Mix up your Christmas dishes with these tantalising – yet simple – recipes (Pictures: Richard Clatworthy)
It’s Christmas time, and for many of us, that means cooking.
Lots of cooking.
But never fear, for Jamie Oliver is here. The chef and author has shared three quick, simple and delicious Christmas recipes to add to your festive repertoire – move aside yule log, the honey orange traycake is here.
Or if you don’t want to overdo it on the turkey but need to feed the family around the big day, why not try some Christmas pasta, full of festive flavours.
And for a lighter option, Jamie has rustled up a shredded winter salad – think sweet grapes and apples paired with walnuts and goat’s cheese.
There’s something for everyone, so get stuck in!
Christmas pasta (Picture: Richard Clatworthy)
Christmas pasta recipe
Pigs out of blankets, sage & onion, chestnuts & nutmeg
Serves 1
Total time: 16 minutes
Ingredients
125g fresh lasagne sheets
1 higher-welfare pork sausage
1 rasher of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
¼ of a small red onion
1 sprig of sage 15g Parmesan cheese olive oil
5 vac-packed chestnuts
1 whole nutmeg, for grating
Optional: extra virgin olive oil
Method
1. Boil the kettle. Use a cookie cutter or a sharp knife to cut the lasagne sheets into fun festive shapes, tearing up the offcuts. Squeeze the sausagemeat out of the skin into little balls. Finely slice the bacon. Peel and finely slice the onion. Pick the sage leaves. Finely grate the Parmesan. Put a 28cm frying pan on a high heat.
2. Once hot, put a little drizzle of olive oil into the pan with the sausage balls and bacon, tossing regularly. Once the sausage and bacon are lightly golden, add the onion and sage, crumble in the chestnuts, and cook for two minutes.
3. Scatter the pasta into the pan, then carefully pour in enough boiling kettle water to just cover the pasta – about 300ml. Let it bubble away for four minutes, or until the pasta has absorbed most of the water and you’ve got a nice silky sauce, stirring regularly and loosening with an extra splash of water, if needed.
4. Turn the heat off, stir in the Parmesan, and season to perfection. Finish with a fine grating of nutmeg, to taste, and a kiss of extra virgin olive oil, if you like.
Shredded winter salad – contains walnuts (Picture: Richard Clatworthy)
Shredded winter salad recipe
Roasted grapes & apples, red cabbage, mustard, walnuts & goat’s cheese
Serves 4 as a main or 8 as a side
Total time: 42 minutes
Ingredients
4 eating apples
1 head of celery
250g seedless red grapes olive oil red wine vinegar
½ a red cabbage (500g)
1 x 250g packet of cooked mixed grains
30g shelled unsalted walnut halves
3 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
60g crumbly goat’s cheese
Optional: extra virgin olive oil
More: Food
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
2. Quarter and core the apples, then place in a 25cm x 30cm roasting tray. Click off the outer celery stalks and save for another day, then finely slice the inner part and add to the tray, reserving any inner leaves.
3. Add in the grapes, drizzle with 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and red wine vinegar, season with sea salt and black pepper, toss together well, and roast for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, coarsely grate the cabbage on to a large board or platter.
5. Heat the grains in the microwave according to the packet instructions, then add to the mix and crumble over the walnuts. Spoon over the mustard, drizzle with three tablespoons of red wine vinegar, then gently toss together, season to perfection and spread across the board or platter.
6. When the time’s up on the roasted fruit, spoon it all over the salad, then crumble over the goat’s cheese. Finish with any reserved celery leaves and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, if you like.
Jamie Oliver’s masterplan for stress-free Christmas cooking
Honey orange traycake (Picture: Richard Clatworthy)
Honey orange traycake recipe
Almonds, vanilla, yoghurt & a kiss of rose water
My dear Nan loved a traybaked sponge. With the combination of honey, almonds and orange here reminiscent of Greece, it’s like I’ve sent her on her holidays in the form of a cake! Ithink she would have really liked this one.
Serves 12
Total time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Ingredients
Olive oil
2 large oranges or blood oranges
200g runny honey
200g ground almonds
200g self-raising flour
200g Greek yoghurt
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
2 large free-range eggs
Optional: rose water
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Line a 20cm x 30cm roasting tray with a sheet of greaseproof paper, then rub it with olive oil.
3. Finely grate the orange zest into a large bowl and put aside, then take your time to very finely slice 1 orange into rounds. Layer it into the tray, drizzle with 100g of honey and bake for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, add the almonds, flour, yoghurt and vanilla paste to the bowl of orange zest. Crack in the eggs, add 200ml of olive oil, a small pinch of sea salt, the remaining 100g of honey and a small thimble of rose water, if using. Whisk together well.
5. Remove the tray from the oven, gently pour the cake batter over the orange slices, and return to the oven for 35 minutes, or until golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
6. Turn the cake out on to a board, and carefully peel away the greaseproof. Nice served warm with a dollop of yoghurt or custard.
One by Jamie Oliver is published by Penguin Random House © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited
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Move over yule log, the honey orange traybake is here.
