Need some help with your Christmas dinner cooking times? Use this super-simple time planner along with our christmas recipes dinner ever Christmas menu guide to prepare a stress-free festive feast.
Our time-saving planner will help you to enjoy a more relaxed day, celebrating with family and friends rather than slaving over a hot stove. This website is published by Immediate Media Company Limited under licence from BBC Studios Distribution. Mix up your festive main with this fabulous Christmas dinner wellington. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion and cook for 8-10 mins until soft.
Tip into a bowl and leave to cool. Cover a chopping board with cling film and place a chicken breast on top. Cover the chicken with more cling film. Mix the sausagemeat, herbs and breadcrumbs into the cooled onions. On your worktop, make a double layer of cling film, about 30 x 40cm in size.
Lay the prosciutto on top, covering as much of the cling film’s surface area as possible. Cover the chicken with the sausagemeat mixture, spreading it right to the edges. Stir the cranberry sauce to loosen it, then spread over the sausagemeat. The prosciutto should be the outermost layer. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment. Unwrap the chicken roulade and place on top of the pastry.
Trim the pastry to a rectangle, leaving 2-3cm all the way around the base of the roulade. Save the off-cuts for decorating the top. Roll out the second piece of pastry to the same thickness as the first. Whisk together the egg and extra yolk and brush a little around the edge of the pastry base. Drape the second piece of pastry over the roulade, moulding it tightly around the meat and pushing out any air pockets.
Trim off any excess pastry, leaving a border of about 2cm. Brush the wellington all over with the egg wash. Use the reserved pastry off-cuts to decorate the wellington as you like, or score through the top layer with a sharp knife. Cover and chill for at least 1 hr, or for up to 48 hrs. If you have any egg wash left over, brush the wellington with a little more just before baking. Cook for 1 hr 15 mins until the pastry is golden and crisp. If you’ve previously frozen the wellington, make sure it’s cooked through by poking a sharp knife into the centre and checking the tip comes out very hot.
Serve with mash or roast potatoes, veg and gravy, if you like. Using just the egg yolk to glaze the pastry will give a much glossier finish than using the whole egg. A second glaze, just before it goes in the oven, will make it glossier still. ADD A NUTTY TWIST Add some cooked, chopped chestnuts to the roulade for a rich, nutty flavour. This website is published by Immediate Media Company Limited under licence from BBC Studios Distribution.