Janine’s calm and cosy menu for a stress-free Christmas

Janine Ratcliffe

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Keep the festive season stress-free with our minimal effort, maximum show-off recipes

Christmas Day needn’t be spent labouring away for hours in the kitchen. This effortlessly impressive entertaining menu includes some make-ahead options, flavour hacks and a few shortcuts along the way, so you can serve a feast that looks every bit as special as the occasion. From a colourful deli-inspired starter to mouthwatering mains and a showstopping dessert, these crowdpleasing dishes mean you can spend less time with your oven and more with the people you love.

Get more inspiration for festive entertaining with our bumper collection of Christmas recipes, featuring seasonal starters, centrepieces, trimmings and desserts. We've also got plenty of Christmas party food ideas and festive drinks for a seasonal get together.

Starter

Hot smoked salmon deli tart with relish dressing

Spend a little bit of time making this pretty smoked salmon tart and you’ll be rewarded with a showstopping starter that will impress. The combo of soft cheese, salmon, sweet pickle and dill gives the flavours of a deli bagel in tart form. You can use hot smoked salmon or trout.

A salmon tart sliced into squares on a wooden serving board

Main

Crackling roast pork loin with spiced apples

This joint cooks quickly, slices beautifully and can be doubled up easily for a crowd. You can buy a pork joint often labelled ‘crackling joint’ in most supermarkets, which will be scored and tied ready for you to cook.

Roast pork with crackling on a dinner table

Side

Hasselback squash gratin with herby gremolata

This makes a gorgeous looking dish to take to the table and can double up as a veggie main. Look for squash around 700-800g each so you can fit them all into the tin. You can make this ahead doing the initial cooking then pour over the sauce and chill until needed. Give it an extra 10 minutes in the oven and make sure it’s piping hot and bubbling.

Someone presenting a hasselback squash dish to the table

Dessert

White forest pandoro cake

This showstopper cake is really just an assembly job of beautiful ingredients but it looks so impressive you don’t need to tell anyone that. Pandoro is an Italian sweet bread with a distinctive star shape. Brushed with liqueur and filled with a sweet white chocolate and vanilla cream and cherry jam it becomes a delicious dessert. The best (and neatest) way to eat it is to remove each layer and cut into pieces.

A towering pandoro cake dusted with icing sugar

Authors

Janine Ratcliffe in a short sleeved long dress sitting on a chair beneath palm trees on a balcony

Janine RatcliffeFood director

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