Nigel Slater recipes

Nigel Slater’s meat-free Christmas recipes

A centrepiece of a golden pumpkin, pomegranate-jewelled basmati rice, and a mouthwatering apple and mincemeat tart

This year’s Christmas dinner will have at its heart a great golden pumpkin, full to the brim with long noodles, lentils and a saffron-coloured sauce of spices and sour cream. There will be a crisp salad, sweet with ripe pears and sour with crunchy pickles; a jewel-like salad of rice, herbs and pomegranates.

The soup-stew can be made in advance and finished at the last minute. Its serving dish – a butter roasted pumpkin – can be eaten too. The pickles can, indeed must, be made a few weeks ahead and can be served as an accompaniment but I have also included them in a salad with ice-crisped sprouts and comice pears.

Nothing will stop me eating the traditional plum pudding, for me the best bit of the feast, but I see every reason to have a few alternatives in store. Which is how I will end up with three desserts this year. A fruit laden pudding; a hot puff pastry tart filled with apples and mincemeat and a festive ice-cream of crimson berries and honeyed nuts. In all, a glittering festive feast.

Pumpkin, noodles, lentils and sour cream

A large pumpkin is a splendid sight on the Christmas table, but if that proves impossible then serve the glowing golden soup-stew in a big tureen or deep bowl, ladling it out into bowls. I find the easiest way to deal with the noodles is either to cut them into short lengths before adding them to the stew or to leave them long and lift them out with a pair of kitchen tongs.

Serves 4-6
onions 4
olive oil 3 tbsp
garlic 3 cloves
ground turmeric 2 tsp
chickpeas 1 x 400g tin
haricot beans 1 x 400g tin
small brown lentils 100g
vegetable stock 1 litre
butter 90g
pumpkin 1 (about 4kg)
flat noodles 200g
spinach 200g
parsley 30g
coriander 20g
mint 15g
soured cream 250ml

Peel the onions. Roughly chop two of them. Thinly slice the others. Warm the olive oil in a large pan set over a moderate heat, add the chopped onions and fry them for 15-20 minutes till soft and pale gold. Peel and thinly slice the garlic, then stir into the onions with the turmeric and continue cooking for a couple of minutes.

Drain the chickpeas and haricots and stir into the fried onions together with the lentils and stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and leave to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Melt 40g of the butter in a shallow pan, then add the reserved sliced onions and let them cook slowly, with the occasional stir, until they are a rich toffee brown. This will take a good half an hour, maybe longer.

Cut a lid from the top of the pumpkin, then remove any seeds and fibres from within. Scrape away about a kilo of the flesh using a spoon, taking great care not to tear the skin and leaving plenty of flesh in place so the walls of the pumpkin are thick enough to hold the stew.

Place the pumpkin on a baking tray, put the remaining 50g of butter into the hollow and bake for 30-40 minutes until the flesh is soft and tender. Occasionally baste the inside of the pumpkin with the pool of melted butter.

Cut the reserved raw pumpkin flesh from the pumpkin into large, spoon-sized pieces and add to the simmering stew. As soon as the pumpkin turns translucent, (a matter of eight or 10 minutes) add the noodles. Wash the spinach, put it in a pan set over a medium heat, cover with a lid and leave it for three or four minutes until it has wilted. Turn occasionally with tongs. Remove the spinach and put it in a colander under cold running water until cool. Wring the moisture from the spinach then stir into the simmering stew. Roughly chop the parsley, coriander and mint leaves and stir most of them into the onions and beans.

Carefully ladle the stew into the roasted pumpkin shell, trickle in the soured cream and add the remaining herbs and the fried sliced onions, then ladle into bowls.

Crisp salad of radishes and pickles

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I like to make a jar or two of crisp, bright pickles to slice through the richness of Christmas cooking. Not content for them to appear as an accompaniment, I often include them in a salad, tossing them with sweet fruit such as ripe pears and crisp greens such as shredded cabbage or brussels sprouts. This time I have used them with radishes to produce a salad that is hot, sweet, sour and crisp.

You will need a medium-sized storage jar, sterilised with boiling water.

Serves 6
For the pickles
white wine vinegar 480ml
malt vinegar 180ml
water 480ml
allspice berries 10
coriander seeds 2 tsp
black peppercorns 15
mustard seeds 1 tsp
star anise 3
sugar 2 tbsp
sea salt 2 tbsp
small shallots 250g
small red beetroot 300g
small turnips 250g

For the salad
brussels sprouts 150g
pears 2 large, sweet
radishes 12
mooli or watermelon radish 150g

Put the vinegars, water, allspice, coriander, peppercorns, mustard seeds, star anise, sugar and salt into a stainless steel saucepan and bring to the boil.

Peel the shallots and cut them in half. Peel and trim the beetroot and cut into quarters. Now do the same with turnips, cutting them into similar size pieces as the beetroot. Put them all into a glass storage jar. Pour the hot pickling liquor over the vegetables then seal. Keep in a cool place for a week or so before using.

To make the salad, trim and quarter the sprouts then leave them to soak for 20 minutes in iced water. Peel the pears, core them and cut into thin slices. Put them in a serving dish and splash with some of the pickling liquor to prevent the fruit discolouring. Trim and thinly slice the radishes and mooli. Toss the sprouts, radishes, mooli, pears and pickles together and serve.

