(festive music) - [Mary] I just love Christmas, it's my favorite time of year.

But it can be so busy.

I'm going to share with you some great tips for getting ahead.

So at your Christmas, it's stress free.

I have some wonderful, easy recipes.

That's just perfect.

And I'll also be finding out how everyone else is preparing for Christmas.

That really takes the wind outta my sails.

It is magnificent.

(festive music) Christmas has always played a huge part in my life.

Since my children have moved away from home, it's become even more special to me as it's a time for everyone to be together.

But it's not just Christmas day that I love, It's the wonderful build up to it.

Tonight, I will show you how to feed all those extra family and friends over the holiday season.

My warming beef casserole, a breathtaking pie, a perfect winter crumble, and a lusciously rich mousse cake.

But first a dish perfect for a frosty Christmas Eve.

My mother used to make it, and have it on standby when we arrived on Christmas Eve; and now I'm doing exactly the same.

I've got half smoked haddock and half ordinary haddock.

350 grams of each, and I'm just going to dice that up into reasonable sized pieces.

So just about the amount that you would eat in one mouthful.

And beware of the odd bone.

And that's it.

To make the sauce for the fish pie, I like to use leeks.

They're at their best in winter, and add a perfect subtle flavor.

You notice I don't do it as quickly as the chefs do.

But I get there in the end.

Fry them off in 50 grams of butter, until they're nice and soft.

Add 50 grams of flour and slowly whisk in 600 mls of hot milk.

And watch it getting thicker and thicker.

Don't add all the milk at once.

If the sauce is a little bit too thick, you can always add a little more milk.

That's it, now I'm going to add salt and pepper.

I like pepper.

(laughs) There we are.

Little bit extra.

And then I'm going to put the juice of half a lemon.

That just sharpens it up.

In goes the dill.

If you are not a lover of dill, you could always put chopped parsley in.

Then in goes the fish, and the fish will cook in the hot sauce.

The lovely smell of this fish; slightly smoky.

Just makes me think of Christmas.

Once the fish begins to turn white, it's ready for the baking dish.

Why do I grease the dish?

Cause it makes it much easier to clean afterwards.

And it's usually me that's washing it up.

Doesn't that look good?

And now to the hard boiled eggs, yes, I'm generous with the hard boiled eggs.

I think I've put more in than mom does, and you know all my family love fish pie, but my husband, if I don't put lots of hard boiled egg in, I'm in trouble.

So, and now to the souffle topping.

This is not only delicious, it's totally different and wonderfully crisp.

Start by cutting five slices of stale bread into crouton.

Then melt 75 grams of butter, with the same amount of mature cheddar cheese.

Add 50 grams of cream cheese over a low heat.

Lastly, whisk one egg white until light and frothy.

And put the egg white in.

That's the souffle topping, here come the croutons.

In they go.

And don't tell people it's bread.

Just say it's souffle, they'll think it's pretty grand.

(festive music) There it is, all ready for the oven.

Bake at 180 fan for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's crisp and golden.

Mum didn't have a glass door, I can have a glass and see everything's all right.

How about that then?

Who wouldn't be tempted to eat this on arrival on Christmas Eve, all piping hot, crispy topping.

They'll all be starving for this.

(festive music) Because there's so much to do at this time of year, it's good to have a few delicious meals prepared in advance.

And on a cold winters day, this next recipe is the perfect thing to come home to.

So to start with, I've got one and a half kilos of lean stewing steak here, and I'm going to fry it.

Now there's a lot of meat, so I'll be doing it in batches.

No good putting all that in, 'cause you'll never get it brown at once.

Keep moving it about.

And the idea is to get it brown, that gives the extra flavor and it seals the meat in.

You look down the bottom there, there's a bit of crust coming.

All that will add to the flavor.

That's it!

Add three, roughly chopped onions and six cloves of crushed garlic to the same pan.

It's taking up the juices from the bottom, which is all adding color to my casserole.

Now I'm going to add the stock.

I'm using 300 mls of beef stock.

And to thicken the casserole, a mixture of 50 grams of flour and 300 ml of white wine.

Then the meat goes back.

Three tablespoons of Worcester sauce.

Might have been a good idea to take the top off.

So leave that on a very, very low heat, or in a low oven, and cook it until it's almost tender, about two hours.

In that time, of course, you can be doing all the other things you have to do at Christmas.

(festive music) Gently bubbling there.

Chestnut mushrooms 500 grams going in.

There's a lot of gravy here, and I can tell you my husband is a gravy man.

