Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends, Festivities (3 page)

Not that it helps, I find, to get too mathematical about it. A certain amount of clipboard briskness is all well and good, but the only formula that really works is that the less stressed you are, the better the party will be. (I know that the two most irritating things someone can say to you are “Relax!” or “Calm down”, but I am trying to help.) So: make sure all drinks that need to be are chilled on time; don’t wear new or uncomfortable shoes; and invite everyone you can think of, as worrying about people being cross with you for not being invited is more anxiety-provoking than having too many people in the house.

“The more the merrier” might not be something you believe now, but the only way to enjoy Christmas fully is to act as if you do. And then you will.

COCKTAILS

POINSETTIA

POMEGRANATE MARTINI

LYCHEENI

BLACK FOREST MARTINI

SANTA’S LITTLE HELPER

AMARETTO SOUR

CORNISH CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL

YULE MULE

Believe me, you don’t have to turn mixologist to throw a good party. I am more than happy to provide nothing but wine, for all that Kingsley Amis once said that the three most depressing words in the English language were “Red or White?”. And fizz doesn’t have to be champagne, either: my preference here is for Prosecco, which (and I think I have told you this before) is known in casa mia as “Prozacco”, for its mood-enhancing qualities.

But a cocktail can be a wonderful thing – exuberant, extravagant, humdingingly uplifting – and a Christmas party is a good excuse for one.

POINSETTIA

This is probably the most serviceable, all-round Christmas drink: eminently refreshing; satisfyingly quaffable. Think of it as a juicily seasonal Buck’s Fizz (a drink I normally find too acidically challenging at best and downright depressing at worst). This prettily pink – rather than authentically red – Poinsettia can be knocked back without a moment’s thought. Whether this is entirely a good thing is another matter …

Makes 8–9 glasses

1 × 75cl bottle Prosecco or other fizzy dry wine, chilled

125ml Cointreau or Grand Marnier or Triple sec, chilled

500ml cranberry juice, chilled

•Mix the Prosecco or other fizzy wine with the Cointreau (or Grand Marnier or Triple sec) and cranberry juice in a large pitcher.

•Pour into wine glasses or champagne flutes.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Mix together the Cointreau and cranberry juice in a large pitcher, cover with clingfilm and keep chilled for up to 24 hours. Just before serving, top up with the chilled fizz.

POMEGRANATE MARTINI

I must confess, upfront, that I don’t make a martini like a bartender, and don’t expect you to either. Of course, if you’re throwing an intimate party for two, a quick shimmy with a cocktail shaker is entirely possible, but it is inconceivable for a crowd so I don’t bother. And not being a really proper drinker (despite the evidence of these pages) I don’t mind diluting hard liqueur with ice.

I find the simplest way to give measures for this sort of drink is by ratio, but if you prefer amounts, think of “1 part” as equivalent to a barman’s 25ml shot. And a shot measure is easy enough to buy.

Although I keep my vodka in the freezer, I cannot overestimate how important extra ice is here. A martini has to be temple-achingly cold, and I can’t be faffing about with straining, so let those cubes chink, and just drink up before the martini is turned to water.

If a gin martini is more to your taste, proceed and pour accordingly.

ice cubes

2 parts vodka

1 part Pama pomegranate liqueur

½ part Grenadine

•To make 1 drink, put at least 3 ice cubes into a martini glass and pour the alcohol over, using a 25ml measure per part. I like a small (130ml) martini glass rather than one of those vast, gaping upended triangles on stems.

•To make a pitcher, chill a jug and cram with ice, then use a 250ml measure per part, to make 875ml, enough for 10 drinks, or maybe 8 if each waiting martini glass hasn’t got ice to bulk up the drink.

NOTE:

If you’d prefer to stick to my pomegranate theme, but dispense with the vodka (or bear this in mind as an add-on rather than a substitution), make my Christmas Fizz by adding a glug or two of the Pama pomegranate liqueur to a glass of champagne or fizzy wine. Or you can branch out and add viscous, fragrant drops of flavoured Monin syrups – think gingerbread, cranberry, spiced winter fruits (see Stockists) – to fizzy wine for party pizazz.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make in a pitcher just before guests arrive and keep chilled by sitting the pitcher in a large bowl of ice and water, or stash in the fridge.

