Visit your local farmers’s market at this time of year and you’ll notice that the veg stall is doing its colourful best to get everyone in the Christmas mood. There’s the bright orange of pumpkins, the yellow of squashes, the red and even golds of lovely beetroot, and the traditional greens from spinach, broccoli and friends. But the real end-of-season Christmas-disco-champion of all the vegetables has to be the chard.

Chard is part of the beetroot family, but, because we eat the leaves, it looks a lot more like big, juicy spinach. In its simplest form, it has green leaves and a white stem. However, not content with simply being delicious, that succulent stem also comes in bright red, deep yellow and even the multi-colours of ‘rainbow chard’. Frankly, it’s surprising it doesn’t get sold with a free Slade album.

This time William’s helping us to get ready for Christmas, with some new takes on the traditional Christmas veg.

I know, I know, Christmas comes earlier every year. I’m sure the supermarkets bring out their crackers, puddings and mince pies shortly after Easter. Fight it or go with the flow, Christmas really is just around the corner now, so a little preparation won’t do anyone any harm. It is probably the most important meal of the year for a lot of people, so getting it spot on is imperative, as is making the entire experience easy and enjoyable for everyone.

It may sound silly, but when you are preparing your Christmas dinner, writing a plan down is very useful and will help prevent all manner of culinary catastrophes. I must admit, I was rather shocked last year when lunch appeared on the table at the right time, with all the necessary bits (alcohol does not a cohesive cook make…), but it was purely based on the idea that everything had a time and a place that were all detailed. Some might view this as a little up-tight, that their natural flow will surely rue the day; I think there are
too many things to remember, so just write it down. It will take so much stress and worry out of your hands – no more remembering exactly when the turkey went in, or how long you’ve got to make the bread sauce; a regimented battle plan is what you need! Then, even if you manage a full bottle at your champagne breakfast, you will be able to cook with confidence, avoid disaster and wow your guests with your impeccable timing. Unless you’ve fallen asleep.

I thought in the run-up to Christmas I’d give you some yummy recipes for the day itself, starting with a couple of delicious vegetable side-dishes. Look out for a great vegetarian dish (I promise, no nut loaf) and some other lovely bits in the coming weeks.

Brussels Sprouts with bacon, almonds and citrus crumbs

Ingredients:

750g Brussels Sprouts

100g bacon or pancetta, diced – cubetti would be fine

75g flaked almonds

Citrus Crumbs

2 slices day old bread, without crusts

a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary

2 shallots, finely chopped, or half an onion

zest of a lemon and an orange
50g butter

Tail the sprouts and blanch in boiling water for 8 or 9 minutes. While they are
cooking, warm a pan over a medium heat; toast the almonds until a light golden colour.
Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the butter to the pan and when foaming add the
bacon or pancetta. Fry until crispy with a little bit of bite left to it. Remove from
the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

Whizz the bread in a food processor until there are no large lumps left. Fry the crumbs
in the bacon fat with the herbs and shallots; if you are using rosemary, chop it finely.
Add the lemon and orange zest, taking care not to grate either fruit to the bitter pith.

Drain your sprouts, pop them in a serving dish and scatter over the bacon, almonds and breadcrumbs. Delicious, crunchy, savoury sprouts.

Roast carrots with orange, ginger and cumin

500g carrots, peeled and cut into batons

75ml orange juice

1 tbs cumin seeds

1cm piece of ginger

In a dry pan, fry the cumin seeds for a couple of minutes until they release their
aroma. In a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar, grind the cumin until it becomes a
fairly fine powder. Mix this into the orange juice, and then grate in the ginger using
a very fine grater. Pour this mixture over the carrots and roast for about 45 minutes
to an hour at 180 (or whatever temperature your oven is set to to cook your turkey,
potatoes, sausages, bacon rolls, stuffing, parsnips, etc, etc…!)

Copyright William Leigh

With Christmas just around the corner, the discerning foodie will already be planning from where to source the best festive produce. This year they need look no further than Localfoodshop, where more than 200 producers have nearly 4000 products to choose from.

