10 Of the best Christmas side dishes
1st Jan 2015 Recipes
As well as the main show stopper—whether it is a golden roast turkey, fragrant roast goose or an aromatic vegetarian pie stuffed with nuts and herbs—the side dishes are just as tasty and important for Christmas dinner. Here we have ten delicious accompaniments to make your Christmas dinner even better.
1. No-fuss honey-roasted parsnips
Image via A Glug of Oil
With these tasty honey basted parsnips, there’s no need to mess about with parboiling as they cook up nicely without all that fuss. A perfect side dish for Christmas or Thanksgiving—and anything that is no-fuss is a boon for busy cooks!
2. Savoury sausage and sage baked apples
Image via Lavender and Lovage
How about these delectable-looking sausage stuffed apples to accompany your goose or roast pork? Plump Bramley apples are stuffed with a home-made sausage and sage stuffing mixture, making a lovely meal or imaginative accompaniment for the Christmas dinner table.
3. Crispy coated roast potatoes
Image via Fab Food 4 All
Every Christmas dinner—whether meat-based or vegetarian—needs roast spuds, and these look amazing! These are also suitable for vegans, as they are cooked in olive oil with a savoury semolina crust for extra crunchiness.
4. Braised red cabbage with star anise
Image via Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary
We love spiced red cabbage with our festive fare and this recipe looks amazing. Again, it would be the perfect side for any Christmas dinner. The secret to a good braised red cabbage is slow cooking, with carefully selected spices.
5. Roasted “Tartan Veggies” with smoked sea salt, honey and thyme
Image via Lavender and Lovage
Here’s another easy, seasonal dish that incorporates carrots, parsnips, potatoes and beetroot—they are all roasted together in a honey and thyme dressing with a bit of smoked sea salt for good measure. This “chuck it all in” roast vegetable medley looks wonderful, however, which belies its easy cooking method.
6. Lentil and Brazil nut roast with sage and onion stuffing and red wine gravy
Image via Tin and Thyme
Nut roasts have had bad press over the last few years, but here’s one that is packed with pulses and nuts and is served with red wine gravy – good enough to accompany any vegetarian Christmas dinner, or as a main veggie meal.
7. Roasted Brussel sprouts with goat’s cheese, lemon and walnuts
Image via Amuse Your Bouche
I defy all sprouts haters to try this imaginative and tasty-sounding side dish this festive season! Something magical happens when you roast sprouts; their watery texture is replaced by al dente centres, caramelised edges, and... a fabulous flavour!
8. My mother’s bread sauce
Image via Nigella
This fabulous bread sauce from Nigella Lawson is her mother’s tried-and-tested recipe. She says you can’t have Christmas lunch without bread sauce—just the smell of the milk, infusing on the hob and giving off that familiar scent of onion, mace, bay and clove, lets you know it is Christmas!
9. Christmas sausage, sage and bacon stuffing loaf
Image via Lavender and Lovage
Every Christmas lunch needs a moist, fruity stuffing with herbs, sausage, bacon and loads of onions, and this recipe delivers all of that and more! Succulent locally reared pork sausages are studded with cranberries, mixed with breadcrumbs, fried onions and sage before being wrapped in bacon to make the most scrumptious stuffing you'll ever taste.
10. Tom Kerridge’s amazing Christmas carrots
Image via Mustard with Mutton
I have made these carrots before and I agree that they are amazing! This dish is a little more time-consuming than most side dishes, with the carrots braising for a good 45 minutes in a rich, buttery, star-anise flavoured sauce. The long cooking time allows the carrots to soak up all the flavour from the liquid to become incredibly tender.
Karen Burns-Booth is a freelance recipe developer, food and travel writer and is a member if the Guild of Food Writers. She writes for her own blog Lavender and Lovage.
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