It’s the sides and sauces that make Christmas dinner. My advice: invest in doing a few really well. Most of us have one oven, which means getting everything golden, perfect and hot at once can be a juggle. So do yourself a favour and make sides that can be cooked in advance, put to one side then heated up at the last minute (in fact, if you don’t even get to the heating bit, they will still be delicious). This year, I will be making this cauliflower cheese, some roast potatoes and garlic- and lemon-sauteed greens. And, yes, I hear you ask, roast potatoes can be reheated – it’s how they do it in restaurants and they are all the better for it.
I think sides on Christmas Day – and with any roast – should fit into three categories: fresh and green, crunchy and crispy, and indulgent and saucy. You should have at least one of each, and this is a saucy one. Confit garlic makes everything better, so I make a load and keep under oil in a jar in my fridge (I urge you to do the same). Confit garlic, cheesy sauce and burnished cauliflower: I would swap all of my presents for a plate of this.
Confit garlic cauliflower cheese (pictured above)
I think sides on Christmas Day – and with any roast – should fit into three categories: fresh and green, crunchy and crispy, and indulgent and saucy. You should have at least one of each, and this is a saucy one. Confit garlic makes everything better, so I make a load and keep under oil in a jar in my fridge (I urge you to do the same). Confit garlic, cheesy sauce and burnished cauliflower: I would swap all of my presents for a plate of this.
Prep 15 min
Cook 2 hr
Serves 6
2 heads garlic, tops cut off
1 small bunch thyme, saving 3 sprigs, leaves picked, for the topping
300ml extra-virgin olive oil to cover the garlic (about 300ml)
75g butter or vegan butter
75g plain flour
900ml milk or oat milk
75g cheddar or vegan cheese, grated
50g gruyere or vegan cheese, grated
Salt and black pepper
1 medium cauliflower, broken in to chunky florets, smaller leaves reserved
For the topping
150g breadcrumbs
Zest of a lemon
2 sage leaves, chopped
Put the garlic and thyme in a small saucepan, then cover with the oil until the garlic is completely submerged. Gently cook over a very low heat for 30 minutes, until the garlic is pale, soft and buttery inside but hasn’t browned. Be careful not to turn the heat up too much and boil, or the garlic and oil will burn: be patient, it will be well worth it.
Leave the garlic to cool in the oil, then remove with a slotted spoon on to some kitchen paper, reserving the oil for later. This confit garlic is delicious simply spread on toast and will keep for a few weeks in its oil, if you want to make a few extra bulbs for another occasion.
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/gas 4. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a medium-low heat, then stir in the flour until it forms a paste. Cook for a minute or so, then add the milk a little at a time, whisking continuously into a smooth, white sauce. Squeeze out the soft garlic from one of the bulbs into the bechamel sauce, add half the cheddar, gruyere and seasoning, and mix. It should be quite a loose: sauce it will thicken up as it bakes, so add a little more milk if needed.
Arrange the cauliflower florets and some of the smaller leaves in a baking dish that will fit everything in nicely, then squeeze out the garlic from the other bulb into the spaces between the cauliflower. Pour the garlicky cheese sauce evenly over the cauliflower, then top with the remaining cheese.
Mix the breadcrumbs with the lemon zest, remaining thyme leaves and chopped sage, then sprinkle over the cheesy cauliflower. Finally, spoon over some of the oil from the confit garlic and bake for an hour, until the cauliflower is soft and golden.
Ultimate roast potatoes
For me, the linchpin of a good Christmas dinner is the roast potato: golden and crunchy on the outside, soft and cloudy inside. I am not normally a ‘rule’ kind of person – unless we are talking roast potatoes.
Start with good, floury potatoes: maris piper or king edward are both good.
I cook about three large potatoes per person, peeled and cut into roughly golf-ball-sized pieces at random angles, giving more edges to crisp up.
Blanch the potatoes in very well-salted, boiling water for 10-12 minutes, until almost fully cooked and soft on the outside
Drain the potatoes, then shake vigorously in a colander until the potatoes have a ragged, fluffy edge, which will mean golden crisp bits; leave to steam-dry for five minutes in the colander.
Put five tablespoons of olive oil or butter in a large roasting tray, then put in the oven to get really hot before you add the potatoes. Be careful when you do, as hot fat can splash. Toss them in the oil and season well with salt and pepper.
Now is the time to add any flavourings. My favourite combinations are:
a whole, halved bulb of garlic with rosemary sprigs and strips of lemon zest;
lots of flaky salt and two tablespoons of white-wine vinegar, A few bay leaves, sprigs of thyme and strips of orange zest;
or two lemons, zested, halved and added to the tray with a tablespoon of coriander seeds.
Halfway through cooking, lightly squash the potatoes with a potato masher, to give more surface area in contact with the tray, which means more brown bits.
Once the potatoes are crisp, golden and perfect, you can keep them in the roasting tray at room temperature, warming for 10 minutes in a hot oven just before you serve.
