Read Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends, Festivities for Free Online Page A
Authors: Nigella Lawson
until they are lightly toasted.
• Add the garam masala and celery salt and push the nuts about in the pan again so that they are evenly coated.
• Add the oil, sugar and rosemary and stir about again to mix. When the nuts have darkened a little and are slicked with the sugary spice mix, tip them out briskly (before they burn) onto your prepared, lined sheet, and sprinkle with salt to taste.
• Preferably when still warm, arrange in small bowls, and tuck in a sprig of rosemary on top for a seasonal fir-tree flourish!
MAKE AHEAD TIP:
The day before, make the spiced nuts and tip them out onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Cover with foil and keep in a cool place. About 10 minutes before serving, pop the nuts into a moderate (180°C/gas mark 4) oven to warm through.
DRUNKEN DEVILS ON HORSEBACK
When I was a child, this is the sort of thing my parents would have eaten at cocktail parties, parties my mother would go to in her white patent boots, angora mini dress and false eyelashes – hairpiece, too – and lips slicked in pale, shimmery colours with names like Moist Madder Pink. It seemed ineffably glamorous – I can smell her wafting scent of face powder mixed with Guerlain’s L’Heure Bleue now as I think about it – but also inexplicable: how could anyone want to eat a prune (the devil) or oyster (an angel) wrapped in bacon, and why they were on horseback was just as baffling. Now, I know (or think I do) that “on horseback” is a corruption of “hogsback”, to indicate the bacon.
Now, too, I’m happy – more than – to eat an angel-on-horseback, though less convinced that I want to make them; someone as clumsy as I am should not be let near an oyster shucker, ever. But a devil, which I like more, anyway – and mine are soused till sticky with Armagnac – is, if not child’s food, then certainly child’s play to make.
Makes 24
24 ready-to-eat stoneless dried prunes
90ml Armagnac
12 rashers American-style bacon, or 24 thin slices pancetta
• The day before your party, soak the prunes in the Armagnac in a covered bowl.
• On the day of your party, preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
• On a board, spread out a rasher of bacon and cut in half horizontally to give 2 shorter pieces of bacon, or use a whole pancetta slice. Then take a soaked prune from your bowl and roll it up in one of the half pieces of bacon, or a pancetta slice, securing it with a cocktail stick.
• Repeat this process with the remaining prunes, wrapping each one in bacon, and place them on a lined baking sheet.
• Cook the drunken devils in the oven for 10–15 minutes, then let them cool a little, to avoid burnt fingers and mouths, before plating them up to serve.
NOTE:
These 24 prunes use up exactly 1 × 200g packet of Oscar Meyer American-style bacon. If you can’t get American-style bacon, find thin slices of Italian pancetta, but double the quantity so you use one whole slice per prune, or use rindless streaky bacon and roll the slices out between plastic wrap to make them thinner.
MAKE AHEAD TIP:
Two days ahead, soak the prunes in the Armagnac. The day before, wrap in bacon and keep, covered, in the fridge. Allow 20 minutes at room temperature before cooking.
CRANBERRY AND SOY GLAZED COCKTAIL SAUSAGES
I couldn’t leave this out, even though you will probably have to follow round after with a packet of babywipes. A party just isn’t a party without a sticky sausage or three, and these are joyously seasonal. And nor do I stop here with this sweet, warm, sharp glaze: the ingredients can also be used as a marinade-cum-cook-in sauce for either 30 chicken wings or 20 small spare ribs, with equally lipsmacking results.
Makes 50
125ml Thai or Chinese sweet chilli sauce
60ml cranberry sauce, from a jar
60ml soy sauce
1 × 15ml tablespoon dark brown sugar
juice of 1 clementine/satsuma
juice of 1 lime
50 cocktail sausages
• Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
• Put the cocktail
• Add the garam masala and celery salt and push the nuts about in the pan again so that they are evenly coated.
• Add the oil, sugar and rosemary and stir about again to mix. When the nuts have darkened a little and are slicked with the sugary spice mix, tip them out briskly (before they burn) onto your prepared, lined sheet, and sprinkle with salt to taste.
• Preferably when still warm, arrange in small bowls, and tuck in a sprig of rosemary on top for a seasonal fir-tree flourish!
MAKE AHEAD TIP:
The day before, make the spiced nuts and tip them out onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Cover with foil and keep in a cool place. About 10 minutes before serving, pop the nuts into a moderate (180°C/gas mark 4) oven to warm through.
DRUNKEN DEVILS ON HORSEBACK
When I was a child, this is the sort of thing my parents would have eaten at cocktail parties, parties my mother would go to in her white patent boots, angora mini dress and false eyelashes – hairpiece, too – and lips slicked in pale, shimmery colours with names like Moist Madder Pink. It seemed ineffably glamorous – I can smell her wafting scent of face powder mixed with Guerlain’s L’Heure Bleue now as I think about it – but also inexplicable: how could anyone want to eat a prune (the devil) or oyster (an angel) wrapped in bacon, and why they were on horseback was just as baffling. Now, I know (or think I do) that “on horseback” is a corruption of “hogsback”, to indicate the bacon.
Now, too, I’m happy – more than – to eat an angel-on-horseback, though less convinced that I want to make them; someone as clumsy as I am should not be let near an oyster shucker, ever. But a devil, which I like more, anyway – and mine are soused till sticky with Armagnac – is, if not child’s food, then certainly child’s play to make.
Makes 24
24 ready-to-eat stoneless dried prunes
90ml Armagnac
12 rashers American-style bacon, or 24 thin slices pancetta
• The day before your party, soak the prunes in the Armagnac in a covered bowl.
• On the day of your party, preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
• On a board, spread out a rasher of bacon and cut in half horizontally to give 2 shorter pieces of bacon, or use a whole pancetta slice. Then take a soaked prune from your bowl and roll it up in one of the half pieces of bacon, or a pancetta slice, securing it with a cocktail stick.
• Repeat this process with the remaining prunes, wrapping each one in bacon, and place them on a lined baking sheet.
• Cook the drunken devils in the oven for 10–15 minutes, then let them cool a little, to avoid burnt fingers and mouths, before plating them up to serve.
NOTE:
These 24 prunes use up exactly 1 × 200g packet of Oscar Meyer American-style bacon. If you can’t get American-style bacon, find thin slices of Italian pancetta, but double the quantity so you use one whole slice per prune, or use rindless streaky bacon and roll the slices out between plastic wrap to make them thinner.
MAKE AHEAD TIP:
Two days ahead, soak the prunes in the Armagnac. The day before, wrap in bacon and keep, covered, in the fridge. Allow 20 minutes at room temperature before cooking.
CRANBERRY AND SOY GLAZED COCKTAIL SAUSAGES
I couldn’t leave this out, even though you will probably have to follow round after with a packet of babywipes. A party just isn’t a party without a sticky sausage or three, and these are joyously seasonal. And nor do I stop here with this sweet, warm, sharp glaze: the ingredients can also be used as a marinade-cum-cook-in sauce for either 30 chicken wings or 20 small spare ribs, with equally lipsmacking results.
Makes 50
125ml Thai or Chinese sweet chilli sauce
60ml cranberry sauce, from a jar
60ml soy sauce
1 × 15ml tablespoon dark brown sugar
juice of 1 clementine/satsuma
juice of 1 lime
50 cocktail sausages
• Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
• Put the cocktail
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