Aaaaah, not Bisto

I am now officially more prepared for Christmas than I ever have been before. A little late-night sieve- action has resulted in a bootiful turkey gravy* ready to be popped in the freezer for the big day. It's a bit more trouble to make it now, but you'll be glad you did.

Eye of newt and toe of frog...

*Warning: does not contain turkey

Here's how I did it:

Tip a 0.75kg pack of chicken wings into a large roasting tin and add 2 carrots, 2 sticks of celery, 4 rashers of bacon, quarter of a leek, an onion, 3 cloves of garlic and a couple of sprigs of rosemary. Let it cook for about an hour on 190/gas 6 until the chicken is golden brown, giving it a stir or 2 on the way. 

Take it out of the oven and tip everything into a large pan, breaking up the wings with your fingers. Pour some boiling water into the roasting tin and use a spatula to scrape every last bit of flavour and colour off the bottom. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons plain flour over the contents of the pan and stir really well, then gradually add the water from the roasting tin, stirring all the time. Then add a load of cold water and a chicken stock cube - enough water to cover the contents of the pan and then some.  You can't really add too much as you are going to bring it all to the boil and simmer it for an hour or so until it has reduced and is tasting great.

Now sieve it well to extract as much flavour as possible from the bones, meat and veg. Put it in the fridge until cold and skim fat off the top, before bagging up for the freezer.

You can either serve it as is on the day: and/or add juices from your turkey pan (discard fat first), a glass of wine (red or white), some water that your veg are cooking in (if it needs thinning), another stock cube (if needed) or some cornflour dissolved in a little water (to thicken).

Turkey meatballs in tomato sauce

The last time I ate turkey was December 25th 2011. But today I unearthed a packet of turkey mince from the back of the freezer (which I am clearing to make space for the Christmas bounty I will be squirrelling away over the next few weeks). Keep an eye on here for cranberry sauce, roast potatoes, stuffings, bread sauce etc to freeze in advance of the big day.

Turkey - not just for Christmas

Nigella's Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce (tweaked slightly)

For the sauce you will need:
1 onion
1 stick of celery
2 tablespoons garlic oil (I used ordinary olive)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 x 400g chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

For the balls:
500g turkey mince
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons grated parmesan
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery and onion (borrowed from the sauce... read on)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
half a teaspoon dried thyme

Put the onion and celery into a food processor and blitz it to a mush. Reserve 2 tablespoons of it for the balls. Fry the onion, celery and thyme in the oil over a moderate heat for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and then. Add the tomatoes, then fill each tin with water and add that too. Season with the sugar, salt and some pepper. Let it come to the boil, then simmer while you make the balls.

For the balls, mix everything - don't forget the celery and onion - together, add a generous pinch of salt and roll them into balls. Nigella suggests a heaped teaspoon of mixture per ball, which will make about 50. Drop them into the simmering sauce and cook for about 30 minutes or until done, depending on how big you have made them (mine were bigger and yielded about 30). We had them with Ainsley Harriott's couscous.