Food 23: Brace, I'm going to say Christmas

it's for our own good

The magnificent feast that Mr Laurence sends over to the March family on Christmas morning, from Greta Gerwig’s 2019 film Little Women. Food stylist Christine Tobin researched and made all the food herself. Image: Wilson Webb/CTMG

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Yes, I do know it’s only October. But that is the whole point of Jane Lovett’s The Get-Ahead Christmas Cook, an unbelievably useful book that was published on Thursday here in the UK. I was sent the proofs ages ago and immediately started hounding her publisher for an extract, which is below.

The book is simply invaluable. It will help you if you’re organised, it will help you if you’re chaotic, and it will help you if you ignore or don’t celebrate Christmas but have people you want to feed well in the holidays.

I am a very last-minute, inefficient person. In any given situation, I like to wait until the sword of Damocles is about 2 centimetres from my head before stirring into action. The sole exception is December where aside from events, parties, festooning and present-shopping, we have family birthdays back-to-back, mine included - and we all take our birthdays extremely seriously. The month whooshes by.

Which means I have to at least try to be organised or else the whole thing falls apart (I am the Christmas host). So I am especially grateful for this book. Jane’s point is that even a tiny, sporadic, low-effort bit of cooking over the next couple of months means you’ll feel significantly less harassed come December. Her suggestions are entirely manageable and uncomplicated. She is just really helpful and relaxed, like your friend who’s a better cook than you and who knows some tricks. The whole book feels like a wizard kindly sharing his best spells.

For the very organised, she writes that ‘most Christmas Day fare can be made and frozen from October onwards with no detriment’ - all those recipes are in chapter 3 of the book. But this book will work just as well if it’s the 24th and you have that ‘oh no, I’ve forgotten how to do Christmas’ feeling, when you find yourself staring at the parsnips blankly, thinking ‘hm, what curious vegetables, I wonder what I should do with them.’ December overload + cooking-related anxiety sometimes do that to a person. This book has your back.

As I’ve written before, Jane Lovett’s recipes taste amazing, are eminently doable, and always work. She spent years teaching at Leith’s cookery school in London, and it really shows in how she writes a recipe. She is a soothing presence, and has a particular talent for making something that is simple on paper taste complex in the beak (there’s a prime example below). She is the queen of tricks and tips.

Also she is a real person living a real life, do you know what I mean? There is nothing overhyped or celebrity-adjacent about her books, meaning she doesn’t have to tie herself up in knots trying to reinvent the wheel. Her recipes are super delicious, easy to make, everyone loves eating them, happy days, the end.

It was hard to choose what to extract. The book has recipes for every conceivable festive situation - classic Christmas Day food (with excellent alternatives), brunch food, canapés, party food, sides, puddings, food for supper with friends, cosy just-us kitchen food, leftovers, drinks, quick casual things, NYE food, you name it.

In the end I chose a ridiculously easy canapé - 2 ingredients! - that you can make completely in advance and freeze, a zingy and adaptable post-Christmas ramen made using leftovers, and the most inspired recipe I’ve read in years if you like bread sauce (it is the whole point of Christmas dinner for me, along with roast potatoes). There’s also a delicious drink for non-drinkers (see also here), though you could of course stick alcohol in it if you wanted to.

Here’s the link to buy the book from my bookshop.org page, which supports independent bookshops, here it is on Waterstones and here it is on Amazon.

And here come the extracts!

From The Get-Ahead Christmas Cook by Jane Lovett

1. Preparing ahead:

Preparing as much as possible in advance is the key to success in the kitchen and will reduce stress levels considerably. This is something I practise all year round, but at Christmas it’s more important than ever as there are so many other non-kitchen related elements that also need our time and attention in preparation for the occasion. Purchasing, wrapping and posting presents, ditto cards, buying decorations and crackers, decorating the house, preparing bedrooms for overnight guests, orderingseasonal foods and menu planning . . . the list goes on! Not to mention the school plays, carol services and visits to Father Christmas, etc, that leach further into the limited run-up time, too.

A lot is going on, and the need to get as much as possible done in advance is never greater than at this time of the year. In my view, you can’t begin too early. Even the smallest steps produce huge results and go a long way towards relieving the anxiety of it all. And don’t just limit advance preparation to the food; you know you’ll need wrapping paper, crackers, possibly candles, napkins, etc, so I suggest buying themwhen you see them, however ridiculously early and wrong that might seem at the time (it won’t later!).

I know cooking isn’t everyone’s bag and for this reason the temptation is to put it off and leave that side of things till the last minute. But to the contrary, I know from years of experience that doing a little towards the food here and there in the weeks beforehand really does make the final task not half as bad after all.

An exhausted, tense host can make Christmas feel like a taxing chore rather than the happy time of celebration with loved ones they’ve been working so hard to achieve. Even if you manage to achieve just a quarter of the suggestions in these pages, you’ll be praising yourself for your forethought and efficiency as the time draws near.

