Christmas food hits and misses

[NotAnotherJaffaCake]

What were all your food hits and misses? This year we had:
M&S turkey crown - win, piece of piss to cook and loads of moist flavoursome meat, according to the meat eaters. Added bonus of gluten free stuffing for the MIL
M&S vegan nut roast thingy with bulgar wheat - bought as I was rather uninspired but eaten even by fussy DC1. Lovely fruity nutty thing.
Puds - made Christmas pud, raspberry roulade and trifle, and they were all great.

Misses:

Saint Delia of Norwich sprouts with chestnuts - followed cooking times etc to the letter. Using 8 shallots would have given me more shallots than sprouts, and sprouts were still hard.
Also Delia Parmesan parsnips - made them dozens of times so no idea what I did wrong.

I also need to do more roast potatoes today as we don’t have enough for leftovers!

What worked for you?

*They were down to £2 btw. :-p

O Angie, if you must! Halve them, fry gently in butter for 3 mins or so, add enough stock to cover and boil rapidly for about 5 mins. Sprinkle with toasted nuts of your choice.

Vitalogy
you may beat me to them as I have to stay in for a delivery but I will be there in a shot as soon as I can be , running shoes are already at the front door !

longwayoff
ooh thanks for the idea, though I will hold of on the nuts as i dont like any but I mat use sesame seeds instead

£2 !!!!! wow thats a very good deal , ( digs out extra large shopping bag to fit loads in )

Aww, shame about you having to wait in not

Will update later save you having to go out

Hits- Jamie Oliver's turkey with cranberry and thyme butter- incredible

Misses- jamie Oliver's red cabbage with pear and chorizo. Not that keen.

Red cabbage, pears, chorizo? Nooooo. Just wrong

Miss
M&S cherry chocolate mousse dessert, it was so heavy and the light mousse described was more like a thick chocolate ganache...nobody liked it

Most of the m&S party food, beige, bland and overpriced

Hit
Aldi Turkey crown, tasty and very moist

Hit. Waitrose salted caramel and chocolate profiteroles served with cherries in kirsch. Extra cream if required. V popular.

I will beat you ! paints go faster stripes on trainers

Hits: boned turkey crowns stuffed with sausagemeat with cranberries and orange zest (not too citrusy). Ham slow cooked in ginger ale then glazed with ginger wine.
No real misses but as we had a houseful I did lots of veg choices: sprouts with bacon, cauliflower, glazed carrots, roasted root veg, spiced red cabbage, white cabbage with caraway, expecting most people to pick a couple they liked. DM took a heap of everything (incl both stuffings, pigs in blankets, gammon, devil on horseback, roast potatoes and colcannon), covered the whole lot in bread sauce, cranberry, gravy, and then didn't enjoy or finish it because it all tasted confused.
It was all good but next year I'll pare back a bit. Fewer guests probably so that will make timings easier also.

@GahWhatever ooh that always annoys me! My DH does this without fail at any buffet type restaurants.

What's a devil on horseback??

@cricketmum84 Devil on horseback is a prune wrapped in bacon held with a cocktail stick. It's an hors d'oeuvre really but is much nicer than it sounds and is delicious with turkey (sweet and salty). I did them as an experiment 3 years ago and now it's a tradition along with the pigs in blankets.

I now have two mushroom lattice in my freezer

I left 3 in the Tesco freezer for you Angie169

@Taffeta was this the roulade ? www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/white-forest-meringue-roulade

Slay - yes! Fab and surprisingly easy

Aldis Blackforest mince pies were not the things of wonder I had been promised..

Hits - the rolled sirloin, cost an arm and a leg but it was perfect! Rare, Beautifully soft and flavourful. I follow the Waitrose method to the letter for beef, and it's always perfectly cooked.

Roasties - I cook in a veg oil/butter mix and baste rather than shake. Sprinkle lots of seasoning mixed with shop bought breadcrumbs. Lovely and crispy.

Sainsbury's TTD Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot - delicious.

Misses - Sainsbury's Chive & leek stuffing. Too dry and muesli tasting.

The roasted veg, had to use the grill oven as we run out of space and they ended up soggy rather than crispy.

Hits:
roast potatoes - Sainsbury Maris Piper are the only ones that do the trick. (I have tried other supermarkets , they fail dismally) . Peeled , steamed , shooketh in the holey bowl then left to cool before being eased into hot oil to be basted .

Had a Vegan Beet Wellington and a Quorn Roast , both nice

Sainsbury TtD cauliflower cheese ( Sunday dinner staple) delicious

Misses:

Sainsburys Taste the Difference New York Cheesecake . Way too sweet and over-vanilla
A Christmas cake I bought from a bakery on a whim , small with marzipan and icing , tasted of pepper !
Lidl stollen - bought the mini ones , very heavy and greasy . Ate about 3-4 from the bag but gave up. I'd also bought the regular sized one , its like a brick, I could club someone to death with it

Sainsbury’s frozen sausage rolls were shite.

Hit - Aldi free range roly poly turkey cooked using the recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Christmas book - really moist and delicious. His sausage meat stuffing was good too.
Hit - homemade chocolate orange truffles - made as presents but there was a bowlful left that I accidentally seem to keep eating.
Miss - the burnt gingerbread that we had to try and salvage for ds2’s teachers - hope none of them ended up losing a filling😬