He has it with sausages, he'll have it with steak.

There has to be gravy.

And so there's plenty here.

Leave to simmer gently for another half an hour, and for extra kick, the all important three tablespoons, each, of Dijon mustard, and horseradish cream.

Everybody seems to like chilies.

There is no chili in sight here, this is really flavorsome, but not hot spicy.

It really is perfect for a winter's day.

Do you know?

That is a really mellow flavor, very warming, and for my taste, that's just perfect.

(festive music) Christmas wouldn't be Christmas, if my cupboards weren't bursting with my favorite sweet indulgence; chocolate.

And nobody knows more about it than William Curley, four times British chocolatier of the year.

Hello, William, I've heard so much about you and your chocolate creations.

It's Christmas time, and I can't imagine Christmas without chocolate.

Is it a very busy time for you?

- [William] Gosh, Christmas, It's the busiest time of the year specialties such as a Dundee cake, mince pies, port truffles - [Mary] Which is the thing that you like best?

- [William] We love making one of, a classic french patisserie a bûche de Noël.

- [Mary] The bûche de Noël or yule log is served traditionally in France as their Christmas pudding and dates back to the 16th century.

I've made yule logs myself but never anything quite like this.

- [William] If you just take the mush and run it up the side like such.

- [Mary] I bet you do this like lightning when you do it.

I must say, if I was doing this I'd like to do several at one go put them in the freezer.

- [William] Just knock them out, yeah.

- [Mary] And everybody who came to supper in the next year would get it as their pud, whether it was Christmas or not.

(William laughing) We're going to all this effort, I'd want to show off.

This wonderful creation is a combination of a creamy hazelnut and almond meringue center.

You've done this before and you know exactly they're gonna fit.

Chocolate sponge.

So that is rum with a sugar syrup.

- [William] Indeed.

Yep.

- [Mary] These are crystallized chestnuts.

Surrounded by a rich chocolate and chestnut mousse a meringue base, all covered in a dark chocolate glaze.

(William mumbling) It's just like a river flowing.

A final few festive touches.

Well, that looks amazing.

Just look at that.

And the master piece is complete.

Do you know William, I have to stand back and say that really takes the wind out of my sails.

- [William] Oh.

- [Mary] It is magnificent.

- [William] Oh, thank you very much Mary.

It's very kind.

- [Mary] Well.

- [William] But why don't we go upstairs?

Have a little cup of coffee and a wee thin slice.

- Do you know you've twisted my arm.

Come on then.

- [William] Let's go.

(festive music) - [Mary] This is luxury personified.

It is so chocolaty and it's full of surprises as you get through the layers.

- [William] Textures.

- [Mary] Mm.

- [William] Different flavors coming through.

- [Mary] Oh, so good.

And oh, so memorable.

All the remains William is to wish you a very very happy Christmas.

And you will only have made about a thousand of these come Christmas Eve.

- [William] (laughing) Indeed.

Thank you Mary.

Merry Christmas to you.

- [Mary] That bûche noël looked amazing.

But if you haven't the time or the skill that William has I've got the perfect recipe for you.

A chocolate mousse cake.

So the cake, very simple to make.

And the strongest chocolate flavor you will get is from cocoa.

To 25 grams of cocoa, add three tablespoons of boiling water.

Aim to get a paste a bit like soft butter, you would spread it across.

There it is, then add two eggs, a hundred grams of caster sugar, a hundred grams of self raising flour, and a level teaspoon of baking powder.

Don't make it heaped.

It must be level because if you put too much in it'll rise up and fall down again.

And lastly, 100 grams of baking spread.

(festive music) (mixer whirring) Beautifully mixed, all one color.

Spoon, the mixture into a greased tin lined with non-stick baking parchment.

Chocolate goes so well at Christmas time.

I think we're, just one of those times when we can be indulgent.

It only needs 25 minutes in the oven at 160 fan.

When it starts to shrink away from the sides of the tin it's done and should be nice and springy to the touch.

That looks perfect.

To make it extra special, a little Brandy over the top about two tablespoons, bit difficult to know where you've been when it's a chocolate cake, but I think I'm remembering, there we are.

And that for luck.

Right.

Now to the chocolate mousse topping.

(festive music) Slowly melt 300 grams of chocolate.

I find using 50% cocoa solids is best.

It adds just the right amount of sweetness.

While the chocolate cools, whisk 450 mls of whipping cream until frosty.

