Alternatives to turkey: give goose a gander

Every year it’s the same advice: don’t panic, plan sensibly and do what you can in advance. Think about what needs to cook and where, so you don’t end up with a massive food queue of dishes vying to get space in the oven.

If in doubt, buy a meat thermometer, and in general, don’t stuff birds – cook stuffing separately as it can really slow down the whole cooking process. Also, lots of vegetarians love stuffing, so they will be very grateful if it’s baked in a gratin dish. After that, the only bit of sage advice is not to over-cater.

People do nothing but eat on Christmas day, so less really is more when it comes to side garnishes (such as bread sauce), potatoes and vegetables. Cold starters, soups or salads are the best way to kick off proceedings, so I would warn anyone off attempting soufflés for fear of tears and tantrums before the turkey arrives. And remember, most things can be solved, saved and resurrected with a little time and patience. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or better yet, delegate. Merry Christmas.

Jerusalem artichoke and potato gratin

Serves 6

I’m crazy about Jerusalem artichokes, especially as a creamy, velvety soup. This is the very next best thing. We didn’t bother peeling either the potatoes or Jerusalem artichokes, we just gave them a very good scrub. This made the task at hand much more approachable as peeling those small delicious nuggets is a real bore.

This also reheated well enough, so again, it could be done the day before and then given a blast, with some foil covering it, at160 degrees/gas 3, for 30 minutes. Bring it to room temperature first.

3 large spuds

15 Jerusalem artichokes

300ml vegetable or chicken stock

200ml cream

Bunch thyme and rosemary

4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

200g Parmesan, grated

50g butter

Heat an oven to 170 degrees/gas 3. Thinly slice the spuds and artichokes. While you’re doing that, heat up the stock, cream, herbs and garlic. Bring it to the boil, then set aside. Butter a gratin dish generously and layer up the spuds along with a layer of Parmesan, finishing with a layer of Parmesan and some dots of butter.

Carefully ladle in the hot cream and stock mixture and bake for at least an hour. We covered it with foil for the first half of cooking, and then removed it for second half. Also, halfway through, when the tubers are a bit more tender, you can press them down with a fish slice to ensure the layers get submerged in the liquid.

Roasted red pepper and macadamia nut stuffing

Serves 8-10

Veggies will be happy with this one, but coeliacs won’t. None of the other recipes here contain flour or gluten, so try making breadcrumbs with gluten-free bread and maybe substitute 150g fresh breadcrumbs with 75g gluten-free ones, add in more nuts and onions and you should be able to get similar results. This was a really lovely stuffing and went particularly well with the goose.

If this is the only thing on offer for veggies, try adding some diced haloumi to it, and if you don’t want to stuff it into peppers, then just put it in a gratin dish that’s well buttered and bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees/gas 4.

Good knob butter

Good splash olive oil

2 red onions, peeled and very finely chopped

75g pecan nuts

100g macadamia nuts

150g fresh breadcrumbs

2 bunches parsley

Juice and zest of 1 orange

2 apples peeled and roughly chopped

4 sticks celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

Salt and pepper

4 red peppers, cut in half, de-seeded

Heat the butter and olive oil and sweat the onion until it is soft but not coloured. Meanwhile, toast the nuts in a warm oven (140 degrees/gas 1) for about five to 10 minutes (keep an eye on them). Let them cool slightly and then chop them up roughly. Add the nuts to the onions along with the breadcrumbs, parsley, juice and orange zest, apples, garlic, celery and some salt and pepper.

Taste and adjust the seasoning and add a splash more olive oil if necessary. Stuff the mixture into the red peppers. You can store these in the fridge overnight, and when you want to cook them, bake them with another good splash of olive oil for 35-40 minutes at 180 degrees/gas 4.

Mushroom, onion and chestnut soup

I used a tin of chestnuts that was lurking in my cupboard for the past year (about 500g) but frozen chestnuts would also be fine. Make this the day before and then heat it up to serve.

