You may be desperately clinging on to the last rays of summer but, with fewer than 100 days to go until Christmas, the food world is in full festive fig. Indeed, thoughts have already turned to the aftermath, with chef John Williams encouraging readers of the newly released Ritz London: The Cookbook to butcher the ceremonial tree for its “fragrant and spicy” needles. He says they lend a zesty kick to dishes such as his douglas fir and lemon verbena cream, and salt-baked celeriac with douglas fir sprigs.
He is not the culinary A-list’s only fir fan: Danish wonder-chef René Redzepi been using “delicious” evergreens as a spice at his celebrated Copenhagen restaurant Noma for years. “Wouldn’t it be beautiful,” he said in 2010, “if families gathered after Christmas, festively removed the decorations and then cut off the tasty needles of the tree to flavour their food?”
But a pinch of pine can spruce up humbler dishes, too: the young spring tips are still made into preserves and teas by Native Americans, ensuring a supply of vitamin C throughout the winter, a custom adopted and adapted by scurvy-nervy European sailors, who turned them into beer. It is easy enough to make at home, but frankly, the last thing most of us need after Christmas is more booze, so why not recycle your tree into a fresh-tasting salad dressing by infusing vinegar with the needles, or pop a few sprigs in with your roasted veg or meat on Sunday?
The greener they are, the more pungent their flavour in the finished dish (a good reason to go for a living tree that you can at least attempt to plant outside afterwards), but central heating is a cruel mistress, and if yours ends up drier than your January plans, don’t despair – cook mussels. They are perfect for a smoky, resinous éclade de moules, a favourite beach dish on France’s Atlantic coast, but easily replicated in a British garden.
On the sweet side, use fresh needles to perfume sugar to top cakes, leftover mince pies (a Heston Blumenthal favourite) or roasted fruit – or bake these Christmas Comedown shortbread biscuits:
Beat together 115g soft butter, 55g caster sugar, a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons finely chopped pine needles until well combined. Stir in 170g plain flour until you have a smooth dough.
Chill for 15 minutes, and heat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2.
Roll out the dough to about 1cm thick, and then cut out into biscuits (you’ll get about 12)
Place on a lined tray and bake for about 30 minutes until lightly golden.
Allow to cool and crisp up before devouring. Perfect with a nice booze-free cuppa.
