Two Cracking Christmas-Ready Recipes for a Winter Feast

Recipes

December 2024

Reading time 3 Minutes

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A time for indulgent feasting, this Christmas go all-out and wow your guests with these delicious festive delights from Sarah Rossi

Honey-glazed salmon or slow-cooked gammon - we have your Christmas feast covered.

Orange And Honey Glazed Salmon

This recipe is a show-stopping fish centrepiece for Christmas Day, or a buffet meal. A whole side of salmon coated in a simple but festive glaze, which adds colour and flavour. I like to lay the orange pieces along the middle of the fish as decoration, in slightly kitsch ‘80s fashion, a throwback to Christmases of my childhood.

Serves

Timing

40 minutes

Ingredients

1 orange, zested
2 tbsp runny honey, plus an extra 1 tbsp to finish
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp garlic granules
1kg side of salmon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C fan/200C/Gas Mark Six.

Mix the orange zest (save the fruit for later), two tablespoons of honey, ginger, garlic granules and plenty of salt and pepper into a paste.

Sit the salmon skin side down onto two sheets of overlapping foil (you need to be able to fold them up to make a sealed parcel all around the fish). Pat the fish dry with kitchen paper. Smear the paste onto the top of the salmon (try to keep most of it in the middle so it doesn’t run down the edges as it cooks).

Cut the zested orange into thin slices and sit on top of the salmon. Seal the foil around the fish and bake in the oven for 30–40 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through.

Before serving, drizzle the honey over the orange slices.

TO MAKE AHEAD
Prepare the paste and set aside. Only smear it onto the fish just before baking or the citrus can start to ‘cook’ the salmon a little.

Slow Cooker Roasted Gammon

There is something particularly festive about serving golden, glistening roasted gammon as a centrepiece for a buffet table. My family tradition is to start this off on the morning of Christmas Eve, then serve it with baked potatoes and salads in the evening, going on to nibble on the leftovers at every possible opportunity between Christmas and New Year. Leftover meat can also be frozen – it makes a happy discovery to perk up pies or pastas in January.

Serves

6–8 as part of a buffet

Cooking Time

6 hours

Ingredients

For the slow cook
1 gammon joint (boneless, smoked or unsmoked), about 2kg
1 carrot, peeled and quartered
1 onion, peeled and quartered
3 tbsp mixed spice
500ml cider (dry or medium)
1 litre apple juice
For the glaze
6 tbsp runny honey
3 tbsp soft dark brown sugar
1 tbsp English mustard powder (optional)

Method

Put the slow cook ingredients into the slow cooker. Place the lid on and cook on high for four to six hours or low for six to eight hours. If you can, turn the joint over and baste it halfway through the cooking time.

When the cooking time is complete, take the meat out of the slow cooker and discard the vegetables and liquid.

Preheat the oven to 200C fan/220C/Gas Mark Seven and line a roasting tin with two layers of tin foil or use a disposable tin-foil tray. (This is important, as the glaze is incredibly hard to scrub off!).

Remove the string and layer of skin (if your gammon has them) and use a sharp knife to score the fat. Sit the ham in the lined pan and drench it with the honey. Pat the sugar (and mustard powder if you’re using it) onto the honey.

Roast for 30 minutes until the ham is just turning black at the edges.

TO MAKE WITHOUT A SLOW COOKER
Work out the cooking time of your gammon joint by calculating 30 minutes per 450g, plus an additional 30 minutes. Put the ‘slow cook’ ingredients into a large saucepan and boil on the hob over a medium heat for the total cooking time minus 30 minutes. Drain, add the honey and sugar and finish in the oven as per steps above.

TO MAKE AHEAD
Allow the baked ham to cool, wrap well and store in the fridge for up to 3 days, until ready to slice and serve cold. If you prefer not to cook with alcohol, replace the cider with additional apple juice.