Serves 4

50g butter

2 onions

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

Few sprigs thyme and rosemary

1 tin chestnuts, drained and chopped

200g button mushrooms, roughly chopped

100ml Madeira

1.8l chicken or vegetable stock

Salt and pepper

Chopped parsley

Sweat the butter and onions along with garlic, thyme and rosemary in a heavy-based saucepan for at least five to 10 minutes until uber soft and smelling great. Don’t let them burn or colour, and if you feel that will happen, add a good splash of water to cool things down. Add the chestnuts and button mushrooms and season lightly.

Cook for a few more minutes and then add the Madeira and turn up the heat to reduce the juices by two-thirds. Then add the stock, turn down the heat and simmer gently for about 15 minutes.

Blend until smooth and add some parsley and serve or else cool down fully and refrigerate, then reheat to serve.

Cranberry sorbet

This will ensure you save face if the turkey needs another 45 minutes in the oven that you hadn’t banked on. An extra course buys you time. It’s also extremely pretty. It lasts ages in the freezer – so it’s fine to make ahead of time.

Serves 8-10 as a small course

500g frozen cranberries

300g caster sugar

500ml water

Zest and juice of 1 orange

Cook all the ingredients in a saucepan until the cranberries are very soft. Blend them until smooth and then strain them. Discard the pulp and freeze the juice in a plastic container.

Roast goose

Serves 8

I’m going to cook a goose this year as we have smaller numbers to feed. A 4.5kg bird would still feed eight. Allow 15 minutes per pound or 450g, plus an extra 15 minutes. My bird took two hours and 45 minutes at 180 degrees/gas 4.

1 goose (4.5kg)

2 apples, roughly chopped

Bunch sage

Lemon rind

1 head garlic

Salt and pepper

Few spoons of runny honey

Heat an oven to 180 degrees/gas 4. Remove any surplus fat from the cavity of the bird and discard it. Loosely stuff the goose with the chopped apple, sage, lemon rind, garlic, and season it really well.

Place the goose on a wire rack over a roasting tin, prick the skin (about 15 times) with a fork and then turn it over so that it cooks breast-side down. Every 30 minutes, get a wooden board and a heatproof jug. Remove the goose from the oven and place the wire rack on the board, then pour the fat into the jug. Put the goose back over its roasting tray, baste with some juices that you’ve just collected and keep roasting. After two hours, turn the goose the other way up, brush generously with honey and more salt and pepper and roast for the final 45 minutes.

Leave it to rest somewhere warm for about 15-20 minutes before carving. The juices should run clear if you slice in between the leg and breast.

Roast loin of bacon with dried cherries and plums

The glaze on this is also perfect with a big ham that’s been boiled and just needs an hour in the oven to get it nicely glazed. But if you’re a small gathering, this loin of bacon, weighing about 1kg, would be enough to serve six to eight guests.

1kg loin of bacon

250ml sherry

100ml sherry vinegar

zest of 1 lemon

4 tbsp olive oil

5 tbsp honey

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 head ginger, peeled and very finely sliced

6 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely sliced

1 onion, peeled and chopped

160g dried cranberries or cherries

4 plums cut in half, stone removed

Heat an oven to 180 degrees/gas 4. Put the loin of bacon into a deep roasting dish. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Score the bacon and then pour the glaze over, packing it on as much as possible.

I baked it for an hour, with the foil on for half the cooking time, then removed it for the second half so the sugar could start to caramelise.

Slice and serve with a good spoonful of the glaze and half a plum.

Roast Brussels sprouts

Serves 8

1.5kg Brussels sprouts, trimmed

Bunch thyme

100ml olive oil

Salt and pepper

Drizzle honey

Heat an oven to 190 degrees/gas 5. Toss the sprouts in the olive oil and thyme and season them really well. Put them in a roasting tin and cook for 25 minutes. Add the honey, shuffle them about and give them a final blast.