Christmas food can be anything you want it to be.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to cook turkey.\u00a0 I cooked turkey for years.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even eat it, and not all of my family were that keen either.\u00a0 I did it because, well, it was tradition.\u00a0 One year there was a disaster.\u00a0 The cat got the bird.\u00a0 I had to think of something else to do.\u00a0 Pronto. After a little persuading of the family, I opted for a buffet.\u00a0 Not your picky bits of brown food, but proper dishes \u2013 Indian meals, Chinese influenced dishes, meat, seafood and vegetables.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember the exact menu, it was very much a \u2018seat of your pants\u2019 type affair, but I do remember it worked very well.\u00a0 We picked and nibbled.\u00a0 We ate what we wanted when we wanted to.\u00a0 There was something for everyone, and no one complained about the leftovers!<\/p>\n
Deciding to cook a non-traditional meal at Christmas can be very liberating.\u00a0 Of course there are different roasts you can try instead of the turkey \u2013 Pork and beef work well with all the trimmings \u2013 but why not opt for something completely different?\u00a0 Maybe something you can make in advance and chill or freeze so you don\u2019t spend all your time in the kitchen on Christmas eve\/day?<\/p>\n
As a vegetarian I have suffered many a well-meaning nut roast.\u00a0 Done well, it can be a delight; done badly, well, the adjectives \u2018dry\u2019 and \u2018cardboardy\u2019 spring to mind.\u00a0 If you want a veggie centrepiece, you could try layering a few goodies like cranberries or parsnips into your standard nutloaf recipe to ring the changes and add a bit of colour, texture and moisture.\u00a0 I\u2019ll upload one of my recipes later in the week, so check back to the recipe section.\u00a0 Something else I\u2019ve been keen on over the last few years is a vegetable jalousie.\u00a0 It\u2019s basically an excuse to shove everything you like between sheets of flaky pastry.\u00a0 I use mushrooms, cranberries, onions, parsnips, nuts and blue cheese.\u00a0 It\u2019s extremely rich and a little goes a long way.\u00a0 It\u2019s also something that your non veggies friends and family will love.\u00a0 It hits all the right spots: savoury, sweet, creamy, crunchy and satisfying.\u00a0 You can serve it with all the usual suspects, or incorporate some of them into the dish itself.\u00a0 It freezes well and can be eaten hot or cold.\u00a0 Again, I\u2019ll upload the recipe later.<\/p>\n
Another festive pastry option is a Wellington, vegetable or meat, which will capably fill the roast meat podium as a top star.\u00a0 The recipe is straight forward.\u00a0 The challenge is to cook the pastry to a golden crispy lusciousness without overcooking the meat.<\/p>\n
Finally, on the pastry front, a tarte Tatin \u2013 beetroot or onion \u2013 are fun to make, easy and impressive to look at, as well as tasting amazing.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to cook something complicated for it to be tasty and look impressive.\u00a0 Get the best ingredients you can afford and cook them sympathetically, with a few garnishes and trimmings, and you\u2019ll be guaranteed a delicious meal.<\/p>\n
As a vegetarian I don\u2019t want lasagne or veggie burgers for my Christmas lunch, but neither do I need extravagant or exotic creations.\u00a0 Good food, well cooked, is always the best option \u2013 veggie or carnivore.<\/p>\n
Christmas may not be the time to challenge yourself with ingredients you\u2019re unfamiliar with, or recipes that are hard to follow, so cook to your skill level, and add more expensive ingredients for that touch of celebration.\u00a0 It will create less stress in the kitchen and mean you don\u2019t end up a frazzled wreck.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re catering for lots of different tastes and dietary requirements, it\u2019s reasonable to ask people to bring a dish of their own.\u00a0 No one person should be responsible for cooking Christmas lunch (unless they want to be!)\u00a0 This works especially well if you do decide to go down a hot buffet route.\u00a0 All you need to do then is reheat dishes that have already been prepared.\u00a0 Doddle.<\/p>\n
Whatever you decide to do, remember no one is making you cook sprouts, or cranberries, or even roast potatoes.\u00a0 Cook what you like, what you enjoy cooking, and the meal will be memorable \u2013 for the right reasons.<\/p>\n
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Photo: Festive Veggie Jalousie Copyright Highland Home Cook<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christmas food can be anything you want it to be.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to cook turkey.\u00a0 I cooked turkey for years.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even eat it, and not all of my family were that keen either.\u00a0 I did it because, well, it was tradition.\u00a0 One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[43,54],"tags":[63,51,60,67,64,62,69,68,65,61,66],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highlandhomecook.co.uk\/scrapingthebowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}