Vegetables take a starring role in this meat-free Christmas menu
For all the festive focus on the turkey, it is the glories of the vegetable basket that really thrill me. Crisp-headed Savoy cabbage with those dark forbidding outer leaves sits magnificently surrounded by winter carrots the size of saplings. Cauliflower, both the white and the green varieties, demands attention, and that is before I even get to the Brussels sprouts.
Celebrating with vegetables can seem a challenge, given that we are in the middle of winter, but look closely and there is much to shout about. My breakfast feast of the moment is not bacon, but large field mushrooms baked with butter, seasoned heavily with salt and pepper and dished up with a wobbly poached egg.
I have been cracking walnuts for a mid-afternoon snack for weeks now. Seasonal festivities might soon allow for some nutty Oloroso sherry to sip along with the nuts, before wrapping a present or two.
I am giving salads a seasonal twist with the addition of hazelnuts, lightly toasted to enhance their sweet autumnal flavour. And sauteing chestnuts in frothing melted butter - to be added to just wilted Brussels spouts along with shards of bacon - is filling the house with an overt Christmas aroma.
The nutty theme continues with Jerusalem artichokes, which are halved and blanched and then chargrilled to bring out their sweet chestnut-like flavour. With them I have been feasting on thyme- and garlic-infused baby beetroots roasted in parcels of tin foil with olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper.
A gratin of fennel, the silky slices topped with crisp, butter-infused breadcrumbs and served up with a winter salad of lamb's tongue made for a homely supper in front of the fire the other night. But this is a vegetable that is equally good to eat in its raw state. It can be sliced thinly in salad, dressed with a lemony vinaigrette, or used to dip, crudite style, into anything from anchovy butter to mayonnaise. Skipping the turkey and taking the vegetarian route for Christmas lunch or dinner might seem like heresy to some, to others it is a chance to take all these wonderful winter vegetables and place them centre stage.
Recipes serve 4
CARAMELISED PUMPKIN AND BEETROOT SALAD WITH TAHINI AND WALNUT CAVIAR
12 baby beetroot, well washed
small bunch thyme
5 garlic cloves
olive oil
1kg pumpkin or butternut squash, deseeded and peeled
100g shelled walnuts
75g tahini
juice of 1 lemon
2 heads chicory
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas six. Combine the beetroot, thyme and three of the garlic cloves on a sheet of tin foil. Drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil over the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and seal the parcel. Place in the oven. Cut pumpkin into three-centimetre chunks and place in a large roasting pan. Toss with three tablespoons of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and roast for 15-20 minutes or until they are tender and slightly coloured.
Dry roast the walnuts in a frying pan over a medium heat until golden brown; this will take only a few minutes. Allow these to cool and roughly grind them in a pestle and mortar with some salt and pepper. Mix in the tahini and lemon juice along with the remaining two garlic cloves, finely chopped, and enough warm water to form a thick paste.
Separate the chicory into leaves and place them on four plates. Scatter the pumpkin and beetroot over the leaves and spoon the walnut and tahini caviar over the top. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle a little olive oil over the top of the salad.
MUSHROOM AND ST TOLA 'TARTS', HONEY GLAZED ROOT VEGETABLES, SAUTEED SPINACH
50g dried porcini
olive oil
1 tbsp finely chopped shallots
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
100g button mushrooms, roughly chopped
100g butter
1 glass dry white wine
12 sheets filo pastry
4 tbsp St Tola goats' cheese, crumbled
350g potatoes, peeled
350g carrots, cut into 5cm lengths
350g baby turnips, peeled
12 small onions, peeled
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 garlic cloves, halved
450g spinach, stalks removed if tough
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped shallots
1 tbsp of pine nuts
Soak the porcini in hot water and set aside. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil and gently sauté the shallots, carrot and celery for five minutes. Add the garlic and rosemary and continue to cook for a further two minutes.
Roughly chop the porcini and add to the pan along with the button mushrooms, a seasoning of salt and pepper and 25g of butter. Sauté for five minutes, or until the juices start to run from the mushrooms. Add 25g of butter and the white wine and let everything bubble up and reduce to a syrupy consistency. Set aside and allow to cool.
Melt 50g of butter and brush a little on a small plate. Lay three sheets of filo like spokes of a wheel, meeting in the centre. Place a quarter of the mushroom mixture in the middle, sprinkle over a quarter of the St Tola and fold the filo over the top, brushing with lots of butter as you go.
You can then refrigerate these until needed. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas four and bake from room temperature for 20 minutes, or until the tarts are golden brown.
For the glazed vegetables place all the vegetables on a roasting tin and toss with three tablespoons of olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper and roast for 30-40 minutes, or until just tender. Place the roasting tin over a moderate heat, add the honey and balsamic and stir until the vegetables start to colour.
For the spinach, put three tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over a moderate heat. Add the garlic and allow it to brown for three or four minutes. Remove the garlic and discard it. Add the spinach and wilt it over a high heat. Add the chilli, shallots and pine nuts and toss so everything is well coated. Serve with the tarts and roasted vegetables.
SPROUTS WITH LEEKS AND GLAZED CHESTNUTS
1 tbsp butter
4 leeks, trimmed and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
50ml white wine
500g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
80g chestnuts (you can buy these cooked, peeled and vacuum packed)
half tsp thyme, picked
Melt the butter and cook the leeks and garlic over the lowest heat. The object is to melt rather than colour them. Add the wine, increase the heat and boil until it is syrupy. Blanch the sprouts in salted boiling water until just tender. Drain and refresh in cold water. Pat dry. Add the chestnuts to the leek mixture and toss so they are well coated. Add the spouts, season, sprinkle the thyme on top and serve.
MINCEMEAT AND APPLE CHARLOTTES, BRANDY AND ORANGE CREAM
50g caster sugar
5 eating apples, for example Cox's, peeled and cored
zest and juice of 1 orange
4 dessertspoons vegetarian mincemeat
50g butter
8 slices of white bread, crusts removed
250ml whipping cream
2 tbsp brandy
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas six. Place the sugar and two tablespoons of water in a saucepan over a moderate heat and cook for five to 10 minutes, until the sugar starts to caramelise. Add the apples, orange juice and all but a teaspoon of the butter. Cook for five minutes. Use the reserved butter to grease four ramekins or dariole moulds. Press the bread into the mould, making sure there are no gaps. Spoon half the apple mixture into the moulds. Add the mincemeat and then finish with the remaining apple mixture. Top with a slice of bread cut to the same diameter as the mould and well buttered on both sides. Press down to seal the edges.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the top is golden brown and the contents bubbling. Whip the cream and fold in the brandy and the zest from the orange and serve with the hot charlottes which should be up-ended on to plates.
