Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6

Place the chopped veg, bay leaves, sage, and  rosemary into a strong  high-sided roasting tray

Chuck the chopped bacon on top.

Break the chicken wings open, bash with a rolling pin to help release extra flavour as they cook, then add to the tray.

Drizzle with oil, season with sea salt and black pepper, toss, then cook for 1 hour, or until tender. Half way through give it a stir

Remove the tray from the oven and transfer to a low heat on the hob.

Now using a potato masher  mash everything, scraping up all the goodness from the base of the tray (the longer you let it fry, the darker your gravy will be).

Gradually stir in the flour, then pour in 2 litres of boiling kettle water.

Simmer for 30 minutes, or until thickened and reduced, stirring occasionally. I keep adding water until it's the thickness I like

Next (the messy bit),  pour it through a coarse sieve into a large bowl, pushing all the goodness through with the back of a spoon. Discard what's left in the sieve.

Taste and season to perfection, cool, then pour into containers or bags and pop into the freezer, ready to finish off on Christmas Day. I also add a few fresh herbs at this point.

Then on the big day, take the gravy out to defrost when your turkey goes into the oven.

When defrosted and you're ready, pour your  gravy into a sauce pan and add some of the turkey cooking juices.

Bring to the boil over the hob and scrape up all those sticky bits from the base.

Taste and season  and away you go!