Freezer Friendly: Delicious Make Ahead Christmas Gravy
Roast a chicken before Christmas to make a delicious gravy for the big day. Absolutely one of the trimmings Christmas dinner would be unthinkable without! This is a super delicious make ahead Christmas gravy recipe that’s great for freezing. It can be made up to 3 months ahead and popped in the freezer.
If your freezer is ready for you to fill with delicious food, this is a delicious batch cooking freezer friendly recipe that’s just perfect for making ahead. The benefits of batch cooking include saving money, wasting less food and spending more time in the evenings with your family. This way, you can always have a meal waiting for you at the end of the day. It’s a great way to make weeknight cooking manageable.
Serves: 8
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Ingredients
• 1 large onion, roughly sliced
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1.5 kg chicken, at room temperature
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 155 ml white wine
• 1 litre chicken stock
• Salt & pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Put the onion in the centre of a roasting tin and add some of the herbs. Pop the remaining herbs in the chicken cavity, rub the skin with olive oil, season and sit the chicken on top of the onion. Roast for about 1 hour 30 minutes, until cooked through.
Tip any juices from the chicken cavity into the roasting tin, then put the chicken on a carving board, cover with foil and leave to rest. Remove any burnt bits of onion from the roasting tin, skim off the fat and place over a low heat. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon, scraping the tin, then stir in the wine, bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in the stock and simmer for around 5 minutes. Strain 750ml into a measuring jug to cool before freezing.
Serve the remaining gravy with the chicken to eat now. Once the reserved gravy is cold, pour into a freezerproof container and cover.
To reheat, defrost in the fridge for 24 hours. Bring to the boil in a pan, adding juices from your Christmas Day roast turkey; simmer for 5 minutes.
Check the seasoning before serving.
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This is such a useful recipe thank you.