For acclaimed chef Chantelle Nicholson, Christmas has transformed from a sun-drenched summer celebration in her native New Zealand to embracing the wintry cosiness of a British festive season. Now based in the UK for over two decades, her non-negotiable essentials include perfectly crisp roast potatoes and, crucially, Brussels sprouts. The chef-patron of London's sustainable-focused restaurant, Apricity, has crafted an entire vegetarian Christmas menu designed to dazzle guests and minimise waste, proving that plant-based feasting can be the ultimate centrepiece.
A Festive Menu from Starter to Sweet
Nicholson's five-course offering provides a complete blueprint for a memorable meat-free Christmas day. It begins with canapés of blue cheese and honey gougères – choux pastry puffs that can be made and frozen ahead of time, requiring just 25 minutes baking from frozen. The starter is a rich roast squash velouté, utilising the entire vegetable including the skin and seeds to create a stock, and is garnished with pickled walnuts and Baron Bigod cheese.
The undisputed main event is a spectacular mushroom and celeriac pithivier. This French-style pie, encased in golden puff pastry, is a labour of love that Nicholson promises is "well worth the effort." It features layers of roast celeriac, a chunky chestnut mushroom purée, and parsley-flecked mushrooms, served with a luxurious celeriac and cream sherry sauce.
Essential Sides and a Showstopping Pudding
No British Christmas is complete without sprouts, and Nicholson's version is a flavour revelation. Her roast miso Brussels sprouts are cooked in hot oil until nutty, then finished with a glaze of miso paste and water. "I’m firmly team sprout – and team miso – so this combines the best of both worlds," she notes.
The feast concludes with a caramelised pear and rosemary pudding, a warm, sticky dessert that Nicholson describes as "alchemy." Pear quarters are baked under a brown sugar and butter caramel, then topped with a rosemary-infused sponge. The baked pear skins, tossed in sugar and oil until crisp, provide a final garnish, served with custard, cream, or ice cream.
Recipe Focus: The Mushroom and Celeriac Pithivier
This centrepiece recipe serves four with leftovers and requires about 15 minutes preparation and 2 hours 30 minutes cooking, plus chilling. The process involves roasting celeriac slices, batch-cooking 1kg of chestnut mushrooms with thyme and garlic, and creating a deeply flavoured stock from the roasted celeriac peelings with miso. The assembly sees the components layered within a scored puff pastry base, sealed under a larger pastry lid, and glazed before being baked until deep golden. The accompanying sauce reduces the celeriac stock with cream sherry and double cream.
Nicholson's philosophy of whole-ingredient cooking shines throughout the menu, turning often-discarded parts like squash seeds and celeriac peel into foundational elements of flavour. This approach not only reduces waste but also intensifies the taste of each dish, offering a sustainable and sophisticated take on the traditional Christmas spread.
