Out and About - Winter 2021

Easy peasy family foodie feasts The festive season can be a stressful time for cooks, especially if you have hordes of family and friends to cater for. The secret to making sure you enjoy the festive celebrations too is to plan, plan and plan again. Frommake-ahead dishes to freeze, to makes that will look like they’ve taken hours and canapés that could have come from a top-notch restaurant, we’ve got it all

Our favourite Christmas cheats n Pastry: It’s always good to have a pack of pastry in the freezer. Use puff pastry for cheese straws. Cut into lines and top with egg wash and grated cheese before baking – or use a star cutter for Christmas stars. Also good for bite-sized sausage rolls with bought sausagemeat. n Bread lifesaver: Rye bread keeps well, so buy a pack to cut into small squares and top with a myriad of flavours from cream cheese or crème fraîche and smoked salmon to prawn and avocado, or simply buffalo mozzarella and tomato. n Pizza: Make small individual pizza bases with bought pizza dough mix or make one long spectacular pizza for a buffet table. n Nibbles: Breadsticks, raw veg and crisps can be

baking tray for six minutes each side. Season with flavoured salt. n Olives: Heat up some olive oil and flavour it with crushed garlic, rosemary, thyme and orange peel. Then marinate olives – mix for an hour or two at least, preferably overnight. Other flavour ideas are basil, thyme, garlic, chilli powder, rosemary, lemon peel. n Chipolatas: No one can resist mustard and honey chipolatas. Freeze a pack, thaw on day of use and roast in a baking tray with oil for 20-25 minutes until cooked then add an equal mix of mustard and honey (for 48 use 3 tbsp of each) and roast for another 5-8 minutes. n Camembert circle: Bake a Camembert cheese in its box and surround in rings with assorted rolls or crispy toasts.

dipped into bought dips or make your own. n Peanut and yogurt dip is simple – one part peanut butter to two parts natural yogurt. Or try one-and-a- half cups of yogurt mixed with one tbsp curry powder and 1 tbsp lime juice for a speedy curry dip.

n Beetroot crème fraîche dip is easy too – mix a 250g pack cooked beetroot (not in vinegar), drained and grated with 200g crème fraîche, two tbsp horseradish cream and snipped chives. n Tortillas: Frozen flour tortillas thaw quickly. Cut into triangles and bake on a

Strawberry Santas Something the children can enjoy making - and eating... Y ou will need Strawberries Double cream Squeezy tube of chocolate for decoration n Cut the hull end off the strawberry, to make it flat, and a tiny bit off the pointed end n whipupthecreamandput someontopof thestrawberry, then top it off with the cut off pointed end n Add a blob of cream to the top of the hat and to create buttons down the front as well if you want n Use thechocolate tube tocreateeyes andmaybea smiley face on the cream for extra effect

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O&A WINTER 2021