The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories & 100 essential recipes for midwinter

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Pot of gold: roast partridge with parsnips and smoked garlic. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer In this episode we’ll continue our tour of Nuremberg and take in the magnificence of the city’s Christmas windows. I’ll explain my deep, life-long love of the cold months, and give you my recipe for traditional mince pies to welcome in December…

In The Christmas Chronicles, Nigel Slater has put together a wonderful compilation of recipes, notes and stories to see us through from the 1st November to the end of January. Covering everything we need to make the winter months bearable, Nigel has taken a classic approach to Christmas, and what could be more classic than a Christmas Cake? I shall make a post each day and we can share our thoughts and feelings on the days recipes, sentiments and indeed Dear Old Nige himself. I rather like the pure, spartan effect of a cake covered only with marzipan. If you use golden icing sugar your paste will have a soft, honey-coloured hue, like that of antique linen. Even the most hardened minimalist will agree such a cake needs something in the way of decoration. Marzipan stars of differing sizes pressed on to the smooth almond paste can look suitably festive, especially if their edges are blowtorched here and there. When I serve up food nicely ( ie using a big spoon and slide the food onto the plate , or arrange things neatly , ) my DD says I'm "Nigelling"Spoon the apricots and star anise into a sterilised preserving jar, then pour in the liquor (breathing in at this point is highly recommended) and top up with the sweet white wine. Seal and place in a cool, dark place for a good fortnight (better still, a month) before pouring the amber-coloured liquor into glasses. Please note that there is a mistake in the recipe for Mince Pies. The quantity of flour in the pastry should read 300g, not 175g.My apologies. In this episode we’ll talk about the art of choosing and decorating a perfectly-cut Christmas tree – the lights, jewels, and baubles that festoon the branches – and its importance as a symbol of the season. I’ll also give you my recipe for a fine, fruity chutney to accompany you through the winter months and brighten those stews, casseroles, and pies that sustain us in the cold. fluff, cut the dried fruits into small pieces,removing the hard stalks for the figs. Break the eggs into a small bowl, beat lightly with a fork, then add a little at a time to the butter mixture, beating continuously. (If it curdles, add a little flour.)

Slowly mix in the ground almonds, toasted hazelnuts and all the dried and vine fruits, the brandy and citrus zest and juice. Now mix the baking powder and flour together and fold them lightly into the mix. Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the top gently, and put it into the oven. Partridge does it for me. Expensive without being prohibitive, neat, lean and sweet-fleshed, they have a sense of jollity to them that I suspect comes from the carol. (There are no songs about a guinea fowl.)Put the prunes and sultanas into a sterilised jar, then pour over the muscat. Seal tightly and leave for a month before drinking. From the BBC1 presenter and bestselling author of Eat, The Kitchen Diaries and Toast comes a new book featuring everything you need for the winter solstice. Cut the leeks into rounds about 1cm in length and wash them in plenty of cold water. Bring the butter and water to the boil in a wide pan with a lid, then add the leeks. Cover with a piece of greaseproof paper, or baking parchment, and a lid. The paper will encourage the leeks to steam rather than fry. It has long been a tradition in our house to have a fish pie on Christmas Eve. Every imaginable fish-in-a-crust – from a deep dish of creamy fish sauce with a crumble top to whole fillets of salmon wrapped in puff pastry – has been on the table the night before Christmas. This year we are having a new version with a filling you make in advance. Hot smoked fish and leek pie It is as if my entire childhood was lived out in the cold months, a decade spent togged up in duffel coats and mittens, wellingtons and woolly hats. To this day, I am never happier than when there is frost on the roof and a fire in the hearth. I have always preferred snow underfoot to sand between my toes.

N O T E S, S T O R I E S A N D R E C I P E S F O R M I D W I N T E R. I have always loved the winter months, with their crisp mornings, candlelight and promise of snow. The Christmas Chronicles is the story of my adoration of the cold months, my fondness forthe winterlandscape with itspale blue skies and bare trees; forautumn and winter baking and the season's rituals and feasting. At theheart of the book is Christmas, its fables, folklore and of course, its food. Covering the top: Roll out the remaining almond paste with a rolling pin on a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Using the base of the cake tin as a template, cut a disc of paste that fits the top of the cake.Nigel begins his Chronicles proper on 1st November, but there is a lovely, quite lengthy introduction we can dip into during the second half of October. Put the granulated sugar into a medium-sized stainless-steel saucepan and add the maple syrup, white wine and aniseed. Cut half the figs in two, then put them into the pan. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and let the figs simmer for 20 minutes until soft and plump, and bloated with wine. Leave the cake for about an hour. Then, without opening the door, turn the heat down to 130C fan/gas mark 2 and continue cooking for an additional one and a half hours. Using the base of the cake tin as a template, cut a disc of baking parchment to fit neatly into the base. Now cut a long, wide strip that will fit not only around the inside of the tin, but a good 9cm above it. Place it around the inside of the tin.

Making the cake: Set the oven at 140C fan/gas mark 3. Using a food mixer and a flat paddle beater attachment, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Don’t forget to push the mixture down the sides of the bowl from time to time with a rubber spatula. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan until light brown, then cut each one in half. While the butter and sugars are beating to a cappuccino-coloured fluff, cut the dried fruits into small pieces, removing the hard stalks from the figs. Break the eggs into a small bowl, beat lightly with a fork, then add a little at a time to the butter mixture, beating continuously. (If it curdles, add a little flour.) Bake the pears in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then turn them over. At this point they will look decidedly uninteresting, but carry on anyway. Let the pears bake for a further 20 minutes, then watch them carefully. The sauce will be bubbling now, the colour of amber and rising up the pears. Test them for tenderness – a small knife should slide through them effortlessly. They should be translucent and soft as butter. If they aren’t quite ready or if the sauce isn’t syrupy, give them a further 5 minutes.Place the second sheet of pastry over the filling then press the edges of the two pieces of pastry firmly together to seal. It is important that they are well sealed, otherwise your filling will leak. Brush the top layer of pastry all over with the beaten egg, scatter with the nigella or sesame seeds then pierce a small hole in the centre with knife or the handle of wooden spoon. Place in the oven, the baking sheet on top of the hot, upturned one, and bake for 40 minutes till golden brown. A very personalstir-up of diary, memoir and cookbook, here are stories of Bonfire Night and Halloween, ofChristmases past and present, trips to the best Christmas Markets, shopping for decorationsand how to choose TheTree. There are mincepies and malt loaf, winter drinks and Christmas wreaths, candlelight and carols. This is mycelebration of the coldmonths from late autumn to well into the New Year,a day by day story of the winter solstice and its pleasures. I should add that if your idea of Christmas is all candy canes and fluffy kittens then this is not the book for you. (We should never forget that winter is as deadly as she is beautiful.) I have never enjoyed writing a book more than this. In this series you’ll be joining Nigel Slater on a crisp walk through midwinter in all its cold, glistening splendour, all the way up to Christmas Day. Along the path there’ll be recipes for some of your festive favourites and some new ideas, too, to excite your palate in these cold months.