A childhood Russian salad, honey-glazed duck and ricotta cake: seasonal family dishes filled with memories
Our Christmas is a very different occasion each year, from my Italian family to my English one with my wife and the grandparents. I’m very happy with whatever goes, and we’ve experimented with cooking different things at different times. I have great fondness for the Christmas lunches with Grandad and Grandma in Islington, where Grandad cooked a big piece of beef each year – it was fantastic when the kids were little. But when I think about the Christmases I had when I was young, there are many sweet memories.
When I was younger, my Christmas was very eclectic. All my family worked in restaurants, including on Christmas Day, and I did as well from quite a young age, doing Christmas lunch. Afterwards, we’d get together with our cousins, in different houses each year, and have a big Christmas dinner. It was a cornucopia – everyone contributed the dish they did best. It felt very joyous, and I never saw anybody stress about cooking.
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