Winter in the Highlands

Flora Shedden · Winter in the Highlands

I love bread sauce the most. I have a recipe for a more traditional bread sauce in my first book, Supper, served with lots of brown butter and sprouts, if you are inclined. But this recipe is brilliant for the organised folk. It can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator before baking for up to 2 days, or in the freezer for up to a month. Defrost thoroughly overnight and bring to room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking as normal. The end result has a lovely golden top and delicious soft stodgy bread sauce underneath.

Flora Shedden · Winter in the Highlands

For your next festive gathering try this recipe for clementine fizz by Flora Shedden, made with kombucha and Cointreau.

Amber Guinness · Winter in the Highlands

My friend Niccolò introduced me to this dish. It’s his favourite soup, and he loves it so much he buys jars of it from his old neighbouring farm in Chianti and eats it straight from the jar. I love how this dish brings together two quintessentially Tuscan ingredients, chestnuts and chickpeas, both of which have been grown around us at Arniano for thousands of years since the time of the ancient Etruscans. Traditional recipes call for soaking dried chickpeas and roasting the chestnuts, but for ease, I use ready-cooked chestnuts and tinned chickpeas, though of course you can soak and cook the chickpeas. If you do, retain the soaking water for the soup and substitute it for half the stock. If you would like the dish to be even more substantial, add a couple of handfuls of pasta, such as filini, ditalini, broken-up spaghetti or, if you can get it, gramigna – small curled pasta tubes that are traditional in this soup but hard to find.

Flora Shedden · Winter in the Highlands

Upgrade your Burns Night spread with this recipe by Flora Shedden that puts a French twist on Scottish neeps and tatties.

Flora Shedden · Winter in the Highlands

A recipe for spiced parsnip loaf cake with a cream cheese frosting by Flora Shedden, perfect for the winter months.

Skye McAlpine · Winter in the Highlands

This is a wibbly-wobbly jelly with a soft melt-in-your-mouth set rather than the more solid, gelatinous variety I so strongly associate with childhood tea parties. Plus it has sparkling booze in it, which of course makes the whole thing feel very grown-up. The joy of jelly is that you can (indeed, you must) make it in advance, which in part at least is what makes it such an ideal dinner party dessert. It’s also low-effort, easy to make and both gluten- and dairy-free, so it’s a good option when navigating dietary restrictions.

Rick Stein · Winter in the Highlands

The Monte Cristo sandwich came to America from Paris in the 1920s, but since then it’s picked up what I would call gorgeous American excess – that is, think of something incredibly rich and luscious, then add something more. In this case, we have a French croque monsieur containing not only cheese and ham but also turkey and kimchi, then dipped in beaten egg and fried. As American chef and author David Rosengarten would say, ‘Don’t knock it, it’s brilliant’. I find the kimchi a fabulous addition but if you don’t like it, add more mustard or chutney; if you want something sweet, add some cranberry sauce.

Jürgen Krauss · Winter in the Highlands

Thanks to its nut content, the dough for these vanilla crescents is quite forgiving, by which I mean it remains pliable to shape without cracking. These biscuits are a favourite of my brother, and quite easy and quick to make. It wouldn’t be Christmas without them.