! Have fun and enjoy!

Well if like many others your contemplating your festive dinner, one peice of serious kitchen equipment which gives me a great result every year is a ‘Roast n Rack’ system.

Whether your roasting Turkey, Goose, Duck, Chicken, Cockerel, or even game this system can give you superb results.  Both friends and relatives have followed my choice and own and use a ‘roast n rack’ system too.

I like the Prestige roast n racks . I have brought this over the years too as a gift.  They are simply indestructable and easy to use.  Prestige is such a well known household brand which is over 50 years old and well know for quality and performance, by making products which fit the task at hand.

Prestige 20264 - Professional Roast ‘N’ Rack features:

A three coat non-stick exterior with a Non-stick roasting rack which are oven safe up to 260°C/500°F/gas mark 9. With riveted cast handles and suitable for all cooking methods except induction this system, and it comes with a lifetime guarantee from Prestige too.

To use your roast n rack, you would place your turkey breast-down, so juices flow into the breast, legs, and thighs for tender, juicy results, which lets the Turkey self-baste while speeding cooking time too. The racks actually adjust on some models so they can hold chickens, other game & poultry,  roasting joints and ham. The rack will then fold flat for storing. Some systems use a silicone rack, rather than stainless steel, so there is a choice to suit everyone.  Simply let you meat cook to perfection and then use the juices as you wish to make a sauce or gravy, either way the meat stays moist without hours of sitting in drained fats.

Let me know what your thoughts are on ‘roast n rack’ systems if you currently use one, did this option make you decide on a make of oven for instance? Keep checking the blogs for great receipes to help you through the festive season.

Here’s a selection of some great flavoursome stuffings which you can make in to stuffing balls or stuff the Turkey neck with or even just bake in a overproof dish the choice is yours. One thing I do know is that to save time you should consider a mini chopping machine These machines not only save you invaluable time from doing all the necessary chopping by hand, but also gives you consistant chopping, slices, dicing sizes. So the results are a better texture and all the ingredients are cooked to perfection, as they are the correct size rather than having some large dice and some small.  So if your not brilliant at chopping, this gadget take’s up very little room and you will just keep getting using it over and over again. Why not ask santa to get you one?

Couscous, nut & herb stuffing - you will need: 175g couscous, 50g butter, 1 medium onion chopped, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, 175g mixed toasted and chopped nuts,  such as walnuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, 3 tblsp chopped fresh coriander or parsley, 2 tblsp lime juice and seasoning.

Place your couscous in a large bowl and cover with 300ml hot water then leave to stand for 10 minutes then simply fork through to separate the grains. Melt the butter in a wok or frying pan and fry the onion until soft, stir in the spices and fry for 30 seconds. Then stir in the couscous, nuts, coriander or parsley and lime juice season and mix well. Make sure you cool completely before using to stuff the neck of the turkey with.

Chestnut, cranberry and pork stuffing - you will need: 225g pork sausage meat, 225g fresh brown breadcrumbs, 175g fresh cranberries, 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme, 400g chestnuts in brine (or fresh chestnuts, pierced, cooked and peeled) and seasoning

Mix together all the ingredients apart from the chestnuts in a large bowl. Then roughly chop the chestnuts and add to the meat mixture and mix together throughly. Spoon into a greased dish or shape into balls and bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 180c/350f or gas 4.

Apple, Pancetta and Sage Stuffing - you will need: 25g butter, 1 tblsp olive oil, 1 large spanish onion chopped, 4 celery sticks diced, 125g brazil nuts chopped, 450g pork sausagement, 175g breadcrumbs, 225g bramley apples cored and chopped, 2tsp fresh sage chopped, zest of 1 lemon, 1 large egg yolk, 10 thin slices of pancetta and olive oil to drizzle.

