Christmas Cup
For parties or any type of seasonal entertaining, I like a cocktail that gets poured together in a jug rather than mixed up by the glass. And this is the perfect drink for Christmas: the fizzy white w…
View recipeBBC Nigella's Amsterdam Christmas Special 2023
Nigella's recipes from her 2023 BBC Christmas Special are inspired by local ingredients from both the Dutch and Indonesian culinary cultures of Amsterdam, creating dishes that are both simple and celebratory to make our Christmas deliciously do-able and joyous!
Amsterdamage
Now this is what I call a cocktail! For all that genever means juniper in Dutch, that it’s often known as Dutch gin, and is, in fact, a precursor to gin, it doesn’t actually taste like gin. The “Zeer…
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Indonesian-Inspired Chicken Biryani
Without getting into the vexed complexities of colonial history, there is a reason why Indonesian — or, more correctly, Dutch-Indonesian — food plays such an important part in the cultural life of Ams…
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Butternut Biryani
This is the vegan version of my Indonesian-Inspired Chicken Biryani, although it is splendid enough in its own right. Still, this is how it came to be, though I thought it would be easier for you to h…
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Pineapple-Plus Salad with Rujak Dressing
This is my riff on a gorgeous Indonesian street-food snack, although it is really the dressing itself that contains the essence of it. And what a dressing it is! Once you have the ingredients in the c…
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Liquorice Nuts
I’m not much given to starters, finding it unrelaxing to have to jump up and clear the table not long after everyone’s sat down to dinner, but I’m a great believer in handing round something to pick a…
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Speculaas Biscuits
You’re unlikely to get very far in Amsterdam without coming across these festively spiced and beautiful biscuits, and nor would you want to. They are the perfect Christmas cookie. Traditionally — and…
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No-Bake Advocaat and Ginger Cake
I have a bit of a weakness for this sort of cake, which is essentially an assembly–job number, a construction of alternate layers of a rich, boozy cream and some storebought sponge or other. The thing…
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Fresh Gingerbread With Lemon Icing
I’ve been making this gingerbread since the turn of the century — it was one of my go-to recipes for the countless bake sales at my children’s schools when they were little — and my love for it never…
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New Year Doughnuts - Oliebollen
You can’t set foot in the Netherlands in the festive period without encountering these Dutch doughnuts, even though it’s on New Year’s Eve that they are most traditionally eaten; indeed, it’s said tha…
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Dutch Mussels
The Dutch do love their mussels, honoured there as zwarte goud — black gold — although it’s true that their neighbours the Belgians unfairly get more credit for them. Of course, you don’t need to make…
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Banket Bars
It can be hard to adopt other countries’ Christmas traditions and cherish them like our own, but when it comes to this Dutch log of almond paste, encased in puff pastry, I have no problem whatsoever!…
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