Keep Christmas cosy with easy, homemade gifts created by the River Cottage team
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Dried apple & orange slices
Handcrafted decorations are a lovely alternative or addition to baubles and other bought tree ornaments. You can make these up to eight weeks ahead for Christmas. oranges and apples 1 lemon, juiced 1 tbsp salt twine, or other string or ribbon
1 Cut oranges into 1cm-thick slices. Pat dry to remove excess moisture and arrange in a single layer on an oven rack or baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Bake at 120C/100C fan/gas 1/2 for 3 hrs, turning every 30 mins or so to stop them from curling up too much.
2 Core the apples. Slice vertically or horizontally into 5mm-thick slices. Immediately plunge into a bowl of cold water, the lemon juice and salt to prevent discolouration. Let stand for 10 mins, then drain and pat dry. Bake as before until dried out.
3 Thread the oranges and apples onto twine or ribbon, if you want to hang them.
Red cabbage & beetroot pickle
Red cabbage is a familiar element of Christmas lunch. It’s often braised, which makes it an easy dish to cook ahead of time, freeze and reheat at the last minute. It’s always a good idea to have at least one vegetable you can get on the table with a minimum of fuss, and this recipe is exactly that, injecting a fresh zing into the Christmas feast and the days that follow. It can be made several weeks in advance – you don’t even need to decant it from its glass jar, just plonk straight on the table.
MAKES 1 x 1.5-litre jar EASY V
200g beetroot, peeled and grated 500g red cabbage, sliced 2 oranges, zested 10g cumin seeds, toasted and bashed 5g caraway seeds, toasted and bashed 5 juniper berries, lightly crushed For the pickling liquor 700ml cider vinegar 20g coriander seeds, toasted 20g fennel seeds, toasted 10g black peppercorns 20g salt 1 dried red chilli (optional)
You’ll also need sterilised 1.5-litre glass jar
1 First, prepare the pickling liquor. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan with 200ml water and slowly bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse for 1 hr.
2 Meanwhile, put the beetroot, cabbage, orange zest and spices in a heatproof bowl and toss to combine.
3 Bring the pickling liquor back to the boil, then pour through a sieve straight over the vegmix. Stir to combine.
4 The pickle is ready to eat as soon as it cools, but ideally should be packed into a 1.5-litre sterilised glass jar (find out how to sterilise jars on bbcgoodfood.com), sealed and left for a couple of weeks. Will keep in a cool, dark place for up to six months. Once opened, store in the fridge.
Chestnut & ch
