Hurrah! It's December. Our advent calendar is well and truly under assault, the cold snap has finally arrived, and while we'll probably be last minute with the presents, we're deep in the throes of what's really important - planning the food. (Lovely lovely bread sauce! Roast honey glazed ham! Prosecco in the morning and port all afternoon!). We've already tested this year's Christmas goods so you know which mince pies are worth spending your cash and Christmas calories on (Asda, said our panel; your own, says Vicky Frost), and we've gathered together the best of our Christmas recipes for those of you who haven't yet stirred up your Christmas puddings and cakes.
This week we're turning to the experts to help us troubleshoot potential problems and inspire us with our Christmas dinner menus. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Nigella Lawson and Fergus Henderson are all coming in to run lunchtime cookery clinics giving you tips on how to make our Christmas dinners fly (in the good sense).
To help give you some inspiration, we're running recipes from all three ahead of the live sessions. Fergus has chosen his whole roast suckling pig as a standout alternative centrepiece to the Christmas turkey, and he'll be here on Wednesday to answer all your burning questions on matters meaty, including how to do the turkey (we suggest you don't try this) if tradition is what you want.
Hugh is going to be on hand on Thursday to inspire vegetarians with some alternatives to the ubiquitous nut roast (here's his recipe for squash stuffed with leeks) and Nigella will be here on Friday, doing what she does best, teaching us how to make those desserts and sweet things really sing. For those who want to make a cake and haven't managed to find the time yet, we've Nigella's classic Christmas cake recipe here, complete with three sets of measurements for cakes ranging in size from the merely substantial to the positively heroic. (Pay no attention to those who tell you the finished product should have been enjoying daily doses of brandy for weeks now.)
• Wednesday, 12pm: Fergus Henderson on turkey and meat
• Thursday, 12pm: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's vegetarian options
• Friday at 12pm: Nigella Lawson on desserts
