Christmas Cookery Group Menu

It isn’t long ‘til Christmas... and we love to stretch out the celebrations! Hold a festive Bring-a-Bowl dinner with your Cookery Group and add some new seasonal favourites to your repertoire. Here’s a menu with new ideas for chestnuts, goose and crispy potatoes – strictly no Scrooges allowed.

Choosing a Theme

It may be Christmas – the season of overindulgence – but you don’t have to stick to culinary tradition. Lay your Cookery Group’s festive table with new versions of the classics, starting with a nutty chestnut pate and finishing with some real homemade truffles. Hopefully every member will go home with a new recipe for their own celebrations. Don’t forget to ask every member to bring a copy of their recipe, so the host can compile the notes for handing out afterwards.

Mains & Accompaniments

Set your Cookery Group a challenge: a Christmas dinner with a twist. No roast turkey, no Christmas pudding, and no steamed sprouts. Then give each member an element of the meal and ask them to bring a creative version!

• The Roast: well, if you’ve ruled out turkey, you could try a goose instead. You’ll need a large oven but a goose is said to be moister and more richly flavoured than turkey – and it will serve more people. Alternatively, bring a roast topside, or even a crisp and golden roast duck (or two).
• Nut Loaf: the boring old Nut Loaf deserves a modern makeover for your vegetarian members. Look up new recipes by Rose Eliot and Celia Brooks Brown. Try a Rich Mushroom Wellington, a chestnut and cranberry crumble, or a parsnip and walnut bake. Don’t forget that this vegetarian main does need to be rich in protein and flavour, if it’s to be served alongside all the vegetables.
• Sprouts and Parsnips: these Christmas stalwarts need perking up, don’t they? Stir-fry shredded sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts, or toss them in a warm cranberry dressing with walnuts. Parsnips, too, combine beautifully with other festive flavours: dress roasted parsnips in Clementine juice and honey, or roast in mustard and maple syrup. For a softer touch try creaming your parsnips with nutmeg and butter, or slice and bake them in stock and milk. You could add to these accompaniments with a Sweet potato Pie – straight from the Thanksgiving table.
• Roast Potatoes: well, it’s difficult to change these enormously – they’re pretty near Christmas perfection. However, it’s a good time to experiment to find the best recipe. If you're the member who gets this task, you could roast some in goose fat, and some in olive oil; parboil and roast, or peel and roast; and you could also try techniques such as shaking the dry potatoes in a pan, or sprinkling with semolina for extra crunch.
• Cranberry and Bread Sauce: give one member the task of making these at home. Cranberry and Clementine sauce is a nice twist; to bread sauce, add nutmeg and try making a complimentary Gingerbread stuffing (look up Nigella’s Feast).

Puddings

It’s the time of year when nobody can refuse a pudding. Diets can wait until January! Load your table with:

• Steamed date and ginger pudding – for a twist on traditional Christmas pudding, make up a sticky and aromatic version. Look this recipe up at BBC Good Food.
• Spicy chocolate fruit cake: add cocoa, ginger and cloves to a fruit cake recipe, swapping candied peel for dates and prunes, and drenching in dark rum. Top with a white chocolate ganache (as long as the cake is going to be eaten within a few days) and gold-dusted stars for extra wow factor. For a recipe, look up Nigella Lawson's Feast.
• Mince pie ice-cream: swirl mincemeat through a luxurious vanilla custard, add some softly-whipped cream and a splash of rum or brandy, and freeze – enough alcohol should keep it from freezing solid. Serve with flaked almonds or puff-pastry stars.