by Jamie Oliver
CHEESEBOARD ETIQUETTE
Whether host or guest, certain rules apply. With a rinded cheese, when taking your portion, slice from the rind to the center, rather than cutting across the nose—it ripens from the outside in, so the flavor profile differs at either end. With blue cheese this is exaggerated further, so you get less blue on the outside and more acidity in the center. Slice wisely and you’ll be sure of maximum enjoyment!
A BIT ON THE SIDE
In terms of vehicles, I believe in keeping your bread, crackers, oatcakes, or crispbreads simple, so you can let the cheese do the talking. On the condiment front, most seasonal fruits and jams complement cheese really well—think apples, pears, clementines, grapes, figs, or even dried raisins and dates. Quince membrillo, chutneys, marmalades, jams, pickles, and preserves can all serve you well, so have a cupboard raid and see what you can pair up.
KEEPING YOUR CHEESE HAPPY
Chilling cheese in the fridge reduces its flavor, so if you’ve got a room that isn’t centrally heated, store the cheese in there so it stays cool but not cold. It’s happiest wrapped in parchment paper, or even aluminum foil, so unpack and rewrap it once you get it home, if you need to. You absolutely want to enjoy your cheeses at room temperature, but don’t put them in a room that’s too hot for too long before serving or you risk them drying out or melting—covering them with a slightly damp, clean kitchen towel will help.
A CHEESE-FRIENDLY TIPPLE
As a rule of thumb, it’s generally easier to pair white wines, or even pale ales, porters, stouts, and ciders, with British cheeses. Vin Santo, Marsala, and sweet wines work really well with blue cheeses, and stinkier cheeses make good combos with whisky, where the pungency of the cheese can keep up with the strength of the alcohol.
* * *
CHEESEBOARD CURVEBALLS
Pair something like a fresh, young Lancashire cheese with your Christmas cake, to give you a bit of relief from the richness. Another favorite of mine is to drizzle a piece of Cheddar with some good honey, then sprinkle with a little pinch of freshly ground coffee—it’s a festive flavor mash-up and will totally challenge perceptions.
* * *
Perfect
DRINKS
In the pages that follow, you’ll find a bunch of utterly delicious cocktails that are easy to knock together at home. Each recipe makes one drink, but they’re easy to scale up, and some make brilliant batch cocktails, too. I’ve taken advice from ultimate cocktail maestro J Rivera, my head bar manager at Fifteen London, to make sure these deliver on the flavor front, every time. Of course, if you can do things like squeezing your lemons in advance so you can simply measure out what you need, when you need it, that’s only going to make your life easier. And having a bit of cocktail kit to work with will help you look the part. Have fun!
WHITE RUSSIAN
3 tablespoons Grey Goose vodka
5 teaspoons coffee liqueur
5 teaspoons heavy cream
Shake the vodka and coffee liqueur together over ice, then strain well into a glass with more ice. Vigorously shake up the heavy cream, then gently pour it into the glass over the back of a spoon so it forms a layer on top.
HOT BUTTERED RUM
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon unsweetened cloudy apple juice
3 tablespoons Bacardi 8 rum
5 teaspoons apricot brandy
3 whole cloves
1 whole nutmeg, for grating
1 orange
Melt the butter in a small pan on a low heat, stir in the apple juice, rum, brandy, and cloves, then finely grate in 1 scraping each of nutmeg and orange zest. Pour into a heatproof glass, discarding the cloves, and serve warm with extra grated nutmeg and zest.
FISH HOUSE PUNCH
5 teaspoons Bacardi 8 rum
5 teaspoons Earl Grey tea (cold)
2½ teaspoons Cognac
2½ teaspoons apricot brandy liqueur
2 teaspoons Spiced sugar syrup (see below)
½ a lemon
1 orange
SPICED SUGAR SYRUP
¼ cup demerara sugar
1 stick of cinnamon
1 star anise
2 cloves
What’s great about this recipe is that it’s super-easy to scale up, so it’s perfect if you want to make a big bowl of punch for everyone to enjoy at a party.
