Gordon Ramsay's Christmas Main Dinners _ Part Two

**A Chef’s Guide to Creating a Luxurious Beef Wellington and Perfect Christmas Turkey**

As a chef, there's nothing more satisfying than taking a classic dish, giving it a modern twist, and bringing it bang up to date. My new version of beef wellington retains the luxuriousness that made it a favorite in the first place but adds a seasonal touch perfect for Christmas. If you want to truly spoil your friends this holiday season, this is the ultimate special occasion dish. Beef wellington is an indulgence, one of my all-time favorite main courses, and it would definitely make its way onto my last supper menu. My version is lighter and more refined, with a seasonal twist for Christmas.

### Preparing the Fillet of Beef

The fillet of beef is a lean and tender cut, sourced from underneath the lower backbone, where there's very little muscle. It’s the most expensive and leanest cut of beef, making it incredibly tender. To start, sear the fillet in a very hot pan with olive oil, rolling it around until it develops a nice crust. This step adds another layer of flavor to the beef without cooking it through.

After searing, carefully lift the beef out of the pan and place it on a plate. Brush English mustard over the beef while it’s still hot; this adds a bit of heat. Horseradish can also be used as an alternative for those who prefer it. Allow the beef to rest so it can absorb the flavors from the mustard or horseradish.

### Creating the Filling

The filling for the Beef Wellington is made using 700 grams of chestnut mushrooms, a chopped clove of garlic, salt, and pepper. Blend these ingredients together until finely chopped. Cook this mixture in a hot dry pan to remove excess water from the mushrooms, intensifying their flavor. Add fresh thyme for a fragrant touch and cook until all the water has evaporated.

Once cooled, spread the mushroom mixture thinly over the beef, leaving half an inch uncovered on both ends. Top with slices of Parma ham, ensuring it overlaps slightly to trap the juices from the beef.

### Assembling the Wellington

Place the prepared beef on a sheet of cling film and roll the puff pastry over it, sealing the edges by twisting them together. The tighter you roll, the better the shape will be when baked. Place the assembled Beef Wellington in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up.

Before baking, remove the cling film and brush the pastry with egg yolk for a golden finish. Add a decorative mark using the back of a knife, then bake at 200 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit) until the pastry is crisp and golden. Rest the Beef Wellington for 10 minutes after baking to ensure the meat remains tender and juicy.

### Serving Suggestions

Serve your Beef Wellington with gloriously creamy mashed potatoes and shavings of exquisite white truffle for a touch of luxury. This dish smells Christmassy, with notes of chestnuts and mushrooms, making it a perfect centerpiece for any holiday table.

### Roasting the Christmas Turkey

For the ultimate Christmas dinner, try roasting a turkey instead of the traditional beef wellington. Select a breed like the Norfolk Bronze or North of Black for their gamey flavor. The key to a moist and flavorful turkey is in the preparation.

Begin by making a flavored butter with soft butter, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, and parsley. This butter keeps the turkey incredibly moist and adds aromatic notes to the dish.

Season the turkey inside the cavity with salt and pepper, then add halved onions, lemons, and bay leaves for extra flavor. Gently loosen the skin over the breast and thighs, then insert the flavored butter underneath. Ensure the butter is evenly distributed over the breast, legs, and wings.

Roast the turkey in a preheated oven at 220 degrees Celsius (425 Fahrenheit) for 10 minutes to brown the skin. Then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and continue roasting for two and a half hours, or 30 minutes per kilogram.

### Resting the Turkey

After cooking, let the turkey rest uncovered for two and a half hours. This allows the meat to relax, reabsorb its juices, and become tender. Even though it might seem like a long time, this step ensures the turkey remains succulent and easy to carve.

