Sluttishly Savoury: Christmas Cockerel with Clementine and Herb Butter

When it comes to Christmas birds most people opt for the traditional turkey but over here in the East Midlands it's all about the Christmas Cockerel. Cockerels are slow grown to reach a hefty but natural size and when cooked the meat is super juicy with a really rich, deep chicken-y flavour. If you love the flavour of a really good quality chicken then multiply that threefold and you are on the right track. I should also add that buying and eating a cockerel also gives the added bonus of countless cock jokes that will become more *hilarious throughout the festive day.

I decided to make a kickass festive butter to squish between the flesh and the skin which oozed throughout the bird and was absolutely heavenly. I'm pretty sure I'm now going to stuff everything I can with it. I cooked a huge 4.5kg free range bird which would feed about 12 people - we fed 5 hungry adults for dinner plus countless roast dinner sandwiches the following day and still have masses of meat left to freeze AND you can also buy up to 7kg birds SHEESH!

If you opt for a smaller/larger bird then work on the principal that for every 450g it needs 16 minutes of cooking plus an extra 16 minutes, and don't forget your bird is not complete without pigs in blankets, fear not, Elizabeth  totally has his covered and has 3 different ways of making your piggies the best ever.

You'll need: (serves 12)

• 1 x 4.5kg cockerel (I used Packington Free Range who do mail order and it was awesome)
• 250g pack unsalted butter
• 3 x clementines
• 1 x 30g pack fresh thyme (I used lemon thyme)
• 1 x 30g pack fresh sage leaves
• salt and pepper
• 400ml cheap cream sherry

Make it!

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C. Zest and juice your clementines (reserve the squished clementines for later) and put pop it in a blender with half of the herbs, the butter and salt and pepper, blitz until you have a smooth bright green butter paste.
2. Using your hand carefully ease your fingers under the skin of the cockerel at the neck end and free it from the breast meat. Smear the butter into the flesh being careful not to break the skin. Any butter left over I covered the outside of the bird with.
3. Put the reserved clementines and remaining herbs inside the main cavity of the bird then season the bird again and put into a large roasting tin and pour your sherry around the base.
4. Cover with foil and roast for the calculated cooking time (my oven is rubbish so it should have take 2hr 16mins but it actually took 2hr 45mins for the juices to run clear). remove the foil for the last 30 minutes to allow the bird to brown.
5. You will need to rest it for a good 45 minutes once it's cooked covered in loads of tin foil and a towel, don't skimp on this bit as it's the secret to all the amazing flavours coming together and the meat to relax and be succulent. you can use this time to pour the amazing pan juices into a saucepan and reduce by about 1/3 to make the best gravy ever.

* This may not actually be the case

We all dived in to eat before I realised I had forgotten to take a photo so thank you to Packington Free Range for supplying both the cockerel and the photograph!

Win! ALL of our Christmas presents AND a red KitchenAid Mixer!

On the 12th day of Christmas, Domestic Sluttery gave to me... all of the presents, and a bonus bright red KitchenAid!

Deck the halls, jingle our bells, rock around our Christmas tree. We're giving away EVERYTHING. If you've been following our Christmas prizes this December, you'll have drooled over the gorgeous stuff we've given away, but if you've missed a couple here's a quick recap (this feels a little like the Generation Game, amazing):

Meaty goodies from Donald Russell, a £50 voucher from Something, two sausage dog cushions from Hunkydory Home, an Alex Monroe bicycle necklace from Accessories Online, a Spineless Classic print from Will & Glory, a suede clutch bag from Boticca, a bottle of Chase marmalade vodka, a polka dot dress from Lady Vintage, a brass collar from the V&A, shoes designed by you from Upper Street, and a Kathleen Hills rolling pin from Bodie & Fou! Phew!

But that's not all!

We're also giving away a KitchenAid mixer in with the grand prize! We've chosen a red one to give away, because it's the most Christmassy and we're starting to feel very festive indeed. We want to give one of you the best ever Christmas and this is a good place to start. We'd really, really like reports of your cakes if you win this. Actually, you're going to be the best baker ever if you win so we'd really like your cakes in the post.

This is a huge prize, worth around £1300. So instead of entering in the usual way, we want you to head over to The Domestic Sluttery Just Giving Page and buy a raffle ticket (or twenty). They're £2 each and all of the money we raise will go to Shelter, hopefully helping to give someone else a little less fortunate a better Christmas.

You've got until midday on Friday (UK time) to buy your raffle ticket and then we'll announce the winner later that afternoon. We want to raise as much money for Shelter as possible so do share the competition and even if you don't fancy winning all of this gorgeous stuff, you're more than welcome to donate - every penny makes a difference to this brilliant charity.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Oh yawn, small print (read it). The competition will close at noon (UK time) December 21st. You must be UK based to enter, sorry to all of our lovely overseas readers. The winning entry will be chosen at random and announced at 1pm on Friday 21st. Since you probably don't really want a turkey to arrive after Christmas, Donald Russell are allowed to change that prize to something else equally awesome and of similar value, and while Lady Vintage are going to do their best to get you a red dress in your size, they'll offer an alternative if that's not possible. You get one entry per £2 raffle ticket and you can buy as many as you like but do make sure you leave an email address on your Just Giving entry, no one else will be able to see it, but we need to get in touch with you if you win. Don't GiftAid your donation - you're not allowed to do that in a raffle. The more raffle tickets you buy, the more we'll think you're fabulous but it's still a totally random draw. Thanks to everyone who has donated prizes this Christmas, you're all amazing. Go on everyone, go and make Shelter some money!