To make the spiced sugar syrup, place the sugar in a small pan with 2 tablespoons of water, the cinnamon stick, star anise, and cloves. Place on a medium-high heat and bring to a boil, leave bubbling away until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and leave to cool, discarding the spices. This quantity will give you enough syrup for roughly six cocktails, but you can easily scale up, keeping the syrup in an airtight jar for a few weeks.
For your punch, simply stir the rum, tea, Cognac, liqueur, 2 teaspoons of sugar syrup, and the lemon juice together over ice for 10 seconds, then strain well into a glass with more ice. Use a vegetable peeler to add a strip of orange peel to garnish, and enjoy.
MANHATTAN
3 tablespoons rye whiskey
2½ teaspoons Martini Rosso (red vermouth)
2½ teaspoons dry vermouth
2 dashes of orange bitters
1 orange
Stir the whiskey, vermouths, and bitters together over ice, then strain well into a chilled Martini glass. Use a vegetable peeler to add a strip of orange peel to garnish.
As the main cocktail mixture here is entirely made up of booze (we like that), it means this is the perfect cocktail recipe to batch up, either to get ahead for a party or to give as a gift to some lucky friends or family. If you’re serving up multiple drinks at once, just remember that ice melts quickly and it’s still advisable to stir it up in smaller batches, so you don’t dilute the mix too much.
PINK PEPPER NEGRONI
5 teaspoons Bombay Sapphire gin
5 teaspoons Martini Rosso (red vermouth)
5 teaspoons Campari or bitter liqueur
5 whole pink peppercorns
1 blood or regular orange
These quantities make one delicious cocktail, but as you need to leave this to steep overnight, it’s well worth making a big batch to get ahead for a party, or for gifting. And, of course, if you want to make a classic Negroni, leave out the peppercorns and steeping stage.
To flavor your Negroni, simply mix the gin, vermouth, Campari or bitter liqueur, and peppercorns together and leave overnight, or for a couple of days, so the flavors infuse, leaving you with a light, sweet, bitter, spicy dimension to your cocktail. Stir into a glass of ice and add a nice slice of orange to garnish.
WINTER OLD FASHIONED
¼ cup quality bourbon
1 teaspoon maple syrup
2 dashes of chocolate bitters
1 orange
Simply place the bourbon, maple syrup, and bitters (you could also use Angostura or orange bitters, if you prefer) in your glass with some chunky ice and stir gently for 25 seconds, or until combined, being mindful not to shard the ice. Use a vegetable peeler to add a strip of orange peel to garnish.
ROB ROY
3 tablespoons blended Scotch whisky
4 teaspoons Martini Rosso (red vermouth)
1 dash of Angostura bitters
1 or 2 ripe cherries
Simply stir the whisky, vermouth, and bitters together over ice, then strain into a glass. Garnish with a cherry or two.
HOT TODDY
1 lemon
3 tablespoons blended Scotch whisky
3 teaspoons liquid honey
1 stick of cinnamon
Squeeze 4 teaspoons of lemon juice into a heatproof glass, add the whisky and honey, then stir in ¾ cup + 1½ tablespoons of boiling kettle water until the honey has dissolved. Serve garnished with a cinnamon stick and a slice of lemon.
FESTIVE BELLINI
4 teaspoons peach purée or crème de pêche (peach liqueur)
4 teaspoons orgeat syrup (almond syrup
)
½ a lemon
Prosecco
Shake the peach purée or liqueur, orgeat syrup, and 3 teaspoons of lemon juice together over ice, then strain into a Champagne flute. Top up with chilled Prosecco.
PARTY PROSECCO
LOTS OF FUN & FRUITY IDEAS
Bubbly Prosecco is the perfect party drink and can easily be pimped in all sorts of fruity ways to create a bounty of enticing cocktails to impress your guests and liven up the party. I hope this lovely page will give you lots of inspiration.
