A Christmas table fit for a King

One of the things I look forward to most about Christmas is the wonderful festive food enjoyed with family and friends.

Christmas dinner is like a Sunday roast with bells on and, in my opinion, is only as good as its roast potatoes. 

Many of us have our food traditions, the turkey, the ham, the sage and onion stuffing, the casava pie...

But have you ever thought about changing things around from time to time?

Every Wednesday in the run up to Christmas, the Bermuda Sun will be sharing some of the best festive recipes from the island’s professional chefs. 

We hope this will help you to come up with fresh ideas for the Christmas dinner table. Each week we will feature dishes from various courses — starters and Christmassy apéritifs, main courses with all the trimmings, and who could forget, the delicious
desserts? As we all get ready to tuck in to Christmas I hope you find something new to share. 

Roast Turkey with Chestnut Stuffing 

Ingredients

Turkey:

• 20 - 24 lb turkey

• Oil

• Salt

• Pepper

Chestnut Stuffing:

• 1 lb diced onion

• 12 oz diced celery

• 6 oz butter

• 2lb bread cubes

• Salt and pepper

• 2 tbsp chopped parsley

• 1 tbsp chopped thyme

• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary

• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed

• Chicken stock to bind, 6-12 oz

• 1 lb chestnuts roughly chopped

Preparation

Chestnut Stuffing:

• Melt the butter & fry the onions & celery in a pan without colour, add the garlic and salt and pepper

• Add the chestnut and then the bread

• Stir for one minute and remove and place into a mixing bowl

• Add the stock to bind

• Add the chopped herbs.

• Check the taste and add salt and pepper as required

Roast Turkey Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 325 F.

• Remove the giblets from the turkey’s cavity

• Wash out the turkey cavity under the tap and drain

• Fill the cavity with the chestnut stuffing and tie the legs to secure the
stuffing

• Brush the turkey with Oil & season the turkey well with Salt and Pepper

• Place into a roasting tray & place into a pre heated oven set at 325F

• A 20-24lb turkey will take approx 3 & 3/4 to 4 & 1/2 hours to cook

• Your turkey should always have an internal temperature of 170F (77c) when cooked.

Chef Herbie Bascome’s Cassava Pie with Chicken

Ingredients

• 5 lb Grated Cassava

• 1 lb Butter

• 1 lb Sugar

• 10 Eggs

• 3 lb Chicken thighs, boneless

• Allspice

• Nutmeg

• Salt

• Vanilla

Preparation

• Boil chicken in a pot with chopped carrots, celery, onions and fresh thyme; leave on the side to cool

• In a mixing bowl, put the butter and sugar; cream as if you were making a cake

• Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated.

• Separate the cassava mixture into 3

• Layer one of the cassava mixture batches in the bottom of a parchment-lined baking pan.

• Dice the chicken

• Mix the second cassava mixture with the diced chicken. Layer on top of first layer

• Layer final cassava batch on top of the chicken layer

• Cook in 325F oven for one hour or until cassava is cooked

• Test for doneness as for cake.