Celebrity recipes
John & Lisa’s
festive treats
Our fantastic cover stars share some of their favourite Christmas recipes from the new series of their ITV show John And Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen
Ultimate Christmas leftover sarnie
Serves 6-8
• 1 fresh Italian round loaf of bread or crusty fresh loaf, approximately 600g
• Dijon mustard
• 200g sliced ham
• Few slices leftover Brie
• 150g stuffing, crumbled
• 200g cauliflower or leeks in white sauce
• 150g leftover Brussels sprouts
• 150g leftover braised red cabbage
• 200g sliced cold turkey
• 2-3tbsp cranberry sauce
• Handful roast potatoes, sliced
• Handful roast parsnips, sliced
• 6-8 pigs in blankets, halved lengthways
• Leftover bread sauce
To serve
• Piccalilli
• Chutneys
• Pickled onions
• Gherkins
1 Cut the top third off the loaf of bread and scoop out the inside; you don’t need this, but you can save it for making breadcrumbs.
2 Spread the base of the inside of the loaf with mustard, then layer the ingredients one by one in whichever order you prefer, pressing down with your fingertips or the back of a spoon after each layer is added.
3 Replace the lid, wrap the whole thing in a clean tea towel, then put upside down on a plate.
4 Lay another plate or small baking tray on top, then transfer to the fridge.
5 Sit a few heavy tins on top to weigh it down, then leave for at least an hour to chill and compress.
6 Unwrap, slice into portions as desired and serve with the piccalilli, chutneys, pickled onions and gherkins.
Salted chocolate truffles & eggnog
Serves 6-8
For the Salted Chocolate Truffles
• 200g dark chocolate
• 200ml double cream
• 25g butter
• Big pinch sea salt
• Cocoa powder
• Desiccated coconut
• Chopped pistachios
• Freeze-dried raspberry pieces
• Edible gold glitter
For the eggnog
• 500ml milk
• ½tsp ground cinnamon, plus more to garnish
• ½tsp ground nutmeg
• ½tsp ground ginger
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 6 egg yolks
• 100g caster sugar
• 250ml double cream
• 100ml bourbon or dark rum
• Tin of whipped cream
To make the truffles
1 Either in a food processor or with a knife, chop the chocolate into gravel-like pieces so it’s pretty fine, then tip into a large mixing bowl.
2 Gently heat the cream and butter together in a saucepan so that it just starts to simmer. Do not let it boil.
3 Add the salt.
4 Pour the cream on to the chocolate and mix together until combined.
5 Leave to cool for about an hour, then use an electric whisk to beat mixture together; this makes the truffles really lovely and light.
6 Beat until the mixture just starts to thicken. Chill again if needed.
7 Take teaspoon-sized pieces of the mixture and either roll into balls or keep them more rustic, like little rocks, then roll them in cocoa powder or any of the listed toppings, or a favourite coating of your choice. Chill in the fridge for a good few hours until firm.
To make the eggnog
1 Tip the milk, spices and vanilla extract into a saucepan and slowly bring to the boil. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
2 Pour the hot spiced milk on to the egg yolk mixture, whisk together, then pour back into the pan and add the double cream. Heat gently, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Immediately pour into a jug to stop the custard from overcooking and add the booze, then set aside to cool.
3 Pour into glasses and top with a sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon and a little whipped cream for fun.
Hazelnut roulade with amaretto cream & a mulled-wine fruit compote
Serves 6-8
For the hazelnut roulade
• 5 egg whites
• 275g caster sugar
• 50g toasted chopped hazelnuts (half for the roulade mixture and half scattered on top)
• Icing sugar, for dusting
For the cream filling
• 400ml double cream
• 2tbsp icing sugar
• 2tbsp Amaretto
For the mulled-wine fruit compote
• 400ml red wine
• 60g light muscovado sugar
• 1 mulled-wine spice sachet
• 1 orange
• 250g mixed frozen berries (cherries, blackcurrants, blackberries etc)
• 1 tin of apples
• 1 tin of pears
To make the roulade
1 Preheat oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan) mark 4 and line a 23 x 33cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment.
2 Using a stand mixer or electric hand whisk, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.
3 Gradually whisk in the sugar in stages, whisking well after each addition.
4 Gently fold through half the chopped hazelnuts.
5 Spread the meringue mixture into the lined tin in an even layer, then scatter the remaining chopped hazelnuts over the top.
6 Bake for 8min, then lower the oven temperature to 160ºC (140ºC fan) mark 3 and bake for a further 15min.
7 Turn out on to a clean tea towel laid over a wire rack (hazelnut-side down); cool.
8 Whisk the cream to soft peaks then fold in the icing sugar and Amaretto.
9 Carefully peel the baking parchment away from the meringue and spread the cream over in an even layer.
10 Starting at a long side, tightly roll up the meringue to form a roulade.
11 Dust with icing sugar and serve with the fruit compote.
To make the compote
1 Pour the red wine into a saucepan, and add the sugar and spice sachet.
2 Using a vegetable peeler, peel long strips of the orange zest and drop into the pan, then halve the orange and squeeze the juice into the pan. Bring to the boil.
3 Simmer the syrup until reduced to a light syrup; this could take 5-10min.
4 Place the frozen fruit in a bowl and drain the hot syrup through a sieve over the frozen fruit to remove the orange peel and spice sachet; this will help cool the syrup quickly.
5 Stir through the tinned apples and pears.
6 The compote should be ready to serve, but leave it a little longer if too hot.