5 MINUTES
PLUS CHILLING
If you want a super-simple way to keep your party interesting on the drinks front, whether you’re entertaining a handful of people or a bigger crowd, then look no further than this colorful page of joy. Prosecco is super-popular, and as such you’ll often find it on offer in the shops these days. Look out for the best deals, take advantage of its popularity, and stock up ahead of the party season, ready to rustle up drinks as the host or to take with you when you get invited elsewhere. Just be sure to take along something from the list below to pimp that ride and get the party started with a bang!
First up, as host, as well as chilling the Prosecco you’ll get a lot of thanks for popping your glasses in the freezer for about an hour before you use them, so they’re super-chilled and keep your drinks nice and cold, too. When you’re ready to serve up, simply line up your glasses and get squeezing, spooning, and pouring with fresh fruit or liqueurs. You can go bold with one flavor in each, or mix and match to find your favorite combos.
THINGS THAT WILL ALWAYS WORK A TREAT ARE …
• Freshly squeezed clementine, blood orange, or grapefruit juice
• The sweet, tangy flesh scooped out of a wrinkly passion fruit
• Pomegranate seeds or a fresh squeeze of their juice
• Fresh seasonal berries for garnish or smashed into a tasty purée
• Fruity liqueurs, such as St-Germain elderflower, crème de cassis, or Cointreau
• A splash of sloe gin or a dash of Campari
• A few dashes of interesting bitters, such as lavender, pomegranate, or citrus blends
FROZEN GRAPES & GRAPPA
GOOD-QUALITY CHOCOLATE & A SMILE
5 MINUTES
PLUS FREEZING
My mate Mr David Loftus, my food photographer for a long time, obviously loves food as he spends half his life taking pictures of it. When we were in Italy shooting a few years back, he said I should freeze my grapes—which immediately made me think he was a raving heathen! God knows what my friends the grape-pickers would say. Why on earth would you get beautiful fresh grapes, then freeze them?
But … of course, it was a fantastic idea and I admit I was completely wrong!
When David brought the frozen grapes outside for us to eat, it was an incredibly hot and sweltering day and just what we needed to cool us down. And that’s the brilliant thing about this amazingly simple dessert: it’s super-refreshing, so it works a treat at any time of the year, particularly during the festive period when you may be in need of a pud that provides a cool contrast to the rich indulgence of all that wonderful Christmas food. To be honest, you could even serve up the grapes on their own as an interlude between courses, if you’re having a big feast.
Over in Italy, David had managed to get hold of some nice sweet fragola grapes, which are a joy to eat but quite rare in supermarkets. A good muscat grape or any other grape variety that you enjoy eating would also work well. As soon as the grapes start to freeze, all the flesh and juice inside turns into a sort of popsicle-type sorbet, while the outside remains firm and beautifully frosted.
For me, the best way to eat frozen grapes is after a meal, with a few bits of good-quality chocolate and a nice glass of grappa or Vin Santo. If, like me, you are a bit skeptical about this dessert, please try it—it’s super-cool. Well done, Dave!
Festive spirit
Cut the top off an 2-liter plastic bottle or carton, sit your 700ml bottle of spirits inside, then shove herbs, holly leaves, citrus zest, berries, whatever you fancy, down the sides and top up with water. You’ll need to clear enough space in your freezer to carefully stand it upright for a few hours before laying it flat to save space, so it’s best to make these well in advance (don’t worry—spirits don’t freeze). When you’re ready to serve, simply run the sleeve quickly under a tap and slide the plastic off. You’ll have a perfect ice wrap around the bottle to keep it cold for your party, and it’ll look incredible, too.
Get creative with crackers
Jazz up some store-bought ones by adding better gifts, funnier jokes, and personalized name tags for your lucky guests or, even better, make your own …
To start, you need a sheet of letter-size paper—use colored paper, newspaper, pages from comics, wrapping paper, hand-drawn pictures, whatever you fancy. Lay a sheet flat with the longer edge in front of you.
