Prue Leith's fabulous festive recipes: Fantastic party food (2024)

Today, we continue our brilliantseries with Prue’s irresistibleChristmas party food. Whetheryou’re planning a buffet feast or a drinks and nibbles party, theserecipes are bound to impress.They range from quick and easydishes, such as colourful canapesand sensational sausage rolls, tofestive showstoppers that will make a stunning centrepiece for your table.

Terrific turkey, ham, chestnuts and stuffing all in one

The joy of this dish is that you get turkey, ham, chestnuts and stuffing all in one slice. It has been my pièce de résistance for years and my brother has bitter memories of boning the turkey on Christmas Eve. But if you have a good butcher and order a fresh turkey in advance, he will bone it for you. Although we traditionally have it on Christmas Day, it makes a fabulous buffet centrepiece for any festive party and is also perfect cold with salad.

Serves 10-12

• 4.5kg turkey, ‘open-boned’
• 450g pre-cooked ham, such as honey roast, cut into four even-sized pieces
• Sprig of holly or watercress, to serve

For the stuffing

• 85g butter
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 450g pork belly, minced
• 125g fresh white breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 225g unsweetened cooked chestnuts, halved

First, make the stuffing. Melt 30g of butter then add the onion and cook until soft, but not coloured. Leave to cool. When cold, mix with all the stuffing ingredients except the chestnuts. Open out the turkey on a board, skin side down. Trim off any fat. Spread half of the stuffing in a wide strip down the middle and push half of the chestnuts into the mixture. Lay the ham pieces on top of the stuffing so they are touching, but not overlapping.

Spread the rest of the stuffing over the ham and dot with the remaining chestnuts. Wet your hands and mould the stuffing into a roughly even mound with no pockets of air. Draw up the sides of the turkey to enclose the stuffing and sew or tie up the turkey parcel with string. Roll it right side up and season. Set the oven to 200c/180c fan/gas 6.

Put the bird into a roasting tin. Melt the remaining butter and soak a large piece of muslin in it. Drape this over the turkey so you don’t have to keep basting. Roast for 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to 150c/130c fan/gas 2 and cook for a further 3-3½ hours, testing it with a skewer at 3 hours — the juices should run clear. Lift on to a serving dish and remove the cloth. Garnish with holly or watercress.

Today, we continue our brilliant series with Prue’s irresistible Christmas party food. Whether you’re planning a buffet feast or a drinks and nibbles party, these recipes are bound to impress. They range from quick and easy dishes, such as colourful canapes and sensational sausage rolls, to festive showstoppers that will make a stunning centrepiece for your table.

Cabbage and apple salad with a mustard dressing

This delicious salad is excellent served with cold meats.

Serves 4

For the dressing

• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp salad oil (not olive)
• ½ tsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp black mustard seeds
• Salt and pepper

For the salad

• ½ small white cabbage, finely shredded
• 2 red apples, sliced (skin on)
• 1 packet fresh mint, chopped
• 2 tbsp salted nuts and seeds

Mix the dressing ingredients together well, then pour over the salad ingredients. Turn everything to mix and coat well, then tip into a large salad bowl.

Sensational sausage rolls with prune and anchovies

You can give your guests a choice of prune or anchovy, or just combine them, as I have done here — delicious!

Makes 36

• 12 long chipolatas
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 ready-rolled sheets of puff pastry, or a 750g block
• 1 x 50g tin anchovies, drained
• 12 prunes, chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

Heat oven to 200c/180c fan/gas 6. Prick the sausages, then fry them in the oil until brown and just cooked. Leave to cool. Roll out the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin, then cut into 12 squares so both sides are as long as the sausages. Mash the anchovy fillets, then mix with the chopped prunes and spread on the pastry squares, avoiding the edges nearest you. Put a sausage on each square and roll up, sticking the bare edge down with a little beaten egg. Cut into three and put on a baking sheet covered with baking parchment. (You can freeze these at this stage, and bake from frozen later). Brush the rolls with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden.

