Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends, Festivities (4 page)

LEFT TO RIGHT: Seasonal Breeze, Pussyfoot, Blissful Blueberry, Mistletoe, Xmas Xinger

SEASONAL BREEZE

I’ve written a recipe with this title before, I admit, but it seems fair to plagiarize oneself. Besides, the title conveys what the drink is about: a Christmassy hit of cranberry in a long drink that is vaguely reminiscent of a sea breeze. You could take the “vaguely” away by squeezing in pink grapefruit juice in place of the orange juice. And while you could use carton orange juice, as I have done in the Pussyfoot, (and I would if making a big pitcher), I like the pure sharpness that comes from squeezing the fruit proper. Look out, when shopping, for a clear, pressed apple juice – which tends to have a better modulated, less sugary appleyness, whether from a bottle or a carton.

1 part chilled cranberry juice

1 part chilled clear apple juice

1 part chilled freshly squeezed orange juice

ice cubes (optional)

•To make 1 drink, pour all the juices (over ice if desired) into a glass, using a 75ml measure per part.

•To make a pitcher, chill a jug and cram with ice, then use a 750ml measure per part to make 2.2 litres, enough for 10 drinks.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Mix all the juices together in a large pitcher and keep covered in a cool place, or in a bucket of ice, if space allows, for up to 3 hours. Stir in 2 or 3 handfuls of ice when ready to serve.

PUSSYFOOT

I wish I could lay claim to this title, but it is the brainchild of a presumably hard-drinking bartender with as much condescension as goodwill towards his abstemious clientele. I have added some lime juice to the sweeter original; a more generous squeeze of lemon would also add a note of necessary, balancing, sharpness. There is nothing fancy about this, which is part of its charm, but a colourful pitcherful of the stuff gives a party a cheery boost, and it tends to be gulped down with brio. (And there is nothing to stop you leaving a bottle of vodka nearby for those who don’t want to pussyfoot around.)

The basic ratio is 1 part pink grapefruit juice to 1 part orange juice, but my maths isn’t good enough to work out what fraction of a part the Grenadine and lime constitute, which is why I write the quantities out twice.

FOR 1 GLASS:

150ml chilled pink grapefruit juice

150ml chilled freshly squeezed orange juice

½ teaspoon fresh lime juice

1–2 drops Grenadine

ice cubes (optional)

FOR A PITCHER:

750ml chilled pink grapefruit juice

750ml chilled freshly squeezed orange juice

30ml Grenadine

30ml fresh lime juice

ice cubes

• To make 1 drink, pour the grapefruit and orange juices into a tall glass (with ice if you like), add the lime juice and Grenadine and watch it fire up like a tequila sunrise and – if you can bear to – stir to mix.

• To make a pitcher, chill a jug and fill with ice, then proceed as above, to make enough for approx. 10 drinks.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Mix all the liquids together in a large pitcher and keep covered in cool place, or in a bucket of ice, if space allows, for up to 3 hours. Stir in 2 or 3 handfuls of ice when ready to serve.

BLISSFUL BLUEBERRY

I’m not sure I could mount a convincing case for the essential Christmassyness of a blueberry, but the festive spirit is supplied by the treat of the, relatively speaking, exotic. It seems strange to me that you can actually buy cartons of blueberry juice at the supermarket now; I am showing my age, but I can remember when we couldn’t even buy blueberries. So this, for me, has the out-of-the-ordinariness that is what makes a feast. Plus, there is something regally celebratory about its gorgeous hue. If you’d prefer to use Sprite in place of the bitter lemon do, but squeeze in a little fresh lemon juice at the same time.

1 part chilled blueberry juice (sometimes labelled blueberry juice drink)

1 part chilled bitter lemon, or other sparkling lemony drink

fresh lemon juice

ice cubes (optional)

• To make 1 drink, pour the juices into a glass (with ice if desired), using a 75ml measure per part. Stir gently to combine, adding a spritz of fresh lemon juice to taste.

• To make a pitcher, chill a jug, then load it with ice and proceed as above, using a 750ml measure per part; this should make enough for 10 drinks.

MISTLETOE

I love the mixture here of sweet lime cordial, peppery ginger beer and the uplifting sharpness of fresh lime. It’s cool but warming at the same time, which makes it an entirely fitting drink for a fabulous Christmas party. (You could also, of course, consider a Virgin Version of the Yule Mule, by simply mixing ginger beer with cranberry juice.)

