SMALL WINS+: I'M DREAMING OF A DELICIOUS CHRISTMAS
Christmas dinner 101 + the schedule that you need to ensure that you remain relaxed on the day!
Welcome to Small Wins+!
SW+ is a supercharged version of the newsletter for paid subscribers.
In addition to supporting the time and expense that goes into producing the (always free) fortnightly posts, paid subscribers receive a bumper bonus post each month containing a deep-dive into a particular area or category — so far: jam-making, kitchen organisation, pasta, potatoes, chicken and today’s 101, everything you need to know about the Christmas dinner! Consider these a handy reference guide that you can return to again and again.
Love,
Alexina
Deep-dives coming up in 2025: vegetarian cooking, date-night cooking and a personal favourite: pancakes!
I’M DREAMING OF A DELICIOUS CHRISTMAS
Today we are focusing on the Christmas dinner! The savoury side of things, specifically.
I confess that I am a total Christmas traditionalist — probably because this time of year holds deeply nostalgic memories for me. As a child we always spent Christmas at my grandparents’ farm and a very British affair it was too: chestnuts roasted in front of a roaring fire, Christmas dinner with all the trimmings made from scratch by my gran, grandpa’s bad jokes at the dinner table, a cold countryside walk in the afternoon with the dogs and a snooze on the sofa in front of the Queen’s speech.
As a result, you won’t catch me deviating too far from the classic formula when it comes to the Christmas dinner — and the menu that I‘m sharing today is based on recipes that my family have been cooking for many years, often plucked from the pages of Delia, Nigella and Jamie’s Christmas cookbooks (as I imagine is the case for a lot of us).
Even so, I would like to draw your attention to a couple of details in this menu where, as an adult now able to make my own choices, I’ve chosen to deviate ever so slightly from tradition:
Confit’ing the turkey legs is a revelation — no more dry turkey meat over here!
I’m also now sold on turning the Brussels Sprouts into a salad with a crispy chestnut crumble and brown butter vinaigrette
And finally, controversial though it may be, I’ve decided that I far prefer devils on horseback to pigs in blankets!
Additionally, something that my family have always made with big roast dinners — but which I’ve not generally seen done uch elsewhere — is to mash the parsnips instead of roast them. I just love them done like this: it really suits their sweetness and offers a textural counterpart to the majestic roast potato.
More important, arguably, is the fact that I’ve done all the organisational planning and thinking for you! At bottom of this post there is a shopping list, prep schedule, Christmas Day checklist and a PDF with all the recipes should you want to print them off. This has all been done in the hope that producing this year’s Christmas dinner is as straightforward as it can possibly be (although no one said it would be easy).
Finally, I have a joyous treat for you in the form of my friend Octavia’s utterly brilliant Christmas film music playlist. It is cozy and gently festive and happy-making, and I’ve been playing it non-stop this last month. I hope it brings you much joy!
THE MENU
A FEW SUGGESTIONS ON GETTING AHEAD…
It pays to make good use of your freezer and my suggestion is that you make the following elements a few weeks ahead:
Gravy
Cranberry sauce
Braised red cabbage
Blinis (if making from scratch - more on this below)
Mushroom duxelles (if making the turkey crown wellington - more on this below)
Stuffing
The main event is very flexible — I’ve offered you an option to treat the turkey crown like a beef wellington (i.e. cover it in a mushroom duxelle then wrap it in puff pastry) whilst separately confit’ing the turkey legs… However, you have other options:
Keep it simpler by roasting the turkey crown in the normal way. Alternatively, your local butcher might offer something like a rolled and stuffed turkey crown, in which case you could opt for that (which would also save you from having to make your own stuffing)
If you are really not a fan of turkey, you could swap the turkey crown for a roasted and glazed ham (equally as showstopping, I would argue)
To easily feed more people, you could double the turkey leg confit
If you are not fussed about having a showstopping centrepiece and/or are cooking for a small number of people, can I suggest scrapping the crown altogether and simply doing the confit’d turkey legs? They’re so delicious and a lot less faff.
1.
THE QUINTESSENTIAL CHRISTMAS CANAPE
If you only bother making one element of this recipe, make it the cream cheese mix — it’s so good and you’ll never go back to plain cream cheese!
As for making your own blinis, zero judgement if you decide to buy them from the shop instead (as I’ve done many times). This recipe is a Delia Smith one that’s been adapted slightly by Milli Taylor, and I really like it for its enriched, briochy flavour (which comes from the crème fraîche and the yeast). Still, you should know that this very good recipe also exists, which is simpler and gluten-free too.
The blini recipe below will make many more than you’ll need — like, 100 or so — but don’t panic! Firstly, you cook them in batches, so you won’t be at the stove too long (especially if you use a couple of frying pans at the same time). Secondly, excess blinis can be stored in the freezer for other canapé opportunities (dinner parties, New Year’s etc). You could halve the recipe, of course, but it’s a bit fiddly given the relatively small quantities of spelt flour and yeast.