Turkeys are, not surprisingly, proving to be the most popular item. Localfoodshop has some of the finest turkey producers in the land and many people are choosing to order online, for the sake of convenience, and then select the ‘collect’ option at the checkout, to save on delivery costs.

It’s not all about turkey though – there’s Longhorn beef , bio-dynamic hams, English sparkling wines, wild smoked salmon, local sausages and superb, award-winning cheeses, to name just a few. And remember, when you shop with Localfoodshop, 93 percent of what you pay goes straight back to the producer.

To find your nearest Localfoodshop turkey supplier click here

Or, if you don’t want to buy online, check BigBarn to find even more producers.

We’ve come a long way since the days when beetroot was only available in ‘crinkle-cut’ slices, steeped in malt vinegar, so tart it would take the roof off your mouth. Now in our health-crazed age the purple, golden or pink wonder is experiencing something of a renaissance. We hear or read every day about anti-oxidants, and as well as being very important in fighting cancer-causing free radicals, they are but one of the myriad benefits gained from eating beets. A brief spot of research into them (ok, I googled it…) and I learnt that they are very good for your liver, for the general health of your skin, for blood building and cellular protection. Strangest of all is that beetroot contain betaine, which is a relaxant and used to counter depression. They also share trytophan with chocolate, which promotes a sense of well-being.

All these technical things aside, they are wonderful things to cook with. A deep, earthy flavour, coupled with such intense colour can’t fail to please. If you’re lucky enough to get hold of a pink or golden beetroot, possibly in your organic box or from a good market, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Golden are my favourite – muddy and brown, simmered for three-quarters of an hour, slipped out of their jackets and you are presented with a sphere as radiant as the sun.

Using a similar method to the classic sweet tarte tatin, here is a wonderful, sweet, sharp tart for a yummy lunch, guaranteed to fend off those winter blues. I’ve used both goat’s cheese and balsamic vinegar with the beetroot – they make a great trio. Ready-rolled pastry is a great time-saver – so no excuses for not cooking this one!

Serves 4 as a light lunch

Ingredients

500g beetroot (you could use cooked to save time, in which case skip the first part of the recipe)
1 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
50g butter
1 pack of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
300g Goat’s cheese

Place the beetroot in a pan of boiling water for about 40-50 minutes, until a knife will slide in fairly easily. Drain them, allow them to cool for a short while, and then slip of the skins with your fingers. Cut them in halves/quarters depending on their size.

Measure your pastry out – take the frying pan you are going to make the tart in, turn it upside-down on the pastry and cut around it to give yourself a neat circle.

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C. In an oven-proof frying pan over a medium heat melt together the sugar and vinegar. When this is done, gently place all the beetroot into the pan. Let them cook for a little while as they absorb the vinegar, turning once or twice. Arrange them in the pan so that there is not a lot of space between them, cut-side up. Place the butter onto the beetroot. You can use a rolling pin to drape the pastry over the top of the pan, tucking it in at the edges. Alternatively, just cross your fingers and pick it up, laying it on by hand. Either way, as long as it’s on, we’re doing fine. Don’t worry too much about how it looks, as the pastry will be on the bottom anyway.

Let it cook for about 20 minutes until golden on top. Remove the pan from the oven and let the tart rest for a couple of minutes. Take a plate and place it over the pan; then, holding the plate, turn the whole thing upside-down, so you end up with the tart beetroot side up. Crumble over the goat’s cheese and serve with a green salad on the side.
© William Leigh.

Hooray for foods that begin with Q! Quails are quite delicious, as are their magnificent little eggs; Quinoa is the super-food grain of the future, and Quince – well, what a wonderful fruit the quince is! It looks a bit like an apple or a pear, but it isn’t, and you’d do well to remember that before chomping into one because you’ll be doing bulldog-chewing-on-wasp impressions again if you do.

However, once cooked the quince becomes a wonderful and versatile fruit. Use them in tarts, pies, chutneys or, best of all, jams and jellies. Quince jelly with cheese is like fish with chips or carrots with peas. We’d even go so far as to suggest that a spot of quince jelly with your cheddar is quintessentially quaint and quietly quirky, but then we’d be taking the whole q thing a bit far, wouldn’t we.