Ready Steady Cook star Nick Nairn has devised a three-course meal based on low-cost supermarket ingredients. He wants to serve up warm potato cakes with smoked salmon, Nick's "perfect" roast chicken and marmalade sponge pudding for less than £5 a head.

Meanwhile, Heston Blumenthal, the three-Michelin-starred chef and the father of 'molecular gastronomy', is dishing up an elaborate feast of signature dishes from his world-famous Fat Duck Restaurant in Berkshire. Aides said his "sound-of-the-sea" starter, Anjou pigeon and flaming sorbet would be a festive meal to remember.

The recipes are contained in his new, 500-page book, The Big Fat Duck Cookbook, that will itself stretch the Christmas budget, costing a cool £100. As both the starter and the main course each have more than 50 ingredients, even attempting them will also be a large investment in both time and money.

Nairn, the former Michelin-starred chef and restaurateur who now runs his own cookery school at Lake of Menteith, Stirlingshire, said he wanted to demonstrate how easy it was to still cook a gourmet Christmas lunch for six at a time when most families were tightening their financial belts.

According to a survey by website mysupermarket.co.uk, the average home-cooked festive lunch, without alcohol, will cost around £80 for six diners, or just over £13 per head. Working with the low-cost supermarket Lidl, Nairn has come up with a menu that pares the cost right down to £4.98 per person.

In a move that may upset traditionalists, Nairn has shied away from turkey and also ditched traditional Christmas pudding. But he insists that chicken is better eating and less expensive. And with only half of British households now eating Christmas pud, his marmalade sponge is right on the gastronomic trend.

Nairn said: "Most opt for turkey at this time of the year. However, with turkey prices at a premium you can spend less and get a better quality bird by opting for a good chicken, grouse or pheasant. I chose chicken for this menu as it's what most people are familiar with.

"There's no need to shy away from indulgence if you cook things from scratch. A ready- made celebration meal from any supermarket would easily set you back £80, but at £4.98 per head, this menu will save you a fortune."

Nairn has chosen warm potato cakes, smoked salmon, creme fraiche and Avruga roe for his starter. Blumenthal, who will appear at a £160-a-head question and answer book-signing session – including a book and dinner – at Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh on Tuesday, offers his sound-of-the-sea.

His book – described by one critic as "the oddest cookbook ever produced" – carries the two-page recipe, involving 53 ingredients, many of them Japanese but based on oysters, razor clams and sea urchins served on a bed of "sand". To complete the experience, diners wear headphones to listen to the sound of crashing waves from an iPod concealed in a conch shell. Should you wish to get this dish ready for Christmas Day, however, you may be too late as some ingredients should be frozen for a month.

Nairn's followers will move on to Nick's perfect roast chicken with chestnut stuffing, served with potatoes and parsnips. Blumenthal's ballotine of Anjou pigeon – with black pudding, pickling brine and spiced roasting juices – also covers two pages and involves more than 50 ingredients, including fresh pig's blood. And if you don't get your pigeon to 129°F at exactly the right time, then the dish could be ruined.

Nairn finishes off the meal with his simple steamed marmalade pudding. Blumenthal unveils his piece de resistance, his flaming sorbet. This is a dish aimed at capturing the essence of Christmas, but even Blumenthal describes it as "an impossible, contrary dish".

It is a deep-frozen apple sorbet with a blend of four malt whiskies poured on top and set alight, served in a red leather bowl on a 'corona' of twigs.

At the same time, dry ice is poured on to popping candy beneath the plate, which contributes 'smoke' and a sound like burning logs. A special fragrance releases the smell of leather, tobacco and wood for that Christmas-Day-in-front-of-the-fire feel. One food critic who tried it at Blumenthal's restaurant loved the experience, but balked at the £400 cost.

Scottish food writer Sue Lawrence, who will host the Harvey Nichols evening, said most cooks would be unwise even to attempt the Blumenthal recipes. "What you have to remember is that Blumenthal is an absolute legend and in his book he lays out how he has created these amazing dishes. As he says, there are no secrets, it's all there - if you want to try them."

Carina Norris, a nutritionist and author whose Food Manual is published in January, said she would rather tackle Nairn's recipes. "It looks as though Nick's concentrating on keeping the traditional mainstays of the Christmas lunch - the roast bird with stuffing, and the smoked salmon – but slashing the fat and calorie count."


Warm Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon, Crème Fraiche and Avruga
Serves 8

For the blinis
150ml milk
115g warm mashed potato
Salt
Milled pepper
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
85g plain flour

Knob of butter
150ml crème fraiche
1 teaspoon lemon juice
400g smoked salmon
1 jar avruga or onuga herring roe (optional)

Start by making the blini batter. Place the milk and potato into a large bowl and blend together with a hand liquidiser. Next add in the egg, the egg yolk, salt, pepper and nutmeg and blend the mixture again. Finally add the flour and give the mixture one final blast. Cover and place in fridge until ready to cook.

Make the horseradish cream by gently folding in the horseradish, lemon juice, mustard and seasoning into the whipped cream.

To cook the blinis, heat a little butter in a frying pan. Add spoonfuls of the blini batter and fry for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden brown. You should be able to make 16 blinis.

To serve place the blinis on a plate, layer a couple of slices of the smoked salmon and dress with a teaspoon of horseradish cream on each.