My bolognese layered pancake cake

I love this recipe. It’s not unlike a beef cannelloni or spaghetti bolognese in flavour, but it’s more fun to make, looks interesting on the table and a slice, showing all the layers of pancake and filling, makes it look impressive — even though it’s a simple recipe! If the cooker-top ends up messy, it’s worth it. You can buy good French pancakes from supermarkets and if you love that cheeseburger taste, you can add a cheese slice to each layer.

Serves 4

• 450g lean minced beef
• 2 tbsp oil
• 3 rashers rindless streaky bacon, diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 stick of celery, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• A pinch of dried or chopped fresh thyme
• Salt and black pepper
• 8 unsweetened French pancakes
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or coriander
• 200ml soured cream or plain yoghurt

Fry half the mince in a pan with 1 tbsp oil. Press the meat down in a shallow layer with a fish slice, leaving it to sizzle and brown, then turn it over and fry the other side. Don’t be surprised if this takes quite a while, it needs to be brown all over.

Lift out with a slotted spoon and place in another saucepan. Deglaze the frying pan by adding a splash of water and loosening the bits stuck on the bottom. Tip this on to the cooked meat in the separate pan. Repeat these steps with the remaining half of the mince.

Turn the heat down under the frying pan and, using the rest of the oil as you need it, fry the bacon, onion, celery and garlic until it’s all just turning brown. Then stir in the tin of chopped tomatoes and bring the mixture to the boil, still stirring. Pour this into the saucepan with the meat. Add to this the tomato puree, thyme, salt and pepper, and simmer gently for 45 minutes, or until it is thick and syrupy. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing burns on the base of the pan.

When the meat sauce is cooked, stir and add a little water if it’s too thick. Season well.

Place one pancake on an oven-proof dish (or serving dish if you’re serving it straight away) and spoon over some meat sauce, then cover with a second pancake. Continue to layer the meat sauce and pancakes — spreading the sauce evenly to the edge of each pancake rather than piling it all in the middle — and finish with a pancake on top. Cover the cake loosely with foil and reheat in a moderately low oven (150c/ 130c fan/gas 2) for 15 minutes if you have assembled it with the meat sauce hot (or 40 minutes if you’re heating it from cold). Sprinkle the parsley or coriander over the cake and serve with soured cream or yoghurt.

Quick and easy Christmas canapes

I think the secret to canapes is minimum variety and maximum deliciousness! The salami bites can be made in advance and frozen, the addition of squashy dried figs makes prosciutto Christmassy, and who doesn’t like a garlicky guacamole? Shop-bought tartlet cases are less of a fiddle.

FOR 24 GUACAMOLE TARTS

● 3 large, ripe tomatoes

● 2 large, ripe avocados

● 6 large, fresh basil leaves, chopped

● 2 garlic cloves, crushed

● 2 tsp olive oil

● Salt and pepper

● 24 shortcrust mini-tartlet cases

Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for 10 seconds, then peel, cut into quarters and remove seeds. Slice into small cubes, then do the same with the avocado and mix both with the basil, garlic and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, then refrigerate. Just before serving, fill small shortcrust tartlets with the guacamole.

FOR 24 FIG & PROSCIUTTO SLICES

• 24 co*cktail size water biscuits
• 225g goats cheese without rind
• 3 soft dried figs
• 12 slices Parma ham, halved
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme

Butter 24 small water biscuits, then spread with soft goat’s cheese. Add a small slice of soft dried fig and a little roll of Parma ham or other prosciutto. Top each with a few fresh thyme leaves.

24 SALAMI & PUMPERNICKEL BITES

• Bunch spring onions
• 2 x 180g boxes soft cheese
• 6 slices pumpernickel
• 140g thinly sliced skinned salami

Keep the white part of the spring onions for something else (such as soups) and chop the green parts finely. Spread the cream cheese over four of the pumpernickel slices. Cover two of them with salami slices, using half the salami on each to get a good thick layer. Then spread more cream cheese on top of the salami.