Basmati, pistachio and pomegranate

A substantial salad, especially one that can be made a few hours in advance, is an incredibly useful thing to have to hand at this time of year. To a pan of aromatic steamed basmati I have added some seasonal treasures, including pistachios and pomegranate seeds. I could have used toasted pine kernels and parsley, or toasted cashews and coriander leaves. The point is to use an equal volume of rice and fresh herbs, nuts and fruits as you might for a tabbouleh – so the salad is vibrant and fresh. You can make this an hour or two in advance but I would be tempted not to introduce the pomegranate until the last minute.

Serves 6
white basmati or other long grain rice 220g
black peppercorns 8
bay leaves 2
cardamom 6 pods
cucumber 170g
pomegranate 1 medium
shelled pistachios 60g
mint 12 leaves
parsley 15g
dill 15g
golden sultanas 80g

Put the rice into a large bowl, cover with warm water and rinse the rice by moving the grains around in the water with your fingers for a few seconds until the water appears milky. Drain away the water and repeat, twice, until the water is almost clear.

Drain the rice and transfer to a medium-sized saucepan, add the whole peppercorns, bay leaves and cardamom pods, lightly cracked with a heavy weight so they open but the seeds remain intact. Cover the rice with the same volume of water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, cover with a tight-fitting lid and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes without removing the lid.

Cut the cucumber in half, scrape out and discard the seeds and watery core, then cut the flesh into small cubes and put them in a mixing bowl. Remove the skin from the pomegranate and break into small clumps of seeds. Keep these in a separate small bowl. (If you add them too early they will send your salad pink.)

Roughly chop the pistachios and add them to the cucumber. Pull the leaves from the mint and parsley stems. Chop the dill fronds and stems and toss with the cucumber and mint and parsley leaves.

Lift the lid of the rice and run the tines of a fork through the rice to separate the grains, then add to the cucumber and toss everything together. Lastly, stir in the pomegranate seeds, mixing briefly, then serve.

Apple, mincemeat and marmalade tart

A straightforward bit of baking taking advantage of ready-made pastry and a couple of store-cupboard staples. It is essential that the apple puree isn’t too wet. Use very little water and stir regularly as the apple cooks, then leave in the fridge to chill thoroughly before using. I should add that this is almost as good the next day, for breakfast.

You will need a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

Serves 6-8
apples 1.3kg
lemon 1
mincemeat 400g
marmalade 125g, warmed
puff pastry 640g (2 x 320g sheets)
egg 1, beaten
poppy seeds 1 tbsp

Peel, core and roughly chop the apples then put them in a medium-sized saucepan with 4 tablespoons of water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, partially cover with a lid and leave the apples to cook for 7-10 minutes until soft and fluffy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool before refrigerating.

Set the oven at 220C/gas mark 7. On a lightly floured board, roll the pastry into two rectangles approximately 25cm x 32cm. Place one of the rectangles on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread the mincemeat evenly over the surface of the pastry, leaving a 2cm margin around the edge the pastry.

Spoon the stewed apple on top of the mincemeat, taking care not to include any juice. Spread the marmalade carefully over the apple. Break the egg into a small mixing bowl and beat lightly, then brush the edges of the pastry with the egg. Place the second sheet of pastry over the filling, pressing down firmly on the edges to seal them. Trim if necessary.

Brush the surface of the pastry with the beaten egg then score deeply at 1cm intervals with a sharp knife. Scatter the poppy seeds then bake for about 35 minutes till golden brown. Allow to settle for 10 minutes or so before serving.

Cranberry and honeyed walnut ice-cream

A Christmas ice studded with nuts and fruit. The idea for which takes me back to the tutti frutti ices of my childhood. I have swapped the hideous glacé cherries for cranberries, and toasted walnuts in honey for a layer of crunchiness. I included a few crushed biscuits too, and suggest you choose coarse-textured, crisp but chewy biscuits rather than anything hard like a ginger nut. So, cookies really. You could of course make your own ice-cream, but frankly we have more than enough to do at this time of year, so I started with a base of very good commercial vanilla instead. It worked a treat.

Serves 6-8
cranberries 200g, fresh or frozen
caster sugar 100g
water 125ml
ginger biscuits 75g
walnuts 60g
honey 2 tbsp
vanilla ice-cream 1.5 litres

Put the cranberries in a small saucepan with the sugar and water and bring to the boil. As the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens, the berries will start to burst. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. (If you’re in a hurry, tip the berries and syrup into a cold bowl and rest it in a basin of ice cubes, stirring regularly to let the heat escape.)

Using a pestle and mortar or a plastic zip-lock bag and rolling pin, crush the biscuits to coarse crumbs. Put the walnuts in a shallow, non-stick pan and toast lightly over a moderate heat. As the nuts turn golden brown add the honey and leave, without stirring, for a minute or two, until they start to turn deep brown then remove from the heat and transfer to baking parchment or a lightly oiled baking tray.

Take the ice-cream from the freezer and leave to soften. It must not melt. Transfer to a large, shallow freezer box or dish and trickle in the cranberries and their syrup. Do not stir, just run a spoon or chopstick through the ice-cream, so it is lightly marbled with cranberry syrup. Scatter the honeyed walnuts over the surface, cover and freeze for a good couple of hours.