Place a toilet-roll tube in the middle of the longer edge and secure it in place with a bit of sticky tape.
Poke through a cracker snap (you can buy these online), taping it to the toilet-roll tube on one side.
Make up and write out your joke, and pop it into the tube with a paper hat and the toy or treat of your choice.
Add an extra toilet-roll tube on each side of your middle one, threading the cracker snap ends through them.
Roll up the paper around the tubes, pinch together at either side of the middle tube, gently squeeze and twist, then tie a piece of string or ribbon around to secure it in place and remove the tubes from either end.
Add a name tag if you’ve personalized the contents, and there you have it—your very own homemade cracker!
Guide to
ROASTING MEAT
To help you get your roast meat spot-on every time, I’ve created a chart that covers all the big hitters, including turkey, duck, goose, chicken, beef, pork, and, last but not least, lamb.
Before you start, there are a few extra things to take into consideration. First and foremost, buy the best-quality meat you can afford—remember, it’s better to trade up on the welfare front and choose a slightly smaller bird or piece of meat than to opt for poor quality. Buy from a butcher if you’ve got one locally, and don’t be afraid to ask them where their meat comes from and the standards and welfare the animals were raised in—if you don’t get the answers you’re looking for, vote with your feet and try somewhere else.
Another key thing to remember is to take your meat out of the fridge an hour or two before you want to cook it (depending on its size) so that it can come up to room temperature—this way, it’ll cook more evenly. All the timings I’ve shared on the following pages are based on cooking your meat from room temperature. Turkey timings are based on a higher-welfare bird, so you’ll need to up the times (see here) for a standard bird.
The resting stage is similarly important and should never be skipped. This is what will give you super-tender, juicy meat, so I’ve suggested timings for each type of meat, too.
It’s good to bear in mind that all ovens will vary slightly and they’re not always the temperature that they say they are! A lot of you will be used to the quirks of your own oven, but if you want to be doubly sure you’re cooking at the right temperature, get yourself an oven thermometer and adjust the heat accordingly.
And, of course, although I’ve given you timings to work from, you’ll need to rely on your instincts, too. The height, width, and type of pan you use, whether it’s covered or uncovered, and things like adding a splash of stock, booze, or a veg trivet, or if you cook more than one thing in your oven at once, can all mean you’ll need to make slight adjustments. That’s why I’ve included extra notes, so you’ll know what to aim for.
NUTRITION AT CHRISTMAS
“Christmas is the ultimate special occasion. It’s a time for celebration, for getting together with family and friends, and for enjoying ourselves. A lot of that revolves around food, and in a book like this, the job of our team is to
make sure that every recipe Jamie writes is the best it can be, without compromising on the point of the dish in the first place. Every book has a different brief, and by nature most of the recipes in this book are indulgent, and therefore not to be enjoyed every day. In order for you to be able to make informed choices, we’ve published the nutritional content for each recipe on the recipe page itself, including figures per serving for calories, fat, saturated fat, protein, carbohydrates, sugars, salt, and fiber, giving you a really easy access point to understand what you’re eating. Remember that a good, balanced diet and regular exercise are the keys to a healthier lifestyle.”
Eretia O’Kennedy—Head of Nutrition, RNutr (food)
For more information about our guidelines and how we analyze recipes, please visit jamieoliver.com/nutrition. For a quick reference list of all the dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan recipes in this book, please visit jamieoliver.com/christmas-cookbook.
INGREDIENTS ROUND-UP
FOOD STANDARDS
For me, there’s no point in eating meat unless the animal was raised well and it was at optimal health. Choosing grass-fed animals where possible, which have been free to roam and haven’t lived in a stressful environment, is essential—it makes total sense to me that what we put into our bodies should have lived a good life, to in turn give us goodness. It’s about quality over quantity, so please choose organic, free-range, or higher-welfare meat and responsibly sourced fish whenever you can.