Fold that in and you get the easiest and quickest chocolate mousse and it's still a lovely frothy mixture.

I'm going to put that on top of the sponge now.

(festive music) I'm going to chill it overnight in the fridge that will firm it up and then turn it out.

(festive music) A little sift coca over the top makes a professional finish.

So the sort of thing that William would've done with his bûche de noël.

And I think that really is quite a sort of show stopper.

Isn't it?

Everybody will get, oh and ah when you walk in with that and they won't know how long it took you to make, not too long, and then a little sift icing sugar makes it even more special.

Also, it makes you think of snow on Christmas, that's my special indulgent chocolate pud.

That is so easy to make, but it's got the Christmas wow factor, have a go.

(festive music) There are so many festive delicacies to enjoy but my Christmas shopping wouldn't be complete without a very British favorite, Stilton.

I've come to rural Nottinghamshire to meet Robin Skailes whose family has been in the cheese business for over 160 years.

Hello Robin very nice to see you.

- [Robin] How are you Mary?

So nice to meet you Mary.

- [Mary] Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Stilton.

And I'm fascinated to know exactly how it's made.

- [Robin] Well, you've come to the right place, come inside - [Mary] Right.

- [Robin] and I'll show you exactly how Stilton is made at Cropwell Bishop.

- [Mary] What's special about this place is that everything here is done using methods that have changed very little since the 17th century.

- [Robin] So this is right at the beginning of the process the milk came into the vats about three hours ago.

We added all the different ingredients to the milk that include the rennet which clots the milk and eventually turns it into curds and whey as we see here.

We take a nice big ladle of the curd and whey we then transfer it into the draining table.

- [Mary] So the whey goes away.

- [Robin] The whey goes away and it's drained off.

And we basically continue to do this until we've transferred all the curd and whey into this.

- [Mary] You do it all by hand?

- [Robin] All by hand.

And it's literally a case of just scooping it out and then into the draining table.

- [Mary] How deep is this?

- [Robin] Quite deep, you won't touch the bottom.

- [Mary] Oh, okay.

- [Robin] Okay.

- [Mary] So I.

- [Robin] You won't fall in either.

Don't worry.

- [Mary] Gentle down.

- [Robin] Really gently.

Yeah.

Spot on.

- [Mary] And then down again.

Well, it's quite therapeutic this, isn't it?

- [Robin] It is.

The trick is to be really gentle with it.

- [Mary] I was really gentle.

- [Robin] And you have got it completely spot on.

So, you know, you have a job here any day, Mary.

- [Mary] All right.

But I'll tell you, you needn't put me on here cause it's a bit too much hard work.

The next step is to pack the curds into molds.

And five days later they are set and ready for a process called rubbing up.

- [Robin] We're trying to seal the cheese, so no air or oxygen can get inside the cheese at this point.

We want the cheese to condition over the next four or five weeks before we encourage any of the blue mold to grow.

- [Mary] If you don't make that nice and smooth and there are sort of air holes, what happens?

- [Robin] The blue mold may start to grow and would become quite strong at the end of its maturation.

- [Mary] So Kerry is flattening it down a bit like icing a cake really.

- [Robin] It looks simple, but it is a, it is an art and it, years of practice goes into this.

Kerry's been doing it for many years.

- [Mary] How long have you been doing this?

- [Kerry] 12 years.

- [Mary] 12?

She doesn't look old enough to be doing that for 12 years.

- [Robin] Yeah, I know, I know.

- [Mary] After five weeks of maturing the Stilton takes on a nice golden crust.

It's then pierced, which allows the air in and the distinctive mold can finally grow.

Two weeks later, and the beautiful blue marbling has taken hold.

It's very rich and creamy, and you do have luxury things at Christmas.

And I think maybe that's why it's so popular.

What about Howard?

- [Howard] I have Stilton every day, really.

- [Robin] You have it on your pie at lunch.

Don't you?

Sometimes?

- [Howard] I have.

(Howard laughing) - [Robin] Yeah.

- [Mary] You have it on your pie, how do you put it on your pie at lunch?

- [Howard] Oh, I just put it in the microwave.

(Howard laughing) - [Robin] Yeah and it melts.

- [Howard] And then it melts.

- [Mary] This is advanced cooking, this is.

- [Robin] Yeah.

- [Howard] Yeah.

- [Mary] I see you look really well on it.

- [Howard] I know, that's, what do they call it?

Aphrodisiac?

(laughing) - [Mary] Well, I won't go into that detail, but thank you very much.