Cover the other two cheesy slices with the spring onions, pressing well into the cheese. Put one onion slice, face-side up, on top of each of the salami ones. Top both sandwiches with the remaining two pieces of pumpernickel. Press together, cover with clingfilm and chill well. When ready to serve, use a sharp knife to cut into bite-sized squares.

Super-stylish fruit salads

It is sometimes fun and always satisfying to make fruit salad in different colours. In the right bowl, a mix of perfectly ordinary cut-up fruit of one colour, say green, orange or purple, can look super-sophisticated and perfect for a party. Just add all or some of my suggested ingredients, plus the alcohol-flavoured sugar syrup, if you wish. Remember to slice the apples just before serving or they will go brown. Everything else can be mixed and combined with the syrup (if used) up to four hours in advance.

Each salad serves 6

For a green fruit salad

• Half a green melon, scooped into balls
• 2 green eating apples, sliced but not peeled
• Large bunch of seedless green grapes, halved
• 4 kiwi fruits, peeled and sliced

For the syrup (optional)

• 4 tbsp creme de menthe
• 2 tbsp sugar syrup (see recipe in box below)
• Handful of mint leaves

For an orange fruit salad

• 1 large orange, segmented
• 2 seedless clementines
• 2 slices of fresh pineapple, cored and cut into chunks
• 6 physalis, pods removed
• 2 passion fruit, scooped out

For the syrup (optional)

• 4 tbsp Grand Marnier
• 2 tbsp sugar syrup (below)
• For a purple fruit salad
• 4 purple figs, sliced
• Large bunch of seedless black grapes, halved
• Small tub of blueberries
• 1 pomegranate, skin removed

For the syrup (optional)

1. 4 tbsp creme de cassis
2. 2 tbsp sugar syrup (below)

TO MAKE A SUGAR SYRUP:

• 300ml water
• 225g granulated sugar
• Thinly pared rind and juice of 1 lemon

Combine the ingredients and boil until the syrup feels tacky between your finger and thumb. (Cool slightly first, as it will be hot!) Flavour with the liqueur and cool. Pour over your fruit salad.

Heavenly choux pastry and honey wreath

This pretty choux dessert takes a while to put together, but it isn’t difficult and makes a brilliant and unusual centrepiece.

Serves 6

For the choux pastry

● 55g butter

● 150ml hot water

● 70g plain flour, sifted

l A pinch of salt

● 2 eggs, lightly beaten

● Oil for deep-frying

For the decoration

● 55g unblanched almonds, slivered

● 55g pistachios, slivered

● 115g dried pear or apricots, cut into small pieces

● 115g natural glace cherries, cut in half

● 2 pieces of crystallised angelica, cut into lozenges (available online)

● 6tbsp clear runny honey

● Whipped cream, to serve

Line three baking sheets with baking parchment. To make the choux pastry, melt the butter in the water. Bring to a fast boil, then tip in the flour and salt. Draw the pan off the heat and beat the mixture hard and fast with a wooden spoon — it will soon become thick and start to leave the sides of the pan. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, until the mixture reluctantly drops in a blob from the spoon without a shake.

Using a piping bag with a ¼ in plain nozzle, pipe pea-sized balls of mixture close together on the baking trays. Freeze for an hour.

Heat around 3 in of oil in a deep saucepan. When it’s hot enough for a cube of bread to sizzle vigorously, tip the choux blobs straight into the oil. Stir all the time to ensure even browning. Fry until pale golden, then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. When all have been fried, fry them again for a further 2 minutes, then drain as before. Next, tip into a big bowl and add the nuts and fruits (reserving a few for decoration). Melt the honey over a moderate heat, then boil for 2 minutes, or until a drop sets on a cold plate. Pour over the choux blobs. Turn gently to coat everything well. Pack into a 1 litre ring mould and leave to cool. To turn out, briefly dip the mould into a bowl of hot water. Dry the mould then invert on to a plate. Decorate with the reserved fruit and nuts and serve with cream.

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Photography by Toby Scott/Kate Whitaker. Food styling by Lorna Brash/Lizzie Harris. Prop styling by Morag Farquhar.