Mark Hix
I cook a selection of small game birds such as snipe, teal, woodcock etc. I serve them on a board or dish in the middle of the table with accompaniments such as bread sauce, chestnut stuffing and rowan jelly. All of my guests get a couple of different birds, each with individual flavours, and the birds only take 10 minutes in a hot oven so they can go in while you are eating your starters
Allegra McEvedy
Allegra McEvedy
I always do a great big dish of dauphinoise potatoes instead of roasties because if the bird isn't the moistest (and turkey often isn't) then it keeps the meal creamy and delicious. I tend to do the dauphinoise with celeriac, jerusalem artichokes and wild mushrooms, so that you don't have to cook anything separate if there are any vegetarians.
Jason Atherton
Ask your butcher for a piece of aged onglet of beef (AKA beef skirt, and coming from a good British breed such as Hereford or Lincolnshire Red), and a nice piece of fat to go along with it. Render the fat down with thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and garlic, then pop in pink fir potatoes and jerusalem artichokes, washed with the skin on. Confit on a low heat for 40-50 minutes until tender and leave to one side. Grill the beef on a high heat just until it's nice and rare, and leave to rest. Cut the potatoes and artichokes in half and arrange them on a large platter, slice the beef and add this on top, scatter with baby watercress leaves and raw shallot rings, then drizzle with beef gravy for a dressing. As a final touch, take either a walnut or chestnut for each person and grate over the top. It's a really delicious seasonal alternative to the usual roast turkey and doesn't take a lot of time to prepare, so you won't be in the kitchen all day.
Tom Aiken
My favourite accompaniment on Christmas Day is baked and mashed root vegetables, which is really tasty and can be prepared well in advance. Cut 500g each of peeled carrots, butternut squash, swede, parsnip and celeriac into cubes. Heat up a pan on a medium heat and add 150g butter. When melted, add 12g thyme, two bay leaves, six sliced garlic cloves and the vegetables and some salt and pepper. Cook this in a shallow pan and cover with a lid. Continue to cook for 10-12 minutes, then add 500ml chicken stock. Carry on cooking for a further 10-12 minutes without the lid and add 80g honey and cook until soft and the liquid has reduced. Mash the vegetables to a course puree, then place in a buttered casserole dish, cover in 50g of breadcrumbs and sprinkle over 30g golden syrup. Grate over a little nutmeg, then bake in the oven at 170C/gas mark 3 for 30 minutes.
Thomasina Miers
For my nephew, who can't stand a brussels sprout, I shall saute quartered button onions, garlic and pieces of streaky bacon or pancetta and then add shredded savoy cabbage and some nuggets of soft, yielding chestnuts.
Clarissa Dickson Wright
Christmas is an expensive time and, with the addition of alcohol, can be an argumentative one as well. Ameliorate both by serving your guests this delicious non-alcoholic hot punch. This is an adaption of an old English punch called Bishop, made with port, so the choice is yours!
Prick an orange with six cloves and bake in a cool oven for half an hour. Boil half a teaspoon each of cinnamon, cloves and allspice, a blade of mace and 14g root ginger in 285ml water until reduced by half. Add 750ml ginger ale and one tablespoon ginger cordial and heat until almost boiling. Add the orange and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes. Rub 85g loaf sugar on the skin of a lemon, then put the sugar in a punch bowl together with the juice of the lemon. Heat the liquid again, but don't boil it, strain it into the sugar lumps in the bowl, and grate nutmeg on top.
Michel Roux Jr
Personally, I'm not a big fan of brussels sprouts. I would suggest kale as an excellent alternative for your Christmas meal. It's a wonderfully British vegetable; it's in season now and, in my opinion, is far superior: it has a naturally sweet taste, as opposed to the slightly bitter flavour of sprouts. Simply boil the kale in water, making sure you add plenty of salt. Remove from the boiling water and place immediately in iced water, which will help to retain the crunch. Toss in butter, with salt and pepper. Add a touch of nutmeg for an extra Christmassy flavour.
Stuart Gillies
A great alternative to brussels sprouts is mixed winter greens with wild mushrooms and garlic butter. Blanche the winter greens and then roughly chop them. Throw them into a heavy-based frying pan with garlic butter and cook for 3-4 minutes without any browning. Cook the wild mushrooms separately in hot olive oil, season and then drain before adding to the greens one minute before serving.
Ruth Rogers
A delicious alternative to brandy butter with your Christmas pudding would be zabaglione ice cream. The recipe we use at The River Café was taught to us by Dada Rogers, who came to London in the late 1930s having lived in Florence and Trieste. For Rose Gray and me, Dada was one of the most inspiring and influential cooks. Dada always told of how she wanted to make the zabaglione ice cream she grew up with, and, dismayed by the unavailability of marsala, she conceived the idea of substituting it with Bristol cream sherry and rum. We make her version especially at the restaurant over the festive period, and think it would be a spectacular end to a Christmas meal.
Gelato allo Zabaione (zabaglione ice cream)
Serves 10
10 egg yolks
200g Caster Sugar
120ml Bristol cream sherry
85ml Jamaica rum
450ml double cream
Place the egg yolks and sugar in an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy, at least 20 minutes. Add half of the sherry and rum, and transfer the mixture to a bowl that will fit over a large saucepan of boiling water. The water should not touch the bowl. Whisk continuously until the mixture comes to the boil - this will take at least 30 minutes.
Stir in the remaining sherry and rum and leave to cool. If you are using an electric ice cream machine, add the cream and churn. If freezing directly in the freezer, beat the cream to soft peaks, fold into the mixture, then freeze in a suitable container.
Gordon Ramsay
Instead of the usual Christmas pud, try this Christmas swiss roll. It's good if you feel like something a bit lighter after the main course.
Serves 8
Butter, for greasing
4 large free-range eggs
100g caster sugar, plus extra to dust
100g self-raising flour
Pinch of all spice
Icing sugar, to dust
For the filling
1 orange, juiced and zested
100ml whipping cream
50ml crème fraîche or mascarpone
25g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp orange liqueur
200g mincemeat
3 tbsp toasted flaked almonds
Preheat the oven to 190C/gas mark 5. Grease and line a swiss roll tin or large roasting tin measuring about 25cm x 35cm with baking parchment, leaving the edges sticking up around the sides. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl for about 10 minutes until the mixture is pale, creamy and tripled in volume.
Sift the flour over the mixture in batches, carefully folding it in after each addition. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, spread it evenly into the corners and smooth the surface. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the sponge turns golden and feels slightly springy when pressed.
Cut a piece of baking parchment slightly larger than the size of the tin and lay it flat on the work surface. Dust with caster sugar. Remove the tin from the oven and pull the parchment to loosen the sponge from the sides. Invert the sponge on to the sugared parchment and peel away the lining. Leave the sponge to cool.
Place the icing sugar, vanilla, orange juice and zest into a bowl and whip to soft peaks, then fold in the crème fraîche or mascarpone.
Place the mincemeat and orange liqueur into a bowl and mix together to loosen the mincemeat. Spread over the unrolled sponge, followed by the fresh cream mix leaving a 2cm border all the way around the edges. Sprinkle the almond flakes on top, then roll the shorter edge of the cake over to form a neat log, using the parchment to help you. Making sure that the seam side of the roll is facing down, slide the sponge on to a cake platter, dust with icing sugar and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.