It’s here, the moment we have all been waiting for, the ultimate Christmas dinner! Christmas day is full of delicious foods and antics in the kitchen, so the one thing that you certainly don’t want to let you down on the day are your kitchen products and appliances. When it comes to the dinner, from the roasted veggies to the perfect gravy thickness, the pressure is on, so having appliances such as an advanced oven to lend you a helping hand is a blessing in disguise. But even with all these great gadgets and fancy recipes, what is the best way to cook a roast dinner? As specialists in all things kitchens, we have come up with a guide on how to cook the perfect Christmas dinner just in time for the big day!

How To Cook The Perfect Christmas Dinner: From The Veggies To The Tender Chicken

Our team have been busy since the lifting of the first lockdown, with many clients looking to renovate and transform their kitchen just in time for Christmas. The range of bespoke kitchens in Milton Keynes allows clients to design a contemporary, modern or traditional space while incorporating a host of clever storage solutions and high-end products. For example, our range of ovens have proven a saviour for Christmas dinners, with their built-in rotisserie feature and microwave function turning a stressful morning of cooking into the easiest meal you’ve ever prepared. So, whether you have recently had your kitchen installed by our team, or are looking for the perfect excuse to contact us to design your new home renovation, here are some handy tips and recipes for the perfect roast dinner using our kitchen collections:

family having Christmas dinner

Chicken & Turkey

In many households, the meat takes centre stage on the dinner table on Christmas day. In fact, according to The Fact Site, on average around 10 million turkeys are sold in the UK alone each year in the months of November and December. It has become a tradition to feature a selection of meats on the dinner table, from turkey and chicken to lamb and beef, with many stuffing their meats for the perfect combination of tasty stuffing and tender meats to lock in flavour. However, no matter how much you prepare your meats with a selection of herbs and spices, the one thing that can’t go wrong, is the cooking! As meats tend to be the most important item on the dinner table, its vitally important that you make sure to cook them to perfection; not too overcooked as it will become dry, and not too undercooked otherwise the food will be doing more than making you feel like a stuffed turkey.

Luckily for you, we have the perfect solution; a new built-in oven that provides you with multiple functions, one of them being the ability to perfectly cook your chicken. The rotisserie feature in our oven collection allows you to slowly cook the chicken so that the outside is crisp and golden, while the inside is fully cooked yet tender and soft. Whether you prefer traditional or modern kitchens, these ovens look stunning against an array of kitchen designs, making it the perfect luxury addition to make your Christmas cooking a whole lot easier. If the oven isn’t the only thing causing you issues and you have no idea how to cook your rotisserie chicken, then here is a simple and easy to follow recipe:

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp of paprika
  • 1 tsp of dried thyme
  • 2 tsp of garlic powder
  • 2 tsp of onion powder
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • 1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)

How To Cook

  • Begin by first removing giblets and truss the chicken. You can find out more information on how to do this on Master Class’s handy blog post.
  • Then, place your chicken on the rotisserie skewer. Combine all of your dry ingredients in a bowl and rub them onto the chicken.
  • Insert the skewers in the rotisserie and select the rotisserie option on the oven. The oven will cook the chicken perfect for you, so you don’t have to worry about timings!
  • Once cooked, allow it to rest for around 10 minutes before you begin to carve.

Christmas chicken

Roast Potatoes

One of the biggest successes or failures you’ll have on Christmas day are the roast potatoes; they’re too easy to over or undercooked, yet the middle is still rock solid. This takes a combination of skill and practice, so you may want to cook up some roasted potatoes in advanced before attempting it for the first time and ending up with mashed potato (which is more of an Irish roast dinner). The key to the perfect roast potato is a fluffy centre with a golden and crispy layer on the outside, which sounds a lot harder to achieve then you may think. With an advanced Bosch electric hob available when designing modern kitchens in Milton Keynes with the team, cooking is made easy and safe. A range of our hobs are also available with a built-in fan, so you can create a stylish kitchen without having to worry about a bulky extractor fan.

So, if you have not yet mastered the art of cooking the perfect roast potatoes, here is an easy recipe for you to use:

Ingredients

  • 1 kg of Maris Piper potatoes
  • 6 tbsp of vegetable oil
  • 10g of fresh thyme leaves
  • Salt to taste

How To Cook

  • Preheat your oven to 180°C
  • Begin by peeling your potatoes using a good quality peeler (because you don’t want to be standing around for hours), and then cut your potatoes into chunks of about 5 cm thick.
  • Place your potatoes into a pan and give them a rinse. Once rinsed, add enough water to cover the potatoes and place on the hob. Turn the gas up enough to boil the water.
  • Once the water has boiled, turn the heat down and simmer for around 10 minutes or until the edges have softened.
  • While your potatoes are simmering, place half of your oil onto a tray and place this in the oven for 10 minutes.
  • When the potatoes are finished, take the tray out of the oven, drain the potatoes and put your potatoes onto the tray. Drizzle the remaining oil over the top of the potatoes and then turn them over so that they become covered in the oil.
  • Cook in the oven for around 30-35 minutes or until they have turned golden, making sure that you turn them around halfway through.
  • Once you have finished cooking the potatoes, sprinkle with some salt and thyme leaves.

roast potatoes

Brussel Sprouts

You either love them, or you hate them, but the way you cook them will have the biggest impact on how tasty they are. If the family aren’t big fans of the famous Brussel sprouts, then you could always decide to jazz things up by taking a classic and adding a few unique ingredients.

When having your kitchen designed by the team, be sure to include some of our exceptional storage solutions. You can then make sure you have enough room to fit all of these additional ingredients in the event of an emergency spruce up of your Brussels. Here are some things you can add to the dish to turn your boring and unloved Brussels into the best dish on the dinner table:

brussel sprouts

Yorkshire Puddings

What’s a Christmas dinner without some Yorkshire puddings? The oldest known mention of a Yorkshire pudding recipe dates all the way back to 1737 in a book named The Whole Duty of a Woman, and it has become a staple piece of every Christmas dinner in the UK. Whether you have yours as small crispy additions on the side of your plate or as one massive Yorkshire pudding with all your roast in the middle, they’re a must-have for the special occasion. They are surprisingly easy to make, and by installing multiple ovens into your kitchen design, you have more than enough room to cook your chicken, veggies and Yorkshire puddings. Here is a super easy recipe to follow:

Ingredients

  • 140g of plain flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 200ml of milk
  • Sunflower oil

How To Make

  • Preheat the oven to 230°C.
  • Drizzle about a tablespoon of oil into all 12 holes of a muffin tin and then place into the oven.
  • While this heats up, beat together the flour and eggs in a large bowl until completely smooth.
  • Gradually add the milk while continuously beating so that there are no lumps in the mixture.
  • Pour the batter into a jug and then remove the muffin tin from the oven.
  • Carefully pour the batter into the tins so that it stops around 1-2cm before the top of the tin.
  • Put the tin back into the oven and cook from 20-25 minutes until they have risen and become brown.

Yorkshire Puddings

Cooking The Perfect Roast In The Perfect Kitchen

Your roast dinner can only be as good as your kitchen appliances, so it is important to make sure that you have a kitchen that helps you rather than makes things harder. If your kitchen is outdated and no longer functions for you and the family, then why not design a bespoke kitchen by piecing together products with our team? Having provided made to measure kitchens for many years, we know that every home requires different features and styles to elevate home decor and experiences. For this reason, we supply a range of stunning kitchen designs and collections, all of which you can personalise with handles, worktops and much more! Please feel free to speak with our team about our range of products, design processes and specialist kitchen fitters in Milton Keynes!