A large bowl of rice
A bowl of sour cream (crème fraîche)
A bowl of grated Cheddar
A bowl of guacamole (see recipe, below)
Tomato and coriander salsa (see recipe, below)
A handful of fresh coriander leaves
A bowl of tacos, tortilla chips or warm tortillas
1 Put the dried red kidney beans in a bowl and cover them with plenty of cold water. Leave them to soak for at least 5 hours or overnight, then drain them and put them in a saucepan. Cover them with fresh cold water, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Boil the beans for about 50-60 minutes until they are tender. Drain them, but reserve the cooking water. Set aside.
50g whole almonds, skin on
250ml vegetable stock or chicken stock
125g quinoa
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 Preheat the oven to 200C, 400F, Gas 5.
2 In a bowl, mix together the sweet potato or parsnip or celeriac chunks, whichever you re using, the thyme sprigs and the extra-virgin olive oil, and season with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3 Place the mix in a roasting tin in the preheated oven and roast for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender and slightly caramelised around the edges. Then remove from the oven, leaving it on, and set aside.
4 Put the almonds on a roasting tray and into the oven. Roast them for 5-8 minutes, tossing them halfway through, until they are golden inside. Remove the nuts from the oven and chop them very roughly.
I adore Christmas time and I suppose it s not much of a surprise that, for me, so much of it is about the food. The food, and family and friends. Whether that s sharing a glass of sherry and a mince pie with a friend, sipping mulled wine by a cosy fireplace or enjoying a slice of cheese with some chutney I ve made as a gift for a loved one. Then everything culminates in the final main event, the centrepiece of the festive season that everything has been leading up to: my St Stephen s Day leftovers sandwich!
Before we get to the sandwich though, there s the small matter of the Christmas meal to talk about - a proper, old-fashioned, no-holding-back feast. It does take some work, but the more people to help, the better, and offers of assistance should (hopefully) be forthcoming in this season of giving.
Noel Gardner
, December 15th, 2020 09:22
Viz is more than just a very funny comic to long time fan Noel Gardner. But the extent to which it s a vehicle for incisive, leftwing satirical commentary, he says in this subscriber only essay, is something that s open to debate.
Noel Gardner, portraits by Fiona Mackechnie/ all comic strips (c) Viz
A grand British institution that both exemplifies and subverts that nation’s rickety image, this story begins with a few years of slow brand-building and wilful daftness preceding untouchable status and a millions-strong fanbase. Then come the water-treading years, that period of essentially trading on past glories even while gamely trying new things, before steadying the ship into a latterday era of reliable peculiarity. All the while slotting high-minded reference points into a package which, despite everything, remains populist in essence.