20 best Christmas party recipes: part 4 (2024)

Andrew Wong’s pipa duck pancakes

You need to start this a day ahead.

On day one, spatchco*ck the duck. Cut the backbone of the duck out, open up the bird and place breast side up and, with the heel of your hand, apply pressure to the breastbone to crack, so the bird lies flat.

Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil. With the duck held over the pan, use a large ladle or a small saucepan to pour the boiling water all over the skin of the duck, letting the water fall back into the pan.

Continue pouring the water over the duck until every inch of skin has had a good dousing – you will see the skin tighten up and change colour slightly.

Rub the hoisin sauce inside the duck and leave the bird on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

For the maltose liquid, bring all the ingredients to the boil in a large pan. Pour the boiling syrup repeatedly over the skin of the duck, as you did with the boiling water previously, until every part of the skin has been covered.

Leave the duck to rest on the wire rack overnight in a cool, dry place, placing an electric fan in front of the bird to accelerate the process if you wish. It is also OK to leave it in the fridge.

On day two, check the duck to see if it is ready for roasting – the skin should be completely dry to the touch. If so, preheat the oven to 120C/gas mark ½. Still on the wire rack, place in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, turn up the oven to 200C/gas mark 6, and roast for a further 15 minutes with the oven door very slightly ajar to allow any condensation to escape. The drying and salting process beforehand means you need no more cooking than that.

Serve immediately and carve at the table, thinly sliced or hacked, depending on your knife skills. Enjoy with steamed pancakes (steam according to packet instructions) and other accompaniments.
Adapted from A Wong – The Cookbook (Octopus Publishing, £22.84). Andrew Wong’s new restaurant is Kym’s, London EC4

Chantelle Nicholson’s caramelised parsnip, pickled walnut and crispy cavolo nero

There is nothing more delicious than the smell of parsnips gently caramelising. Turned into a silky puree, it is then sat atop nutty cavolo nero crisps, made to pop into your mouth in one go.

Serves 6
cavolo nero 6-8 leaves
vegetable oil 3 tbsp
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
walnut halves 20g, finely chopped
parsnips 2, peeled and finely chopped
non-dairy milk 100-150ml, I prefer unsweetened almond milk for this
horseradish 1 tbsp, freshly grated
coconut yogurt 1 tbsp
pickled walnuts 20g, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 120C/gas mark ½. Cut the centre stem out of the cavolo nero leaves and wash, then dry well. Liberally brush the leaves with 1 tablespoon of oil. Lay in a single layer on a baking tray. Season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the walnuts and place in the oven for 35 minutes, turning the tray around after the first 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the tray inside for a further 15-20 minutes, until the leaves are crispy.

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large saucepan over a moderate-high heat. When hot, add the parsnips and season well with salt. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring regularly, until dark golden. Add 100ml of the non-dairy milk and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth, adding more milk if needed, to form a very thick puree. Season to taste with salt. Mix the grated horseradish with the coconut yogurt and season to taste.

To assemble, gently break the crispy leaves into bite-sized pieces. Place a dollop of the warm parsnip puree on top followed by a little horseradish yogurt. Finish with chopped pickled walnuts. They can be fragile, so serve immediately!
Chantelle Nicholson is chef-patron of Tredwells, London WC2

Jeremy Lee’s Ogleshield sandwiches

Makes 12 small sandwiches
Ogleshield 200g, another good cheddar or Gubbeen will work, too
Colman’s mustard powder 2 level tbsp
Worcestershire sauce 4 tbsp
Tabasco sauce 6 drops
freshly milled black pepper ½ tsp
egg yolk 1
sourdough baguette 1

Coarsely chop the Ogleshield and place in a food processor along with the mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, pepper and egg yolk.

Whizz boldly until a stiff paste is achieved. The texture should remain rough with discernible nuggets of Ogleshield within.

Slice the baguette into 24 5mm-thick slices and liberally spread 12 slices with the Ogleshield mixture. Should any remain, lucky you, keep in the fridge for later. Top the sandwiches with the remaining bread and grill in a griddle pan until golden, then flip and cook until nicely coloured and the cheese is running.

