CHRISTMAS DINNER TRIMMINGS

If the ham and turkey are the tree, then these bright and easy side dishes are the tinsel, baubles and Christmas lights. Merry Chris-mixed metaphors!

If you’ve ever seen a tiny tot play happily with the wrapping paper while completely ignoring the actual present, then you know my feelings about Christmas dinner.

It’s all about the wrapping paper – the roast vegetables, Terry’s gravy, the thyme-scented bread sauce, the muscatels, Mum’s plum pudding, the chilled sparkling shiraz, the fruit-cake.

So Santa has forced me to share three extremely easy side dishes for Christmas Day, which I have done in the interests of world peace. And getting the presents I asked for.

One: Sweet Potato with soy, maple and orange glaze

Two: Make-Ahead Mash (it’s a Monster Mash)

Three: The World’s Easiest Salad: red kidney bean, avo and jalapeno

1. SWEET POTATO WITH SOY, MAPLE AND ORANGE GLAZE

Slice sweet potatoes, bake, brush with glaze, bake again, don’t burn. Serve. That’s basically it, but if you need the reassurance of a recipe…

• 2 sweet potatoes

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp soy

• 2 tbsp maple syrup

• 2 tbsp orange juice

• Sea salt and pepper

1. Heat oven to 200C (conventional). Slice the sweet potatoes (peeled or not, up to you) about 1 cm thick.

2. Arrange in a single layer on a baking tray – or more likely two baking trays – lined with baking paper.Lightly brush with olive oil, then turn over and lightly brush again, scatter with sea salt and pepper, and bake for 30 minutes, turning once, until tender.

3. Bring the soy, maple syrup and orange juice to a boil, stirring, and reduce to a syrupy glaze.

4. Brush the glaze on the top of the sweet potatoes and bake for further 10 to 15 minutes until they are tanned and caramelised.

5. Grab something Christmassy – pink peppercorns, pomegranate seeds, cranberries, wedges of orange, and scatter over the top to serve. Serves 6.

Tip: Set your most trustworthy relative the task of keeping an eye on them for the last 15 minutes, as the ones in the corners might burn to a crisp, and we don’t want that.

2. MAKE-AHEAD MASH

Yes, a dish you can do a day or two before - we love that. Make your mash and pile it into a baking dish so that’s done. Then, when you’re ready, cover it with cheesy breadcrumbs and bake until crunchy.

Thanks to Annabelle Hickson of Galah magazine (“a voice from the bush”) for introducing me to this highly strategic, do-ahead dish when I interviewed a bunch of very high-achieving women to find out how they’ve changed their Christmas dinner traditions for the Financial Review. Her recipe came from Nigella The Magnificent (in Simply Nigella) but there are plenty of versions out there, often cheesed-up with Boursin, mozzarella or gruyere.

I quite like potato to taste just of potato (and butter), so my recipe doesn’t use cheese in the mash - just a little parmesan on top to help it brown. This would serve 6, but feel free to double it for more.

MAKE-AHEAD MASH

• 1 kg red-skinned potatoes

• 100 g cold butter, chopped

• 100 ml sour cream

• Up to 100 ml milk

• Sea salt, pepper

Topping:

• 50 g Panko or dried breadcrumbs

• 1 tbsp butter

• 2 tbsp grated parmesan

1. Peel the spuds and cut into thirds. Cook in simmering salted water until tender – about 20 minutes.

2. Drain well, then pop back into the hot, dry pan off the heat, to dry out a bit.

3. Mash the spuds with a potato masher (give yourself a good strong one for Christmas) then switch to a wooden spoon and add the butter and sour cream, sea salt and pepper, beating well.

4. Beat in the milk to lighten it a bit - you may not need it all, but it’s surprising how much it can take.

5. Pile into a buttered baking dish, no need to smooth out the top too much.

If you’re doing one or two days ahead, cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until required, then bring back to room temperature.

6. To finish, heat the oven to 200C conventional. Rub the softened butter into the breadcrumbs and parmesan with your fingertips until bobbly, and scatter all over the mash.

7. Bake for 30 minutes or until crunchy outside and hot inside. Serves 6.

At some stage, you’ll be needing the world’s easiest salad:

More guests turning up? Just keep opening those cans of red kidney beans (I like Annalisa brand) and make a bigger, juicier, beanier salad with handfuls of fresh coriander, avocado, and juicy tomatoes, sparked up with lime juice and jalapenos. Great with ham. Or take it to the beach with a bunch of corn chips for scooping up.

3. RED KIDNEY BEAN, AVO AND JALAPENO SALAD

Double the jalapeno for chilli fiends, or leave it out if there are kids.

• 2 x 400 g red kidney beans, drained

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 4 tbsp fresh lime juice

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 red onion, halved and very finely sliced

• 3 tomatoes or 10 plum tomatoes, diced

• 1 red capsicum, diced

• 1 avocado, diced into 1 cm cubes

• 1 tsp pickled jalapeno rounds, diced

• Half bunch of coriander, chopped

• Sea salt and pepper

• 1 tsp cumin

1. Drain and rinse the red kidney beans.

2. Mix the olive oil with 2 tbsp lime juice and sugar in the base of a bowl, add the finely sliced red onion and leave for 20 minutes to macerate and soften.

3. Add the diced tomatoes, capsicum, avocado, jalapenos, coriander, sea salt, pepper, cumin, and remaining lime juice, and toss well until all is bright and jolly.

Tip: If you make this ahead, the tomatoes will soften a bit and drop their juices. That’s fine, but you might want to drain it off and pep up the dressing again with more lime juice, olive oil and sea salt. Otherwise, just macerate the onions in the dressing on the base of the bowl and pile everything else on top without tossing, then combine everything when ready to serve.

Back-up: In case you need it - my Vegemite gravy recipe is here. An easy turkey roll that cooks in an hour and slices like a loaf of bread here. And because some of us think of Christmas Dinner only as ‘pre-leftovers’, my recipe for spaghetti hamonara here. Have a good one, x J

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Thanks for reading! And liking, commenting, subscribing, or sharing.

And to all those who were concerned that Terry was missing from last week’s fine print, never fear. I checked, and he’s still around. I may now be able to use my right hand for everything but opening bloody jars, but he’ll always be my right hand man.

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution.