Why my mum’s scotch eggs are my Twixmas essential

The culinary essence of the festive season is a kind of sanctioned chaos. Never mind that, from one angle, Christmas is mostly just rigidly observed collective food traditions and grown adults dying on the hill of whether yorkshire puddings should be served with turkey.I don’t think I ever really feel that warming yuletide rush until I have turned a disparate assemblage of leftovers into what, to the casual observer, looks distinctly like a completely unhinged plate of food. I think most of us will know the sort of thing: there will be ragged hunks of surplus cheese, brine-slicked olives, stray bits of fruit and thick slices of the last of the cola-glazed ham; there will be a splat of cranberry sauce, a wodge of stewed red cabbage, and a dense, sticky slice of breathalyser-troubling Christmas cake. It is, I suppose, what most people think of as a Twixmas picky tea

Crunchy, tangy and fun: nine summer salad recipes to make this Christmas

The sun is beaming, cicadas are chirping and the air conditioning is on full blast. What better than a fresh salad to sit amid the holiday spread?While beautiful in theory, when it comes down to it, salad is often the bottom of the Christmas food hierarchy, resulting in a slap-dash selection of soggy, underseasoned leaves.The recipes we’ve chosen range in prep time but all offer something special – hot, cold, creamy, tangy – qualities guests may not expect. Some shine as a main dish while others work well as a supporting character to ham, turkey or other festive proteins. A few are also able to be easily assembled upon arrival if you’re not hosting

No more kitchen martyrs – a guide to sharing the load at Christmas

“Anything I can do to help?” If ever a line was guaranteed to incense the person in charge of cooking for a crowd, it is this one: uttered in seeming innocence by a guest roused by the sound of clattering pans, and who wants to seem polite but in reality hopes the answer is: “No, thank you.” This was drilled out of us from a young age by a mother who firmly believed that those who are serious about helping need not look far to find vegetables to chop or pots to wash up. But for guests who can’t “read” kitchens – or minds, for that matter – there are some principles that might prove helpful at this time of year. And, for hosts who hate delegating, there are a few ways to share the load (and increase the fun) without losing your sanity.The Guardian’s journalism is independent

A meat-free Christmas: Chantelle Nicholson’s French mushroom pie, caramelised pear pud and more

Christmas for me began as a summertime celebration in New Zealand, with long days and warm evenings. Twenty-plus years on, the wintry cosiness of a UK Christmas has taken hold. Now, my essentials include perfectly crisp roast potatoes with plenty of gravy, and sprouts (non-negotiable). Even my young niece and nephew love them, which is a small victory I’m quietly proud of.Warm gougerès fresh from the oven are a pretty tricky thing to beat

10 of the best Australian sparkling wines for every budget

If my Spotify Wrapped is anything to go by, I’ve spent a suspicious amount of time with Phil Collins this year. While I’ve been listening to Another Day in Paradise, champagne prices have been climbing, and finding quaffable Australian traditional method sparkling under $30 is becoming more challenging, as local bubbles float up with their imported counterparts.Against all odds, there are still a few affordable, excellent Australian sparkling wines out there, along with many worth splashing out for. While I can’t promise these wines come with the same 80s flair as Phil Collins, they’re bottles I’ll be putting on high rotation over the festive season.1

Cosmopolitan Christmas: Stosie Madi’s French-African-Lebanese Christmas lunch – recipes

I was born in west Africa, and brought up between there, France and the UK in a French-Lebanese-British family. Unsurprisingly, then, our Christmas lunch was more than a bit diverse: my father always insisted on some British and Lebanese elements, while my mother contributed French dishes and technique; west African produce was also a must, because the house would be full of all nationalities, including our African family. Not only that, but our Christmas would invariably start with a guest list of about 20, and another 20 or so waifs and strays would always then turn up in need of feeding and watering. Today’s dishes were part of our regular seasonal festivities, as good in the sunshine as they are robust enough for a chilly British winter.Lebanese feasts always feature some form of pie, and sambouseks are tiny little ones with various fillings