My perfect Christmas Dinner – Sides. A perfect Christmas roast turkey dinner isn’t a perfect Christmas dinner for me without the stuffing, gravy, roast potatoes, and the rest of the sides. Honey roast parsnips, buttered carrots and today’s recipes braised red cabbage, Brussel sprouts and of course cranberry sauce.
My perfect Christmas dinner -Braised Red Cabbage
Braised red cabbage is a beautifully versatile accompaniment to a host of winter dishes pies, casseroles and stews, seasonal roasts such as venison and game birds. You can adjust / experiment with the recipe and adapt it to suit whatever you are serving it with.
Christmas Braised Red Cabbage
Ingredients
- 1 Small Red Cabbage around 1 kilo
- 1 Large Red Onion peeled and finely sliced
- 100 gram Redcurrant Jelly
- A large glass good Red Wine
- A large splash Red Wine Vinegar
- A Tablespoon Jersey Butter
- Zest one Orange
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- Quarter the red cabbage and carefully remove the center and then finely shred the cabbage with a sharp knife or on a mandolin.
- Place into a large, heavy-bottomed pan with the red onion, red current jelly, red wine vinegar, red wine, butter, bay leaf and cinnamon stick and season well. Place on a medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer, then cover with a lid.
- Reduce the heat and cook for about an hour and a half, stirring regularly.
- Remove the lid and continue cooking for another half an hour to finish cooking and reduce the cooking liquid. Stir regularly. Check seasoning and serve.
- Can be mad in advance and reheated until piping hot to serve.
Stir Fry Brussel Sprouts
We all love Brussel sprouts and I am sure you will too if you follow this simple recipe.
If you bought your sprouts are on the stalk, twist each one off. Remove any discoloured or damaged leaves. Next, trim the base and cut an larger ones in half. Wash and drain.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the Brussel sprouts. Remove after five minutes and plunge into cold, iced water. This stops the brussels over cooking. Drain thoroughly. To serve heat two heaped tablespoons of butter in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan with a splash of olive oil. Toss the brussels in the pan over a medium-high heat for three to four minutes until thoroughly heated but still a little crunchy. Season well, top with a few toasted flaked almonds and serve.
My perfect Christmas dinner – cranberry sauce
This is my go to recipe for a delicious homemade Cranberry sauce. It may seem quite a lot but it goes just as well a roast chicken or in a cold turkey sandwich.
My Christmas Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 500 gram Cranberries
- 250 gram Caster Sugar
- 100 ml Water
- 100 ml Port
- 2 Oranges juice and zest
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 3 clean and sterilised jam jars.
Instructions
- Wash and drain the cranberries.
- Place the cranberries in a large, heavy-bottomed pan with the caster sugar, water, orange juice and zest, and the cinnamon stick and bring to a gentle simmer.
- After ten minutes when the cranberries begin to soften and start to burst open carefully mash with the back of a fork to let out all the pectin.
- Add in the port, stir and cook on a gentle heat for ten more minutes or until the sauce has reduced by a third.
- Remove from the heat, and allow to cool a little. Remove the cinnamon stick.
- Carefully ladle into warm, dry, sterilised jars and seal.
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