Books, wonderful books: literary-inspired designs

Aside from family, booze and tinsel, a huge part of the delight of Christmas for me is getting the time to curl up and have a proper read. As I'm debating which and how many stories I can carry in my luggage this year and deciding which titles should go on my Christmas list, perhaps it's not too surprising that I've been tempted by bookish delights on a wider scale as well.

This Literary London map has been encouraging my mind to wander even further. Look closely and the design is crammed full of book characters who call the capital their home. If your childhood was anything like my bookwormish existence, it's these people that helped form your first impressions of that there London. There are kids favourites, such as Mr Benn nestling down in Putney or Paddington Bear up in ... (you don't need me to fill in that blank). There are classics including Sweeney Todd, Sherlock Holmes and hundreds of Dickens's oddly named creations. And it's got more recent favourites too, such as Will from About A Boy or the wonderful Bridget Jones. The print is a limited edition available at prices starting at £90 from Culturelabel and virtually guarantees some new literary adventures.

Les Livres offers more book-inspired artwork but at less than half the price (£38.95 to be precise). This print is made up of illustrated covers of classic twentieth-century books. Sometimes the jackets replicate the real first edition - as is the case with The Great Gatsby cover; sometimes they're ones the illustrator Anais Woolf has just made up. Including gems like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Catch 22 and 1984, there's plenty to mull over here. You can buy it from Bouf.

If you're really after the classics, you'll like these nifty iPad and Kindle cases bearing the first edition covers of some of very famous books, as spotted over on Retro To Go last week. The cover of The Great Gatsby comes up again, as does Lolita, Alice in Wonderland and On the Road. An iPad cover costs £39.99 and a Kindle cover £34.99 from Firebox. Is it wrong to be celebrating the beauty of the printed book on something designed especially to be an alternative to the printed book? Oh, don't ask me, I've had too much mulled wine already. I can, however, confirm that they are nicer than your average computer case. Happy Christmas reading everyone!

The LivingEtc Baubles Auction

Let's forget mince pies and last minute gifts for a second. There's a lot of charitable cheer around at the moment and I want to share some of that with you. Living Etc's bespoke baubles are an absolute treat. A whole bunch of wonderful designers and got together to create a special bauble and they're being auctioned off via eBay to raise money for Crisis.

I love this Lee Broom design. Yep, that's a crystal decanter bauble. It was going for £6 at the time of writing. My guess is it's going to be a little bit higher soon.

Tartan ribbons are always a winner. This one is up for a fiver at the minute.

I think this little lace number by Jo Berryman is my favourite. Only one bid right now, so I could be in with a chance.

You've got until 10am on Wednesday to place your bid. Of course, seasoned eBayers will know to leave that until the auction is just about to close (and then I lose and then I'm really very sad and hate eBay, AND YOU, until the end of days). As well as donating money to Crisis, you could be the lucky winner of a very special bespoke bauble that you'll want to keep forever.

Ho Ho HA: Giant Christmas Tree Googly Eyes

Most of you have probably put up the Christmas tree by now, but I implore you to reshuffle your carefully thought-out ornament-light-tinsel configuration to make way for what must be a contender for Most Amazing Christmas Tree Decoration Ever: giant googly eyes. Seriously, look at them. If nothing else, imagine freaking out your kids/granny/dog on Christmas morning. Priceless, non?

The brainchild of American novelty shop Archie McPhee, they are available closer to home from Madrid-based Curiosite, who, with their bold 48-hour express European delivery claims, should probably-hopefully-just-might be able to get them to UK shores by C-Day. They're £6.76, with aforementioned express delivery at £5.95. 

And what to do with them for the rest of the year? Well, now that I know of their existence, I am struggling to think of a place in my home that wouldn't be enriched by the addition of giant googly eyes. On the fridge, they will sadly and disapprovingly observe you on your midnight snack raid, as you scoop houmous from the tub with a cold sausage. On the front door, they will silently reproach the postman for not bringing the mail until 3pm. On the bin, they will roll sullenly when they realise you're not recycling properly. In the bathroom, they will... NO. That's just creepy.

Shop in the Spotlight: Oysho

I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Oysho. I love their loungewear, but I don't love that their underwear is only available in sizes up to a B cup. That's not even UK average. But I've temporarily forgiven them, because I want some raccoon socks.

To be fair, their underwear is gorgeous and affordable (bras start at £16.99), so if you do happen to be a B-cup go and buy everything immediately.

Oooh, she looks really snug in this cowl sweater (also, nice fringe love). It's only £25.99. OK, Oysho, now I like you a bit more again.

I think this knitted dress would benefit from a chunky belt, but I love it. It's only £29.99. Oysho is full of bargains which I've never noticed because I've been having bra sulks.

EARS! A hooded robe with ears! There's nothing I want more in this world right now. This is my onesie compromise. Inexplicably, it's only £29.99. I'd probably pay millions for hoods and ears, but don't tell Oysho that.

Icarus Lampshade by Tord Boontje

Given the time of year and the plethora of small children singing about angels and playing them in nativity plays, this Icarus lampshade could err into the Creepy side of Cute or Creepy. After all, it is based on a myth where a man plummeted to his death by flying too close to the sun and reminded me of when Matt Damon cuts his angel wings off in 'Dogma'. But I think it's absolutely beautiful.

This is the interiors equivalent of a statement shoe or piece of jewellery. The design originated from paper being cut to mirror the shape and form of feathers. The end result is made from layers of polyester shaped around a cone (so it doesn't melt on the light bulb!) to create a very ethereal and romantic piece.

For your own little slice of heaven, you can buy the Icarus shade from Dutch By Design for £79.95.