The Perfect Christmas Dinner Sides: Why an Aga Cooker Is the Ultimate Choice for making your sides

Every household has their own way of making Christmas dinner and everyone has their Christmas staples but why not mix it up a bit this year? Here are some of our favourite things to make at Christmas with the help of our Aga cooker.

Quick and Easy Gravy Recipe

First things first, have you heard of Jamie Oliver’s ‘get ahead gravy’? Gravy is normally the last thing on the list, as we want all the juices/flavours from the turkey, but this sometimes makes the last bit of cooking your Christmas dinner more stressful. If you’re dreading the last hurdle of the day, then why not give this a try…it’s so simple!

‘Get Ahead Gravy’

Ingredients:

10 chicken wings

2 rashers of streaky bacon

2 onions

2 carrots

2 sticks of celery

2 bay leaves

2 springs of sage

2 springs of rosemary

2 star anise

2 tablespoons of cranberry sauce

4 tablespoons of plain flour

Trusty olive oil

Method: Peel the veg, roughly chop and pop into a roasting dish with the bacon and herbs.

Place your chicken wings on top, drizzle with olive oil and cook for 1 hour in the roasting oven.

Remove the tray from the oven and place directly on the simmering plate, then mash everything together with a potato masher.

Gradually stir the flour into your mash, then slowly pour in 2 litres of boiling water.

Let it simmer for 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

Once it’s thickened to the consistency you like, push your gravy goodness through a sieve.

Season to taste with salt & pepper, then allow it to cool. Then either store it in the fridge for a couple of days before Christmas or freeze until the day before you need it.

Pop your goodness back into the pan to warm it through, stir in your cranberry sauce and serve! Simple!

Sprouts with Lardons, Chestnuts and a Secret Ingredient Recipe

Sprouts, the most underrated but ultimate addition to your Christmas dinner! When cooked to perfection, you’ll never look back! The key to the perfect spouts is to parboil them before combining them with the other ingredients – not too soft, not too hard.

Method: To begin, bring a pan of salted water up to the boil on your boiling plate, whilst you’re waiting for your water to boil, trim your sprouts then cut them in half.

Once your water is boiling, add your spouts and then transfer the pan over to the simmering plate.

Simmer the sprouts for 6 minutes, then transfer them into iced water – this will stop them from overcooking and becoming too soft.

Roughly chop your chestnuts (we recommend buying pre-cooked chestnuts as this saves a lot of time on the big day) and lardons, then fry on the boiling plate in a generous glug of olive oil.

Add your spouts, allowing them to brown on the edges – this is where the flavour really takes off!

Then last but not least, transfer the pan onto the simmering plate before adding your secret ingredient – two generous tablespoons of cranberry sauce!

Stir the cranberry sauce through, glazing the spouts with the sweet & tart goodness and then serve. Sprouts have never been so good!

Yorkshire Puddings in your Aga Cooker Recipe

No roast is complete without a Yorkshire pudding, yet most people are overwhelmed at the thought of making them! We’ve all had at least one experience with non-risers, but here are a couple of tips to make your Yorkshire puddings fail-proof, no matter which recipe you decide to use!

Method: Make sure your fat is hot, hot, hot…this is key! It’s simple, if your fat isn’t hot enough, your puddings aren’t going to rise. You want your fat so hot that as soon as you pour in the batter, it starts to cook.

Use a tea-spoon of fat in each hole in your roasting tin – the fats we recommend are goose fat, duck fat, dripping or lard (the bird fats will give you more flavour). Alternatively, use a good quality olive oil but you will need to leave the tin in your roasting oven for a little longer as olive oil doesn’t have as high a smoke point as the fats.

Let your batter rest before pouring it into the roasting tin. We recommend making it a couple of hours before using it, and allowing it to sit at room temperature.

The secret ingredient for the batter is mustard powder. This might sound strange, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Add a teaspoon of mustard powder in with your batter, Coleman’s if you have it. It adds a subtle but delicious kick!

The golden rule…don’t open the oven whilst they’re roasting! It may be tempting, as you cannot see inside your roasting oven, but trust the process otherwise you’ll end up with non-risers.

Last but not least, why not try making them in advance? The idea of not being able to open the oven door for half an hour of Christmas day may be overwhelming so get ahead and make them the day before.

Once cooked & cooled, you just need to pop them in the roasting/baking oven for 5/10 minutes on the big day to allow them to warm through. Once you’ve tried this handy tip, you won’t look back!

How to Cook the Perfect Turkey in an Aga Cooker?

If you are hosting this year and wondering how to achieve the perfect roast turkey in your Aga cooker, try following our simple steps to dishing up a delicious turkey for everyone to enjoy!

How to Cook a Christmas Pudding in an Aga Cooker?

Now that the mains are done and everyone is full to bursting, you can turn your attention to pudding! Christmas pudding is always a family favourite that tastes sensational cooked in an Aga cooker. Follow our easy Christmas pudding recipe and see how to cook you Christmas pudding in the Aga cooker.

Whatever you end up making this year, remember…enjoy the day, and have a very Merry Christmas!

Take Advantage of £1,000 off Selected Reconditioned Aga Cookers this Christmas

If you would like to be cooking Christmas dinner on an Aga cooker next year, why not take a look at our range of fully reconditioned Aga cooker models like the Dual Control.

Save £1,000 on all 3 oven reconditioned Dual Control Aga cookers in our Grand Sale this Christmas! Order now for free delivery in February. Stock is limited, so act fast. Hurry – our Grand Sale ends on Monday, 20th January 2025.

Take a look at our range online today, or get in touch with us for more information.