/ 07 January 2025

How To Entertain This Month, With Alexandra Dudley

Alexandra Dudley is a food columnist, cookbook author and host of the Come For Supper podcast. In this instalment of her monthly column, she shares a new year dinner party menu that makes the most of citrus – as well as her favourite entertaining accessories.

Alexandra Dudley

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It’s not often that we entertain in January, with the social fatigue from a manic December still leaving a lingering hangover for many of us. But January can be a lovely time to have people over. No one expects a flaming pudding, people are delighted if there is something fresh on the table, and the pressure to be the host-with-the-most is off. The forecast is usually cold and often quite dreary, so I like to bring a bit of colour to the table by filling the biggest bowl I have with a variety of sunny-coloured citrus fruit (which doubles up as a brilliantly simple table decoration).

Citrus is at its best this month so a simple citrus salad with torn mozzarella and a pistachio pesto serves as the perfect starter, followed by risotto alla Milanese as the main event. There is chocolate orange bark for pudding which is so simple it hardly requires a recipe and is good way to use up any odds and end of leftover Christmas chocolate.

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Saffron Risotto

A classic risotto that is simple to make but full of flavour.

Serves

Ingredients

2 shallots or 1 banana shallot, finely diced

Olive oil

250g of arborio rice

200ml of dry white wine

Good pinch of saffron

700ml of stock

100g of Grana Padano, grated

100g of butter

Method

Step 1

Heat a good slosh of oil in a wide heavy based frying pan and cook the shallots over a gentle heat for about five minutes until they are soft. Add the rice and cook for about a minute stirring.

Step 2

Pour in the wine and crumble in the saffron threads and cook for about 3 minutes until most of thew alcohol has absorbed then begin to ladle in the stock adding a little more when the rice has soaked most of it up.

Step 3

Check the rice after 15 minutes, it should be cooked but al dente. You may not need all the stock. Cooking times may vary.

Step 4

Once the rice is cooked but still has a good bite add the butter and the grated Grana Padano, stir until incorporated and the risotto is silky and golden.

Step 5

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper.

Citrus Mozzarella Salad With Pistachio Pesto

I love to the combination of tart orange and creamy mozzarella. Go with whichever citrus you like (grapefruit is also lovely here), just try to ensure you have a mix. Tearing the mozzarella brings a bit more texture to this and I always think it looks better than slices.

Serves

Ingredients

1 blood orange

1 orange

1 satsuma/tangerine

1 ball of mozzarella (125g approx.)

For the pesto:

50g of pistachios (plus extra to sprinkle)

1 large bunch of basil

1 garlic clove, finely grated

Juice of ½ lemon

Olive oil

Salt

Method

Step 1

Make the pesto first, I use a Magimix for this and whizz all the ingredients up adding enough olive oil to reach a spoonable consistency. It’s up to you how smooth you blend the pesto, I like mine with a bit of texture.

Step 2

Cut away the peel of the citrus fruits using a serrated knife. Slice into roughly 1cm rounds and arrange onto a serving plate.

Step 3

Tear over the mozzarella and spoon over the pesto. Drizzle over olive oil, sprinkle over a little more salt and finish with roughly chopped pistachios if you like.

Chocolate Orange Hazelnut Pistachio Bark

There’s always lots of odd ends of chocolate lying about after Christmas and this is a fab way to use them up. If you’re not a fan of orange chocolate, leave out the orange extract and go wild with the toppings. Dried apricots, flaked almonds, chopped walnuts etc are delicious too.

Ingredients

200g of dark chocolate

90g of white chocolate

2 tsp of orange extract

1 handful of toasted skinless hazelnuts, roughly chopped

1 handful of pistachios roughly chopped

Zest of 1 orange

Method

Step 1

Melt your dark chocolate in a glass bowl over simmering water, stir until just melted and take off the heat. Stir through the orange extract.

Step 2

Then melt the white chocolate the same way in a clean glass bowl.

Step 3

Pour the dark chocolate onto a baking tray that is lined with baking paper and dot teaspoonfuls of the white chocolate evenly over the top. Use a toothpick to drag the white chocolate through the dark to create swirls.

Step 4

Sprinkle over the hazelnuts and pistachios and zest over some orange zest if you like

Step 5

Leave to set in the fridge for a least an hour before cracking into serving pieces.