Christmas Sprouts Showstopper with Roasties

Introduction:

Our Christmas Sprout Showstopper, served with our Ultimate Roast Potatoes is a centrepiece fit for any festive dinner table. Take your time to create the perfect shaped Christmas tree to impress your guests. It even tastes amazing too, a bonus!

Ingredients:

• 500 g Sprouts
• Olive Oil, for frying
• 150 g Pancetta
• 500 g Ultimate Roast Potatoes (see recipe)
• Sea Salt & Ground Black Pepper, to season

Method

1. Prepare the sprouts by peeling the outer leaf off individual sprouts and remove a small slice off the bottom of the sprout where the sprout has been attached to the stalk.
2. Add the sprouts whole to a frying pan with a small amount of hot oil. Cook the sprouts on a medium heat for 5-7 minutes on one side until they begin to brown, don’t stir whilst cooking. Once one side is cooked, turn the sprouts and cook on the opposite side for 5-7 minutes, adding the pancetta to brown.
3. Once the sprouts have cooked, stir to diffuse the pancetta flavour, adding salt and pepper as you wish. Take the mix off the heat and leave to cool slightly before using to create the sprout centrepiece.
4. Using your mashed potato, create a tower in the centre of a large serving plate. The thicker your mashed potato, the less likely your tower is to fall.
5. Begin placing the sprouts into and around the tower to create a Christmas tree shape. Continue until you have created the desired effect, you can even drizzle the pancetta and oil over the tower once created if desired.
6. Place the roast potatoes around the centre piece and sprinkle with salt if desired.
7. Serve immediately!

Top Tip

If you’re having problems balancing the top sprouts on top of the mashed potato, try using cocktail sticks to hold them in place, just remember they are being used before eating!