Great British Food Christmas 2024

Festive sides deserve to shine, and this indulgent recipe from CharlieBigham is deliciouslyversatile A Perfect Partner SavoyCabbagewith Chestnuts When it comes to cabbage these days, it seemsmost chefs have fallen in love with the Hispi, and it’s not bad at all, especially roasted over a fire, then slathered in tasty dressing or sauce. But I’ma fan of the good old Savoy, readily available and inexpensive and pretty easy to grow too. Add a few chestnuts and a generous amount of butter and, with next-to-zero effort, you’ve got a lovely greenwinter veg dish that will go well with any roast, or with a bakedVacherin cheese and some good crusty bread. Feeds: 4–6 Preparation time: 5minutes Cooking time: 10minutes 1 large Savoy cabbage 100g (3½oz) unsweetened, shelled chestnuts 40g (1½oz) butter Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper 1. Cut the cabbage in half and trim off the woody stalk and any manky outer leaves. Slice the cabbage about 1cm (½ inch) thick and steam or cook in a large saucepan of boiling water until tender (4–5 minutes). 2. Meanwhile, crumble or chop the chestnuts into smallish pieces. 3. Once the cabbage is cooked, drain in a colander, then put the butter, chestnuts, a pinch or so of salt and a generous amount of pepper in the pan and heat until the butter begins to sizzle. 4. Return the cabbage to the pan and toss well together. Serve immediately. “I’ma fan of the good old Savoy, readily available and inexpensive and pretty easy to grow too” Charlie’sTip This particular dish is also good with fried bacon lardons stirred in. Recipe extracted from Supper with Charlie Bigham by Charlie Bigham, published by Mitchell Beazley. Photography by David Loftus RECI PES | CHARL I E BIGHAM 47 greatbr i t i shfoodawards.com