Festive FARE

With the Yuletide season just around the corner, it’s time to start planning your Christmas Day feast. Whether you prefer ham or turkey, Australian chef Miguel Maestre has your back.

THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TURKEY

Serves: 6-8

The secret to a nice, moist turkey is using plenty of butter under the skin. You want to use a lot of stu ng, too, lea ing no room in the ca ity or it will dry out from the inside.

Buy a good-quality, free-range turkey if you can. A smaller one is better. In fact, I get two small ones rather than one massi e one. There will be plenty of delicious meat left.

rap it and put it in the fridge when you ha e nished eating, rather than letting it sit out on the table for hours. se the lefto ers for chicken soup or to make meatballs.

1x3kg turkey, stored unco ered in the fridge o ernight to dry out the skin

50g butter, at room temperature

500g yellow squash, quartered

1 bunch of baby carrots, trimmed

1 bunch of spring onions, hal ed

Salt akes and freshly ground black pepper

STUFFING

2 tablespoons oli e oil

1 onion, nely sliced

4 garlic clo es, minced

½ bunch of thyme, lea es picked and nely chopped, plus an extra handful of sprigs

½ bunch of sage, lea es picked and nely chopped, plus an extra handful of lea es

3 tablespoons peeled, cooked chestnuts,

nely chopped optional

50g (½ cup) walnuts, nely chopped

500g gourmet pork sausages, skins remo ed, meat broken into chunks

1 egg

45g dried breadcrumbs

120g (1 cup) dried cranberries

Salt akes and freshly ground black pepper

1 Preheat the o en to degrees elsius

fan-forced .

2 To make the stu ng, heat the oil in a frying pan o er medium heat, add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 4-5 minutes until the onion has softened. Remo e from the heat. Add the chopped herbs and nuts, sausage meat, egg, breadcrumbs, and cranberries. Season and mix together well with your hands.

3 Stu the ca ity of the turkey with the stu ng. Tie the legs together, or use safety pins, to close the ca ity. rom the neck end of the turkey, gently run your ngers under the skin to loosen, being careful not to tear it. Push some of the butter under the skin of the breast, then make knife incisions into the legs and wings, and add the remaining butter under the skin. Arrange the extra thyme sprigs and sage lea es under the skin for presentation.

4 Place the turkey in a large roasting tin and season the skin generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes until starting to brown, then reduce the temperature to 15 fan-forced and cook for hours

45 minutes a kg . heck it e ery minutes and baste with the pan juices to stop it drying out. If the skin is browning

too much, cover it loosely with foil.

5 About an hour before the turkey is cooked, add the vegetables to the tin and season with salt and pepper. Return to the oven.

6 At the end of the cooking time, check the turkey is done by inserting a small, sharp knife into the fattest part of the thigh. If the juices run clear, and the meat pulls apart easily, it is ready. If not, cook for a bit longer and check again.

7 Remove and rest for at least 30 minutes before serving with the roast vegetables.

ou can ash the vegetables in a hot oven again rst if you need to.

HONEY-GLAZED HAM

Serves 12-14

I recommend using a good-quality, free-range ham for this recipe. Free-range hams have a higher fat content, are more moist, and have a better avour. If price is an issue, go for quality over quantity, and choose a smaller 2kg one.

When it comes to the glaze, you need to give the ham a lot of love, and keep glazing it constantly as it cooks to achieve a real shine. It’s all about that baste, ’bout that baste, no treble.

And you don’t need to stick to this traditional glaze. Be adventurous with Asian avours such as the sweet chilli variation below. Ham works with everything.

In fact, you can make this dish all year round. If you have 10 people coming for dinner, cook a ham. Make it Christmas every day.

1 large (4kg) smoked leg ham, skin on

(or 2 small 2kg hams)

Cloves, for presentation

90g (cup) seeded mustard, plus extra to serve 90g (cup) dijon mustard, plus extra to serve

2 tablespoons hot english mustard, plus extra to serve

1½ tablespoons worcestershire sauce

300g honey

2½ tablespoons chicken stock

80g (cup) brown sugar

1 Preheat the oven to 200C (fan-forced).

2 Skin and peel the ham, leaving some fat on the leg. Using a sharp knife, score the ham in a criss-cross pattern, then push in one clove at the join of each score.

3 Place the ham leg in a large roasting tin. 4 Combine the mustards, worcestershire sauce, honey, chicken stock, and brown sugar, in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the glaze has reduced and thickened.

5 Brush some of the glaze over the ham, then place the ham in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

6 Brush with more glaze three times as it

bakes until the ham is golden and crispy.

7 Pour the glaze from the roasting tin into a jug, and brush over the ham immediately before carving. Serve with a range of mustards.

GLAZE VARIATION

For a sweet chilli-glazed ham, combine: 80ml (cup) sweet chilli sauce

1 lemongrass stalk, white part pounded and nely chopped

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon sh sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Juice of 1 lime

1 Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix. Baste the ham as you would the traditional glaze above. 2 Garnish with coriander, basil and mint leaves mixed with 1 chopped red chilli, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a good handful of crispy fried shallots.