The Sides

Roast potatoes

I first came across Nigella's roast potato recipe in “How to Eat” - page 281 and I've never cooked roast potatoes any other way - which is a little strange when you consider I have this aversion to wet and sloppy and semolina is up there with sago (posh for frog spawn) and rice pudding for me – anyway I digress, sorry.

Here's her recipe :

To serve 6

1¾kg medium to large potatoes, peeled

cut into three

From cold, par boil for 4/5 minutes in salted water

Drain the potatoes, back into saucepan, lid on

and shake – CAREFULLY

Add 1 tbsp of semolina and shake again -

CAREFULLY

Pre-heat your oven – very hot – 220fan/240c/Gas 9.  Add 2 tbsps of goose fat or beef dripping or, rapeseed or vegetable oil to your oven tray.  It's important that the fat/dripping/oil is hot before the potatoes are added.  They will take an hour – serve straight from oven.

Whatever I cook for family, I always cook roast potatoes and double what I think I need – there are never any leftovers – by that I mean should there be any, they take them home.

Maple Roasted Beetroot

Balsamic vinegar – 2 tsp

Olive oil – 2 tbsp

Maple syrup – 2 tbsp

Cooked beetroot – 500g

Salt and black pepper

Chopped fresh thyme – 2tsp or a sprinkle

of dried if you can't get fresh

You can use the vac packs you can get in the supermarket when out of season - as an indicator I choose beetroot that is approximately the same size – a 300g vac pack gives you 8 small to medium beetroots, which I will then cut in half. 

If fresh beetroot is in season, choose beets of a similar size and roast in foil until tender - @ 180f/200c/Gas 6 for an hour and test – they may need another 30 minutes - leave to cool and then peel.

Pre-heat your oven to 220c/200fan/Gas7.

Mix together the thyme, vinegar, olive oil and Maple syrup in a bowl until well combined.

Cut the beetroot in half and place into the bowl with the syrup mixture and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper.

Place the beetroot into a deep roasting tray and roast in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the beetroot is sticky and glazed.

This recipe adapts the Honey Roasted Beetroot version.

Stir fried sprouts

250g sprouts, peeled and sliced

(the smaller the sprout, the sweeter)

2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped

2 tsps garlic paste

50g unsalted butter

grated fresh nutmeg

salt and black pepper

1 tbsp redcurrant jelly – melted in microwave

on medium for 1 minute to loosen

Melt the butter in a large frying pan, add the shallots and garlic and soften for 2/3 minutes.  Add the sprouts and mix well, season with salt and pepper - cook on a high heat for 2/3 minutes so that the edges of the sprouts begin to caramelise, add 3-4 rasps of grated nutmeg  Add the redcurrant jelly, mix well and serve.

If you like gravy and I must confess I do, then I'd make double the quantity of onion sauce – for a richer sauce use half milk and half double cream – it's Christmas after all!