A different Christmas indeed! Are we going to have all the people we want round on Christmas Day? Or will we have to look after some of them in the takeaway Christmas way?
Three-household bubble in my books is a lot, but then I’m a loner. If it is about a fifth of what you would normally do at Christmas, my heart breaks for you. It is going to be small this year. And perhaps with not all the people we would want to see round the table.
Small scale cooking though, that’s all right and for me a spice rubbed duck might be the answer. Or a boneless guinea fowl to stuff with fruits and nuts and spices in a festive fashion. If you’re Christmassing small, you could roast a brace of partridges or pheasants; both extremely nice, and if game isn’t fit for Christmas lunch, I don’t know what is. Yeah, okay – I do know. But at least you’ll be spared the struggle of fitting a twenty-pound bird into a standard oven.
For the weeknights, I suggest a couscous salad with chicken; swap the chicken for seared chorizo slices with equally delicious effect. And that chicken could become a general Tso stir fry. For a veggie option, bulgur wheat pilaf with peppers will be fine.
I think I’m going to make the twice cooked pork fillet one night, and maybe the Korean meatballs on another. Serve it with crispy caramelised cabbage, because why not?
No desserts, unless you count St Lucia buns fragrant with saffron, traditionally baked in Sweden for Lucia Day, 13th December. Otherwise leave all possible space for later in the month, for panettone, stollen, cinnamon stars, fruitcake, gingerbread cake, lebkuchen…
Keep well and keep cooking, whichever tier you are in.