Minted peas and beans

Christmas dinners are rich and filling with stuffing, potatoes and lots of meet quickly filling the belly, while even the sprouts are rather dense, so it is important to offer some light vegetables to help balance the plate, while an injection of colour never goes amiss.

This idea is delightfully simple so it does not really constitute a recipe, but more of an idea.

All you need is frozen peas and fresh beans, which can be boiled or steamed for five minutes or so. Then before serving spoon in a teaspoon or two of mint sauce and a knob of butter. It make a pleasant difference and some simple veg suddenly become worthy of their place on the festive table.

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Celeriac puree with honey

This side dish is often created on shows such as Masterchef and merely smeared over the plate as a smudge. However, do not dismiss it as a pointless bit of presentation or an attempt to make the dish sound classy. Celeriac puree is a very tasty side dish that would accompany roast lamb or beef superbly.

Ingredients

One large celeriac
25g butter
250ml milk
1 heaped teaspoon of thick honey
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Firstly trim the thick skin off the celeriac root and then cut it into cubes.
Place in a pan and cover in water and then bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
Drain the water and leave the part boiled celeriac to one side while you melt the butter over a low heat.
Now add the celeriac and honey the pan and mix together.
Add the milk and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
Using a hand blender turn the mixture into a puree, or a very soft mash.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with roast meat and gray.

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Syrup carrots - A sweet and juicy side dish

I love serving a good number of interesting vegetable side dishes with a roast dinner and this way of cooking carrots livens up this particular vegetable in a way that does not distract you from preparing the roast.

Ingredients

(Serves four)

8 medium carrots (quartered)
25g butter
1 tbsp syrup
1/2 tsp salt
50ml water

Method

Peel and cut the carrots (into what ever size you wish to be fair) and place in a wide-bottomed sauce pan.
Add the water, which should cover the bottom of the pan without submerging the carrots.
Turn on the heat and once the water starts to boil, reduce to a simmer and add the salt, butter and syrup and stir well.
Depending on the heat of your hob the water will boil away before long, so over the next 20 minutes add a splash of water when necessary.
The idea is that the carrots retain much of the water and its flavour and goodness is not lost by the usual boiling. Any liquid that is left in the pan is perfect for drizzling over the carrots for serving.

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Chinese style aubergine recipe - sweet, spicy and delicious!

I was taught how to cook this aubergine (egg plant) dish by a cook in Guilin, China and the intense sweet and spicy Chinese flavour can be recreated by ingredients available in England.

Ingredients:

2 medium/large aubergines
2 green finger chillies
2 cloves of garlic
50g muscavado soft brown sugar (Chinese rock sugar would be better if available)
2 tbsp shaoxing rice wine
2 tbsp rice vinegar
Handful of chopped spring onion and coriander
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil for cooking

Method

Aubergines can have a rather bitter taste, but this can be reduced by sprinkling the freshly chopped chunks with salt and leaving them to sit for about 25 minutes. Then rinse with water and dry with a paper towel.

1. Heat some vegetable oil in a wok and then add the chopped aubergine pieces and fry until the pieces become soft or limp. Remove from the pan.
2. Now fry the slices garlic and chillies for five minutes - stirring frequently.
3. Reduce the heat and add the rice wine, rice vinegar and sugar. Stir the ingredients together for a minute or two.
4. Return the aubergine pieces to the pan and cook for a further five minutes. Add salt if required.
5. Turn off the heat and sprinkle over the chopped coriander and spring onions.

I prefer to leave this dish to sit for a while and then reheat it to serve. The aubergine really soaks up the flavour this way.

Serve with rice and pork.

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How to roast beetroot

Beetroot has to be one of the most poorly perceived and misunderstood vegetables on earth. It hardly ever comes up on recipes, is rarely on menus and the only time people encounter it is when it has been drowned in vinegar.

This richly coloured root vegetable is however a joy to use as a side dish for roast dinners, while beetroot soups and chutneys are quite delicious.

There are 'rules' that need to be remembered when dealing with a beetroot, such as to leave the skin and undamaged when boiling it, but this recipe deal with simple roasting beetroot to provide an eye-catching side dish for a roast dinner - such as beef.

Ingredients 

4 medium sized beetroots (avoid large beets as they can be tough)
olive oil
dried thyme
salt and pepper

Method

You may find cooks adamant that beetroot should also be roasted with its skin on and then peeled once cooled, but I don't believe that this is necessary as the flavour is retained in this recipe.

1. Carefully peel the beetroot and then quarter each one
   
2. Mix together with enough olive oil to cover the beetroot pieces.
   
3. Add the thyme (roughly 2 heaped teaspoons, but I can't say I measure this) and a pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper.
   
4. Mix the beetroot pieces so the herbs/salt/pepper are evenly distributed.
   
5. Place on a roasting tray and put in a pre-heated oven (200 degrees) for an hour.
   

The beetroot pieces do not ooze too much juice, even to though they've been peeled, but if you use the roasting tray to make a gravy to accompany the roast this will help aid the flavour.

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Braised Red Cabbage & apple

This is a great side dish for a roast meal, particularly pork, while I love serving this as a side on Christmas day. 

Ingredients:

2 red onions

1 red cabbage

1 apple (pink lady)

1 tbsp muscavado sugar

2 tbsp red wine vinegar 

1 tsp mixed spice

Method:

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Roast potatoes

A roast dinner is not complete without flavoursome and hopefully crispy roast potatoes. You can't go wrong with this method, although it is of course best if you prepare these in the same tin as a joint of beef or a leg of lamb for example.

Crispy roast potatoes (to serve 4)

Ingredients

6 large potatoes (Maris Piper works superbly, but try whatever you have available)

two tablespoons of oil

25g butter

fresh rosemary

dried rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Quarter the potatoes and place them in cold water with salt added according to your taste. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to simmer for five minutes.
   
2. Turn on the oven to 200 degrees and add half of the oil to a roasting tin. Place the tin in the oven so that the oil is hot.
   
3. Strain the water from the potatoes and while holding the lid on give the potatoes a good shake in the pan. Add the remaining oil, butter and rosemary and give another quick shake.
   
4. Bring out the pan of hot oil and add the potatoes carefully as the oil may splatter.
   
5. Holding the pan with the oven gloves give it a shake and before the oil loses too much heat return it to the oven.
   
6. After 20 minutes turn the potatoes over and return to the oven. Turn the oven up to max and cook for another 20 minutes until the potatoes appear crispy and golden brown.
   

If you are cooking a piece of meet at the same time, do as above, but add to the oil of the meat instead for extra flavour. 

You'll need to take the meat out before turning up the heat towards the end of this method.

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Sprouts, pancetta and chestnut mix

This is sprouts at their best and a perfect accompaniment to a Christmas dinner.

Ingredients:

500g of Brussels Sprouts

100g of cooked chestnuts

50g of chopped pancetta

Salt and pepper to taste

For the best sprouts steam them until just tender (roughly ten minutes) then leave to one side to cool. In a frying pan fry chopped pancetta - there is no need for oil - over a high heat until the pieces begin to darken and become crispy. Turn off the heat and chop the cooled sprouts into smaller pieces. Chop the cooked chestnuts (Merchant Gourmet's plastic packed chestnuts are fine) roughly and add them and the sprouts to the pancetta. Mix together under a medium heat for five minutes, stirring regularly. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper according to taste. 

This side dish can be prepared in advance and reheated to accompany the Christmas dinner. 

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