By following these techniques, you can create a showstopping Beef Wellington or a perfectly roasted Christmas turkey that will impress your guests. Remember, the key is in the preparation and allowing the meat to rest properly before serving. Happy cooking!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enas a chef it's always satisfying to take a classic dish give it a facelift and bring it bang up to date my new version of beef wellington retains the luxuriousness which made it brilliant in the first place but gives it a seasonal lift if you want to really spoil your friends this christmas this is the perfect special occasion dish beef wellington has to be the ultimate indulgence one of my all-time favorite main courses and it would definitely be on my last supper menu my version is a lot lighter and sexier and for christmas i'm going to give it an added twist first off the fillet of beef now look at it it's beautiful first the most important part is to sear it salt pepper the fillet is the leanest and the most expensive cut of beef it comes from underneath the lower backbone a part of the animal which has very little muscle and this is what makes it such a tender cut very very hot pan olive oil and literally roll it around the pan we're not cooking the beef we're just searing it which will really help to give another layer of flavor and beef in lovely now use the side of the pan so the beef sears down the back when you tilt it it's a secret to get it done quickly it gives that really nice roasted flavor delicious once you've got the color very carefully lift up the beef and see it on top and sear it on the bottom out and onto the plate english mustard what this does now it gives it a bit of sort of bit of heat just lightly brush the mustard over the beef so really important that you do this as the beef comes straight out of the pan as the beef starts to cool down it absorbs all that heat from the mustard horseradish is a really nice alternative as well just leave that to sit and relax as the fillet rests prepare the filling which is called a duck sale put 700 grams of chestnut mushrooms into a blender add a chopped clove of garlic season with salt and pepper and blitz christmas wouldn't be christmas without chestnuts and just crumble them in to the mushrooms the chestnut's sweet nutty flavor works brilliantly with the earthy taste of the mushrooms and because they contain more starch and less oil than other nuts they have a much softer texture that is perfect for the filling that smells amazing smells like christmas once the mixture is finely chopped cook in a hot dry pan this removes the water from the mushrooms and intensifies the flavor you can see the water coming out instantly such an essential stage really critical to the success of the wellington that you dry those mushrooms out and get rid of all that water take the mushrooms up even further some fresh thyme in there which will make it really nice and light and fragrant when all the water has been fried off remove from the pan and leave to cool then start assembling the wellington stage one wrapping the beef phillips first of all these wonderful slices are parmesan and little beautiful overlap it and set it there so the secret of overlapping the palmer ham is to make sure it contains all those juices coming out of the beef in the traditional recipe for beef wellington a thick chive and spring onion pancake is used instead of ham but the palmer ham makes the dish much lighter and its sweet salty flavor really complements the mushroom and chestnut filling a little touch of pepper no salt because the ham is naturally salty just a little twist of pepper and then from there your mushrooms and basically mushrooms go on use the back of the spoon to spread them nice and thinly half an inch from the ends rump holes no hop it every time there's meat now he comes next lay the beef on top and very carefully fold that over now we're going to lift that up and wrap the beef nice and carefully so all that mushroom and parma ham is encasing the beef all the way over push it nice and tight roll it nice and tight and go all the way over now the secret from here is to really let the clint film do the work just nip it at the ends and squeeze and what we're doing is just creating this wonderful sort of cylinder shape off and then just twist it nice and tightly and the tighter it is the more perfect the shape then place in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up once it's set it's ready for the final wrap a little bit of tim film puff pastry beef now very carefully first roll the puff pastry over the beef until the two edges meet then trim off any excess pastry and twist the ends together to ensure the beef is completely sealed in its pastry case to set that perfectly and get it really nice and firm to make it really cylinder tight climb from over and just pull that nice and tight but the big secret behind this is that it can be done the night before and the tighter the climb film the better the shape the more even the shape the more even it cooks put it back in the fridge for five minutes to fill up again then take off the tim film always like the perfect christmas cracker to give the pastry a lovely rich golden brown color when it bakes brush it with egg yolk and then finally you don't have to do this but it's a chefy thing a little bit decoration back of