‘Getting together should be comforting’
Nigella Lawson shares her advice for a stress-free festive season, plus her tried-and-tested foodie tips
Nigella reveals how she does a stress-free Christmas
Nigella lives in London and is mother to Cosima, 23, and 21-year-old Bruno.
The broadcaster and original domestic goddess is the author of 11 cookery books and has presented eight TV shows. She is back on screens this month with a BBC Christmas special, and her new book,
At My Table, is out now.
MY FESTIVE FAVOURITES
My Christmas Day is always the same. We are very traditional: my poinsettia cocktail, then roast turkey, allspice gravy, roast potatoes, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts with chestnuts, gingerbread stuffing, butternut orzotto, then Christmas pudding with rum butter. (You’ll find most of the recipes on my website, if you’d like to try them.)
This year, I’m tempted to do sticky toffee pudding instead of Christmas pudding though. The children don’t like Christmas pudding anyway, so I’m sure they won’t mind! I like to make my sticky toffee pud with cream and lots of sauce on the side. (See page 109 for Nigella’s sticky toffee pud recipe.)
I like to play it a little differently on the other days over the festive season.
I’ll try different recipes on the days like Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. I adore Brussels sprouts, and try to find as many different ways to cook and eat them as possible! The same goes for red cabbage. My new cabbage and cranberries recipe goes very well with duck. This year I’m feeling duck may be the way to go when having friends over. I’ll make garlic mash as a gratin with a breadcrumb topping. The other recipe I make a lot over the season is my old favourite ham in Coca-cola, as everyone loves it.
MY TIPS FOR ENTERTAINING
I keep everything simple. I’m welcoming people into my home, not entering a competition or running a restaurant. The key is home-cooked favourites, friends around the table, and more cocktail sausages than you might think possible! I’m more of a New Year’s Day than New Year’s Eve kind of person, and I love to create a relaxed daytime celebration.
Admittedly, it’s hard, if not impossible, to avoid stress altogether. But over the years, I’ve devised strategies for reducing it. If you have different friends coming at different times over the festive period, don’t feel you have to devise a different menu each time. Repeating recipes you’ve made many times before will make you feel more relaxed. I have several dishes that friends and family get given regularly, like Parmesan shortbreads and a chicken traybake. It can be comforting for everyone concerned!
I always try to cook half the components of each meal a little ahead of time, which takes the pressure off the mealtime itself. For instance, you can do a pavlova base or a cheesecake a few days before.
And I find it much easier if I write a timetable, telling me what to do when.
My must-have kitchen companions are microplanes. I put everything through them. It means you don’t have to peel things. Another great shortcut is stock concentrate – I don’t feel bad about using it! My late mother must be spinning in her grave, but I now also buy good breadcrumbs instead of making them.
My festive style is relaxed, too. I don’t dress up a great deal; I really like to be comfortable. If I’m not in my regular black jeans and jumper uniform, I do have a red jersey dress that must be about eight years old, which I return to again and again. It’s festive, but relaxed.
I have one rule: never, ever wear new shoes to a party you’re giving or going to. After five minutes, you’ll be in too much agony to enjoy it. I’m very happily barefoot when people come over.
• At My Table: A Celebration Of Home Cooking by Nigella Lawson (Chatto & Windus, £26) is out now. Turn to page 106 for Nigella’s sensational desserts.