A festive collection from our archive of favourite starters, main courses and puddings
A decadent starter – and a godsend for cooks who like to get ahead.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Christmas food and drink
Your niece is suddenly vegan! How to survive the 12 disasters of Christmas
One guest is an antivaxxer, another is allergic to your cats, the turkey is still raw and your best friends are splitting up in the sitting room. Here is how to face down festive fiascos
It’s that time of year when you wake up sweating and can’t figure out why. Did you accidentally wear your thermals in bed? Do you have tuberculosis? No, dummy, it’s just that it’s almost Christmas, it’s your turn to play host, and the list of things that can go wrong on the 25th is long and wearying.
Can I recommend, before we drill into this list, a quick wisdom stocktake? Last year was the worst Christmas imaginable: every plan was kiboshed at the very last minute; non-essential shops closed before we’d done our shopping; people who thought they were going back to their families ended up at home and hadn’t bought Baileys and crackers and whatnot; people who’d battled solitude for a year were stuck alone; people living on top of each other couldn’t catch a break; people expecting guests were buried under surplus pigs in blankets, and beyond our under-or over-decorated front doors, the outside world was fraught with risk and sorrow, as coronavirus declined to mark the birth of the Christ child with any respite from its march of terror. I’m not saying it couldn’t be as bad as that again – just that it couldn’t possibly be as surprisingly bad again.
Continue reading...What is the best Christmas party food? | Kitchen aide
Cheese and chocolate are your friends, but keep them bite-sized. Top chefs share their favourite nibbles …
• Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com
What makes the best party snacks?
Rachel, Hove
“Anything that can be eaten cleanly in a mouthful is ideal,” says Guardian food columnist Ravinder Bhogal. “Anything too big, messy or that requires lots of chewing should be avoided – there’s nothing worse than those awkward, mouth-full moments when someone suddenly strikes up a conversation.”
Continue reading...How to ace Christmas in the kitchen
Don’t buy too much cheese. Do buy enough washing-up liquid. Keep the big day stress-free with our tips from top chefs
Festive shifts at a butcher’s shop are exhausting, with customers at their best and worst. Ben Curtis, previously a butcher, now head chef at Smoking Goat in Shoreditch, remembers people asking, “What should I have for Christmas?”, without saying who they were cooking for or what they liked, “so you could never give a helpful answer”. Butchers, fishmongers and cheesemongers want you to have delicious food, but give them something to go on.
Continue reading...Our best Christmas food gifts and recipes
From our archive: from festive pickles and homemade sweets to luxury biscuits and exotic oils, a a gift you’ve made yourself can make someone’s Christmas
A trio of presents that you’ll want for Christmas dinner: a ginger nut brittle to serve as is or to blitz into a toast-topping paste, crumbly cheese biscuits and an enticingly easy fig jam
Continue reading...Yotam Ottolenghi’s Boxing Day recipes for using up Christmas leftovers
Boxing Day BLT, veg samosas with cranberry sauce, and Christmas pudding eccles cakes with marzipan – stylish ways to use up excess food
The thing about Christmas day, as no one’s stomach needs reminding, is that there is always so much food. It is, however, a truth universally acknowledged that the whole point of cooking a great big bird – not to mention enough vegetables to feed twice as many people as are actually eating them – is to be able to enjoy the leftovers the day after. For all the ceremony, and the focus on the food served at the right time in the right place at the right temperature on Christmas Day, does anything, truly, beat the likes of a soft-bun sandwich filled with all the good bits? Gravy sauce for dipping into (and a sofa for sinking into) optional.
Continue reading...17 ways with leftover turkey, from warming ramen to rich risotto
With Christmas gatherings reduced in size this year, you may have more poultry than usual to eat up. But there are myriad ways to make that more interesting that in sounds
On top of all the problems we have faced in 2020, we could be experiencing a larger-than-ever glut of turkey this season: restrictions on large gatherings, combined with high demand for – and a corresponding shortage of – smaller birds, may have left a lot of us with more meat than we can eat in one, two or even three sittings.
Fortunately, help is at hand: here are 17 easy, delicious and slightly different ways to use up your Christmas turkey.
Continue reading...Chicken pulao and an orange and piquillo pepper salad: Nik Sharma’s Christmas recipes
The perfect combination: spicy chicken jewelled with cranberries and cashews, and a sharp fruity side
The simplicity and elegance of pulaos combined with their ability to moonlight as a one-pot meal stole my heart long ago. Pulaos saved my mother and grandmother hours in the kitchen; they’d make a large pot and all that was needed was a salad or pickle on the side. I’m keeping that principle in mind with this winter-themed chicken pulao, jewelled with cranberries and cashews, alongside an orange and piquillo pepper salad. You can serve the meal with a bowl of salted plain yoghurt.
Continue reading...Bake me happy: 10 deliciously different mince pie recipes
From the perfect traditional version, to brownie hybrids, deep-fried delights and a throwback from 1591, homemade never looked so good
Nothing should make the heart sink quite as much as the phrase “homemade mince pies”. The chance of failure is simply far too high. Pick a bad recipe and you run the risk of serving up a tray of inedible pastry bin lids gummed together with a miserly Marmite smear of mincemeat.
But it doesn’t have to be like this. An endless array of mince-pie variations are now available to the home cook, ranging from the traditional to the exotic. Depending on your skill level and personal preference, you should find some level of success with the recipes below.
Continue reading...Proof is in the pudding: M&S and Waitrose win Christmas food test
Tasters compile league table of items such as turkey, gravy and yule logs from 52 UK stockists
Marks & Spencer and Waitrose have swept the board in an independent taste test of this year’s Christmas food and drink, both clinching first place in three categories of the UK’s festive favourites.
M&S was awarded top spot for its Christmas pudding, gravy and frozen turkey in the annual exercise by the Good Housekeeping Institute, while its rival, Waitrose, triumphed in the Christmas cake, champagne and yule log listings and was also rated for a vegan centrepiece.
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