This is the lunch for Christmas Day itself from the Christmas Meal Plan.
1.6kg Asda Butchers Selection British Pork Shoulder joint, £4.61, 300g, 86p
Stuffing, Asda Smartprice 85g/15p, half the pack, 7p
500g Potatoes, Asda white potatoes, 2.5kg/£1.69, 34p
200g Parsnips, Asda Chosen By You, frozen, 680g pk/91p, 27p
200g Red cabbage, Asda 68p/kg, 14p
Best for Baking, Asda 250g/49p
Asda English Mustard 25p
Tbslp value flour
total of £1.68, 84p per serving
First of all prepare your roasting joint. Remove it from the packaging, wipe dry with kitchen roll and season well with s+p. Now place in a roasting tin. Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/Gas Mark 7. Once heated, cook the joint for 30 minutes.
Now reduce the heat to 180C/160C fan/Gas Mark 4 and continue cooking for 1Hr 40 minutes, until the joint is cooked and the crackling crisp. You may need to remove the crackling and cook it further under the grill to get it to crisp up.
Meanwhile, cut the red cabbage into small pieces, place in a pan and saute gently in a knob of fat for at least 40-45 minutes.
Peel the potatoes, cut into pieces and simmer gently in a pan for 10 minutes. Drain and shake gently in the pan to roughen the edges. Melt a little Best For Baking in the pan, season with s+p and tip onto a baking tray.
Place the parsnips on a baking tray.
Mix half of the packet of stuffing with boiling water as specified on the packet, shape into small balls and place on a baking tray with the parsnips.
30 minutes before your joint is due to come out of the oven, put the potatoes in.
20 minutes later, put the stuffing and parsnips in.
When the cooking time for the joint is up, take it out of the oven, put on a dish, cover well with foil and tea-towels and allow to rest. Now make some gravy using the juices in the pan. Put your cooking tin on the hob and heat gently, whisk in a little flour, just enough to thicken it a little, about a tblsp. Add a tsp of mustard. Simmer gently for a few minutes. If you have any red currant jelly, rosemary/thyme, or a splash of wine, these will all contribute to a flavoursome gravy.
Everything should now be ready. Carve 150g pork per person and serve with everything else, reserving a few stuffing balls to have with tea in the evening.
If you have room, serve the Mixed Fruit Pudding, with cream, for pudding.
It’s almost Christmas and people are nastier than ever! It is quite shocking!
Katherine, thanks very much. I’ve done turkey and pork now, what next for 2015 I wonder?
Sarah, good isn’t it! As I was scrolling down to the bottom of the article, I accidentally read the first comment, even that one was rude. There’s no way I’m reading them, I would get a complex!
Wow, gorgeous article in the Daily Mail!! Just don’t go near the comments, or have someone pick out the sane 🙂 ones for you!
Well done!
It looks very good. For a budget Christmas dinner, the choice is probably chicken (a bit dull), turkey drumstick or pork. Pork probably has the best flavour and makes good gravy and dripping and crackling. I love red cabbage. It freezes well when cooked and goes very well with pork. Well done for the whole plan.