To accompany the savoury cheesecake (see below), I’ll be serving the usual roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots, and some brussel sprouts as well (details yet to be decided). I’ll also be making some less conventional dishes, including Yotam Ottolenghi’s crusted pumpkin wedges from Plenty (Ebury Press 2010), with their deliciously crunchy stuffing-like breadcrumb topping, and his roasted aubergines with pickled walnut salsa and pomegranate seeds from the BBC’s recent Great British Food Revival.
A friend recently bought me Plenty, and I’ve barely put it down since. I’m not usually one for cookbooks, but this is, to quote Tina Turner, simply the best (dnnnn-naw, dnnnn-naw). Now that I think about it, with a few carrots chucked in, the recipe for roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes with caper vinaigrette would work very nicely on my Christmas table. If only I had complete control, rather than a minor role as token vegetarian…oh and unlimited time and a bit more cash. It’s a tough life.
With Yotam’s help, I also made a pretty delicious and ridiculously easy vegetarian gravy by sauteing chopped onions and about six diced prunes in butter for an hour, with the occasional splash of very vinegary red wine. This was then pureed up with some salt and pepper and a bit of water. Sherry would make this even better, and maybe even some chestnut puree?
The (very large) sprouts were cut in half and sauteed in sesame oil. Yum.