Finally, in the spirit of honesty, only go through with making the blinis from scratch if you possess (or buy) a small squeezy bottle (can be bought very inexpensively online or at catering shops such as Nisbets) — it’s otherwise just too faffy.
Makes 25 to 30 canapés (with extra blinis for the freezer)
Ingredients
For the blinis:
40g (1/3 cup) spelt flour
130g (1 cup) strong white bread flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 tsp (5g) quick/instant yeast or 1 x 7g sachet of dry action yeast
150g (generous 1 cup) full-fat crème fraîche
175ml (2/3 cup) whole (full fat) milk
2 eggs (small/medium), separated
25g (1 oz) butter (unsalted or slightly salted), to cook
For the cream cheese mix:
1 tbsp olive oil (not EVOO)
1 medium banana shallot (or red onion), very finely chopped
8 stems of thyme, leaves picked
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 x 165g (6 oz) pack of Philadelphia cream cheese
Fine sea salt, to taste
To compile:
30 blinis, homemade (above) — or shop-bought ones!
1 x qty cream cheese mix (above)
200g (7 oz) smoked salmon
Dill fronds, to garnish
Equipment
A small squeezy bottle (essential)
A wire rack (you could use a clean oven rack if needed)
A palette knife (useful for flipping the blinis, but not essential)
Temperature probe (useful, not essential)
Method
For the blinis:
Add the salt to a medium-large bowl, then sift over the two flours. Sprinkle the yeast over the top, then briefly whisk it all together.
Add the crème fraîche to a small pan then slowly whisk in half the milk until there are no lumps. Whisk in the remaining milk then place the pan on a low heat. Heat the mixture to blood temperature (37°C) — or alternatively, just until it feels slightly higher than room temperature. Whisk in the egg yolks, then pour 2/3 of the milk mixture into the flour mix and briefly whisk until there are no lumps. Gradually whisk in the remaining 1/3. Cover with cling film and leave to rest in a warm place for 1 hour — after this time the mix should be bubbly and smell yeasty.
Once the hour is up, in a separate (and scrupulously clean bowl) whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Gently fold half of the whipped egg whites into the batter, followed by the second half. Gently pour the batter into the squeezy bottle (if you have bowls with a good pouring lip — e.g. these ones that I have and love! — then you may be able to do this directly from the bowl… if not, transfer the batter to a jug in order to pour).
To cook the blinis, place a frying pan (or two) on a low-medium heat. Place a wire rack to the side of the hob. Add the butter to one of the pans and allow it to melt, then pour into a small but wide(ish) glass or container and place that by the stove. Use a wad of kitchen roll to rub butter over the surface of the frying pan(s) between batches. Working clockwise, squeeze out 3cm blinis into the pan. Once little bubbles start to appear on the surface (2 minutes or so) flip the blinis over, cook them for another 20 to 30 seconds then transfer to the wire rack (you’ll get the hang of the right heat and timings for your hob once you’ve done a couple of batches). Repeat until all the blinis are cooked. Serve straightaway or allow to cool completely before wrapping in baking parchment and foil to store in the fridge/freezer (see full details under ‘make ahead’ notes at the bottom of the recipe).
For the cream cheese mix:
Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium-low heat. Once warmed up, add the shallots, thyme leaves and a pinch of salt. Sweat down the shallots until soft and translucent, around 10 to 15 minutes.
Stir the balsamic vinegar into the shallots and then take the pan off the heat. Allow the mix to cool before stirring it through the cream cheese until well combined. Keep chilled until ready to use.
To serve:
Preheat the oven to 140°C/120°C fan/275°F/gas 1.
Reheat the blinis in their tin foil parcels for 5 minutes.
Top the blinis with a teaspoonful of the cream cheese mix, a roll of smoked salmon and a sprig of dill.
Make ahead: The cream cheese mix can be made a couple of days in advance. The blinis, once made, can be frozen in foil parcels lined with baking parchment (make sure to include layers of baking parchment between the blinis). Defrost overnight in the fridge then briefly reheat in the oven (in their foil parcels) to serve.
2.
BREAKING DOWN THE PERFECT TURKEY (AKA PLAYING AT BEING MARTHA STEWART)
I was approximately 2 minutes into the Martha Stewart documentary on Netflix before I saw footage of — and became consumed by — the notion of cooking a whole turkey in puff pastry. But here’s the thing: one of the aspects I find last-minute faffy when making a whole turkey is the carving: it’s unavoidably messy and annoying, and the idea of adding puff pastry into the mix felt like madness.
The solution I came up with is to buy a whole bird but have it butchered into a crown, legs and wings. The crown gets dry-brined and covered in puff pastry and roasted. The legs are confit’d. The wings are frozen for future stock-making.
I start with a 5kg bird.