You won’t ever regret having ordered, prepared or made something in advance. Indeed, it’s always a delight (and relief!) to have done or got in hand many of these tasks when the big day finally arrives.

Sticking to the traditional outline, I’m not attempting to reinvent the Christmas Day wheel, but simply to offer tips on how and when to prepare ahead and therefore spread the load for a more relaxed experience for everyone. Washing up on the day is greatly reduced, too, which is an added bonus!

It’s possible to prepare the lion’s share of Christmas Day fare in advance, and so my aim is to guide you through these recipes, some in increments over a few days, others in parts and others entirely, including several that can be frozen ahead.

2. Things you could do this month:

• Start planning menus and recipes, noting any that can be made as far ahead as October and any segments thereof that can be prepared now, particularly for Christmas Day itself (see page 13).

• List everything you plan to eat on Christmas Day, noting recipe page numbers, and use this as a master checklist, referring to it as an aide-mémoire for which recipes, or part recipes, can be made in advance, and for ticking off completed items.

• List the recipes you plan to make over the festivities (noting page numbers) and how far in advance they can be made, ticking the tasks off as you go.

• Make any chosen recipes that can be completed up to 2–3 months in advance (there are many, including most turkey trimmings and accompaniments).

• Make a Christmas cake if you intend to, wrap it well in greaseproof paper, then foil, and store in a tin. ‘Feed’ it every so often with alcohol, such as brandy, having first poked a few holes in the top of the cake using a skewer.

• Get (even just some of) the non-food purchases out of the way as early as possible, when they appear in the shops, including crackers, napkins and candles as well as cards and decorations.

  

3. Celeriac and bacon bites, makes about 36

• 300g celeriac

• salt

• a splash of lemon juice

• 12 rashers streaky bacon (I like smoked bacon)

• optional cocktail sticks, to serve

GET AHEAD:

• Make to end of step 3 up to 4 days ahead, cool, cover and chill; bake as below.

• Or freeze on a tray (or on a baking sheet, which can go straight into the oven when required) for up to 2 months.

• Cook from frozen (oven temp as below) for 18–20 minutes, possibly a little longer for larger quantities.

HINTS & TIPS:

• After cooking, the bites will happily keep warm in a low oven (door ajar) for an hour or so.

Just two ingredients make this a winning combo and produce these delicious canapés! I can’t tell youhow popular these are, and intriguingly, no one can ever pin-point what’s in the middle – scallops, artichokes and oysters are typical guesses – all of which would be delicious, too. Canapés that can be prepared in advance and cooked from frozen (like these) are an absolute godsend as far as I’m concerned.

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C /200°C fan/gas 7. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment or silicone paper.

2. Peel the celeriac (or just as much as you need) and cut into 2cm square-ish cubes; they don’t have to be perfect. Cook in a pan of boiling, salted water to which youhave added a squeeze of lemon juice, for around 5 minutes or until just tender but still firm and holding their shape. Drain and cool under cold water. Dry well on kitchen paper.

3. On a chopping board or worktop, stretch out a rasher of streaky bacon with the back of a heavy knife and cut or snip vertically into thirds. Roll a piece of bacon around a chunk of celeriac and place on the lined baking sheet, seam-side down. Repeat with the remaining bacon and celeriac.

4. Bake for 10–15 minutes or until turning golden and crisping up around the edges. Leave to cool for a few minutes (they can be kept warm for up to an hour) beforestabbing each ‘bite’ with a cocktail stick (if using) and serving piled up in a smallish rustic bowl or on a small platter.

4. After Christmas Ramen, serves 4

• small glug of sesame oil, plus extra for drizzling

• 125g shiitake mushrooms, large ones sliced, smaller ones left whole

• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 litre turkey or chicken stock

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1 teaspoon ginger purée from a jar or tube

• 3–4 tablespoons dark soy sauce

• 1 red chilli (regular heat), thinly sliced diagonally, or 1–2 pinches dried chilli flakes

• 350g dried ramen noodles, or egg or rice noodles

• 2 pak choi, quartered lengthways through the root and cooked (or about 200–250g other cooked green vegetables)

• around 400g cold cooked meat (see introduction), sliced, shredded or cut into small pieces

• 2 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced diagonally

• black and white sesame seeds, toasted, for sprinkling (optional)

• 4 eggs, cooked for 61/2 minutes in boiling water, cooled briefly in cold water, peeled

  and halved

GET AHEAD

Cooked vegetables, such as tenderstem broccoli, sprouts, shredded kale and chard, can be added to the ramen, as can beansprouts or around 250g of raw baby spinach leaves.

This recipe is so-called because the ingredients in this Japanese-style noodle soup aren’t specific and can be varied according to the ingredients you have to hand. Cooked turkey, goose, chicken, beef and pork all work beautifully, as do different green veg. A good stock is important, and I usually use stock made from the turkey carcass, which is a delicious base, or use one of the reputable stocks you can buy. A soothing bowl of goodness!