Again, as with the Pussyfoot, opposite, to avoid mind-numbing fractions, I am giving quantities for the Mistletoe twice, to cover glass and pitcher options. But, essentially, the drink is 1 part lime cordial to 3 parts ginger beer with a squeeze or so of fresh lime.

FOR 1 DRINK:

1 × 25ml shot chilled lime cordial

75ml chilled ginger beer

½ teaspoon fresh lime juice

FOR A PITCHER:

250ml chilled lime cordial

750ml chilled ginger beer

1 × 25ml shot fresh lime juice

• To make 1 drink, pour the lime cordial and ginger beer into a glass (over ice if required), spritz with fresh lime and stir gently.

• To make a pitcher, chill a jug, cram with ice, and proceed as above; this makes enough for 10 drinks.

XMAS XINGER

This is simple and yet special, and a way of making those who have foresworn alcohol feel rewarded rather than punished. I’ve mentioned it before, a year or so ago, in an aside to a cocktail made with pomegranate liqueur, but this really does deserve stand-alone status.

The pomegranate juice (read the label and check it is pure pomegranate juice) is lusciously Christmassy and the ginger ale brings its own seasonal spiciness and sprightliness.

2 parts chilled pure pomegranate juice

1 part chilled ginger ale

ice cubes (optional)

• To make 1 drink, using a 75ml measure per part, pour the pomegranate juice into a glass (with ice if required), top up with ginger ale, and give a gentle stir just to combine.

• To make a pitcher, chill a jug and cram with ice, then proceed as above, using a 750ml measure per part, to make enough for 10 drinks.

CANAPÉS

DOUBLE-BLUE CROSTINI

CRAB CROSTINI

CHILLI CHEESE CROSTINI

SMOKED SALMON SODA BREADS

PARTY PARMA HAM BUNDLES

SEASONALLY SPICED NUTS

DRUNKEN DEVILS ON HORSEBACK

CRANBERRY AND SOY GLAZED COCKTAIL SAUSAGES

WASABI CRAB CAKES

I am never going to be a canapé queen. I lack dexterity and patience and there is some small part of me that feels canapés really belong to the repertoire of the professional caterer, though I suspect the greater part of my reluctance is down to straightforward greed: small portions, little bites, make me panic. I can get over it: I simply produce a lot, but of only a few; in life as on the page, everything is in the edit. Choose about three you want to make for each party, and make plenty of each. It’s not rocket science, but it works: your stress is lessened and your guests plentifully welcomed; now you’ve got a party …

DOUBLE-BLUE CROSTINI

I spent the year before last in a haze of Roquamole – my rich, dense and creamy blue cheese and avocado dip. And although I do, on occasion and out of greedy self-interest, bring it out for pre-dinner pickings at Christmas dinner parties, it is, alas, too volatile for canapés; once the avocados start turning dark they may taste fine but, believe me, they lack plate appeal. So this is my seasonal substitute: a gorgeous, tangy blue cheese dip or spread, to be anointed – and here’s the second of the two blues of my title – on thick, gritty, blue corn tortilla chips. I’ve mentioned before the joyous discovery that my favoured canapé, a plate of crostini, can be made with tortilla chips instead of toasted French stick slices, and in many ways the blue corn chip is the finest example of this labour-saving practice, as the chip itself is thicker (and so resists sog for longer) than its yellow corn counterparts, and the taste blander (an advantage in a canapé). Don’t worry if some of the chips are broken; I use shards of chips just as happily as whole, perfectly triangular ones. And by all means use the blue cheese spread as a dip, if you like, and simply provide the chips (or some crudités) as scooping tools.

Makes approx. 65 tortilla-chip crostini

125g St Agur or other blue cheese

100g cream cheese, at room temperature

125ml sour cream

35g sliced green jalapeños, from a jar (jars of sliced, pickled jalapeños, green or red, are found with the Mexican foods in supermarkets)

good grinding of white pepper

approx. 100g (½ packet) blue corn tortilla chips

1 teaspoon very finely chopped chives

• Crumble or mash the blue cheese with the cream cheese and sour cream in a bowl; this is easier if the cream cheese has been out of the fridge for a while.

• Finely chop the sliced jalapeños and stir them in with the white pepper.

• Using a teaspoon, dollop the blue cheese mixture onto the chips.

