Curtis Stone's Get-ahead Christmas Tips
Curtis Stone shares his top ten tips to get ahead for Christmas and save money, stress and a whole lot of effort.
Chorizo & Manchego Gougeres
Yoghurt Dip with Chilli Oil
Coles Fresh Advisor and Chef Curtis Stone’s 10 Christmas get-ahead tips:
Planning ahead saves money, stress, a whole lot of effort and makes Christmas better – and tastier! Best of all, you can go into the big day knowing everything’s sorted, so you can sit back and really enjoy the festive season just the way it’s intended.
eight weeks ahead
1. Bake your Christmas pudding now and store it in a cold dark place to mature and allow the flavours to intensify.
2. Confirm the guest list and plan the entire menu two months out, then delegate! I like to play to people’s strengths by tasking them with jobs they enjoy and are good at. Get the wine lover to match drinks to the menu, ask the baker to make the pudding… People will thank you for giving them plenty of time to prepare – and they’ll feel pretty special, too.
six weeks ahead
3. Write a detailed shopping list. Keep an ear out for any sales or deals that pop up at the supermarket and bottle shops and jump on them while they last. All of my recipes on taste.com.au use ingredients you can easily find in store at Coles or you can simply click from the ingredients list to add them to your Coles online trolley making things even easier.
4. Consider the season – it’s summer! This means produce such as tomatoes, corn, cucumber, zucchini, berries, cherries, passionfruit, mangoes, pineapple and stone fruits are in season. It is less expensive to buy ingredients in season as they are abundant, plus they pop with natural flavour, so you only have to treat them simply to make them taste great.
four weeks ahead
5. The festive season is officially firing! Edible gifts are inexpensive to make and people really appreciate the effort, especially if it’s something deliciously indulgent, like chocolate truffles, salted caramel popcorn, peppermint bark or shortbread.
two weeks ahead
6. If you’re making a dish with pastry dough, such as my Mango Pineapple Tart, make the dough up to 2 weeks ahead, then wrap and freeze.
7. It’s no fun running into barbecue dramas on game-day, so give yours a once-over. Is it clean? Do you have all of the right tools you need? Do you have sufficient fuel to keep it cranking over?
one week ahead
8. One week to go! No need to be nervous because you’ve done plenty of prep in advance, right? At my restaurant, Maude, we always begin our monthly degustation with some kind of snack, like gougères, which are a classic French savoury pastry. They’re perfect to hand around when people first arrive. The dough for my Chorizo & Manchego Gougères can be made (but not baked), then stored in the freezer for up to 1 week.
9. Make any curds, compound butters, jams and other condiments, like the chilli oil in my Yoghurt Dip with Chilli Oil.
10. Give the kids a fun job and ask them to do a dry run of the table setting. That way, you’ll know pretty quickly what's missing. Make it enjoyable and memorable by putting on some carols. You’ll feel all that Christmas cheer flow throughout the house!
Good luck guys, you’ve got this!
