10 Festive Accompaniments and Sides Recipes - Lavender and Lovage (2024)

10 Festive Accompaniments and Sides Recipes – 10 tried and tested festive sides recipes, that will make your roast turkey, ham, pork, beef, duck or goose SING!

With Christmas Day only 3 days away now, I thought it might be helpful to share ten of my most popular sides recipes with you, or accompaniments as I still call them! These ten tried and tested festive sides recipes, will make your roast turkey, ham, pork, beef, duck or goose SING, and are just as impressive and delicious as the main event on the table, in my opinion. I have shared the recipes below in an easy to find list, and there is still time to buy the ingredients for these recipes, unless like me, you have already bought your vegetables, spices and herbs. Enjoy, and do let me know if you make one or more of them this Christmas and New Year, I’ll be back before the Big Day with another post, all about FESTIVE BREAKFAST recipes, so please do pop back – have a lovely Advent Sunday, Karen

CHRISTMAS SAUSAGE, SAGE AND BACON STUFFING LOAF

A delectable and spectacular way to make and serve stuffing this Christmas, or for any other special occasion – this Christmas Sausage, Sage and Bacon Stuffing Loaf looks amazing and tastes delectable and it tastes all the better the next day when added to turkey or chicken sandwiches too! Can be made ahead and frozen, just take out of the freezer the night before and allow to defrost overnight.

SPICED RED CABBAGE WITH APPLES

A delicious festive recipe using red cabbage, fragrant spices & apples or pears; whilst this is happily cooking away, the spicy smell pervades the kitchen & indeed the rest of the house and heralds the start of my festive baking and freezing season – who needs expensive pot-pourri! Not only is this dish delectable to eat alongside turkey, pork, beef and hams in particular – but the colour is just gorgeous, a rich jewelled ruby red. This cabbage can be kept warm for long periods, reheated and also freezes very well, making it a very well behaved recipe.

ROAST PARSNIPS WITH BROWN SUGAR AND CINNAMON

These roast parsnips are far from a simple side dish. Adding a buttery coating alongside sweet cinnamon, sugar and lemon zest amplifies seasonal produce into something special. When preparing the parsnips, part-boil them first, as this makes sure they’re soft and fluffy on the inside after baking. Roasting parsnips in this tasty marinade enhances their natural sweetness, and this works for carrots, too. Serve these at the Christmas dinner feast, alongside a Sunday roast or even as part of your weekday lunches.

SAVOURY SAUSAGE AND SAGE BAKED APPLES

Perk up your roast pork roast, chicken Sunday Lunch or Christmas dinner with these Savoury Sausage and Sage Roast Apples – they are easy to make & delicious with all roasts, as well as making a tasty family supper dish when served with mashed potatoes and gravy. (Recommended recipe to cook with these apples:Perfect Roast ChickenorHoney Roast Chicken)

STICKY ROAST CHANTENAY CARROT MEDLEY WITH POMEGRANATE MOLASSES

A wonderful way to serve whole Chantenay carrots; these sticky roast carrots have a distinctly Middle Eastern flavour to them and can be served as an accompaniment to roast dinners, or as a main course vegetarian meal with crusty bread. If you cannot source purple and white Chantenay carrots, then just use the orange ones, they are just as delicious when cooked this way. Pomegranate molasses can also be hard to find, so use honey in its place if desired.

ROASTED “TARTAN VEGGIES” WITH SMOKED SEA SALT, HONEY AND THYME

A delectable roasted veggie recipe that takes its name from the colours that reminded me of tartan, and specially created for a Burns Night Supper, although these tasty “Tartan Veggies” can be served at Christmastime too, and they would also make a lovely veggie meal for a light lunch. This is a “build your own” recipe, the amount of vegetables required is dependant on how many people who you are serving and you may need to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

MINI POTATO DAUPHINOISE MUFFINS FOR CHRISTMAS DAY

PERFECT ROAST POTATOES

These perfect roasties are very light, crispy and fluffy inside, just divine actually. I sprinkled a little sea salt over them just before serving them and that was all that was needed to dress these fabulous roast potatoes.

FRAZZLED KALE AND FRISEE SALAD WITH POMEGRANATE, PERSIMMON AND WALNUTS

This colourful salad is full of taste, flavour and texture and makes a stunning winter salad for any festive occasion. Serve this as part of Christmas menu as a salad starter, or as a light lunch when you have over indulged.

A quick and easy stiffing made in the Vitamix® Ascent™ for hassle free and tasty Christmas or Festive entertaining. Using a crusty baguette with locally sourced (home-grown) walnuts, fresh sage, British red onions, locally sourced organic and free-range pork sausages and plump, juicy cranberries.