Help me decide what to serve for main course, xmas day. Please!!

[PossumInAPearTree]

Only three of us. One is vegetarian so I'm not even considering him at the minute. I will make him something nice and vegi though.

Dd will not eat beef or pork. She reckoned a while ago she was vegi so a while ago in a nice farm shop I bought a nice joint of beef and stuck it in the freezer thinking I would have that and ate something vegi.

Dd is now back to eating poultry.

I was watching Gordon Ramsay xmas cooking the other evening and after watching him sticking lemons in a turkey and rubbing loads of butter under the skin I feel a bit inspired to have turkey now. Have only done turkey crowns before which weren't fab. But this turkey Ramsay did looked great.

But a turkey for one adult and one child seems crazy. And expensive. Chicken just doesn't seem very exciting. But I guess if I bought a nice free range, organic one and did what Ramsay did to it would it be nicer than normal?

Other possibilities are a goose or a duck but I've never tried goose or duck before. Pheasant?

I'm not a fan of turkey so we buy a posh chicken from a local butcher. There's a massive difference between that and what you get in a supermarket. It made the best gravy I'd ever tasted.

Simple roast chicken with fancy veggie sides you can all eat

Get a skin on turkey breast. It might be a bit much for 2 but will do sarnies/curry/etc after :-)

I'd buy a really good chicken and cook it inside a roasting bag which keeps everything moist and succulent. Do the GR method and add orange and lemon segments, a little garlic and red onion and lots of herbs inside the bag too.

Probably more useful, get some ideas for really interesting veggie side dishes. Stir fried sprouts with roast chestnuts and orange zest, red cabbage braised with beetroot (you can buy this ready done by the real mash company or something like that) piles of really crisp roast potatoes and parsnips. Oh and stuffed onions with a bread and herb based stuffing. Reduce your veggie gravy down a couple of times to intensify the flavour.

Guinea fowl? They're only small, so one each!

I've never had a chicken from a butchers, are they lots nicer than supermarket ones? Sounds a good choice.

The ones from the posh butchers/farm shops are! They're much more expensive (I think I paid £20 for one to feed four last year) but definitely worth it. The flavour in the meat is fab.

Have the beef yourself as planned. You can get a chicken or turkey leg and roast it for your DD, or do a fancy poached/stuffed chicken breast. She might have changed her mind again by Christmas anyway.