• Delicately drop the chives over and serve.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make the blue cheese mixture up to 6 hours ahead. Cover tightly with clingfilm and store in the fridge. Remove from the fridge about 20 minutes before using to allow it to soften, then dollop over the tortilla chips just before the party.

CRAB CROSTINI

I can eat crab meat pretty much any way – as a fresh, chillified and garlicky scattering over semolina-sweet linguine, mounded into a lightly but spicily dressed salad, wodged into cakes – but this is probably the speediest and most effortless incarnation.

It’s not so hard to chop spring onions, coriander and chilli by hand, but by all means get out the processor for the job if you prefer. However, be very cautious if you use it to mix in the crab meat; any more than the most fleeting of pulses and the crab meat loses its delicate shreds and turns to paste. It’s not a disaster but neither is it entirely desirable.

I like to put chilli into the crab meat – I adore the Christmassy red flecks peeking out of the tender white flesh along with the green of the coriander here – but if you prefer, leave out the chilli and replace the plain tortilla chips with the fierier chilli-flavoured ones, as in the Chilli Cheese Crostini, below.

Makes about 50 crab crostini

1 spring onion

1 fresh red chilli, deseeded (optional)

300g white crab meat

60ml sour cream

small bunch of coriander

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

1 × 15ml tablespoon lime juice

1 small packet plain tortilla chips

• Finely chop the spring onion and the chilli (if using), then mix into the crab meat along with the other ingredients, and dollop onto the tortilla chips.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

About 3 hours before serving, stir the chopped spring onion, chilli, coriander and oregano into the crab meat. Cover with clingfilm and store in the fridge. Just before assembling the crostini, stir in the sour cream and lime juice.

CHILLI CHEESE CROSTINI

Yumbariba! The chilli cheese is really just a lazy person’s take on my longstanding family-favourite, liptauer (only with a Latino rather than Mitteleuropa flavour), and I ramp up the paprika punch by smearing it on hot chilli tortilla chips.

I specify organic rather than regular cream cheese, as I like the rich texture and rounded flavour (and buy it easily from the supermarket) and it tastes like proper, old-fashioned homemade stuff, but the more familiar oblong-packaged packs of regular cream cheese would not be out of place here.

Makes about 100 chilli cheese chips

350g cream cheese (preferably organic), at room temperature

125ml sour cream

2 teaspoons sweet or mild paprika

30g red sliced jalapeños (from a jar), very finely chopped

½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 × 200g packet chilli tortilla chips

• Mix together the cream cheese and sour cream.

• Add the paprika, chopped jalapeños and Worcestershire sauce, combine well, and see the pale cheese turn a fetching coral.

• Just before your guests arrive, using a teaspoon, lightly dab the spread on a pile of chips and arrange on a platter or a couple of flat plates.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make the chilli cheese mixture the day before. Cover tightly with clingfilm and store in the fridge. Remove about 20 minutes before using to allow to soften and spread just before serving.

SMOKED SALMON SODA BREADS

The Irish have long known that the smooth richness of smoked salmon is gloriously partnered with the wheaten roughness of soda bread and I aim to build on that borrowed alliance, drawing on my own Eastern European inheritance. Let me name the guilty parties: horseradish, for tang; pickled red cabbage, ditto, but also for the gloriously seasonal touch of its glistening dark-red tangle; the dill, too, looks fabulously firlike, but most of all, its delicate but resonant scent seals the deal with this flavour-packed mouthful.

Small rounds of pumpernickel, or regular squares of it quartered, can be substituted for the soda bread here.

Makes approx. 30 salmon soda bread canapés

100g crème fraîche

50g hot horseradish sauce

1 × 400g loaf brown soda bread or other wholemeal bread, sliced

225g very thinly sliced smoked salmon

approx. 75g pickled red cabbage, from a jar, drained

small packet/bunch of fresh dill

• Mix together the crème fraîche and horseradish.

• You will need about 8–10 slices of bread. Cut each slice into 3 or 4 bits; since soda bread comes in rounded loaves, the slices vary in size.

• Spread the bread with the horseradish–crème fraîche mixture and top with a snipped ribbon of smoked salmon.

• Fork a dark-red tangle of pickled red cabbage on each piece and top with a frond of dill.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

The day before, cut the soda bread and store in a sealed bag. Make the horseradish–crème fraîche mixture, cover with clingfilm and store in the fridge. Assemble the canapés just before serving.