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large frying pan and gently fry the onion, celery and brazil nuts together for 5 to 7 minutes until soft and golden and allow to cool. Tip into a large bowl with the remaining ingredients, except the pancetta and oil and mix together and season ( you can reserve halve for stuffing the turkey neck and make halve into stuffing balls the choice is yours). Roll the stuffing in to balls (no bigger than golf balls) cut the pancetta in to strips placing 2 strips around each ball to form a cross around the stuffing balls. (You can keep these in the fridge in a sealed container until ready to cook). To Cook transfer to a roasting tin and drizzle with the oil cover with foil and cook in a preheated oven 190c, gas mark 5 for 30 minutes removing the foil after halve way through.

Tell me about your favourite stuffing? I always serve two types of stuffing so everyone gets a stuffing they like. I place one  in to the neck of the Turkey while I form the other stuffing into balls to serve with gorgous top quality pork chipolata sausages and rolls of the best smoked bacon.

Lets start with this delicious recipe for a great spiced red cabbage for you to serve on christmas day with your turkey or game or even serve up with jacket potatoes and left overs on boxing day its fab! Then We will do Sprouts and bacon lardens, Carrots and parsnips in parsley butter and not forgetting the roast potatoes!

Spiced Red Cabbage - You will want: 500g shredded red cabbage, 1 red onion thinly sliced, 1 apple cored (corer) and chopped, 2 garlic cloves chopped, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 tbsp caster sugar, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, 20g butter cubed and 2 tblsp redcurrant jelly

Place cabbage. onion, apple and garlic in a large ovenproof casserole and toss to mix. Combine spices, sugar and vinegar and toss into the cabbage mix. Dot the top with the butter and cover tightly and bake in a preheated oven for 1.5 hours at 150c/300f/gas mark 2, remembering to stir once or twice during cooking. Remove from oven season to taste and stir in the redcurrant jelly. (This can be made ahead of tome and reheated in a pan for around 15 minutes, make sure you stir when reheating.)

Sprouts with bacon lardons - You will need: 1kg baby brussels timmed, 1 tblsp butter, 200g bacon lardons, 1 red onion finely chopped and a little olive oil.

Cut a cross in the base of each of your sprouts with a sharpe knife and boil in a large saucepan of salted water for about 6 to 8 minutes and drain. Meanwhile heat the butter with a little olive oil in a frying pan and add the bacon lardins cooking for about 4 to 5 minutes stirring. Add the red onion and sprouts and stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes, then simply season to taste and serve.

Carrots & Parsnips with parsley butter - You will need: 500g carrots peeled, 500g parsnips peeled, 150g butter, 6 tblsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley and 1 tblsp runny honey. (Make sure you have a good peeler)

Cut your carrots and parsnips in the finger size batons and boil for 6 to 8 minutes or until just tender with slight bite. Meanwhile mix together the butter and parsley, drain the carrots & parsnips and transfer to a serving dish. Stir in the parsley butter and toss to mix well, season to taste with salt and pepper and drizzle with honey before serving immediately.

Crispy Roast Potatoes - You will need: 1.8kg king edwards potatoes peeled and cut into chunks, 4 tblsp of both goose fat & beef dripping or 8 tblsp sunflower oil for vegetarians, 4 tblsp breadcrumbs, 6 fat garlic gloves unpeeled and large pinch of paprika.

Put potatoes in a large saucepan of salted water and boil, boil for 5 minutes then drain well return to saucepan plave lid on and shake well to roughen the outer edge of the potatoes. Put the goose fat & beef dripping (or sunflower oil) into a large roasting tin and put in a preheated oven at 190c or gas mark 5 to heat up. When smoking add the hot potatoes, dried breadcrumbs, garlic and paprika and seasoning of salt and black pepper and toss the potatoes in the hot oil until completely coated. Roast for 1 hour turning after about 25 minutes then roast until tender, golden and crusty around the edges, then serve. If you find your potatoes need to brown further just turn up your oven and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Check out meaty sides and stuffing ideas to help you in my next blogs.