LYCHEENI

After a pomegranate, the lychee feels the most seasonally celebratory of fruits, and it didn’t seem fair to leave it out of the Christmas canon, just because of its unfestive pallor. Plus, I stumbled across the most beautiful bottle, in the form of a French crème de lychee (see Stockists) that begged to bought. I couldn’t resist, and I love this lychee martini it was born to make.

And it’s not just for the party scene that it gives seasonal succour: even a never-ending school concert is a little more manageable with a hit of this inside you; I have been known to empty out a small water bottle and pour in some of this clear and precious liquid instead. But then, I come to the conclusion that my motto has to be All Life Looks Up With a Lycheeni.

I can’t peel a lychee without savaging it, so I feel fine about suggesting canned ones for adornment and a hint of pearly sweetness.

ice cubes

1 part white rum

1 part vodka

2 parts crème de lychee

½–1 part syrup from canned lychees

canned lychees to garnish

•Chunk up a martini glass with ice, and add the rum, vodka and lychee liqueur, using a 25ml measure per part. If you want this a little sweeter, which all but real firewater-drinkers will, add some of the syrup from the can of lychees to taste.

•If in garnishing mood, pierce a lychee on a cocktail stick, and drop into the martini.

•To make a pitcher, cram ice into a jug, and add the alcohol (and syrup, to taste), using a 250ml measure per part. You will have about 1 litre, more than enough for 10 drinks. This is strong stuff!

NOTE:

As with the Pomegranate Martini, you can simply add a splosh of this creamily fruity liqueur straight into a glass of fizzy wine – my Lychee Fizz. Or, for those who like sweeter drinks with less kick, look out for lychee purée in foil pouches and add it to sparkling wine, about 1 part purée to 2 parts wine.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make in a pitcher just before guests arrive and keep chilled by sitting the pitcher in a large bowl of ice and water, or stash in the fridge.

BLACK FOREST MARTINI

Humour me here. I couldn’t help myself, and I’m not sure I’d have wanted to. There is something undeniably Germanic and kitsch in the evolution of the contemporary Christmas and this drink recognizes and marries the two in a fabulous fusion. And the taste – well, it’s heaven. Not too sweet, not at all sickly, but with a rounded, hint of puddingyness that makes it a perfect after-dinner cocktail as well as a bolstering early evening mood-lifter.

The rosemary, flavourwise, is a tiny deviation from our walk through the Black Forest, but its scent is beautiful, and the sprig, peeking out from the martini glass, has the right hint of festive fir and woodsy warmth about it.

ice cubes

1 part vodka

1 part cherry brandy (the red stuff, not kirsch)

½ part crème de cacao

rosemary sprigs

•To make 1 drink, put at least 3 ice cubes in a martini glass and build your drink over them, using a 25ml measure per part.

•To make a party pitcher, use a 250ml measure per part; you will have 625ml, enough for 10 drinks, but cram the pitcher with ice, and lay a rosemary sprig in each waiting martini glass.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make in a pitcher just before guests arrive and keep chilled by sitting the pitcher in a large bowl of ice and water, or stash in the fridge.

SANTA’S LITTLE HELPER

I’m not even going to broach the possibility of a pitcher of this; it would be irresponsible in the extreme. But it’s probably just what you need on Christmas Eve, when you’ve got to fill the stockings, wrap the presents, get out the Christmas china and do everything else on your overburdened plate. Bottoms up!

ice cubes (optional)

1 part brandy

½ part amaretto liqueur

½ part Cointreau, Grand Marnier or Triple sec

•To make 1 stiffener, over ice (my choice) or straight up if preferred, pour the alcohol into your glass, using a 25ml measure per part.

AMARETTO SOUR

I was once a whiskey sour drinker, inasmuch as I – an eater rather more than a bevver – drank any spirits at all, but that was a lifetime ago when I felt I had to come up with a request in bars and knew that a Brandy Alexander was probably best avoided, on grounds of coolth and calories. Now, what do I care? But whereas I’d be happy to order something naff and creamy, I wouldn’t honestly want to drink it. This is my perfect compromise: sweet, sharp, rich and seasonally aromatic. It gives you the warmth of a mulled something or other, without having to go near a stove.

ice cubes (optional)

3 parts amaretto liqueur

2 parts lemon juice

FOR THE GARNISH:

1 orange for peeling

maraschino cherries

•To make 1 drink, part-fill a tumbler with ice (unless you prefer to drink this straight up) and build your drink over this, using a 25ml measure per part.

