MY FAVOURITE FESTIVE INGREDIENTS

Rosie Birkett gives parsnips, sprouts and cranberries a Yuletide makeover

As much as I adore this time of year, with its emphasis on eating and drinking all the delicious things, I find myself becoming fatigued. Like most cooks at Christmas, I’m sometimes a little overwhelmed by all the cooking there is to do. To keep things fun, I think it’s important to have some speedy, slightly unusual recipes up your sleeve, for those days when you’re a bit over fish pie and baked ham, or have piles of sprouts, parsnips or cranberries to work through. The ideas on the following pages take seasonal ingredients that you’re likely to have in, and transform them into simple, delightful meals that won’t take all day to prepare, but will leave you smiling and sated.

I’m a huge parsnip fan. There’s something wonderful about their nutty sweetness, but so often they’re typecast as a roasted veg – a role they play beautifully, but they definitely have more range than that. At this the time of year, while plentiful and full of flavour, they deserve to take a starring role.

My linguine recipe on page 104 has its roots in Christmas in more ways than one. Using parsnips alongside smoky cured pork in pasta is an idea that I originally got from my hero, Jamie Oliver, who has a wonderful parsnip and pancetta tagliatelle recipe in one of his first cookbooks, Happy Days with the Naked Chef (£16.99, Penguin). I got the book for Christmas as a teenager in the early noughties. That pasta was one of the first things I cooked from that now-dog-eared book, because we had some parsnips and pancetta in the fridge at the time. Over the years, it’s become a firm favourite, and has evolved into a totally di erent dish. My version is infused with the fragrant flavour of sage, and has a cheering, festive slosh of sherry, plus zingy capers and orange zest. It’s perfect for a late-night supper in the run-up to – or days following – the heady indulgence of Christmas, perhaps once the kids have gone to bed, or demanding relatives have fallen asleep on the sofa. Enjoy it in a quiet moment with a glass of wine in front of the telly.

Brussels sprouts have experienced quite the sexy rebrand in recent years – they now appear in di erent guises on modish restaurant menus as soon as they come into season. I’ve enjoyed them deep-fried with chilli, garlic and citrus; gratinated with cream and parmesan; and, one of my favourite ways to eat them, (aside from classically boiled) shaved and coated with butter and black pepper, nestled among chestnuts and crispy bacon in a toothsome salad. Cut finely, dressed in a punchy, anchovy-heavy dressing, and paired with their old pals bacon and chestnut in my ‘sort-ofcaesar’ on page 102, they become a meal in their own right. The salad also works beautifully as an accompaniment to leftover turkey or roasted chicken.

Madeleines are a brilliant dessert to have in your repertoire for this time of year, because they’re relatively quick and easy to rustle up, but still feel special and comforting, especially eaten still warm from the oven. I love to infuse them with citrus, which is so good at this time of year. Feel free to change things up with clementines in my recipe

(on page 102), if you have those rather than oranges. The sharpness from the cranberries is a welcome contrast against the sweet, buttery sponge. Plus, they add a shock of scarlet red to the sponge, which couldn’t feel more festive and cheering.