You will need:
· Roast Chicken
· Pigs in Blankets
· Yorkshire Puddings
· Roast Potatoes
· Various Veg
· Stuffing
· Crackers
· Festive songs
Christmas dinner is a tradition in every household so why should it be any different when you are a student? We all love Christmas. So why not splurge a little on food and get into the spirit with a small feast with housemates. I did so with my housemates and it turned into one of the best meals I had eaten all term. Although the process of cooking the meal took a long time, the outcome was definitely worth the wait.
Not a lot of uni work was done that day. The chicken had to go in much earlier than the rest of food, but this resulted in having the house smell appetisingly of roast chicken. Instead of gathering around an open fire, everyone gathered around the oven just to watch the basting of the chicken. It looked and smelt delicious.
To get ahead of the rush that we knew would happen later, the Yorkshire puddings were made early, which was the main food that I was in charge of. Using a classic Mary Berry recipe, they were huge; lovely and golden, the way they should be – it was a beautiful sight to see when opening the oven door. Next up to do were the potatoes and parsnips. Again, the whole house gathered to peel the vegetables. If you didn’t have a peeler in your hand you were cutting them up and putting them in the dish to roast. Due to a love of parsnips, our house had quite a large number to roast. As most the useful dishes had been used either for the chicken or the potatoes, we were running out of room for the parsnips, so they ended up being put in with the chicken. The flavour from the chicken made them taste really lush. The stuffing was left to soak until the breadcrumbs had absorbed all that they could, and was then made into little balls to be cooked. The broccoli and sweetcorn – an odd choice, but these ended up being the preferred vegetables – did not take long to cook. To finish, we had splurged and bought some gravy which only needed heating in the microwave (sort of cheating, but definitely worth it). After spending almost 4 hours going in and out of the kitchen, our meal was ready. The final challenge was to carve, a task none of had faced before. The outcomes were not great. None of us shone through as a great carver but nevertheless, meat was put on the plates.
Due to aroma of the meal wafting through the house, by the time it came for us to eat we were all starving. We put on the Christmas tunes, plated up the food, pulled out crackers and dug in. All of our hard work had paid off. I would definitely recommend doing it as a house; I’m very proud to say that I cooked a Christmas dinner. I just hope my Mum isn’t getting any ideas for Christmas day.
Edited by Luisa Parnell