This is my Xmas Dinner for One this year – and, in my opinion, it’s the best Xmas Dinner I’ve made so far. In previous years I’ve had to compromise on too much, but I’ve finally got the right mix of dishes and preparation methods.
I’d specifically bought an air fryer to be able to make my own roast potatoes and roast parsnips, quickly and easily, for Xmas Dinner – and it really did the trick. I’ve been making tons of roast potatoes through the year and they’re great. The air fryer has meant that I can just open a drawer, put the potatoes in, close it, turn the dial and they come out by magic almost. Much quicker and better than spending nearly an hour with the mini oven and much better than those I bought from Toby Carvery last year. Better than the Aunt Bessie’s I’d tried in the past too. Best appliance decision ever 🙂
No Turkey? Eh? Where’s the Turkey?
You might notice something’s missing! Where’s the turkey?
I had it, I cooked it… but there was a hitch. I’d had a sleepless night and woke up at 3am, then 4am. Each time I calculated “should I get up now and just put the turkey on?”, but thought dinner would be too early if I did that… then I fell asleep and didn’t wake up again until 8.45am! Too late! I put the turkey on anyway, but as the morning bobbled along and I kept looking at the clock, in the end I decided I wasn’t going to wait for the turkey – and, instead, just served up everything else at 12.45pm.
I also had a change of heart. I had planned to have TWO stuffing mixes, but when I started to see the growing mountain of food I decided I didn’t need that, so I just kept with one stuffing mix. I also decided not to cool cauliflower cheese at the last minute for the same reason. I simply couldn’t possibly eat the volume of food I’ve managed in the past… so here it is.
Xmas Dinner for One 2024 was therefore:
- Roast Parsnips: I’d cooked the entire pack of 500grams of parsnips from the Aldi Christmas Veg (8p/bag) in my air fryer. I cooked these the day before and just reheated on Christmas Day.
- Roast Potatoes: Cooked on Christmas Eve, some potatoes from the Aldi Christmas Veg, cooked in my air fryer and reheated on Christmas Day.
- Stuffing: This was Paxo Chicken & Bacon Stuffing, with dried apricots mixed in. This was cooked in my air fryer the day before and reheated on Christmas Day.
- Yorkshire Puddings: I cheated and bought a 6-pack of frozen Yorkshire Puddings from Aldi. These were reheated in the air fryer on Christmas Day.
- Mashed Potatoes: Made from some of the Aldi Christmas Veg, I’d made these the day before in the microwave oven.
- Brussels Sprouts & Carrots: These were from the Aldi Christmas Veg, cooked fresh on the day in three minutes in the microwave.
- Gravy: I changed my mind at the last minute and used Bisto Turkey Gravy granules, rather than the planned Pigs & Blankets gravy granules. It’s a smoother taste; pigs and blankets gravy can be a little strong and I didn’t want the taste of the other food to be overwhelmed.
The turkey I left in the slow cooker for another 45 minutes and just went without as I wanted to have lunch about 1pm as I was tired of waiting all morning 🙂 Next year my tip to myself should be to cook this the day before too!
Overall, although I cooked quite a lot the day before, next year I’ll try to cook it all the day before. I’m simply not the sort of person who has the patience to stand and wait on the day 🙂
I had to do it bit by bit and box things up in the fridge at the start as I get “burnout” so have to take these things very slowly and steadily…. in fact, just cooking the few bits the day before caused me to have a “shutdown” and I’ve not done much except sleep since Xmas Eve.