The tree is covered with colorful glass ball ornaments, small hand drawn paper Santas and garlands, we’ve got light strands hanging in our windows, the presents are wrapped and Sinatra is playing from the kitchen speakers. It’s five days left to Christmas Eve and I don’t think we have ever prepared ahead for the holidays like this before. We have even test cooked all the Christmas food. Twice! Well, three times actually. One was for our early celebration with David’s family. The other was to shoot these photos. And the third time because David is manic about testing recipes three times.

Sharing Christmas recipe roundups seems almost obligatory when you work with food. This year we asked what type of recipes you were looking for and many mentioned more vegan dishes for your holiday feasts, so that is what we have done here.

I am not going to pretend that we are good at organizing big dinner parties, we are truly not. But we do have one method that we live by: Focus on having a good base of dishes and then ask guests to each bring a small side dish, drink, snack or dessert. That way you can have a generous buffet of food without the accompanying stress meltdown. Our cabbage parcels make a beautiful centerpiece with delicious mustard roasted roots and crispy smashed potatoes as warm sides. Because all of these dishes are quite rich, we also like to serve a fresh, tangy and crunchy salad on the side. Along with red cabbage Christmas krauts from our Green Kitchen at Home book. You’ll find the recipes here below.

A few other favorites from the archives are our Mushroom & Hazelnut Loaf, this one-tray Hasselback Potatoes with Kale and Pesto, the Pumpkin, Kale and Buckwheat Salad that we had for our wedding, this Black Quinoa & Kale Salad from dinosaur time (we’ve been making this for Christmas almost every year), and this Crispy Red Cabbage & Grape Salad (red cabbage salads are obligatory for all Danes on Christmas).

We actually have one more recipe that we haven’t had time to post yet. It’s a really good gingerbread bundt cake and we’ll do our best to post the recipe before Christmas Eve. Otherwise we’ll just call it a post-Christmas cake ;)

Happy holidays!
/Luise, David and all the kids!

Stuffed Cabbage Parcels
Makes 8 parcels

These pretty little parcels are stuffed with rice, lentils, walnuts and raisins and cooked in a holiday spiced tomato broth. They are a little fiddly to make but super flavorful and well worth the effort. This recipe is vegan but you could also add feta cheese to the parcels if you feel like it.

Filling
– 100 g / ½ cup uncooked red rice (see note)
– 100 g / ½ cup uncooked puy lentils
– 500 ml / 2 cups water
– ½ tsp sea salt
– 1 tbsp olive oil
– 1 large red onion, peeled and finely chopped
– 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
– 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
– 4 tbsp raisins
– 2 tbsp lemon juice
– 4 tbsp chopped parsley

Tomato Broth
– 750 ml / 3 cups vegetable stock
– 1 x 400 g / 14 oz tin crushed tomatoes
– 1 tsp whole cloves
– 1 tsp whole allspice
– 2 star anise
– 2 cinnamon sticks
– 1 pinch sea salt

Assembling
– 1 savoy cabbage
– 8 pieces of cooking string
– 1 tbsp olive oil to fry in

Instructions
1. Rinse rice and lentils in a sieve under running water.
2. Transfer to a saucepan and add water and salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and let simmer until tender, for about 35 minutes or according to the time on the package.
3. Place another sauce pan with the Tomato Broth ingredients on the stove, bring to a boil and then turn the heat down and let it slowly simmer under a lid for 20 minutes on low heat.
4. Meanwhile, add oil to a large skillet and sauté onion and garlic for 10 minutes on medium heat or until soft and translucent.
5. Transfer the onion to a bowl and wipe out the pan (you will use it to fry and cook the parcels in later on).
6. Drain any excess water from the rice and lentils. Add the onion and garlic, walnuts, raisins, lemon juice and parsley and stir to combine.
7. Carefully break off 8 leaves of the savoy cabbage. Trim off the thickest part of the stalk.
8. Blanch the savoy cabbage leaves in a sauce pan with salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Drain and lay out on a tea towel.
9. Spoon 3 tablespoons of filling into the center of each cabbage leaf. Fold up and tie with the string. Repeat with the remaining seven.
10. Place all parcels in a heated skillet with a little oil added. Fry on both sides until browned.
11. Pour the broth into the pan with the cabbage parcels (the pan should be half filled). Put a lid on and let simmer for about 30 minutesor until the cabbage feels soft and tender (you can cook the parcels for a shorter time if you prefer them a little crunchier).
12. Serve the parcels with a little broth poured on top. Remove the strings before eating ;)

Note
– When cooking the rice and lentils for the filling in the same sauce pan you just need to make sure that they have similar cooking times. If not, start with the one with the longest time and then add the other accordingly. Or cook in separate pans.

