Come Over: Christmas dinner edition
A brand-new series, kicking off with a dinner party guide for the festive season
Welcome to the first edition of Come Over! This new series will be a one-stop shop to seasonally-based dinner parties and hosting. There is nothing I love more than asking people to come over and indulge in a table full of lovely dishes. Anything from weeknight curries followed by my homemade 'Muller Corners’ eaten on the sofa in front of old episodes of The Kardashians, to full-blown dinner parties with nibbles and cocktails, it’s one of life’s great joys to make something tasty for people you love.
I’ve spoken with friends about our shared enthusiasm for hosting and the practical and economic challenges that come with it, and I firmly believe that space, budget and dodgy ovens shouldn’t be a barrier to making delicious food for your friends. I’ll test and create each menu in my own tiny kitchen, using the four hob rings (I actually created this festive menu with only two functioning hobs as two of mine are broken, case in point) and one small oven. While this menu is a bit extra special because it’s Christmas, most of the dinner party menus I create aren’t expensive, and the majority of the ingredients can be picked up in your local Lidl.
Each edition of Come Over will feature a menu designed to feed four (generously) including a welcome drink (hopefully whoever you’ve got coming over will bring the wine) little snack, main spread and pudding. I’m not one for starters and mains. I find it much easier to serve everything sharing style. It makes the host (you) more relaxed and means you can spend less time in the kitchen and more time with the people you’ve invited over.
Unlike the ubiquitous London restaurant style ‘everything comes out when it’s ready,’ I’ll be creating a time sheet to make sure everything you’ve lovingly prepared is ready at the same time (ish). I’ll also be writing a shopping list and as many prep-ahead tips as I can for people who want to get super organised.
The first edition of Come Over is all about Christmas. It’s entirely vegetarian, so no turkey or PIBs here, sorry folks. Instead, you’ve got a very manageable five sharing dishes to make and plate up, an easy canapé and a make-ahead cocktail, and a classic crumble pud with a festive twist.
Ginger & clementine negroni fizz
100ml gin
100ml Campari
100ml vermouth
ginger ale, to top up
60ml clementine juice
four orange slices, to garnish
Pour the gin, Campari, vermouth and clementine juice into a jug, stir and set aside.
Fill four tumbler glasses with a few cubes of ice, then divide the negroni mix between the glasses. Top up with ginger ale and garnish with an orange slice.
Prep ahead: You can make the negroni clementine mix the day before and keep the jug (covered) in the fridge.
Mushroom pate crisps
1 tbsp olive oil
250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 large pack of sea salted crisps
15g fresh chives, finely chopped
Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the mushrooms and fry for 15 minutes until very soft. Add the garlic and thyme and fry for one more minute, then transfer the mixture to a mini food processor.
Add the sour cream to the mix, then blitz. Season to taste, then serve dolloped onto crisps and top with chives.
Prep ahead: You can make the mushroom pate up to two days before and keep it in the fridge.
Parsnip gratin with sage and walnut pesto
For the pesto
2 garlic cloves
30g sage, plus a few extra leaves for decoration
30g walnuts
100ml olive oil
For the gratin
35g unsalted butter
35g plain flour
500ml whole milk
150ml double cream
200ml vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
500g parsnips, peeled and sliced into long thin slices
20g parmesan
Start by making the pesto. Place the garlic cloves, sage, walnuts and extra virgin olive oil in a small blender or food processor. Whizz until a sauce-like texture forms, then season to taste and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. To make the gratin, place a large oven-proof dish on a medium heat on the hob.
Add the butter and melt it, then add the flour and whisk in. Cook out for 1-2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking all the while, then the cream. You should have a silky smooth sauce. Add in the stock, mustard, nutmeg, pesto and a little salt and pepper.
Add the parsnips and stir to coat. Top the dish with the parmesan and the whole extra sage leaves. Bake for 1 hour until golden and bubbling.
Prep ahead: You can make the pesto the day before and keep it in the fridge.
Rosemary & thyme roast potatoes
900g rooster potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2-3 inch pieces
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, torn into small chunks
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Boil the potatoes for 3 minutes, then drain into a colander. Cover the potatoes in the colander with a tea towel and leave to steam dry for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, pour the oil into a medium-sized baking tray and heat in the oven.