Well, there's a lot more to making Stilton than I thought, but it's definitely worth the effort.

Just like my next recipe, which is a real show stopper.

There's something really spectacular about a raised pie.

When you cut the first slice, it's a real show off pie.

I'm gonna make hot water crust pastry.

You may not have made it before but it is very easy to make.

And it is the traditional one for a raised pie.

(festive music) Dissolve 100 grams of lard in 100 ml of hot water, then add it to 250 grams of plain flour.

And I'm gonna just finish that off, putting my hand in.

Now, if you're worried about my nails, they're gel and they won't come off.

I was brought up not to ever wear nail Polish when I'm cooking, and at college, it was absolutely forbidden, but things have changed and it is Christmas.

Put aside one third for the top of the pie and roll the rest quite thinly.

Now I think that's about right.

And now for the filling.

I've got some gammon here, some chicken, pickled walnuts.

I think they give a lovely texture, lovely flavor, hard boiled eggs, and sausage meat.

Cut the gammon and chicken into strips.

Then add lemon zest and fresh thyme to the sausage meat.

And don't use dried thyme.

Dried thyme is a totally different thing.

And I don't think it adds to recipes at all.

Mix a third of the sausage meat with the gammon strips to make the bottom layer of the pie.

And then you can imagine as cut through, you get beautiful results.

Press it down firmly to remove any air before poking in a few of the pickled walnuts.

If you don't like pickled walnuts, you could put pistachio nuts in it, you could use stoned olives.

Lay the trimmed hard boiled eggs along the center and surround them with the sausage meat And then press it down very gently but firmly, no arguments.

So I've got here, the chicken and it's the same principle.

I want long pieces of chicken so that when I cut through the pie, when it's cooked, it looks good.

It takes time, but it's very rewarding.

And the last third of the pastry will become the pie lid.

That looks about the right size to me.

Let me just check.

Very stupid if it didn't reach, wouldn't it?

Stick the lid on with a little beaten egg, and then crimp the edges.

You can do any decoration that you like and I'm going to do three leaves over the top.

Make a small air hole in the top and bake it 180 fan for half an hour, and then 160 for the final hour.

When it's ready, let it cool.

And then leave in the fridge overnight.

And this is it.

I think it looks pretty good.

(festive music) I can tell you I'm chuffed to bits with that, I think it looks really perfect.

What could be more impressive, more Christmasy?

It really shows that you've pushed the boat out for all your family and friends.

(festive music) The wonderful thing about food at Christmas time is that it can be so indulgent and I have the perfect winter pudding that will spoil everyone.

I like my puddings to be special.

And this is my take on blackberry and apple crumble.

I already made a flan case, it's 28 centimeters wide and I baked it blind.

So it's ready to receive this Blackberry and apple filling.

I'm using four bramley apples for the filling, they tend to work best.

Add a couple of tablespoon fulls of water and 150 grams of caster sugar.

Just give that a stir.

Simmer on a low heat with the lid on for about 10 minutes until the apples start to soften.

Right, time to add the blackberries.

Take about five minutes of gently stirring.

That looks absolutely right to me.

A good tip is to drain the juice from the fruit filling, otherwise your pastry will get too soggy.

There we are.

It's pouring down and that will be lovely, just reduced a bit and served with it.

And now the crumble topping with a difference.

Start with 175 grams of plain flour and a hundred grams of butter.

And this honestly isn't worth getting the machine out to do.

And you just lift it up.

This is a wonderful thing to do with children.

They absolutely love it.

For extra crunch add a hundred grams of demerara sugar, 50 grams of porridge oats and 50 grams of coarsely chopped hazelnuts.

Adding the nuts and porridge oats gives such an interesting texture.

And at Christmas time, it's really a time when you use nuts.

Isn't it?

So all I've got to do now, is assemble it.

Lots and lots of fruit.

That's it.

And then the crumble topping.

You've really got the best of both worlds with very thin pastry underneath, and then you've got the crumble on top.

You've got double whammy really.

Cook for about 25 minutes at 180 fan until the top is wonderfully golden and crisp.

That looks a bit of alright.

You can hear listen to this, what a lovely crisp top.

Serve with a dollop of cream and the reduced fruit juices.

That is sheer heaven on a plate.

I could eat all that in one go and I'll diet tomorrow.

So there you have it.

Five dishes you can make in advance to help you create the perfect Christmas.

Next time, I'll show you how to take the pressure off the big day itself.

Christmas doesn't get better than that.

You notice I take the drink first.

(festive music)