Scoff swiftly. Bon appétit.
Jeremy Lee is the chef-proprietor of Quo Vadis, London W1

Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich’s red pepper, vine leaf and goat’s cheese dolma cake

Serves 8-10 or 6 as a main
romano red peppers 6 large
vine leaves 100g, drained

For the filling
currants 40g
pine nuts 40g, roasted
feta 200g, crumbled
goat’s cheese 200g, crumbled
garlic clove 1, peeled and minced
fresh mint 10g chopped (leaves from ½ small bunch)
fresh parsley 10g chopped (leaves from ½ small bunch)
dill 10g chopped (fronds from 1 small bunch)
fresh thyme leaves 1 tbsp chopped, or 1 tsp dried oregano
freshly ground black pepper a pinch
cornflour 2 tbsp

For the dressing
vine leaves 2, very finely chopped
pine nuts 2 tbsp, roasted
lime 1, zested and then segment and cut into small dice
olive oil 3 tbsp

Set your grill at maximum heat and place the peppers under it for 10 minutes or until blackened on one side. Turn the peppers, using tongs, and grill for another 6-8 minutes till blackened all over. If you are using a gas burner, simply rotate the peppers over the flame until they are charred all over.

Transfer to a large bowl or tray and cover with cling film, so they steam a little and cool.

While you are waiting for the peppers to cool, mix the filling ingredients together, but don’t overwork the mixture. You can also mix the dressing ingredients together and set aside.

Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and slit each one so that you can spread it out like a conical sheet of red cloth. Brush the seeds off but don’t worry if a couple stick around, and don’t wash the peppers as you will lose so much of the great flavour.

Line a 23cm round baking tin with a sheet of baking paper, then line with the opened peppers, allowing lots of overhang. The best way is to place the tip of the pepper in the centre of the tin, and line the next one up with it, until you have covered the entire tin. Then repeat with the vine leaves. Put the filling in the tin, then fold the overhang back in to enclose it.

You can make up to this stage in advance.

When you are ready to serve, heat your oven to 200C/gas mark 6 and bake for 25 minutes. While you are waiting, mix all the dressing ingredients together, if you haven’t already done so.

Remove the cake from the oven and flip onto a serving platter. Top with the dressing and serve immediately with some crusty sourdough bread.
From Honey & Co. At Home – Middle-Eastern recipes from our kitchen by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich (Pavilion Books, £26)

Nigella Lawson’s Christmas rocky road

Makes 24 big-bite-sized bars
dark chocolate 250g
milk chocolate 150g
butter 175g, softened
golden syrup 4 x 15ml tbsp
amaretti biscuits 200g (not the soft ones)
shelled brazil nuts 150g
red glacé cherries 150g
mini marshmallows 125g
icing sugar 1 tbsp
edible glitter optional

Chop both sorts of chocolate small, or use chocolate buttons made for melting, and then put into a heavy-based pan to melt with the butter and syrup over a gentle heat.

Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin to get big- and little-sized crumbs; you want some pieces to crunch and some sandy rubble.

Put the brazil nuts into another freezer bag and also bash them, so you end up with different-sized nut rubble.

Take the pan off the heat, and add the crushed biscuits and nuts, whole glacé cherries and mini-marshmallows. Turn carefully to coat everything with syrupy chocolate.

Tip into a foil tray (I use one 236mm x 296mm), smoothing the top as best you can, although it will look bumpy.

Refrigerate until firm enough to cut, which will take about 1½-2 hours. Then take the set block of rocky road out of the foil tray ready to cut.

Push the icing sugar through a small sieve to dust the top of the rocky road. Then, if you like, add a sprinkling of edible glitter for some festive sparkle.

With the long side in front of you, cut into it 6 slices down and 4 across, so that you have 24 almost-squares.

If you want to, there’s nothing (except dexterity, in my case) to stop you cutting these into tiny, petit-four size pieces, in which case you could almost double the number.
From Nigella Christmas (Chatto & Windus, £20)