Six easy ways to zizz up your veg for a five-a-day Christmas dinner
Christmas dinner is portrayed very often as the biggest meal of the year; often pictured on television screens as a table heaving with an impossibly huge turkey and platters piled high with steaming vegetables. Being British, I’m often made aware, especially when visiting friends abroad and also when listening to Ken Bruce on Radio 2, that the perception of many is very different to that depicted in the typical tv advert. While we may do the roast potatoes particularly well — although I have eaten and, lets face it, cooked some shocking examples — our sprouts are commonly considered over-cooked (Ken starts boiling his in October, I believe); carrots are bland; cabbage mushy and tasteless and parsnips often snubbed as tasting weird.
As a passionate advocate of eating ten portions of fruit and vegetables a day I never pass up the opportunity of dishing up at least five with my Sunday roast and Christmas dinner. Here are some ideas of how to hit the big five and give them a bit of sparkle — especially for the Christmas table. By the way, I’m not suggesting you try all of these in one meal but two or three might hit the spot.
All of my recipe ideas include amounts sufficient to serve two people with a full 80g portion each. Most, if not all the ingredients can be bought from your local supermarket or grocery store. We’ll assume that you’ve done your prep and got the turkey, nut roast or other lovely Christmas speciality safely in the oven. Given the long time left for the cooking to complete, you can now pay some serious attention to the accompaniments. Feel free to have a glass or cup of something nice while you work — chef’s bonus!
Lets start with those sprouts, which I believe should never be cooked until the very last minute (sorry Ken!). Once topped and tidied by taking off any ropey-looking outer leaves, these seasonal beauties can be soaked in a little salted water until needed. Eight large sprouts or a dozen smaller per person will stand as a full portion. For the simplest, good result, microwave on full power for 4 minutes for two portions (add 1 minute for each portion more), use a fork to check they’re cooked and serve up. Alternatively, while they’re cooking, melt a knob of butter and add a teaspoon of mustard seeds; fry for a minute, stir in a pinch each of salt and pepper; quickly mix in a teaspoon of any mustard (as a Norfolk boy I choose Colman’s) and spoon the mix over the sprouts, ensuring they are all coated before serving.
Easy peasy — livening up your peas is the simplest, yet most striking thing you can do to zizz up your veg. Whether they’re tinned, frozen or mushy, cook them in the microwave — four minutes for two portions of 160g- and stir in a teaspoon of mint sauce/jelly, they’re then good to go.
Simple sauteed carrots First tip: after peeling, slice your carrots lengthwise, rather than into discs, as this will immediately give them a more professional look. You’ll need two very large or three medium carrots for two portions. Pop them in the microwave for 3 minutes. While they cook, add some butter or light oil (rapeseed or olive oil are good) to a pan on medium heat. Next add a teaspoon of fennel seeds and a few fine gratings of lemon peel.
Once the oil is nice and hot, add the fennel seeds and fry for a minute, then put in the carrots and saute for a few minutes. A squirt of lemon juice, to taste, will add an extra tang. Serve the carrots nicely coated in the fennel and lemon oil.
Glazing is good. Skip the parsnips at your peril, surely no Christmas dinner or winter roast is complete without these lovelies?
Hopefully you’ll have a bit of space in the oven for roasting the parsnips. Remember they won’t need as long as the roast pototoes (20 minutes should do it). To make them extra tasty, mix together a glaze to coat them with. Mix up a glug of oil with maple syrup or honey and use it to coat the parsnips before roasting. I love this maple syrup glaze from Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver does great things with honey. Give them a go:
Two ways with cabbage. Cabbage should be a lovely treat and not something to be mocked or endured. Here are an easy and trickier way to make cabbage into something most excellent; in each case, a quarter of a savoy or red cabbage should provide two servings (160g); if you’ve chosen spring cabbage, you’ll need at least half to get two 80g servings.
Easy - for best results, I like savoy cabbage for this recipe and you’ll also need a large onion. Peel and halve the onion and then slice thinly, for best results, slice the cabbage just as thinly. Put the cabbage in the microwave in bowl with a serving spoon of water — no more — and cook on full power for 6 minutes; meanwhile fry the onion in a large knob of butter. Drain the cooked cabbage and stir it into the onions, along with a half-teaspoon of ground pepper and a pinch of salt. When cooked it should still pack a crunch but be easy to chew. Serve as soon as you can.
Harder — but worthwhile, especially around Christmas time-is this spiced red cabbage. This will do very well if prepared before the big day and stored in the fridge, before reheating by bringing to the boil and simmering for a couple of minutes.
Before cooking, take a red cabbage and cut into quarters — each quarter will be enough for two portions. Peel, halve and thinly slice a small red onion then slice the cabbage just as thinly. Melt a large knob of butter in a frying pan and add a piece of cinnamon bark or stick (half a teaspoon of powdered will do), a couple of whole cloves (an eighth of a tsp of powdered) two bayleaves and half a dozen peppercorns (a quarter teaspoon of groundpepper). For an extra Christmassy taste, include a piece of star anise and/or a little nutmeg. Fry for a minute, then stir in the red onion and fry for a further five minutes. Chuck in the cabbage and stir fry for a couple of minutes, pour in a small glass of red wine and add a dessert spoon of brown sugar (the darker the better). Cover and cook for a few minutes more, meanwhile core and slice up a small apple and then stir it in.
Cook for one minute more and serve with a dollop of soured cream or creme fraiche. For a tangy edge, stir in the juice of half a lemon or a whole lime or a bit of each, just before serving. For a sweeter finish, pour in the juice of half an orange or a clementine. You’re welcome!
