On the Table: Hacks for stress-free festive dining

Take the stress out of Christmas cooking by shifting focus from one giant roast dinner to a series of simpler yet still luxurious meals, writes Cambridge Cookery’s Tine Roche

Whether the thought fills you with dread or joy, the festive season is approaching again. So much of the joy or lack of the same is connected to the food served in just one meal. Perhaps this year, with so much uncertainty, we could decide to relax a bit and just enjoy the pleasure of sharing a meal, full stop?

What we think of as set-in-stone dishes are all relatively new traditions and if the thought of cooking a turkey is daunting, buy a couple of chickens instead. They produce juicer meat, cook in much less time and, when carved and served with the usual trimmings taste as good, I would say better, than dry turkey. It is possible to keep the budget as well as the effort needed in line with a normal roast.

It is also quite liberating to go off-piste. A couple of years ago, the duck I had bought emerged, well within its best-before date, smelling very ripe indeed - the underside of the bird was an off-putting green. I put it straight in the bin and told my family there would be no roast.

We are all adults and all foodies and the reaction was one of immediate relief! Thank goodness for that, let’s just finish off the smoked salmon, create a mixed roast vegetable dish, assemble a cheeseboard and enjoy it with some good wine. It left us all feeling considerably less lethargic and nobody had missed the roast bird.

I grew up in Denmark and Sweden, where some but not all focus on one roast meal. In Sweden we create a smörgåsbord of pickled herrings, smoked and gravad salmon, ham, meatballs and our much loved Jansson’s Temptation, similar to the one pictured above.

Following our Ditch the Duck Christmas, I have started incorporating the Finnish culinary tradition of making “lådor”, loosely translated as “boxes” but referring to gratins of winter root vegetables. Inexpensive, seasonal, plant-based and perfect for making ahead and freezing, these oven bakes tick all my boxes.

One such dish consists of mashed swede and carrots simmered in stock until soft. Once mashed, add a bit of whipping cream, an egg and little flour, increase the sweetness with a squirt of maple syrup and season with ground ginger and a little nutmeg. Spoon into a buttered oven dish, dollop on cold butter and a modest amount of breadcrumbs and bake.

In Denmark the traditional dessert of Risalamande, inspired by French Empress rice, elevates rice pudding to a thing of beauty. Like so many dishes, it was born out of a need to use up leftovers and evolved into a special occasions dish where the cold rice is mixed with whipped cream, vanilla, chopped almonds and a little cinnamon and served with a warm dark cherry sauce.

Somewhere in the pudding there will be a whole almond and the person who gets the almond receives a gift of a delicious marzipan pig, or simply, the honour to be King for a Day! Gift or no gift, this dessert is delicious and looks beautifully festive with its creamy whiteness topped with dark red sauce.

My Swedish mother, who incorporated Danish traditions during our years in Copenhagen, passed away just before last Christmas and remains much-missed. A formidable cook, she remained for so long the culinary matriarch on top of a very small family tree of like-minded women. My daughters, their partners and I carry on enjoying her insistence that on the day before Christmas, having finished wrapping gifts, baking gingerbread and making homemade toffee, or “knäck”, supper should be steamed cod fillet with plain boiled King Edward potatoes, served with melted butter and a white sauce to which strong grainy mustard is added. Plain but oh-so-very good - and a sort of “balm” for the digestive system ahead of richer food in the days to come.

Exploring food from other cultures, ditching the stress, shifting the focus to more plant-based food and cooking ahead makes for a delicious, fresh and fun festive season.

For carnivores, my suggestion for New Year is magnificent roasted fore ribs. If the thought of timing and carving a rack of several giant beef ribs seems daunting, get your butcher to cut individual ribs - each will weigh in around 1.2kg. Rub with a little olive oil, sea salt and fresh rosemary, stand up in a roasting tray and place in a hot oven for 30 minutes. As the ribs come out, put par-boiled potatoes, hot fat and ground saffron in to roast for 40-45 minutes while the ribs rest.

Serve the rare beef at room temperature with piping hot potatoes, a watercress salad and hot horseradish cream. Zero effort and stress; the height of luxury.

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