Six simple Christmas dishes to impress your guests | Tenant news

If you’re hosting this Christmas, we’ve found six tasty dishes that are ideal for entertaining.

They are affordable and simple to make, and most can be made ahead of time. They include a Christmas pudding alternative, classic nut roast dish, and spiced paneer party snacks.

Panettone cherry ice-cream bombe with chocolate sauce
20 minutes (prep) and 5 mins (cook), serves 8 people

This bombe dessert is a mix of panettone, an Italian type of sweet bread traditionally packed with dried fruit, and vanilla ice-cream mixed with cherry jam and cherry liqueur (optional).

It is made with slices of panettone layered around a pudding basin which is filled with the softened ice-cream. Return it to the freezer to harden the ice-cream.

An easy to make hot chocolate sauce is poured over the bombe before it is served. Try the recipe.

Nut roast
Prep 30 minutes, plus 1 hour and 5 minutes cooking time

This popular vegetarian roast dish has healthy and hearty ingredients and goes with all the classic roast dinner trimmings.

It is packed with nuts, herbs, lentils, chestnut mushrooms and cheese, which are mixed together and poured into a loaf tin and cooked for over just over an hour. Try the recipe.

The recipe includes a simple tomato sauce with garlic to go with it, or you could make a vegetarian gravy. 

Charred brussels sprouts with marmite butter
Prep 10 minutes, plus 10 minutes cooking time, serves 8 people

Brussels sprouts with Marmite might sound unusual, but it’s a tried and tested combination. Beat butter and Marmite together and then form into a log shape in baking paper and then pop in the fridge.

The sprouts are boiled, halved and then dry fried until they blacken at the edges. Once off the heat, add a chunk of the butter. Season with ground black pepper but taste before adding salt. Try the recipe.

Stuffing pigs in blankets
Prep 30 minutes, plus 30 minutes cooking time, serves 6 to 8 people

This Christmas dinner side dish saves on oven space and use fewer sausages than traditional pigs in blankets.

Wrap smoked streaky bacon around shop-bought sage and pork stuffing which has been mixed with sausage meat and then roll into finger-length logs. Roast for 25 minutes until the bacon is crisp and the stuffing is cooked through. Try the recipe.

For a meat-free version of pigs in blankets, use vegetarian or vegan sausages and wrap them in marinated carrot strips.

Get-ahead gravy
1 litre, 2 hours plus cooling and defrosting, 8 servings

Making gravy ahead of time means one less thing to do on Christmas Day. This recipe produces a rich, dark gravy by cooking vegetables, bacon rashers, sherry or port (optional), chicken wings, herbs and seasonings, heated together in water.

If you decide to freeze the gravy, remember to take it out of the freezer on the day. If you want extra portions, just double the ingredients in the recipe. Try the recipe.

Spiced paneer with quick-pickled cucumber recipe
Hands-on time 25 minutes, plus marinating and pickles, makes about 24

This Indian-inspired paneer dish is an ideal party food as it is served on skewers. Paneer cheese is cut into cubes and pan fried with lemon zest, tikka masala curry paste, and mango chutney.

The cubes are arranged on short skewers along with curls of cucumber which have been quickly pickled in vinegar and sugar. Try the recipe.

If you make any of these recipes, please send pictures of your creations to comms@habinteg.org.uk so we can share your efforts with everyone.

If you have any cost-effective festive recipes that you’d like to share with the Habinteg family, please send them to the same email address.