Four easy side dishes
I’m all about making the holidays easier.
A few years ago I hosted Christmas day for 6 and the recipes from Ottolenghi Simple were a stress and time saver.
Image Description: A white hard cover book with the picture of a yellow lemon with the title Ottolenghi Simple
I love this book.
I have cooked more than 20 recipes from it multiple times and only one didn’t quite work out.
I have also gifted this book to so many friends. A great gift idea is the book with a hamper of the 10 main ingredients used.
Unfortunately my absolute favourite recipe, butternut squash with sweetcorn salsa, feta and pumpkin seeds isn’t online. So I’ve included a picture straight from the cookbook here:
Image Description: Picture of the butternut squash with sweetcorn salsa, feta and pumkin seeds recipe from Ottolenghi Simple.
A few things to note:
- At first glance the recipe looks complicated but it isn’t. Ottolenghi tells you everything you need to know to be able to make most of the dish in advance and how to bring it together on the day. So good for assigning jobs to people.
- I cannot work out how to get the butternut to stand on its edge while cooking. Some do, some have to lean on others and the rest I just lay down. It tastes great anyway.
- Just use frozen corn, I ruined a frying pain trying to do it with cobs, corn syrup is sticky.
Other recipes which are online and worth a try are:
Brussel sprouts with burnt butter and black garlic – I’m not fussed either way about sprouts but this recipe has me going back for more
Cauliflower, pomegranate and pistachio salad – great for vegans, gluten free vegetarians and leftovers the next day.
Nigella’s perfect roast potatoes – I haven’t tried this one yet but I have a mate who swears by it. They’re so good that her family does about 3kgs of them.
Instead of planning to do everything yourself, make a plan of what you can ask others to do for you. And remember, done is better than perfect and no one cares when they have a full belly.
