Derek Reilly, Culinary Director, talks Christmas cooking
Derek Reilly, Culinary Director for Aramark Ireland shared with Riona Phelan, Nutrition Intern Aramark Ireland, some of his Christmas tips for a hassle-free Christmas dinner. Here are some of the highlights from their session.
Riona: Derek, thank you for joining me today to talk about the festive season. Before we start on the questions, would you like to tell us a little about yourself.
Derek: My name is Derek Reilly, and I am the Culinary Director for Aramark and Avoca. I joined Aramark over 6 years ago. I work with food, food innovation, concepts, craft development, and training. I am part of a wider team of development chefs that are located all over the country. My role requires me to stay current with food trends and stay relevant with what is happening in other businesses. I work closely with the Health & Wellbeing Team developing and creating new concepts and recipes, in line with our WIF (Wellbeing in Focus) criteria.
Riona: Derek what are your top 3 tips for cooking during the festive season?
Derek: Don’t overcomplicate things. Christmas time is not the time to be adventurous. Cook what you know, what you like, and keep it simple.
I recommend going for a cold starter, whether it is a prawn cocktail, smoked salmon, or a crab salad. This means that you can get it done in advance and they can be left to chill in the fridge. When the guests arrive, have some snacks to hand – something as simple as tortilla chips and hummus or for the more health conscious some veg sticks, just so that they have something to be snacking on beforehand to keep everybody engaged.
My last tip would be to delegate and get all the family involved. The pressure comes when you’re cooking for everybody else, but if everybody else is involved in helping then it breaks down the stress of it.
Riona: As you mentioned earlier it is important to get the whole family involved, do you have any thoughts on ways to include the kids?
Derek: There is no denying that you need a lot of patience! I get my kids involved in the menu planning to make it exciting for them. I bring them grocery shopping so that they can see, touch, and feel what we are buying, allowing them to get the whole experience around the build up to Christmas day. Let them talk to the butcher about the turkey and ham and let them be involved from the beginning before the cooking even begins.
In my house, my daughters set the table, pick the Christmas music, and decide where to put the candles so that it’s not all about the meal. The preparation, cooking, and the clean up afterwards is a good life lesson so that they don’t just walk away after the food and that they are involved with every aspect of the Christmas Day preparation.
Riona: In my house there is always plenty of leftovers and I don’t think I am alone in this; do you have you any nice recipes for the Christmas dinner leftovers?
Derek: I like to keep the traditional food going and keep it simple in the days after Christmas. I love making a warm and comforting turkey, ham, and leek pie. It can be made with pre-made puff pastry and a rich gravy to serve with.
Riona: Cooking the Christmas dinner for the whole family can be quite a stressful experience for some people, have you any tips on timesaving for the Christmas dinner and what sort of preparation ahead of the day do you do?
Derek: It’s all in the planning and really getting ahead. Prepare in advance. Potatoes can be peeled and left in water up to 24 hours before cooking, same as any of your vegetables. It is important to think practically when you’re cooking the Christmas dinner, you don’t need 6 different types of vegetables, 3 is plenty. It is worth remembering that vegetables can also be bought peeled and sliced, which saves time and takes the unnecessary stress out of the preparation.
Don’t cook too much food. People have it in their heads that they won’t have enough food. I would suggest only cooking alternative or additional meals if someone has a dietary requirement, but really there is no need to cook as much as most people do. As a back up there are some good pre-made, high quality food that you can buy to save making it all from scratch.
Riona: Final question from me, what is your favourite dish to cook at Christmas?
Derek: My favourite dish to make would be a salmon gravadlax with celeriac and fennel salad. I make this by marinating Irish salmon in a salt and dill mix to remove all the bacteria, to ferment it. This marinade is left overnight, so again it is a dish that can be prepared in advance and served cold. I then slice the salmon very thinly and serve it with the fresh celeriac and fennel salad which gives it a citrus and zingy flavour. Celeriac is a cheap vegetable which many people don’t use so it is nice to add something different to a dish that you are serving guests. It is a great starter to cleanse your palate before indulging in the main course, plus it is homemade, Irish, and light with clean and fresh flavours.
Riona: Derek thank you so much for your time and fantastic tips. I would like to wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and I will definitely try your salmon gravadlax – I hope you are on standby if I run into trouble.
Derek: Riona it has been a pleasure and please give me a shout if you need any support with the salmon. I would also like to wish you and all the readers an incredibly happy and hopefully stress-free Christmas.