•Mix together with a twizzle stick or your finger, then plop in a maraschino cherry and, using a vegetable peeler, shave off a curl of orange peel.

•To make a pitcher, use a 250ml measure per part; you’ll have 1.2 litres of amaretto sour. I’d chill the pitcher in the fridge and have a cherry and some orange peel in each waiting glass. Since it’s chilled, you won’t need ice, so I’d serve in small, squat tumblers, nothing too roomy.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

If you have no space in the fridge to chill the pitcher, drop a couple of handfuls of ice into the empty pitcher about half an hour before guests are due to arrive. When ready to serve, empty the (now chilled) jug of any remaining ice and water and mix the cocktail.

CORNISH CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL

A champagne cocktail is a classic that needs no fiddling with, so I should defend my apparent lack of reverence here. When my friend Justine Picardie launched her book Daphne recently, I wanted to give her a pre-party party featuring a drink made in her and du Maurier’s honour. Justine is a champagne cocktail girl, so replacing the champagne with Cornish fizz, and drenching the sugar lump with a gorgeous West Country quince liqueur instead of cognac seemed right all round. And I am now a convert to the Cornish sparkle even for occasions without the geo-literary justification. (See Stockists, but since you could substitute any fizzy wine or liqueur, those far away from the wilder shores of Cornwall need not worry.)

I also make a version – my Tuscan Champagne Cocktail – redolent of Panettone and Italian Christmases which is simply Prosecco with a shot of Tuaca (and see Stockists again), a liqueur that also merits solo attention.

Serving: Each 75cl bottle of champagne should require 6 sugar lumps and approx. 90ml liqueur to make 6 cocktails

approx. 6 × 15ml tablespoons from 1 × 35cl bottle Bramley and Gage quince liqueur (see

Stockists

), or other quince brandy or liqueur of your choice

6 La Perruche pure cane rough-cut cubes, or other sugar lumps of your choice

1 × 75cl bottle Camel Valley sparkling wine, or other fizzy dry white wine of your choice, chilled

•Put 1 sugar lump into each champagne glass; I like a saucer not a flute and I reckon one bottle of fizz provides enough for 6 glasses.

•Pour the quince liqueur or brandy (probably no more than 1x 15ml tablespoon) over each sugar lump to soak it, and then top up with sparkling wine.

•For my Tuscan Champagne Cocktail, dispense with the sugar lumps.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

About half an hour before your guests are due to arrive, pop the sugar lumps in the glasses and pour the liqueur over. Just before serving, top up with the chilled fizz.

YULE MULE

I’ve always loved a Moscow Mule – vodka, bitters, lime juice and savagely peppery ginger beer – and this is no more than my seasonal slant on that. Very joyous it is, too. I find the tooth-roughening sharpness of the cranberry juice replaces not only the need for lime juice, but also the bitters, but if you wish to squirt in a little lime or drop in some Angostura, then I won’t stop you.

ice cubes

2 parts chilled vodka

1 part chilled cranberry juice

Angostura bitters or lime juice (optional)

5 parts chilled ginger beer

•To make 1 drink, plonk some ice in a highball glass then build your drink over it, using a 25ml measure per part. Add 3 drops of Angostura bitters (or lime juice), if using.

•To make a pitcher, use a 250ml measure per part and you will have 2 litres (about 10 glasses), so it may be wiser to have 2 pitchers crammed with ice.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Measure the vodka, bitters (if using), and cranberry juice into a large pitcher. Keep chilled over ice, then top up with ginger beer to serve.

BELOW:

Cornish Champagne Cocktail (back left); Yule Mule (back right); Amaretto Sour (front), next to a bowl of Seasonally Spiced Nuts

A SEASONAL MEDLEY OF MOCKTAILS

SEASONAL BREEZE

PUSSYFOOT

BLISSFUL BLUEBERRY

MISTLETOE

XMAS XINGER

Before the pile up of over-the-top drinks recipes begins to look like the diary entries of a déclassé dipsomaniac – or have we passed that stage? – I offer a barman’s splayed handful of cocktails for those who might not want alcohol, but still want to join the party. As a self-confessed, pronounced aquaholic, I feel that any non-alcoholic drink must be well-balanced, finely tuned perfection in order to beat the simple perfection of water. Still, I concede that a night that offers no more drinking choice than still or sparkling could seem slightly lacking in festive spirit. And I certainly wouldn’t want that. So the following, I hope, will allow the abstemious to raise a garish glass with the rest of us.