Have prepared dinners this Christmas with quick and easy recipes and advice from Mrs Crunch
Great value recipes in association with Morrisons
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CHILL this Christmas, with a freezer full of festive favourites.
Pack yours with ready-prepped vegetables and pretty puddings for less stress over the coming weeks.
Here are some of the coolest deals – plus, get an early taste of Christmas with the festive recipes below from Morrisons.com.
Mains
If you’re looking for an alternative to fresh turkey, these frozen dishes will fit the bill.
Aldi’s Specially Selected vegetable wellington slices, £2.99 for a two-pack, come in two flavours: red cabbage, mushroom and chestnut, or butternut squash, brie and cranberry.
Morrisons The Best cranberry, chestnut & mushroom nut roast, £3, serves four.
Tesco Christmas Dinner Cracker, including turkey breast and gammon layered with cranberry sauce and stuffing, £5, serves four.
Tesco portobello mushroom wellington, £3, serves four.
Sides
MAKE the main Christmas meal ice and easy with these ready-prepared side dishes in the freezer.
Morrisons Giant Yorkshire Pudding, cooks from frozen, 40p or three for £1.
Asda’s 12 Yorkshire Puddings are 85p.
Save 50p on Aunt Bessie’s Carrot & Swede Mash, 500g, at Ocado.com, now £1.25.
Sainsbury’s Deliciously Freefrom Eight Yorkshire Puddings are £1.50.
Morrisons The Best Sprouts With Chestnuts & Butter, 500g, £1.50.
Get McCain Frozen Roast Potatoes, 800g, for less than half price at Ocado.com, down from £2.10 to £1.
Morrisons Garden Peas, 500g, 78p or two for £1.30.
Tesco Finest British Parsnips, 600g, are now half price, down to £1.12.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Maris Piper Roast Potatoes, 1kg, are £2.50.
Puddings
The freezer really comes into its own for decadent deserts. You’ll be spoilt for choice so here’s my pick of the puds.
Tesco Raspberry & White Chocolate Dome Gateau, £3, serves eight. Morrisons The Best Winter Berry Gateau, £6.
Lidl Deluxe Croquembouche Patisserie Kit, £5.99.
Morrisons The Best Triple Belgian Chocolate Gateau, £6.
Asda’s Extra Special Belgian Chocolate Cheesecake, £3.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Mince Pie Ice Cream, 500ml, is £2.85.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Passion Fruit & Mango Semifreddo Dessert, £4.
Chef's tip
HERE, Morrisons chef Richard Jones offers his cool tips for enjoying a festively frozen Christmas:
- Make your Christmas stuffing early, cook it and then freeze it. Defrost it thoroughly then slice while cold and reheat gently in the oven.
- Don’t waste leftover bread. Blitz it to crumbs in a food processor and freeze in a bag ready to be made into bread sauce to eat with your turkey.
- Peel potatoes, chop into roasting size and parboil for five minutes. Plunge into cold water and then freeze, ready to go straight into the oven with a dash of oil on Christmas Day. Do the same with chunks of carrots or parsnips.
- Make a few family dishes, like a lasagne and curry, and freeze ready for those days over Christmas when you just can’t be bothered to cook.
Glazed cranberry ham with mustard mash
(Serves 12)
YOU NEED:
- 1kg choice cut gammon joint
- zest and juice of 2 oranges
- 4 tsp Dijon mustard
- 200g cranberry sauce
- 900g green beans
- 2.4kg King Edward or Maris Piper potatoes
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 tbsp Total 0% Fat Greek Yoghurt
- 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard;
- 200ml skimmed milk; freshly ground black pepper.
METHOD:
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.
- Prepare the ham by removing any fat with a sharp knife and scoring the ham by running your knife in lines 1cm apart.
- Repeat the scoring in the opposite direction to create a criss-cross pattern.
- Cover the ham with foil and roast as per pack instructions.
- Meanwhile, place the orange zest in a bowl with the Dijon mustard and cranberry sauce.
- Mix and add enough orange juice for a runny, jam-like consistency.
- Twenty minutes before end of cooking, remove foil from ham, and spread over the glaze mixture.
- Return to the oven for 20 minutes, basting at regular intervals.
- Boil the green beans in salted water until tender, drain and set aside.
- Peel the potatoes and boil until tender. Mash and beat in the butter, yoghurt, wholegrain mustard, milk and pepper.
- Slice the ham and serve with the mash and green beans.
Banana and mincemeat muffins
(Serves six)
YOU NEED:
- 125g wholemeal flour
- 3 tbsp muscovado sugar
- 2 level tsp baking powder
- 1 egg, beaten
- 50ml milk
- 50ml rapeseed oil
- 1 banana
- 4 tbsp mincemeat
METHOD:
- Preheat the oven to 200C /Gas Mark 6.
- Line six muffins tins with paper muffin cases.
- Place the wholemeal flour, muscovado sugar and baking powder into a bowl and mix well.
- Whisk together the beaten egg, milk and rapeseed oil.
- Pour the liquid into the flour and stir until just blended.
- Stir in the mashed banana and mincemeat taking care not to over mix.
- Fill the muffin cases two-thirds full and bake for 20 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
- Once cooked, transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool.
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