I am breaking with tradition this year by tucking into a turkey. It's not like me at all, but I wanted to see just how delicious a fine bird, simply roasted, could be. I wasn't disappointed. With its crunchy salad of spiky wild rice, pomegranates and frizzled parma ham, root vegetables bathed in creamy sauce and a prune parfait that tastes like Christmas pudding, but without making you feel overloaded, this Christmas dinner has pretty much everything going for it. Even turkey.

Oysters with frizzled ginger and lime

Serves 1

For each person, cut a thumb-sized lump of ginger into fine, hair-like strips. Fry in shallow olive oil till crisp, lift out and drain briefly on kitchen paper. Divide between three fresh oysters and eat with a squeeze of lime.

Roast turkey, apricot and ginger stuffing

Serves 6 with some left for sandwiches later

Listen, I know this looks complicated, but trust me it isn't. I insist that roast turkey is at its best when done simply - just brushed with butter and left to roast for a minimal time. The trick is to get as much ready as you can beforehand, including the stuffing balls and the giblet stock for the gravy. A 4kg bird will need 2 hours to be cooked right through.

For the turkey:
a small turkey about 4kg at cool room temperature
butter - about 80g
medium sized apples - 3
medium onions - 3
carrots - 2
bushy sprigs of thyme

For the gravy:
the turkey giblets
bay leaves - 3
a medium onion
sprigs of thyme - 3
a wine glass dry Marsala
the giblet stock below

For the stuffing:
unsmoked streaky bacon - 200g
onions - 2 medium
a little oil or fat
a tick of celery
thyme leaves - 2tbs
dried apricots - 100g
a piece of ginger about 90g
grated zest of an orange
a large egg, beaten
pork sausage meat - 400g
fresh white breadcrumbs - 170g

Get the oven hot, it needs to be at 200C/gas 6 at first (you will need to reduce the heat later in the recipe). Melt the butter in a small saucepan and season it with salt and black pepper. Put the turkey in a roasting tin, push half of the onions and apples and thyme inside it and brush the bird all over with melted butter. Turn the bird on its breast. Scatter the remaining onions, apples and thyme around the turkey. Roast for 25 minutes, then turn the heat down to 180C/gas 4. Turn the bird breast-up half-way through cooking.

To make the stuffing: cut the bacon into small pieces and fry them in a non-stick frying pan till their fat runs. Peel and roughly chop the onion and cook it with the bacon till soft and translucent. You may find there isn't enough bacon fat for this, in which case add a tablespoon or so of oil or other suitable fat. Finely chop the celery and add to the pan, then stir in the thyme leaves and a generous seasoning of salt and black pepper. Finely slice the apricots and stir them into the stuffing. Peel the ginger and grate it finely, then stir it in with grated orange zest, the beaten egg, the sausage meat and the breadcrumbs. Mix thoroughly.

Roll the stuffing into about 18 balls. Set them aside until you are ready to cook. They will need a good 45 minutes baking.

To make the gravy: put the turkey giblets, halved onion, thyme and bay leaves into a pan, cover with 800ml of water and bring to the boil. Turn down to simmer. Leave to simmer gently for 45 minutes then set aside till you are ready to finally finish the gravy. Once the turkey is out of the oven and resting, put the Marsala into the roasting tin. Bring to the boil over a moderate heat, then pour in the stock, crush the apples and onions into the liquid with a potato masher or the back of a spoon. Leave to boil and bubble for 4 or 5 minutes, check the seasoning and add salt and pepper. Pour through a sieve into a warm jug. I cannot emphasise enough the need for the jug to be warm (I usually pour some water from the kettle into it to warm it up).

Wild rice, pomegranate and prosciutto salad

Serves 4-6

125g wild rice
a large handful golden sultanas
a large handful pecans
2 pomegranates
a small bunch flat-leafed parsley

For the dressing

juice of half an orange
zest and juice of a lime
juice of half a lemon
balsamic vinegar - a few drops
olive oil - 2 tbs
12 thin slices of prosciutto
Sea salt

Cook the rice in four times its volume of lightly salted water, covered with a lid, for about 45-50 minutes. It should be tender, but still have a pleasing bite to it. Drain and allow to cool.

Put the sultanas and pecans into a mixing bowl. Break open the pomegranates and remove the seeds, adding them to the saltanas. It is worth taking great care here, so that none of the bitter white pith surrounding the seeds gets in. Roughly chop the leaves from the parsley - I try to keep the pieces quite large - then stir them in.

Make the dressing by mixing the juice of the oranges, lime (plus zest) and lemon with the oil, vinegar and a generous pinch of sea salt.

Bring together the rice, fruits and dressing and leave to marry for 15 minutes. Cook the prosciutto slices briefly in a hot, non-stick fying pan. They will be flecked with gold in a matter of seconds. Place a couple of heaped tablespoons of the rice on each pile, then surround with the pieces of warm prosciutto.

Baked root vegetables and porcini

Serves 6

a small handful of dried porcini
a large celeriac
a large swede
300mls double cream
200mls full cream milk
a little butter
finely grated nutmeg

Set the oven at 160C/gas 4. Put the porcini into a small bowl and pour water over them. Leave them for 15 minutes to plump up. Peel the celeriac and the swede and slice the flesh thinly. Dip into boiling, lightly salted water for 4 or 5 minutes until they are starting to soften then lift out and place in a lightly buttered baking dish. Tuck in the drained porcini. Mix the cream and milk, season lightly with salt and pepper and a pinch of grated nutmeg and pour over the sliced vegetables. Bake for 45-60 minutes till the cream is bubbling and a golden crust has formed on top.

Prune and Armagnac parfait

Serves 6

A distinct flavour of Christmas pudding here, but lighter and more refreshing.

400g prunes
150mls Armagnac
300ml double cream
60-70g meringues (about 4 meringue nests)

Put the prunes in a small pan and add the Armagnac, leave for an hour in a warm place, stirring from time to time. Top up with 200ml water and leave to simmer gently over a low to moderate heat, covered with a lid, for about 25 minutes until the prunes are soft and have soaked up all the Armagnac-scented liquid.

Stone the prunes, then chop roughly. Lightly whip the cream. It should be thick but soft enough that it will sit in folds rather than stiff peaks. Crumble the meringues into the cream, keeping the pieces quite large, then add the chopped prunes. Fold the three ingredients together carefully and lightly. Mix only just enough to make a ripple effect of cream, meringue and Armagnac-scented puree. Line a small cake tin or bowl with waxed paper or cling film and fill with the mixture. Cover tightly and freeze for four or five hours. Remove from the freezer for 15-20 minutes before serving.

· Nigel Slater's Eating for England is published by Fourth Estate, £16.99. To order a copy for £15.99 with free UK p&p go to observer.co.uk/bookshop or call 0870 836 0885