Perfect side dishes, sauces and chutneys, guaranteed to make your Christmas meal full of seasonal cheer.
The sprout recipe below is really only a slight detour from the traditional route. By all means, stick to the orthodox if you prefer by adding only buttery chestnuts to the Brussels sprouts, but what…
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My not entirely orthodox way of turning out this otherwise classic dish of cream-softened potatoes has a lot going for it.
View recipeAaah! I simply loved it. I tried it and it came out to be a huge success..Kudos!
Sometimes, it makes sense to use one’s obsessions to advantage. I know that most people don’t have trivial light-bulb moments when the notion pops into an already food-filled head to make a stuffing i…
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Cooking potatoes for large numbers of people is not always easy. This gratin makes it so, not least because I don’t peel the potatoes (or the parsnips for that matter). Obviously, you don’t need to ma…
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I’ve always roasted honeyed parsnips alongside a turkey but as a marker of the culinary special relationship celebrated at Christmas, I’ve remodelled slightly, adding intensity of sweetness to the alr…
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There is something so magnificent about a whole pumpkin stuffed with jewelled rice, that it doesn’t really need too many side dishes to detract: its starchy interior means you can forgo potatoes or th…
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Needs must and all that, so I have always been an open anti-perfectionist, but in truth (and I’m sorry to repeat what I’ve said before) it is impossible to cook roast potatoes without needing them to…
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I think of these Swedish roast potatoes as being rather like sauteed potatoes on the stem: each one is cut into thin slices across almost right through, but not quite, and then roasted in buttery oil;…
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Although this started off as a Christmas-time recipe, I have found that I cook it pretty much year round: the sweet squash is tangily countered by the blue cheese and the nuts bring gorgeous crunch, t…
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It is not quite normal to feel as joyous as I do when saying the words “Brussels sprouts”, but this recipe does not merely use said much-denigrated ingredient, it also celebrates it. Sprouts are nutty…
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If you want to have something hot to pass around on a tray, then cocktail sausages are what you're after. There's nothing fiddly to make, nothing to go right or wrong, and everyone loves them. These a…
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I couldn’t help myself. I can’t have a party without some cocktail sausages and wanted to make them just a little bit differently from usual. The inspiration comes from a Cosmopolitan cocktail: in pla…
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No one is doubting the glory of mashed potatoes, and while they are not difficult to make, they can be quite a faff in large quantities at the last minute. This is the answer: a tangy, subtly cheesy m…
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I have written a recipe for panettone stuffing before: the sweet seasonal fruit bread was cubed, toasted and mixed with Italian sausage; this is very different, not least because I see it not as an ac…
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I've been making this salad in one guise or another since the 90s; indeed, the recipe is to be found in How To Eat, where the salad leaf I proposed was escarole. Unfortunately, it is not easy to find…
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For someone who’s never been to Vietnam, I am piling up quite a few recipes which are Vietnamese in inspiration if not origin. This is a festively toned take on what is sometimes referred to as ‘Vietn…
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When I was a child, I don’t think fresh cranberries were ever seen in England. For me, cranberry sauce came out of a jar — and my mother was the sort of person who made her own mayonnaise. Actually, I…
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Generally speaking, the best gravies are made by deglazing a joint’s cooking juices in the roasting tin, but, with a brined bird, the liquid it gives off is just too salty; you can’t use more than 2–3…
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I couldn't have Christmas lunch without bread sauce: just the smell of the milk, infusing on the hob, giving off that familiar scent of onion, mace, bay and clove, lets me know it is Christmas. The id…
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Although I call this chilli jam, I don't mean by this that it's the sort of thing you'd spread on your toast at breakfast (though smeared inside a bacon sandwich, it could be a real help one hungover…
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I've used bottled peaches, I've used canned peaches, and it honestly doesn't matter which, but I'm afraid you have to resist the healthier peaches canned in fruit juice rather than syrup. If you can f…
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I often give homemade chutneys to Italian friends when I visit, as I’m proud of our traditional recipes and know that an English chutney can pair magnificently with an Italian cheese. Italians themsel…
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Known as chip gratin in my house, this is the most fabulous potato bake, and an indispensable part of Christmas celebrations in Sweden: the potatoes are cut as if you were making French fries, then la…
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It's true that these made their debut in the 'Christmas Comforts' chapter of Cook, Eat, Repeat as a sprightly and sharp antidote to all the rich feasting (and also, it must be admitted, because of the…
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Soft, sweetly soused, slow-braised red cabbage is one of the great comforts of winter, but its rich intensity – I think of it rather as the vegetable equivalent of goose, which it partners magnificent…
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Bitter leaves, salty cheese, sweet waxy chestnuts: this is a winter salad that I can't confine myself to eating just in season. I generally go for Gorgonzola or Stilton here, but essentially what you…
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Some people think this is a really is a weird way to eat potatoes! In my family, they are an essential part of Christmas Eve dinner. The secret to the perfect caramel potato is time; let them simmer s…
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The sweetness of a long-braised red cabbage is perfectly punctuated by the cheek-squeaky sharpness of cranberries. And, if you let this stand a little before serving, they — most desirably — help to t…
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I didn't know about slaw until I moved to the U.S. - I hadn't even heard the word. But I soon found out about the crunch it adds to a plate and the tang that reminds me of the pickles that I've loved…
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Don’t like brussels sprouts? Let me change your mind with this zesty raw salad. Most people can’t believe what they’re eating and enjoying so much. If you prefer, substitute feta cheese for the Pecori…
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I am always happy when I have quinces in my kitchen: their heady, honeyed perfume, mixed with a floral citrusiness that prevents its becoming cloying, is better than the most expensive scented candle…
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