Smashed Balsamic Potatoes
Serves 4 as a side

This rustic potato recipes combine three different potato methods into one – boiled, mashed and roasted. They are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside with a sweet tanginess added from balsamic vinegar.

Ingredients
– 1 kg / 2 lb small potatoes
– 2 tsp salt
– 3 tbsp olive oil
– 1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
– 1 tsp maple syrup
– a few sprigs fresh thyme

Preparation
1. Set the oven to 225°C / 450°F.
2. Wash the potatoes (keep the skin on) and place in a large sauce pan.
3. Cover with water and add 1 tsp salt. Cook for about 20 minutes (longer if you use bigger potatoes) or until easily pierced with a fork.
4. Drain the water and leave to cool for a bit.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the potatoes on it.
6. Smash the potatoes by pressing down on them using the backside of a glass.
7. Stir together oil, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup and drizzle generously over the potatoes, making sure that you get it into all the nooks and crannies. You can use a brush for this as well.
8. Sprinkle with salt and thyme leaves.
9. Place in the oven and roast for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are crispy and golden brown.

Tip
– This is perfect as a side for 4 persons but you can easily double the recipe if you are cooking for a crowd. Just use two baking sheets and set the oven to fan mode and lower the temp slightly for more evenly distributed heat.

Mustard Roasted Roots
Serves 4 as a side

We love a good tray of roasted roots. Here we have coated the roots in cinnamon, grainy mustard, a little vinegar and maple syrup and roasted them until they start to caramelize. We serve these with a saffron sauce which basically is this turmeric tahini sauce but with saffron instead of tahini. But a simple yogurt based sauce could be great too.

Ingredients

– 1 kg / 2 lb mixed roots (parsnip, carrots, swede, sweet potato)

Dressing
– 3 tbsp olive oil
– 2 tbsp grainy mustard
– 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
– 1 tsp ground cinnamon
– 1 tsp maple syrup
– 1 tsp sea salt

To Serve
– 2 tbsp hemp seeds or finely chopped almonds

Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 375°F.
2. Peel the roots and chop into batons (roughly 10 cm / 4 in long and 1,5 cm / 1/2 in thick).
3. Stir together the dressing ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
4. Add the roots and toss until all are covered.
5. Tip out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and spread out in an even layer.
6. Place in the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Give the sheet a toss, then crank up the heat to 225°C / 450°F and bake for 20 minutes more or until golden and slightly charred.
7. Transfer the roots to a serving platter and sprinkle with hemp seeds.

Tips
– This is perfect as a side for 4 persons but you can easily double the recipe if you are cooking for a crowd. Just use two baking sheets and set the oven to fan mode for more evenly distributed heat.
– You can use any root for this but swede, carrots, sweet potato and parsnips are our favorites.

 

Crispy Celery and Orange Salad
Serves 4

– 1 head romain lettuce or cosmopolitan
– 4 celery stalks (or fennel)
– 2 oranges
– 4 tbsp toasted hazelnuts

Mustard vinaigrette
– 2 tbsp olive oil
– 1 tbsp vinegar
– 1 tsp Dijon mustard
– 1 tsp maple syrup

1. Rinse the lettuce in water and chop into 5 cm / 2 in large pieces, discarding the stem.
2. Thinly slice the celery stalks (or mandolin the fennel of using).
3. Peel the oranges and cut in halves and thinly slice each half.
4. Place all prepped ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
5. Whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients in a small separate bowl.
6. Gently toss the dressing with the salad ingredients.
7. Chop the toasted hazelnuts.
8. Transfer to a serving bowl and scatter with hazelnuts. Serve!