Holiday nibbles with friends
Relax into the festive season with these easy and delicious Christmas bites.
Ilove the start of the festive season – before I’m feeling stressed, tired and jaded closer to Christmas, when it feels like the holidays are just around the corner and people are keen to kick up their heels and celebrate.
For me, summer and Christmas are all about getting friends and family together for relaxed entertaining, and drinks and nibbles is one of the easiest ways to go.
I often make arancini for drinks parties as all of the prep can be done a day in advance, and it just takes a few minutes’ cooking on the night before serving.
The flavour combination of these olive and tomato arancini is one of my all-time favourites – the salty olives and intense tomatoes, perfect with the oozing mozzarella centre.
The zucchini fritters, by contrast, are fresh, bright and light with feta, mint and fresh tomatoes.
The prep for the fritters is quick and easy.
Olive & tomato arancini
Makes 40 Preparation time:
50 minutes Cooking time:
40 minutes
❚ 2 tablespoons olive oil
❚ 1 red onion, finely chopped
❚ 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
❚ 5 cloves garlic, crushed
❚ 2 teaspoons dried oregano
❚ 1⁄2 teaspoon chilli flakes
❚ Sea salt and black pepper
❚ 1 cup arborio rice
❚ 1⁄4 cup white wine
❚ 2 tablespoons tomato paste
❚ 4 1⁄4 cups good quality vegetable stock
❚ 1⁄2 cup finely chopped black olives (de-stone them yourself for maximum flavour)
❚ 1⁄2 cup finely chopped semi-dried tomatoes
❚ 1⁄2 cup freshly grated parmesan
❚ 150g block mozzarella, cut into
1.5cm cubes
❚ 4 cups breadcrumbs
❚ 3 eggs, whisked
❚ 5 cups high heat cooking oil
❚ Aioli to serve
Heat the olive oil in a big saucepan and add onion, cumin seeds, garlic, oregano, chilli flakes, sea salt and black pepper. Cook for 10 minutes over a gentle heat, then add the rice and cook, stirring, for a further two minutes. Add wine and cook for two minutes while heating the stock in a separate saucepan.
Once most of the wine is absorbed, add tomato paste and 2⁄3 cup of stock. Keep stirring, adding warm stock as it’s absorbed, ensuring the rice never dries out. After 20 minutes add the olives and tomatoes to the rice with the last of the stock and cook a further 4-5 minutes – the rice should be cooked but not mushy.
Remove from the heat and stir through the grated parmesan. Transfer the risotto to a container and chill until cool.
OK – prepare yourself, this sounds like a real drag, but it’s not too bad! Take tablespoonfuls of cold risotto and poke a cheese cube into the middle. Roll into a ball then roll in breadcrumbs to coat. Do all of them, then starting with the first one again dip into whisked egg and roll in breadcrumbs again.
You should end up with about 40. Store in the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight, before cooking.
Heat the cooking oil in a large, deep saucepan until it has a sheen on the surface and a bread cube dropped in will fry to golden in about 20 seconds. Fry the rice balls in batches of 5-6 at a time for 3-4 minutes until golden and heated through. Serve with aioli.
Mini zucchini fritters
Makes: about 20 Preparation time: 18 minutes Cooking time: 3 minutes
❚ 2 eggs
❚ 3 zucchini, grated
❚ Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
❚ 1⁄2 teaspoon chilli flakes
❚ 2 tablespoons finely chopped mint
❚ 1⁄2 cup ricotta
❚ 1⁄2 cup flour
❚ 2 teaspoons baking powder
❚ Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
❚ 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
❚ 100g feta
❚ 60g Greek-style natural yoghurt or soft cream cheese
❚ 1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
❚ 1⁄4 cup mint leaves
Whisk the egg in a medium bowl and add the zucchini, zest, chilli flakes, mint and ricotta. Stir to combine, then add the flour and baking powder and fold together. Season well with salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and cook heaped tablespoonfuls of the mixture, in batches, for about 11⁄2 minutes on each side, until golden. While they’re cooking, whiz the feta and yoghurt in a small food processor to create a soft spread. Drain the fritters on paper towels and serve immediately topped with feta spread, sliced tomatoes and mint.
❚ Recipes, food styling and photography by Sarah Tuck.