Sweet and savoury dishes to share throughout the festive season, including pork and lemon meatballs and hazelnut and pistachio praline

No matter what time of year it is, the smell of toasted nuts will always make me think of Christmas. Yes, I might spot the occasional chestnut roaster on the street, but more so the nuts on my own kitchen hob, slowly turning golden brown in the pan before they are tossed with salt or coated with chocolate. This year, hazelnuts and pistachios will be toasted, coated in brittle caramel and partially dipped in chocolate. Something to pass around after dinner, or simply a treat for all-comers.

Think of a curl of smoked salmon or trout on a soft pillow of potato pancake, or plump balls of pork stuffing, freckled with herbs, eaten hot from the frying pan. What about crisp shards of praline, their sweetness tempered by bitter chocolate, or a hot, sweet mincemeat sauce for a silky mascarpone cream; and ice-cream too, crunchy with chocolate and chopped figs? All festive, and perfect for the season.

Continue reading...

A chutney you can make in an hour, and some easy, nutty spiced crackers, for gifting or keeping to yourself

Christmas is incomplete without a cheeseboard, and a good cheeseboard is incomplete without chutneys and crackers. This apple and ginger chutney is my take on the traditional Indian mango chutney – it’s sweet, sharp and spicy – while the versatile crackers are gluten-free, quick and easy to put together, and perfect for snacking on all year round. Alternatively, pair the two for a lovely last-minute gift.

Continue reading...

Turkey troubles, thieving pets, fire drills – all manner of things can jeopardise the most important meal of the year

Chef -owner at Chez Roux and former chef- patron at Le Gavroche restaurant

Continue reading...

Essential reading for would-be top chefs, stocking fillers for the fermentation curious and odes to the simple pleasures of the kitchen. Ask Santa for the set

Caitlin Ruth (Blasta Books, £13)

Continue reading...

The baker and food writer on the bold spice that ‘goes with just about everything’

I describe cardamom as the baker’s spice, because it genuinely goes with just about everything. It works incredibly with chocolate, citrus, on its own or with other spices – it’s one of those flavours I never get bored of.

I use both pods and powders. I tend to use whole cardamom pods, because the flavour tends to be a little bit more intense and a little bit more vibrant, whereas I think if you want a slightly mellower version, the powdered version works really well.

Continue reading...

The comedian, actor and Matilda songwriter on the benefits of quitting social media and why happiness is like an orgasm

Tim Minchin does not arrive at lunch with the highest hopes. He has only had a couple of hours’ jet-lagged sleep, for a start. And, despite my feeble assurances to the contrary, he knows how it goes: in the course of two hours of no doubt enjoyable free-associating chat he’ll say one thing he will regret (two hours later when he’s on the train to Brighton); and when the story appears, that phrase will be the headline, and it will follow him around on the internet for ever. “So let’s get on with it,” he says, with wide-eyed fatalism. “And let me say even as you press record and I pick up this menu that I have badly mismanaged my calories and I’m really fucking hungry.”

We’re at a very smart gastropub near Victoria in London – the Thomas Cubitt, chosen for its proximity to the station (he’s got to catch the 2.29pm to make it to tonight’s gig). He orders salmon and carrots and chicken parfait to start, and nothing to drink in case he falls asleep on the train, though he might have to have a desperate slurp of mine. We’re here to talk about his book, You Don’t Have to Have a Dream , which collects the fabulously deadpan speeches he has made in recent years to graduating students, with some extra framing essays. If you fear your son or nephew is being seduced by the straight-backed homilies of Jordan Peterson or the grunts of another testosterone-cult talk-show host, buy them this for Christmas.

Continue reading...

The chef, author and TV presenter rates snowman cupcakes, sticky toffee cookies and turkey tortilla chips in our blind taste test

• Christmas cheese, chutney and mince pies – tested by Cynthia Shanmugalingam
• Christmas chocolates and drinks – tested by Georgina Hayden

‘Tis the season to rigorously sample Christmas produce and report back our findings – it’s OFM’s special festive taste test.

We asked pastry chef and Junior Bake Off’s Ravneet Gill to test a range of seasonal cakes, biscuits and crisps, and she bravely rose to the occasion. Here are her findings …

Continue reading...

Hints of richly scented fruit to usher in the festive season

The boxes of baubles have been brought are down from the attic. The plum puddings are on the larder shelf and the tree is ready to go up. Everything I have eaten this week has a hint of the feasting to come. A smoked fish pie with a coarse, fruity chutney; a cake with brown sugar and vine fruits, and a dish of citrus-scented brandy butter have been the stars of the week’s cooking, each batch of baking filling the kitchen with the unmistakable scent of the season.

This slow buildup to Christmas started with plum puddings, two bought from a favourite bakery and two I made myself. Sleeping in their china bowls, they will appear from Christmas Eve until New Year, though I am tempted to keep one for my birthday in April.

Continue reading...

Sometimes there’s praline, sometimes the nuts are caramelised, but this is always a perfectly indulgent treat

Swiss Rocher is chocolate that has crunchy bits of nuts in it. Sometimes there’s praline, sometimes the nuts are caramelised, sometimes not.

Whatever, it makes for a (if you like nuts, that is) really moreish, delicious chocolate. Rocher means rock in French, so traditionally these are ball shaped. And often if you go into a chocolate shop, you’ll see them, nut-studded golf ball-sized chocolate rounds. I really like them, because they’re big enough to be indulgent, and once you bite in you just have to keep going.

Continue reading...