Nick's perfect roast chicken dinner

Ingredients
1 large chicken
1 lemon
Handful flat leaf parsley
1 whole head of garlic (cut across the equator)
Olive oil
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 large floury potatoes
Vegetable oil
6 medium parsnips
1 large glass of white wine
¾ of a Knorr chicken stock cube
200ml water

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

Untruss the chicken and let it come to cool room temperature before cooking. Cut the lemon into eighths, and lightly crush the whole garlic cloves using the back of a knife so that they just crack open. Feel inside the cavity between the legs and pull out any large pieces of fat still clinging to the insides.

Stuff the cavity with the lemon wedges, garlic and a huge handful of flat leaf parsley, stalks and all.

Rub the outside of the bird all over with olive oil and season very well with salt and pepper. Slash down through the skin between the legs so that they go floppy. Sit the bird in a roasting tin and pour in a bit more oil, but not too much. Roast on the middle shelf of the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and par-boil in a large pan of boiling salted water for approximately 8 minutes. Peel the parsnips, trim and cut into long quarters and set aside. Drain the potatoes well, then use a fork to roughen the outside of each potato – this will make the crunchy crust. Pour a thin layer of vegetable oil into another roasting tin on top of the stove and heat until smoking hot. Carefully add the potatoes, turning them in the oil to coat and making sure the oil has heated up again.

Open the oven door remove chicken and baste with the juices in the tray. Stick in the parsnips, turning them in the pan juices. Return the chicken to the oven and put the potatoes on the highest shelf above the chicken. Roast for roughly another 40 minutes making sure you constantly baste everything occasionally and turning the potatoes at least once during cooking.

When everything is looking good and golden brown, test the chicken in the thickest part of the leg to see if its cooked and the juices run clear, if so then remove the chicken from the tray and set onto a warm plate covered loosely with a piece of foil to rest for 10 minutes. Tip the excess fat out of the pan, return to the oven and let the parsnips crisp for 10 minutes.

Remove the parsnips and potatoes from the oven. Turn the oven off. Lift the potatoes out of the tin with a slotted spoon onto a warm serving dish and do likewise with the parsnips, then keep them warm in the oven with the door propped open.

Now make the gravy. Set the chicken roasting tin on the heat, and add the wine, stock cube and 150 ml water. Bring to the boil and boil furiously for 2-3 minutes, scraping up all the sticky bits from the bottom of the tin. Taste and season well. Tip any juices that have flowed out of the chicken into the gravy, then strain into a warm jog or gravy boat. Allow to settle, then spoon off any fat from the top. Serve immediately.

Chestnut Stuffing

1 Medium Onion (finely chopped)
1 lb Skinned Herb Sausages
1 Clove Garlic
¼ Bay Leaf
8 oz Skinned Chestnuts
1 Celery Stick
Sprig of Thyme
1 tbsp Chopped Mixed Herbs
6 fl oz Chicken Stock
6oz Chicken and Beef Jus
Salt
Mill Pepper
4 oz White Breadcrumbs (approx)

Firstly take a small pan and place the prepared chestnuts and chicken and beef jus on to the stove to warm through. Prepare a bouquet garni from the thyme and celery stalk and add to the chestnuts, cover with a butter paper and cook in the oven until the chestnuts are tender but not disintegrating. Leave to cool.

In a thick-bottomed pan place the chopped onion and herb sausage and mix together with a wooden spoon over the heat. Add the chicken stock, garlic and bay leaf and mix well bringing up to a simmer, place into the oven to braise for 20 minutes. (During the braising process the sausage meat should be checked periodically and any excess fat removed from the surface with a small ladle).

Strain the stock from the braised chestnuts, place in a clean pan and reduce by half.

Add the reduced stock to the cooked sausage mixture and mix well, fold in the white breadcrumbs and mix to thicken. The mixture should be firm without being dry. Mix in the chopped herbs and chestnuts and correct seasoning.

Place in a covered earthenware container in readiness for service. This mixture may be prepared the day before and carefully reheated in its casserole container it is ideal served alongside the turkey with fresh chestnuts if required).


Marmalade pudding
Serves 6-8

150g fine brown breadcrumbs
25g self-raising wholemeal flour
120g light brown soft sugar
120g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the bowl
175g well-flavoured, course-cut marmalade
3 large eggs
1 rounded tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Butter a 3 pint pudding basin really well and choose a saucepan large enough to hold the pudding basin comfortably. We use 3 pint plastic basin that have a matching lid, perfect for this recipe.

2. Place the breadcrumbs, flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter and marmalade together in a saucepan over a gentle heat, but do not boil. Pour the melted ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together thoroughly.

3. Lightly whisk the eggs until frothy and beat gently into the mixture until well blended. Last of all, dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in 1 tbsp of cold water. Beat this into the pudding mixture, which will increase in volume as it absorbs the bicarbonate of soda – leave to stand for 5 minutes for the bicarb to work.

4. Cover it with a double sheet of buttered foil or a lid if your basin has one, making sure there is a pleat in it for expansion.

5. Place the pudding basin in a saucepan of boiling water. The water should reach halfway up the side of the basin. Simmer the pudding steadily for 2 hours. The water will need topping up throughout the cooking period.

6. Uncover the pudding and turn it out onto a warm serving dish. Serve hot.