CHRISTMAS NEEDS A SALAD.

WEAR THE SILLY HATS, TELL THE SILLY JOKES. JUST DON’T FORGET THE SALAD.

With Christmas, nothing exceeds like excess. Go overboard (kersplash), but do not forget the salad. Fresh, crisp, crunchy and pickly, with a touch of fruitiness: that’s the sort of salad that will bring a big serving of deliciousness and common sense to your Christmas dining.

It’s your get-out-of-carbohydrate-jail card.

Something you can shovel in your mouth and crunch through that will give you fibre, cut-through and juicy tanginess.

Something that’s like a breath of fresh air after all those stuffy stuffings.

Let’s face it, Christmas needs multiple salads, so here’s a handy link to three I’ve done recently that will be on my festive playlist.

• Turkish-inspired chopped salad.

• Dill and spinach rice with feta

• Tomato, watermelon and berry salad

PLUS: NEW SALAD TECHNIQUE ALERT!

I pinched this new (to me) trick from chefs Josh and Julie Niland of Sydney’s Saint Peter and Petermen. When I asked them to do a spectacular Christmas menu for my pages in the AFR Magazine this year, they brought it home in style. But my favourite learning (apart from Julie’s microwaved meringue toppings for the star-shaped biscuits), was how Josh put together the salad. It’s just so different, and so clever.

Here’s how he does it: He layers the finely shaved ingredients – in this case, fruits and vegetables – on top of one another on the chopping board, keeping a firm grip on them with one hand, and adding more with the other. Pressing them down, he then slices across them as if it were a loaf of bread and he was cutting thin slices of it.

This is the technique, not the finished salad!

I’ve christened the technique Shave, Stack & Slice, and I reckon it’s good to go all year round, but particularly handy for Christmas feasting.

Josh uses a mandoline to shave the cucumber into lengths, and radishes, apples and nectarines into discs, and fennel into ribbons. Then he stacks them evenly on a chopping board, sandwiching the layers with sorrel leaves for a touch of bitterness (and to hold it all together).

Using a sharp knife, he cuts across the stacked veggies and fruits to form matchsticks, then dresses the cut ingredients on the board with a couple of spoonfuls of dressing. To serve, he brings all the matchsticks together with his hands and piles it all onto a platter in a pyramid. Here’s a pic of the great end result by Rob Palmer (thanks Rob).

It’s the smartest and fastest way I’ve ever seen to do julienne, and it’s perfect for slaw or Thai salads such as som tum.

# Try it with pears and parmesan and crunchy green leaves, or radicchio and finely sliced raw or pickled beetroot. The ingredients need to be crisp and cuttable; so keep your heirloom tomatoes for another platter.

# A simple dressing: Whisk together 2 tbsp white wine vinegar and 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a drizzle of maple syrup or palm sugar syrup and sea salt.

# If what you are using is hard to stack, layer it all in a loaf cake tin, press down to compact it a bit, then turn out gently onto the chopping board

# You can see the whole Niland family Christmas feast story here, although it could be behind a paywall, sorry.

OR JUST STAY WITH THE OLD-SCHOOL SLAW TECHNIQUE.

CABBAGE, MINT AND BASIL SLAW

This is a great little life-saver that gives left-over turkey, ham, barbecued pork or chicken a second life. Toss the salad just before eating or the cabbage will soften too much. Grab the pale, softer wong gna bak (wong bok/wombok/Chinese cabbage) and half a red cabbage; and add anything else you like. Serves 4 as a salad.

• 500 g Chinese cabbage

• 100 g small red cabbage

• 100 g carrot, peeled

• 3 spring onions, cut into thin matchsticks

• 100 g snow peas, cut into matchsticks

• 1 red chilli, cut into thin matchsticks

• 1 cup coriander sprigs

• 1 cup mint leaves

• 1 cup Asian basil leaves

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2 tsp soft brown sugar

• 2 tbsp fish sauce or soy sauce

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tbsp beer nuts or cashews, roughly chopped

Cut the Chinese cabbage in half lengthwise then finely shred crosswise, and finely shred the red cabbage.

Cut the carrot into long shavings with a vegetable peeler then cut into long thin matchsticks.

Cut the spring onions, snow peas and chilli into long, thin matchsticks, and toss with the cabbages, carrot, coriander, mint and basil.

To make the dressing, whisk the sugar and vinegar together, then whisk in the fish sauce, sesame oil, chilli sauce and olive oil, sea salt and pepper.

Pour over the cabbage mixture and lightly toss, scatter with beer nuts and serve.

Tip: Add a packet of Chang's Fried Noodles at the last minute for an extra bit of crunch.

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And allow me to remind you of the great tahini cream dressing from a recent post: how good would this be – and how handy – for all your elevating-the-leftovers needs.

TAHINI CREAM

• 100 g tahini

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 garlic clove, finely grated (how much you use is up to you)

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients in a mini food processor or a bowl and give it all a good whiz or a whisk to come together - it will probably be stiff and a bit grey.

Add water by the spoonful and whiz or whisk until it miraculously turns pale, silky and smooth.

You should get a nice thick but pourable coating consistency, but you can keep adding water or more lemon juice to make it lighter and runnier if you prefer. I love adding a spoonful of natural yoghurt at the end for extra creaminess.

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And never under-estimate the charm of a creamy green goddess sauce. 

Full recipe here on Good Food, but you don’t actually need it. Just whiz half an avocado with half a cup of buttermilk or yoghurt, parsley, spring onion greens, maybe some rocket, a little grated garlic, a spoonful of whole-egg mayo to enrich, and lemon juice and honey to taste. Bright green, fresh, velvety – very merry Christmassy.

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Thanks for hanging out with me this year, it’s been a blast. And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for EVERYTHING! THE WHOLE KIT AND CABOODLE! ALL YEAR! ❤️❤️❤️

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, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.