1. Heat the sesame oil in a saucepan, add the mushrooms and some seasoning and cook on a high heat, stirring occasionally, until dry, sizzling and beginning to brown. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and keep warm.

2. Put the stock into the pan with the garlic, ginger, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and a small pinch of chilli flakes, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Check and adjust the seasoning, adding more soy and/or chilli flakes, if you like.

3. Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, then drain and divide between four warmed bowls, followed by the cooked pak choi (or other green veg) and the mushrooms. Bring the broth back to the boil, then ladle into the bowls over the vegetables (this will warm them through). Top with the meat, scatter over the spring onions and some toasted sesame seeds, if using, then arrange the halved eggs to one side of each bowl. Drizzle with a tiny amount of sesame oil and serve immediately – with napkins!

5. Leftover bread sauce, ham and cheese croquettes, makes 8-10

• about 200g (1/2 quantity) cold Bread Sauce (see page 87)

• 100g Cheddar cheese or other hard cheese, grated

• 40g cooked ham, cut into small (1/2–1cm) dice

• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• plain flour, for dusting

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 4–5 tablespoons dried white breadcrumbs, for coating

• vegetable oil, for frying

• finely grated Parmesan cheese, to finish

• Spiced Cranberry Sauce (see page 83) or chilli jam, to serve

GET AHEAD

• Complete to end of step 2 up to 3 days ahead, cover and chill; fry as below.

• Or freeze for up to 2 months; defrost before frying.

HINTS & TIPS

• For vegetarian croquettes, swap ham for chopped leftover cooked sprouts or other vegetables and choose vegetarian cheeses.

• Make smaller croquettes for canapés.

Being serial bread sauce (and croquette, for that matter) lovers, it goes without saying how much we enjoy these – along the lines of croquettes made traditionally with a white sauce. I’ve suggested adding cheese and ham here, but almost anything on the leftover front goes, stuffing being particularly good; just ensure the bread sauce is very thick and any solid filling, such as ham, is cut quite small, otherwise the croquettes may split open during cooking.

1. Mix the bread sauce, cheese and ham together with some pepper. Check the seasoning, it may or may not need salt. Spread some flour, the egg and breadcrumbs out on three individual plates.

2. Form the bread sauce mixture into 8–10 smooth croquettes, each roughly 6–7 x 3cm (wet hands are helpful), then roll these in the flour, then the egg and lastly coat in the breadcrumbs. Chill for 30 minutes before cooking.

3. Heat a medium glug of vegetable oil in a frying pan on a medium-high heat, then add the croquettes in a couple of batches (so as not to overcrowd the pan) and fry,turning occasionally, until crisp and brown all over, around 4–5 minutes. Remove to a plate lined with scrunched-up kitchen paper to drain. Keep warm while you fry the second batch in the same way (adding a little extra oil, if necessary).

4. Transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle with a little salt and a good grating of Parmesancheese and serve with cranberry sauce or chill sauce.

6. Spiced Apple Shrub, makes about 400ml

• 6 eating apples, unpeeled, quartered, cored and chopped quite small

• 2 star anise

• 15g coarsely ground black pepper

• 20g green cardamom pods, bashed using a pestle and mortar to split open the outer shells

• 500ml cider vinegar

• 100g granulated sugar

This always reminds of mulled wine, even though it’s alcohol-free. However, should you wish, the addition of a little whisky or brandy makes a lovely, comforting winter drink (a hot toddy) if served warm. It’s also good served warm without the alcohol. Don’t be alarmed by the black pepper or its quantity; being a spice, it adds some heat and a wonderful flavour. As apples don’t produce much on the juice front, you may like to double up this quantity. [I would totally double this - India]

1. Put the apples, spices and cider vinegar into a saucepan and gently heat together on a low heat. Don’t let it boil. Decant the mixture into a Kilner-style jar, a container with a lid, or a bowl. When cold, cover and leave at (cool) room temperature for 7 days.

2. On day 7, strain the shrub through a damp muslin-lined (or similar) sieve into a small saucepan, then gather up the muslin and gently squeeze out the last of the liquid over the sieve. Add the sugar and warm on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, just until the sugar has dissolved. Don’t let it boil.

3. Pour into a sterilised bottle, leaving behind any sediment, and when cold, close with the lid or a cork. Shake before use. Dilute to taste and enjoy, or store the bottle somewhere cool for up to 2 months (store in the fridge once opened). It will last considerably longer if stored in the fridge.

Phew, what a massive post. I do hope you’ve found it useful. I really can’t recommend the book enough - it’s one of those cookbooks that you’ll hand down to your children, all splattered in gravy and memories.

Thank you for reading! These fortnightly food posts are free for everyone. They alternate with shorter picture posts, which are also free. Everything else is for paid subscribers, so do consider that if you’d like to. Here is a free sampler. Either way, have a wonderful Sunday, and if you liked this post then do please really kindly hit the ❤️ button - it makes it more visible. Thank you!