the knife down and then just twist and mark the pastry when it comes out of the oven it's got that wow factor add a generous sprinkle of salt to ensure the pastry becomes lovely and crisp then bake in an oven at 200 degrees for around 35 minutes depending on how rare you like your beef once out of the oven it's crucial you let the wellington rest for at least 10 minutes this allows the meat to relax and reabsorb its delicious juices making sure it's tender and succulent nice and gently hear that pastry how crisp that is this is the bit we've been waiting for oh wow my god i'm in heaven and for me if you want a really nice change to roast turkey this has to be the ultimate for the table it smells christmassy the chestnuts the mushrooms and that nice crisp pastry on the outside look at it i'm ready to die and go to heaven for a really special occasion i love to serve my beef wellington with gloriously creamy mashed potatoes and shavings of exquisite white truffle my first job on christmas day morning is to tackle the turkey and my favorite way to cook it is roasted with lemon parsley and garlic it's fantastically aromatic really easy to do keeps the meat succulent and tastes absolutely delicious for me without question the start of the christmas dinner is this a delicious turkey now once this is in the oven you're halfway there the secret success behind a great christmas dinner is making sure this doesn't turn out dry and is all in the preparation now we're gonna make an amazing butter and this is sort of the start of the the most important part keeping that bird incredibly moist soft butter a touch of salt and pepper a little touch of olive oil in there that stops the butter from burning next add the zest of two lemons and their juice this gives the flavored butter a wonderful citrus zing three cloves of garlic turkey's a very delicate dainty meat and that's why i want the garlic pureed so it sort of disintegrates and flavors a turkey gently without becoming too overpowering then add a generous handful of chopped parsley wow that smells incredibly light give that a good mix turkey's a very very very lean bird and it dries out so it's so important to make sure that we help it to cook perfectly butter done now prepare the turkey we'll season the bird inside the cavity salt and pepper next half two onions and pop them in as they roast they steam inside the bird giving it a lovely sweetness put in the lemon and a couple of bay leaves for their bittersweet spicy flavour we're sort of lining the inside of the turkey with these fantastic sort of flavours you can see the bird is upright and it's looking sort of like it's standing to attention now it's time to add the flavoured butter just very very carefully open up the skin go through over the back of the breast and keep the skin intact the idea is to gently loosen the skin with your fingers so the butter can be stuck underneath it now once you've loosened all the skin off the top of the thighs turn the bird round and just go through here again hand up and just release a little bit but don't completely break it because i don't want all that butter to run out right from there now take your butter put it into a ball that smells amazing lemony citrusy and just sort of flatten it and stick that in there underneath one side now once you've got it in there pull back the skin and just use that to sort of slide all the way down what you want to do now is line the top of the breast with all that butter there that butter is going to keep the turkey breast really seriously moist turn the bird round and finish covering the breasts with the butter turkeys originally came from north america and they are best young and plump my favorite breed for christmas is either north of black or norfolk bronze both of which have a wonderful gamey taste take the rest of the butter and carefully massage over the breast legs and wings you can do all this the night before and simply cover the turkey with tim fall and keep it in the fridge ready to be cooked on christmas day into the tray a little touch of olive oil now olive oil on top again that protects it gets that skin really nice and crispy and it stops the butter from burning now in the oven at 220 for 10 minutes to get really nice and brown quickly in she goes beautiful that smells fantastic after 10 minutes take the turkey out of the oven and baste then cover the breasts with smoked streaky bacon what i want to do is add a little bit more flavor i'm already starting to think about my gravy so the bacon protects it stops it from drying out but it's going to start to really give my gravy a wonderful base turn down the oven to 180 degrees this five kilogram bird will feed eight people comfortably it needs roasting for two and a half hours or half an hour per kilo basting every so often back in and now she's on the way look at that beautiful it's as pretty as the christmas tree right that smells fantastic wow look at that beautiful that is 90 of your work done there to test the turkey is cooked stick a knife into the bottom of the thigh and if the juices run clear it's done the secret now is to let the turkey rest uncovered for two and a half hours as the meat relaxes it reabsorbs its juices making it succulent and tender plus it'll be easier to carve it might seem like a long time to let it rest but remember the turkey doesn't need to be piping hot