Tip the potatoes back into the empty saucepan, then put the lid on and give the pot a good shake to fluff up the edges.
Remove the tray from the oven then tip in the potatoes and toss, coating them in the oil. Sprinkle over sea salt and add the rosemary and thyme, then roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour until golden and crispy.
Star anise spiced red cabbage
450g red cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
35g light brown sugar
35ml red wine vinegar
2 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
100ml water
100ml red wine
a knob of butter
Place all the ingredients and some salt and pepper in a saucepan over a low heat. Bring to a simmer, then put the lid on the pan and cook for 1.5 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so.
Prep ahead: You can make the cabbage a few days before you intend to serve it and keep it in the fridge. In fact, this might even make the flavours more intense.
Brussels sprouts with crispy chestnuts
25g unsalted butter
180g chestnuts, roughly chopped
300g sprouts, halved
Heat the butter in a large lidded frying pan. Once melted, add the chestnuts and fry for 5-8 minutes, allowing them to get crispy. Decant into a bowl, then return the pan to the heat. Add in the sprouts and 100ml water. Bring to a simmer, then put the lid on to allow the sprouts to steam for 10 minutes.
Remove the lid, ensuring all the liquid has been absorbed by the sprouts. Add in the chestnuts and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Honey mustard carrots
400g carrots
2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
1 teaspoon honey
a knob of butter
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, then add the carrots. Boil for 6 minutes until the carrots are fork-tender. Drain and return the carrots to the pan with the mustard, honey, butter and salt and pepper. Stir to coat, then serve.
Christmas crumble with nutmeg custard
For the Christmas crumble
300g bramley apples, peeled and chopped into 2cm chunks
200g fresh or frozen cranberries
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
110g light brown sugar
175g plain flour
110g unsalted butter, fridge-cold and cubed
2 tbsp demerara sugar
For the nutmeg custard
400ml custard
1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Add the apples, cranberries, sugar and spices to a 20cm square oven dish. Stir to combine.
Put the sugar and flour into a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter and rub the mixture between your fingers until it forms a breadcrumb-like consistency. Tip the mixture onto the fruit sprinkle over the demerara sugar.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden. Leave in the dish for 10 minutes before serving.
To make the nutmeg custard, simply heat the custard in a saucepan over a low heat and grate in the fresh nutmeg.
Shopping list
Now for the list. This is a complete list of all the ingredients you’ll need to put together this meal for four. If you’ve got a fairly well-stocked store cupboard, you probably won’t need to buy everything on the list, but it serves as a useful one stop shop so you can check what you do and don’t already have in your cupboards. Simply cross off anything you’ve already got and you’ve got yourself a shopping list.
By making a a few bits the day before, you should be able to get this meal on the table in fairly good time on the day. I’m a huge fan of preparing ahead as it means you get to spend more time with your pals and less time sweating over a hot hob, so I’ve made a list of elements that can be made the day before you’re hosting.
I’ve based these timings off your lucky guests arriving from just after 7pm (hopefully this means they’ll be politely late) with the main feast landing on the table at 8pm. Feel free to adapt to your schedule! The timings should also allow for leisurely cooking, because hosting is about enjoying yourself, not channelling The Bear.
The day before
Make the star anise-spiced cabbage
Make the mushroom pate
Make the negroni mix
Make the sage and walnut pesto
On the day
5.45pm: make the crumble and set aside in fridge
6.15pm: start making the gratin and potatoes
7pm: gratin and roast potatoes go into the oven, then the chestnuts go on to toast and set aside once done
7.30pm: serve the mushroom pate crisps and drinks as you finish the last few dinner bits, including setting water on to boil for the carrots, finishing off the sprouts and heating through the red cabbage
8pm: serve main feast (bake crumble while you’re polishing off the wine after the mains are done, and heat the custard and grated nutmeg just before serving pudding)
If the timings don’t go to plan, no-one will mind because a) they’ll have staved off any hangry feelings with your gorgeous pate and crisps, and b) they’re here to spend time with you, not rate you out of five on Tripadvisor.
That’s it! If you’ve got any questions or suggestions, please do comment on this post or dm me on Instagram.