Top tips for taking the stress out of Christmas cooking

She’s cooked for prime ministers, but how does Annabel Crabb cope with Christmas? She shares her manifesto for no-fuss feasting.

Annabel Crabb has simple Christmas ideas for the big day. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

’Twas the night before Christmas and all across the land, normally calm home cooks were getting their tinsel in a twist.

The festive season is meant to be a time of peace and joy, of sharing special moments with our nearest and dearest, of smiles and laughter. Too often, however, it can become a time of tantrums and tears – particularly in the kitchen.

Perhaps it is the unexpected guests who happen to call by right when the house looks like a war zone. Or the paralysing, week-long panic brought on by the thought of hosting the Biggest Day of the Year for perennially critical rellies. Or the over-roasted turkey that looks a dead duck.

Whatever the trigger, Christmas has the potential to turn the jolliest of souls into a sulky Grinch.

The remedy is to “trim the sails of your ambition” and “work within the constraints of your life”, says television personality and proudly imperfect host Annabel Crabb.

“It’s like a kid when you are hoping for some amazing present and you get something else,” she says.

“If your expectations are sky-high then you will be more annoyed with a relative who behaves like a jerk. People build it up and want it to be the perfect meal, so they err on the side of over-complication.

Annabel Crabb has plenty of tips for surviving cooking at Christmas. Picture: Justin Lloyd

“More dishes that take more time, and you think that will add up to more happiness but it adds up to more stress. And more personal resentment when your plans get thrown out by the arrival of some relative with a crazy salad or an inappropriate dessert that overshadows yours.

“If you keep expectations moderate, you will be pleased when it works out better
than planned.”

 ALL SMILES  

It’s a rule that Annabel tries to keep in mind at home, where she juggles caring for a young family with her media and other roles. It is also the theme of her new book with old friend Wendy Sharpe, Special Guest: Recipes for the Happily Imperfect Host.

“People watch cooking shows and feel they have to put together something with a high degree of difficulty,” says Annabel, whose twin passions for politics and cooking came together in the popular TV series Kitchen Cabinet.

“But really the essence of hospitality is to delight the people you love that you have invited around to your house. That could be a complicated meal but it could just as easily be something simple, that lets the ingredients do the work for you, and that maximises the time you spend with your guests with a smile on your face.

“Everyone has been to dinner parties where they ring the doorbell and the horrified host appears with a face of thunder and they have just had a fight with their other half … about who forgot to get ice or turn the oven off.

“They are awkward because as a guest you feel you are causing trouble by being there.”

Annabel Crabb with prime minister Scott Morrison on Kitchen Cabinet.

 POWER OF ONE  

Annabel’s first rule of entertaining is to focus on one, main dish – and doing it well – rather than a collection of things that will inevitably be difficult to complete.

“The natural host instinct towards generosity is to make this and that,” she says. “Then you realise you have bitten off more than you can chew.”

This applies equally to hosting breakfast, lunch or afternoon tea – but also at Christmas, where one spectacular roast or baked fish needs only the right salads and other sides.

And, adds Annabel, this doesn’t necessarily means coming up with something different every time.

“There is no disgrace in cooking the same thing whenever people come around,” she says. “If you are really good at cooking the one dish and it’s a hit, then call it your specialty and make it with joy every time.”

So if you cook a mean roast chook at other times, why not stick with a couple of those instead of the unexplored territory of a bigger bird for Christmas lunch.

Or if you are a natural at the barbecue, prepare a platter of grilled seafood and serve with lemon wedges and finger bowls.

 OTHER MEALS 

Entertaining doesn’t have to be restricted to lunch or dinner. “Breakfast is a great thing to do,” Annabel says. “Everyone enjoys it and they are out of the house by late morning.

“And afternoon tea is a much-neglected tradition, but a great one. If you have the morning free, you can bake quite a complicated cake, or a big, generous fabulous cake, and have it there when people turn up. Just serve that, nothing else, with cups of tea or champagne.”