because i'm serving it with hot gravy that looks like a million dollars let that rest because the flavor will be 10 times more exciting once it's rested youas a chef it's always satisfying to take a classic dish give it a facelift and bring it bang up to date my new version of beef wellington retains the luxuriousness which made it brilliant in the first place but gives it a seasonal lift if you want to really spoil your friends this christmas this is the perfect special occasion dish beef wellington has to be the ultimate indulgence one of my all-time favorite main courses and it would definitely be on my last supper menu my version is a lot lighter and sexier and for christmas i'm going to give it an added twist first off the fillet of beef now look at it it's beautiful first the most important part is to sear it salt pepper the fillet is the leanest and the most expensive cut of beef it comes from underneath the lower backbone a part of the animal which has very little muscle and this is what makes it such a tender cut very very hot pan olive oil and literally roll it around the pan we're not cooking the beef we're just searing it which will really help to give another layer of flavor and beef in lovely now use the side of the pan so the beef sears down the back when you tilt it it's a secret to get it done quickly it gives that really nice roasted flavor delicious once you've got the color very carefully lift up the beef and see it on top and sear it on the bottom out and onto the plate english mustard what this does now it gives it a bit of sort of bit of heat just lightly brush the mustard over the beef so really important that you do this as the beef comes straight out of the pan as the beef starts to cool down it absorbs all that heat from the mustard horseradish is a really nice alternative as well just leave that to sit and relax as the fillet rests prepare the filling which is called a duck sale put 700 grams of chestnut mushrooms into a blender add a chopped clove of garlic season with salt and pepper and blitz christmas wouldn't be christmas without chestnuts and just crumble them in to the mushrooms the chestnut's sweet nutty flavor works brilliantly with the earthy taste of the mushrooms and because they contain more starch and less oil than other nuts they have a much softer texture that is perfect for the filling that smells amazing smells like christmas once the mixture is finely chopped cook in a hot dry pan this removes the water from the mushrooms and intensifies the flavor you can see the water coming out instantly such an essential stage really critical to the success of the wellington that you dry those mushrooms out and get rid of all that water take the mushrooms up even further some fresh thyme in there which will make it really nice and light and fragrant when all the water has been fried off remove from the pan and leave to cool then start assembling the wellington stage one wrapping the beef phillips first of all these wonderful slices are parmesan and little beautiful overlap it and set it there so the secret of overlapping the palmer ham is to make sure it contains all those juices coming out of the beef in the traditional recipe for beef wellington a thick chive and spring onion pancake is used instead of ham but the palmer ham makes the dish much lighter and its sweet salty flavor really complements the mushroom and chestnut filling a little touch of pepper no salt because the ham is naturally salty just a little twist of pepper and then from there your mushrooms and basically mushrooms go on use the back of the spoon to spread them nice and thinly half an inch from the ends rump holes no hop it every time there's meat now he comes next lay the beef on top and very carefully fold that over now we're going to lift that up and wrap the beef nice and carefully so all that mushroom and parma ham is encasing the beef all the way over push it nice and tight roll it nice and tight and go all the way over now the secret from here is to really let the clint film do the work just nip it at the ends and squeeze and what we're doing is just creating this wonderful sort of cylinder shape off and then just twist it nice and tightly and the tighter it is the more perfect the shape then place in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up once it's set it's ready for the final wrap a little bit of tim film puff pastry beef now very carefully first roll the puff pastry over the beef until the two edges meet then trim off any excess pastry and twist the ends together to ensure the beef is completely sealed in its pastry case to set that perfectly and get it really nice and firm to make it really cylinder tight climb from over and just pull that nice and tight but the big secret behind this is that it can be done the night before and the tighter the climb film the better the shape the more even the shape the more even it cooks put it back in the fridge for five minutes to fill up again then take off the tim film always like the perfect christmas cracker to give the pastry a lovely rich golden brown color when it bakes brush it with egg yolk and then finally you don't have to do this but it's a chefy thing a little bit decoration back of the knife down and then just twist and mark the pastry when it comes out of the oven it's got that wow factor add a generous sprinkle of salt to ensure the