The winter months often bring an abundance of invitations - holiday parties, family get-togethers, workplace celebrations. Sharing meals, conversation, and laughter offers warmth and comfort in what can be a long season. And potlucks abound; for some, a potluck is a chance to share a treasured recipe, passed down through the generations.  But for others, figuring out what to bring to a potluck is a stressful endeavour.  Choosing the perfect dish to share, knowing how much to make, and how to plate it can feel overwhelming.  Even if you’re a potluck pro, you might find yourself burnt out from making your usual dishes and keen to try something new this year. 

This winter potluck season, if your host asks you to bring an appetizer, salad, main dish, or dessert, I've got you covered with a delicious recommendation for each. Easy to scale up or down, with crowd-pleasing flavours, and wow-factor looks, these are sure to be a hit at your next get together. 
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Appetizer - Cucumber with pickled ginger

I’ll be honest, this appetizer is so easy it feels a bit like potluck cheating. When my friend served it at a neighbourhood party earlier this year, I gave her platter the side-eye. It was just cucumber. And some ginger. This couldn’t possibly be a thing? But one bite and I was sold, already reaching for another refreshing slice. I’m sorry I ever doubted you, Elspeth! 

Whilst this appetizer is wonderfully cooling in the heat of summer, I think it’s a lovely palate cleanser amidst the heavier offerings at winter potlucks.  Serves 8-10. 

Ingredients

1 english cucumber, sliced into ¼” thick rounds

1 jar pickled ginger

½ lime, juiced 

Roasted black sesame seeds

• Place the cucumbers on a platter, slightly overlapping the slices.
• Top each with a small piece of pickled ginger.
• Sprinkle the slices with lime juice and black sesame seeds.
• Serve chilled

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Salad - Shredded brussel sprout and grape salad

I came across this recipe by Reilly Meehan and immediately wanted to make it for my next get together with friends. The mix of textures, the salty-sweet combination from the grapes and parmesan - it all comes together in a perfectly balanced salad. This version serves 6-8 but for a larger crowd, simply double the recipe. It keeps well in the fridge, so don’t stress about leftovers.

The food processor method is the easiest I’ve found for quickly preparing your sprouts for salads. Most food processors come with a 2-in-1 blade for slicing and shredding. It's usually a reversible blade attachment that lets you shred or thinly slice your ingredients. To easily cut up the brussel sprouts for this recipe, you can insert the disc into your food processor with the raised slicing blade facing up. If you don’t have a food processor, you can (very carefully!) use a mandolin, or slice them by hand. 

Ingredients 

1 pound cleaned brussel sprouts, ends trimmed, and sliced as per the note above

2 cups red grapes, cut in half

1 cup sliced almonds

½ cup parmesan cheese shavings

1-2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Juice and zest from 1 lemon

1 clove minced garlic

About ½ cup olive oil

Pinch chili flakes

Salt and pepper 
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• Toast the almonds in a dry pan over medium low heat and swirl occasionally until lightly toasted. Set aside to cool.
• Add the mustard, lemon juice and zest, garlic, olive oil, chili flakes and salt and pepper to a jar, tighten the lid and shake vigorously until combined.
• Place the shredded brussel sprouts into a large bowl along with the halved grapes, toasted almonds and shaved parmesan. 
• Add the dressing and toss well to combine.  
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Main course - Sausage roll

My mum has been making this recipe, adapted from the Best of Bridge Winners cookbook, since I was a child.  It looks fancy, is fairly simple to put together, full of flavour, and can be eaten hot or cold.  In other words, this is a perfect potluck recipe. It usually serves eight, but you can easily double the recipe and cook two rolls side by side. 

Ingredients

1 pack frozen puff pastry, thawed according to instructions

8 slices of bacon or 2 packs of lardons

½ onion, finely chopped 

2 cups of white mushrooms, small diced 

1 lb mixed ground meat (I use ½ lb lean ground beef and ½ pound pork, but you could also use veal or lamb) 

1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

1 egg, beaten

Salt and pepper

Chutney for serving
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• Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Cook the bacon or lardons in a frying pan until crispy before setting it aside to cool on a paper towel. Once cool, crumble the bacon.
• In the same pan, sauté the onions and mushrooms in the bacon fat until softened, about 5 minutes. 
• Place the bacon, onions and mushrooms in a bowl before adding the uncooked ground meat and mix well. Season with a teaspoon of salt and ground pepper.
• Roll out the thawed pastry into a rectangle and place it on your baking sheet. If your pack comes with two pre-rolled portions, I like to overlap them by a ½ inch to create one longer rectangle that fits my baking sheet.
• Spread the mixture down the middle of the pastry, leaving 3” of pastry along each length. 
• Place tomato slices all along the top and season with salt and pepper. 
• Cut the exposed pastry on each long side into 1” wide strips.
• Fold each end up over filling then lay the strips from each side alternatively over the top to produce a braided effect.
• Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and bake in the oven for 1 ¼ hours, until the pastry is golden.
• To serve:  slice into 1”- 1 ½” sections and arrange on a platter with a small bowl of chutney for guests to add if they wish.

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Dessert - Italian apple cake

I like my potluck desserts to look and taste amazing but be as fuss-free as possible. You don’t want to be fiddling with reheating or finding extra plates and utensils when it comes time to serve. This beautiful apple cake from Nigella Lawson’s Nigellissima cookbook is light and airy, with a bright note of lemon, and can easily be served on a napkin. Of course if you’d like, you can serve it on a plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, but it's lovely as is. Serves 8.

Ingredients

7 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 ⅔ cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 Tbsp whole milk at room temperature

1lb (about 3) crisp eating apples (pink lady, honeycrisp), peeled and cored

1 tsp brown sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon
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• Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and grease a 9” springform pan, lining the bottom (cut to size) with parchment paper.
• In a food processor, add the flour, baking powder, salt, butter, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Mix until a thick batter forms.
• With the processor on, slowly add the milk until the batter is smooth.
• Cut one of the apples in half.  Chop one half into ½” cubes and add to the batter, pulsing to mix them in.
• Scrape the batter into the pan, smoothing it gently to the edges.
• Quarter the remaining apples and thinly slice them. Layer them in circles on top of the cake batter, starting from the outside edge of the pan.
• Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon before sprinkling it on top of the apples.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs sticking to it.
• Let the cake cool for an hour in the pan before serving, or leave it to cool.
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