An easy Christmas that involves cooking a large meal is an oxymoron. An easy Christmas is one that involves a desert island, a warm breeze, a comfy lounge and a strong co*cktail. For most of us this isn't an option, so to make it as easy as possible. I pare everything back to a few dishes or ingredients that give me flexibility.
At the same time I'm a big fan of generous statements, whether it be one feature luxury ingredient, one perfect specimen or an abundant gesture, like my lobster risotto, a whole leg of ham or an oversized zuppa Inglese.
Of course if you love a really big spread, you should go for it. These dishes will all work together as a complete meal, or try mixing and matching just a few. An online order should be a breeze with this relatively short list of easily found ingredients.
Even if you tackle the entire menu you'll be hard pressed to be cooking for longer than an hour or so, and most of these dishes also work at room temperature, so you can prepare ahead and relax without having to worry about a massive exercise of coordination.
Lobster risotto
While not exactly budget by any means, stretching lobster out by using it in a risotto means you get the taste and feel of luxury without breaking the bank. It takes just 30 minutes' cooking time while still feeling suitably celebratory.
If you have time to make the stock, boil up the lobster shells with 3 litres of water, a halved onion, chopped celery stick and chopped carrot. Allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes, strain and use as per recipe.
Serves 10
2 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 bulb fennel, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1kg carnoroli or arborio rice
300ml white wine
pinch of saffron
2.5 litres fish or vegetable stock, hot
2 cooked lobsters, flesh removed from shell and roughly chopped
zest of 2 lemons
2 tbs chives, snipped
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
lemon wedges, to serve
Heat 1½ tbs of butter with the olive oil in a large heavy-based pan. Once the butter has melted, add the onion and fennel with a good pinch of salt and cook down until soft; add the garlic and the risotto rice and mix well.
Once the risotto has become translucent, add the white wine and stir until it has all been absorbed.
Add the saffron to the stock and start adding to the rice one ladleful at a time, stirring continuously and not adding the next until the previous has been absorbed. Keep going until the rice is cooked and the texture is nice and creamy – this should take around 18-20 minutes.
Once you are happy you've got the right consistency, stir in the remaining butter, lobster, lemon zest and chives. Season generously with salt and pepper, cover and let sit for a minute or two. Serve with lemon wedges.
Prawn, avocado and beetroot salad with green goddess dressing
This is a simple assemblage of no-cook ingredients with a lighter, tangier, modern take on the Marie Rose sauce of yesteryear.
Serves 6
12 large cooked prawns (shrimp), peeled and deveined, tails left intact
1 avocado, sliced
1 bag watercress, 15g reserved for dressing
4 cooked beetroots, cut into small wedges
For the green goddess dressing:
15g watercress leaves
100ml yoghurt
50ml mayonnaise
3 tbs mixed herbs (eg dill, basil, mint and parsley)
2 spring onions, chopped
juice of ½ lemon
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Arrange the prawns, avocado, watercress and beetroot in or on something suitably smart and festive for Christmas.
Place all of the dressing ingredients in a blender and whizz to combine. Serve in a bowl alongside the salad.
Roasted root vegetable salad with orange gremolata
Cut all your vegetables into similar-sized pieces so they cook evenly. Delicious straight from the oven, but just as nice served at room temperature if you need the oven space.
Serves 4
4 small carrots, or cut vertically
4 parsnips, cut vertically into strips
4 small turnips, cut into wedges
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbs red-wine vinegar
1 tbs honey
For the gremolata:
4 tbs chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (optional)
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Put all the vegetables in a large roasting tray and drizzle over some olive oil. Season and mix it all together. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Take out of the oven and drizzle over the vinegar and honey.
To make the gremolata, mix together the parsley, orange zest and garlic if using. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the roasted vegetables.
Red cabbage salad
I always make a version of coleslaw for the hot Australian summer Christmas. Here's a great winter version, with fried onions rather than raw, that can again be made ahead of time and served at room temperature.
Serves 4-6 as a side salad
½ red cabbage, finely shredded
75g currants
1 tbs caster sugar
3 tbs red-wine vinegar
3 tbs olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
2 tbs pine nuts, optional
1 onion, chopped
1 dried chilli, crumbled
2 tbs chopped fresh parsley
Mix together the cabbage, currants, sugar, red-wine vinegar and 2 tbs of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning, including sugar. Put to the side and leave to soften for at least an hour and up to 3 hours.
Put a pan on a low heat and gently toast the pine nuts if using. Remove the nuts from the pan. Heat the remaining olive oil and very slowly, over a low heat, soften the onions with the dried chilli. Leave to cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelised – this should take around 45 minutes.
Serve the cabbage in a bowl, with the onions, parsley and pine nuts (if using) sprinkled on top.
Green bean and pomegranate salad
If you can't find pomegranate molasses, add an extra tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of caster sugar.