pastry becomes lovely and crisp then bake in an oven at 200 degrees for around 35 minutes depending on how rare you like your beef once out of the oven it's crucial you let the wellington rest for at least 10 minutes this allows the meat to relax and reabsorb its delicious juices making sure it's tender and succulent nice and gently hear that pastry how crisp that is this is the bit we've been waiting for oh wow my god i'm in heaven and for me if you want a really nice change to roast turkey this has to be the ultimate for the table it smells christmassy the chestnuts the mushrooms and that nice crisp pastry on the outside look at it i'm ready to die and go to heaven for a really special occasion i love to serve my beef wellington with gloriously creamy mashed potatoes and shavings of exquisite white truffle my first job on christmas day morning is to tackle the turkey and my favorite way to cook it is roasted with lemon parsley and garlic it's fantastically aromatic really easy to do keeps the meat succulent and tastes absolutely delicious for me without question the start of the christmas dinner is this a delicious turkey now once this is in the oven you're halfway there the secret success behind a great christmas dinner is making sure this doesn't turn out dry and is all in the preparation now we're gonna make an amazing butter and this is sort of the start of the the most important part keeping that bird incredibly moist soft butter a touch of salt and pepper a little touch of olive oil in there that stops the butter from burning next add the zest of two lemons and their juice this gives the flavored butter a wonderful citrus zing three cloves of garlic turkey's a very delicate dainty meat and that's why i want the garlic pureed so it sort of disintegrates and flavors a turkey gently without becoming too overpowering then add a generous handful of chopped parsley wow that smells incredibly light give that a good mix turkey's a very very very lean bird and it dries out so it's so important to make sure that we help it to cook perfectly butter done now prepare the turkey we'll season the bird inside the cavity salt and pepper next half two onions and pop them in as they roast they steam inside the bird giving it a lovely sweetness put in the lemon and a couple of bay leaves for their bittersweet spicy flavour we're sort of lining the inside of the turkey with these fantastic sort of flavours you can see the bird is upright and it's looking sort of like it's standing to attention now it's time to add the flavoured butter just very very carefully open up the skin go through over the back of the breast and keep the skin intact the idea is to gently loosen the skin with your fingers so the butter can be stuck underneath it now once you've loosened all the skin off the top of the thighs turn the bird round and just go through here again hand up and just release a little bit but don't completely break it because i don't want all that butter to run out right from there now take your butter put it into a ball that smells amazing lemony citrusy and just sort of flatten it and stick that in there underneath one side now once you've got it in there pull back the skin and just use that to sort of slide all the way down what you want to do now is line the top of the breast with all that butter there that butter is going to keep the turkey breast really seriously moist turn the bird round and finish covering the breasts with the butter turkeys originally came from north america and they are best young and plump my favorite breed for christmas is either north of black or norfolk bronze both of which have a wonderful gamey taste take the rest of the butter and carefully massage over the breast legs and wings you can do all this the night before and simply cover the turkey with tim fall and keep it in the fridge ready to be cooked on christmas day into the tray a little touch of olive oil now olive oil on top again that protects it gets that skin really nice and crispy and it stops the butter from burning now in the oven at 220 for 10 minutes to get really nice and brown quickly in she goes beautiful that smells fantastic after 10 minutes take the turkey out of the oven and baste then cover the breasts with smoked streaky bacon what i want to do is add a little bit more flavor i'm already starting to think about my gravy so the bacon protects it stops it from drying out but it's going to start to really give my gravy a wonderful base turn down the oven to 180 degrees this five kilogram bird will feed eight people comfortably it needs roasting for two and a half hours or half an hour per kilo basting every so often back in and now she's on the way look at that beautiful it's as pretty as the christmas tree right that smells fantastic wow look at that beautiful that is 90 of your work done there to test the turkey is cooked stick a knife into the bottom of the thigh and if the juices run clear it's done the secret now is to let the turkey rest uncovered for two and a half hours as the meat relaxes it reabsorbs its juices making it succulent and tender plus it'll be easier to carve it might seem like a long time to let it rest but remember the turkey doesn't need to be piping hot because i'm serving it with hot gravy that looks like a million dollars let that rest because the flavor will be 10 times more exciting once it's rested you\n"