Nigella's Christmas Kitchen

This is a public service announcement. Nigella Lawson's new series, Nigella's Christmas Kitchen, starts tonight at 8pm on BBC Two. Don't miss it!

PS. Let me know what you think after the show.

Crispy and Fluffy Roast Potatoes

The perfect roast potato is crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Forget the complex creations of top chefs, if you can master the roast potato you will be considered a culinary expert by friends and family. After all, who doesn’t love a good roast potato?



I believe there are 4 keys to making really good roast potatoes. They are:

• Choosing a floury potato, such as King Edward or Maris Piper


• Parboiling


• Proper fat, by which I mean goose or duck fat or beef dripping, which is sizzling hot when the pototoes go in


• A hot oven

Parboiling the potatoes before you roast them is what gives them that fluffy inside as they've already started to cook in the middle before they go in the oven. You don’t need to parboil them for long - you’re not cooking them through, just partly cooking them so that a knife will easily pierce them but not go right through.

When the potatoes are parboiled drain them and rough them up so that the edges aren’t as smooth. I drain them in a colander and rough them up inside it by shaking them about.

The fat you use is the one thing that will make the biggest difference to your roast potatoes. The optimum fat is goose fat. This rich fat makes your potatoes taste amazing. I tend to save this for special occasions such as Christmas. You can also use duck fat or beef dripping, both of which will also make your potatoes taste great. Alternatively you can use olive oil.

Whatever your fat or oil, put it in the roasting tray in a hot oven to heat it up before you add your potatoes. Make sure it's really hot, you want a nice sizzle when you add the potatoes. When I add the potatoes I toss them around in the fat so that they get a covering before putting them in the oven.

The oven should be at a high temperature, at least 200c, preferably 225c. At 200c they’ll take about an hour, depending on their size.

About halfway through the cooking time, when the bottoms of the potatoes sitting on the roasting tray are golden and crisp, turn them over.

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Hotel Chocolat so when they recently opened a branch near me I just had to try their chocolate. Now this was all in the name of research, you understand, and to do a review just for you dear reader. Aren’t I good to you? Well um...ok, so anyway, moving on…

Hotel Chocolat have a fantastic selection of every type of chocolate you could want. Bars and bars of chocolate with different flavours and percentage of cocoa, boxes of beautifully hand finished selections, fruit-filled chocolates that burst in your mouth, pralines, unique slabs of fused chocolate, drinking chocolate, chocolate, chocolate everywhere. A feast for the eyes and for the mouth. The chocolate is smooth, it’s rich, it’s creamy and quite honestly it’s delicious. Perhaps the perfect foodie gift this Christmas?

The Real Thing

Home made gravy is so simple and yet so very special. It’s the make or break of a good roast dinner and once you’ve made and tasted it you’ll never want to use gravy granules again.

Here are the elements and steps for making gravy:

The Roasting Tray
The tray will go on the hob when you start making the gravy so if you’re using gas make sure the tray is flameproof. In my early cooking years I broke a couple of dishes this way with a big bang as they cracked. Avoid pyrex and earthen wear.

Vegetables
I often roast a quartered onion with the meat to give the gravy a good onion base. You can additionally use other vegetables such as carrots and celery. This all adds to the all important flavour. Garlic is good too but remember this is a strong flavour so it will be quite dominant.

Once the meat is cooked remove it from the roasting tray and place the tray on the hob. Leave the vegetables you’ve used for your gravy in the tray at this point.

Remove Excess Fat
Spoon off most of the fat until you’re left with about a tablespoon, making sure you don’t remove the precious juices from the meat which are the primary ingredient for home made gravy. The best way to do this is to tilt the tray so that all the juices and fat are in one corner. The fat is lighter and sits on top of the juices so you should be able to easily see it to remove it.

Thickening
I don’t always add flour but if I want a fairly thick gravy I will add a tablespoon to the tray now. Use plain flour. Stir well over a low to medium heat whilst dislodging all the crusty bits from the tray with your spoon. It will look sludgy and horrible and that’s exactly how you want it to look. The crusty bits all add to the flavour and the flour will start to cook a little.

Liquid
It’s time to add your liquid. Depending on the meat you have, what you have in and your personal taste you can add a glass of wine, port, madeira or marsala if you like. You don’t have to add alcohol but it does give a good flavour to the gravy. I rarely add alcohol to chicken gravy as I find it doesn’t need it, the chicken juices are enough, but sometimes I’ll add a slosh of white wine.

You also add your stock at this stage or even just water if the gravy has enough flavour. Again I find chicken gravy usually has enough flavour so I just use water but other meats tend to need a helping hand. You can add as much or as little stock or water as you like depending on how much gravy you want.

Once you’ve added your liquid bring it to a simmer and keep stirring everything around until it’s well combined. Press on the vegetables with your spoon so that they release their juices

Reduce
Now keep simmering and tasting until you’re happy with the consistency and flavour.

Strain and Serve
Strain the gravy through a sieve and serve.

It’s that simple and takes no time at all. Once you’ve done it once or twice you’ll be able to do it without even thinking in the time it takes to boil the kettle and make up gravy from granules.