 SURPRISE GUESTS 

Rather than being put into a spin, Annabel welcomes unexpected guests, a common occurrence at this time of the year. For a start, it means there is no time to bother about tidying up the books and art projects and other flotsam of children that is inevitably cluttering the kitchen table.

“Wendy and I both reckon our favourite way of entertaining is completely last minute invitations,” Annabel says. “You run into someone on the way home from the bus and say ‘do you want to come for dinner?’. Or someone is at your house already, you look at the clock and say ‘would you like to stay for lunch?’.”

Annabel always has chorizo sausages in the fridge for guests who can’t go without meat.

 A FEW ESSENTIALS 

This approach, of course, relies on just a little bit of planning and knowing that there are a few key ingredients in the fridge, freezer or pantry to do the heavy lifting. Some of Annabel’s essentials are:

● FROZEN PEAS: A bag of peas is a terrific emergency entertainment option, Annabel says. Throw them into the food processor for a chilled soup or blend with mint and feta to make a dip. Mash on grilled sourdough for bruschetta. Sprinkle over the top of a partially cooked frittata with feta, or add to risoni for the last few minutes of cooking, drain, and finish with smashed green peppercorns for some heat (the recipe is in the book).

● HALOUMI: Always in the fridge. Annabel’s after-work standby is spaghetti with pan-fried haloumi, chilli, capers, rocket and a big squeeze of lime juice. Keep a selection of other cheeses (Annabel has eight!) for different occasions.

● CHORIZO: Annabel is a pescetarian but keeps chorizo in the fridge “in case of a last-minute invasion by carnivores”.

“If you are serving something that is essentially salad or vegetarian and you have a ‘chop gobbler’ with a wistful look in their eye, then you can slice chorizo up and put it in a pan, then it can be a great side dish,” she says.

 SPECIAL DIETS  

Annabel has a different approach to cooking for people with special requirements.

“It’s amazing how freaked out people get about cooking for vegans,” she says. “If you start at the dietary requirement and work backwards, you can put together a meal where everyone feels they are eating the same thing.

“Rather than the customary way of cooking lamb shanks and giving the vegans brussels sprouts or a side salad, cook something vegan as a base, then have meat as a side for people who can’t do without it.”

Annabel Crabb says you should encourage guests to bring a plate. Picture: Rob Palmer

 SHARE THE LOAD 

Take advantage of the great Australian tradition of “bring a plate” and ask members of the family to contribute to the Christmas feast.

“You just need a little bit of communication in advance,” Annabel says, “so you don’t all bring the same thing, or bring something that wildly clashes with everything else.

“Having said that, Christmas in Australia is all about insanely clashing dishes because everybody has their traditional thing to make.”

 LIGHTEN UP 

While Annabel concedes that some people have an emotional connection to roasted meats for Christmas lunch, she prefers something lighter.

“I have always been attracted to seafood and that is what I dream of at Christmas,” she says.

Annabel grew up at Lower Light in South Australia, an area known for its crabs.

“Anything with blue swimmer crab reminds me of home,” she says of her pretty little rolls that include a green apple remoulade and peppery nasturtium leaves with their festive blooms.

The rolls would work both as finger food for a pre-Christmas drink or a starter.

Barbecue prawns with nam jim dressing.

 STAR IS PRAWN 

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a plate of prawns, Annabel says, whether they are ready-cooked for peeling and dunking in a mayo or dressing, or raw beauties to throw on a hot grill.

“That’s where I get my char from – shellfish subjected to direct heat,” Annabel says. “And I love it when it is cut with some sort of Asian flavours like a nuc cham style dressing.”

She recommends a Vietnamese-style glass noodle salad with the Christmas colour of ruby grapefruit segments, spring onions, green papaya, mint and coriander.

“I love those ingredients that make their own dressing, like ruby grapefruit,” Annabel says, “and they are like jewels when segmented properly.

“This salad is very cooling but tangy and spicy and everything else that perks you up on a Christmas Day, when you are eating too much.”