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Nigella makes any size celebration spectacular

Holiday cookbook covers dinner for two or a feast for the entire extended family

By Kim Davaz
“Nigella Christmas” by Nigella Lawson is a celebration between two covers, with everything necessary, kitchen-wise, for a spectacular Christmas. I should backtrack: While you can make a spectacular Christmas feast à la Lawson, she by no means limits your holiday festivities to the top of the “wow” meter. There is just as much attention paid to a quiet little dinner or brunch and cozy drinks as there is to the break-the-bank, 8 1/2 -pound standing rib roast beef extravaganza. With port and Stilton sauce. And six side dishes. And a pecan-ish pie made with mixed nuts.

The plan for the traditional British turkey dinner comes with a schedule that begins at 10 a.m. for a 2:30 p.m. sit-down to lunch. She ends that section with four ideas for leftover turkey: a filaff with pomegrantate and dill; an Asian-inspired salad with glass noodles and a tangy dressing; hash; and a salad with wild rice, cranberries and pecans.

Vegetarians get their party, too, with an impressive whole stuffed and roasted pumpkin plus sides and a dessert of rum-soaked fruit mixed into chocolate ice cream and served with a chestnut chocolate ganache.

Speaking of desserts, as Lawson is wont to do, it’s hard to pass by her tiramisu cake made with bought chocolate muffins (you’re busy enough with the holidays: it’s OK to use bought muffins), fruitcakes, a steamed pudding or two and a Pavlova.

I can’t recall a Lawson cookbook without a recipe for Pavlova, a luscious, soft meringue topped with fruit and a cloud of softly whipped cream. Here, she uses passion fruit, lychees and raspberries. It’s a dessert that should be in every cook’s repertoire, using whatever fruits suit your fancy.

Just look at that pretty pale golden gelatin dessert made with Prosecco and topped with pomegranate seeds. (It’s the dessert for the Grown Up Nursery Super for 6, the main dish being a parsleyed fish gratin.) That one surprised me. Making your own gelatin? With wine? That’s what I like about Lawson (though in my mind, she’s always just Nigella). She’ll surprise you with her own version of things that are so traditional, you’d never have given them any thought at all.

Presents from your kitchen include flavored vodkas, spiced salt, a quartet of chutneys, peanut brittle and various pickled or marinated foods. There’s a little something for almost every taste, including little wreath treats made from cornflakes and melted marshmallows. As a proud devotee of cripsy rice treats, Lawson’s version with added vanilla and almond extracts sounds very nice to me.

Look through “Nigella Christmas” now, do what seems fun and possible, and plan for 2010. There are family traditions in the making here. My copy has little sticky markers for things I plan to try next year.

Santa and his helpers might like a little fortifying glass of cheer. Santa’s Little Helper is one of more than a dozen cocktails from “The More the Merrier” chapter on parties. Not that it requires much effort to make this one drink at a time, but I was thinking of making a batch in a big glass jar and keeping it in the refrigerator, replenishing it as necessary throughout the holidays.

Santa’s Little Helper

• 1 part brandy
• 1/2 part amaretto liqueur
• 1/2 part Cointreau, Grand Marnier or Triple Sec

There you go. Stir and serve over ice (Lawson’s preference) or straight up.

This can be made by the pitcherful (or jarful), but she will bear no responsibility if you choose to go in that direction.

Kim Davaz writes a biweekly cookbook review column for The Register-Guard.

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