Christmas cooking quantities are cause of considerable consternation. Before the big day you’re asking, “Is this enough?” as you picture hungry great-aunts and hollow-legged teens looking askance at empty platters. Afterwards, you realise there was way too much food (just like there was last year and the year before that). Now, it’s all about what you do with the leftovers. Here are some ideas.
It’s on. That party, the picnic, that “we have to catch up” get together. Yes, you’re looking forward to it – except for one thing. There’s that scary question you have to ask: “What can I bring?” There’s a danger that they won’t say, “Bring a few beers or some wine.” What if they say, “Oh, just a little plate of something”? You barely have time to get dressed let alone whip up a pavlova. But it doesn’t need to be a major stress. Bring-a-plate success is as easy as smart shopping and these summery no-cook solutions that will ensure you’re invited back.
I love chatting with Kate Stevenson and Ross Stevenson on 3AW’s A Moveable Feast radio show, so it was great to go in there this weekend to follow on from my recent ThermoMyth-busting article.
“Jessi loves to feed people and he can do it anywhere,” says his wife Jennifer. He did it as a boy in his Punjab village, getting up at 4am to water the fields, milk the buffalo and make yoghurt lassi for breakfast before heading to school. He did it in Jennifer’s miniature apartment in San Francisco. “He invited people over, I told him it was impossible, but amazing food kept appearing from my tiny kitchen,” she says. Even today, he’s known for rummaging in friends’ fridges and creating feasts, turning his hosts into honoured guests in their own homes. He’s tapping into a Sikh sense of hospitality. “It’s a natural part of my culture,” he says. “Everyone must sit down and eat together and the guest is considered God.” It also, simply, makes him feel good. “After a long day in the kitchen, cooking is a therapy for me,” he says. “It gives me huge satisfaction to know I made my meal from scratch.”