Serves 4
350g small green beans, topped but not tailed
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 heaped tbs pomegranate seeds, to garnish
For the dressing:
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbs pomegranate molasses
1 tbs lemon juice
pinch of caster sugar
To make the dressing, whisk together all the ingredients and pomegranate seeds.
Blanch the beans for a few minutes in a saucepan of lightly salted water until bright green and tender-crisp. Rinse under cold running water and drain well. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with the dressing and garnish with pomegranate seeds.
Plum-glazed ham
As strangely exotic as the ingredient list might seem, it all pulls together to make for a wonderfully fragrant and surprisingly classic-tasting Christmas ham. I like to cook this in the morning and eat it an hour or so later.
Serves 10 with leftovers 3-4kg ham (pre-cooked)
8-10 pieces star anise
125ml hoisin sauce
125ml plum sauce
3 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs light brown soft sugar
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder, optional
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4.
Use a small sharp knife to cut through the rind around the shank of the ham. Carefully lift the rind from the fat: run your fingers through where the rind and fat join to help separate them. Score the white fat in a diamond pattern and press star anise into the centre of every couple of diamonds.
Put the ham on a rack over a roasting tin and pour a small amount of water into the tin to prevent the glaze catching on the bottom.
Put the hoisin sauce, plum sauce, soy sauce, sugar and five-spice (if using) in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and everything is combined. Pour and brush half the glaze over the ham, making sure that all the white fat is covered.
Bake the ham for 30-40 minutes until golden, basting frequently and brushing with the rest of the glaze. Remove from the oven and put the ham on a platter.
Roasted poussins with chestnut torn bread stuffing
Pop your stuffing in a tray and grease the birds in another, and let the oven do the work. An added bonus is bountiful stuffing, far more than would fit into four small birds.
Serves 4
4 x 500g poussins
knob of butter
For the stuffing: 1 loaf sourdough or other rustic bread, torn into small chunks
5 tbs olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
10 slices pancetta, chopped
200g pre-cooked chestnuts, halved
300ml chicken stock
2 eggs, beaten
3 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas 7. Put the bread in a large roasting tray and toss with 4 tbs olive oil. Toast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until crisp. Set aside to cool.
Rinse the cavity of each poussin and pat dry with kitchen paper.
Put the birds on a large deep-sided baking tray, smear with the butter and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Season well and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the juices run clear when you poke a skewer into the thickest part of the thigh.
Meanwhile fry the onion and fennel in the other tablespoon of oil with a pinch of salt until soft. After about 5 minutes, add the garlic and pancetta and fry until the pancetta begins to turn golden. Add this to the crispy bread, along with the chestnuts, stock, eggs and thyme. Mix it all together, and for it to be ready at the same time as the poussins, place in the oven about 20-25 minutes before they are done.
Zuppa Inglese
Christmas just isn't Christmas without trifle. This classic Italian version literally takes 10 minutes to put together with bought ingredients from your local supermarket. I do like to add my own chocolate to the custard rather than buying chocolate custard – this ensures a quality chocolate flavour.
Serves 4-6
125ml espresso coffee
125ml coffee liqueur
2 tbs cognac, or brandy
1 litre vanilla custard, homemade or shop-bought
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1 x 16cm round sponge cake, cut into 1cm slices
finely grated dark chocolate or unsweetened cocoa powder, to dust
Stir together the espresso, liqueur and cognac. Put half your custard in a pan over a low heat and slowly melt in your chocolate. Once melted, remove from the heat.
Start with a little vanilla custard at the bottom of each dish and top with a layer of cake slices. Moisten the cake generously by spooning over the espresso mixture. Follow this with a layer of chocolate custard. Repeat the cake soaked with espresso mixture, and top with vanilla custard. Repeat until all the cake and custard have been used, finishing with a layer of custard. Chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Dust with dark chocolate or cocoa powder to serve.
Very easy plum puddings with custard
A cross between a pudding and a cake, with a welcome lightness, these can be whipped up on Christmas morning.
Serves 12
300g raisins
100g sultanas
100g currants
100g glacé fruit (figs, apricots or cherries), chopped
150g unsalted butter
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g light brown sugar
1 tbs marmalade
3 tbs brandy
300g plain (all-purpose) flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tbs cocoa powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
custard, homemade or good-quality shop-bought, to serve
Preheat the oven to 180°C/ Gas 4) and grease a 12-hole muffin tray.
Heat the dried and glacé fruit, butter, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, marmalade, 1 tbs of the brandy and 250ml of water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, then allow to cool.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, mixed spice and cocoa. Add the eggs to the cooled fruit mixture, then add the flour mix and stir together. Spoon into the tins or moulds and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when you poke it into the centre.
Remove from the oven and pour the rest of the brandy over the puddings while they're still warm. Serve with custard.
