Christmas Dishes

Simplot's experts are sharing three simple recipes for snacks and meals that will make working from home more bearable for diners, who can use the recipes to maintain their productivity while also continuing to look after their health.

The final stretch of the year is an intense time when it comes to work — finishing off reports and tying up loose ends is vital so that diners can relax with their loved ones over Christmas and New Year. However, with working from home still common at companies due to new variants of COVID-19, the final stretch of 2021 can be made easier by food companies tickling their tastebuds with seasonal snacks and dishes.

And, from a biological perspective, balanced snacks provide people with extra nutrition that can raise their productivity by up to 20%, according to global studies. In other words, sandwiches during working hours directly improve productivity by reducing wasted time, and they give staff the energy boost they need in winter.

With this in mind, our culinary experts in potatoes and avocados have three simple Christmas dishes to make remote work more bearable during the final stretch of the year:

1. Healthy and delicious Mediterranean toast

Delicious, healthy and easy to make, Mediterranean avocado toast is the perfect snack. All you need to do is spread a little olive oil on a slice of artisanal wholemeal bread of your choice and toast it in the oven. Once the bread is toasted, add a thin layer of tapenade and avocado pulp, and then sprinkle over a little salt and pepper. Then put on some half-sliced cherry tomatoes to your liking and a little crumbled feta cheese, and garnish it with a fresh basil leaf. Delicious!

2. Loaded "Santa Claus" fries

These "Santa Claus" fries covered with chocolate, red caramel and red velvet sponge mix make for a true Christmas feast. They're really easy to prepare — just mix 150 g of sugar with 90 g of red velvet sponge mix and cover 360 g of Simplot Tin Roof Fries and 80 g of Sidewinders™ fries (prepare fries according to package instructions) with your red mixture, but save some without coloring. Now you need to cover half of the remaining ones with 90 g of melted white chocolate and some colored sprinkles, and set them aside.

To prepare the caramel "sauce," put 130 g of sugar and 10 ml of water in a pan over medium heat until you have a caramel, tip in 150 g of whipping cream and 20 g of butter, and stir. The next step is to add red coloring until you have the right color and set it aside. Putting it all together: Place the sugarcoated fries at the bottom, drizzle over some red caramel, add in some pieces of red velvet sponge, and then put on the fries with white chocolate. Ready! Dig in!

3. Chocolate and avocado ganache Christmas cookies

Christmas cookies are a seasonal staple that provide an energy boost and bring a smile to our souls. To make them, you need to cream 98 g of sugar and 98 g of butter in a blender with a paddle mixer, then add 90 ml of egg white and 25 ml of water. Tip in 500 g of flour, 2 g of baking powder and 25 ml of water, mix it all up, cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Then roll the dough so it is between 2 mm and 3 mm thick, and cut it in circles. Finally, cut out Christmas shapes with cutters. Bake at 180°C for around 14 minutes.

For the avocado ganache, mix 60 g of melted white chocolate with 14 g of melted butter, and stir. Add 40 g of Simplot avocado pulp and keep mixing. Tip in 3 ml of lemon juice and 1 g of zest, mix and set aside in the piping bag. To put them together, you just need to put the ganache on the cookie bases, sprinkle the cookie tops with powdered sugar (with Christmas shapes in the middle) and stick the tops to the bottoms with avocado ganache.

Christmas and New Year are a truly special time when food companies can spoil their employees with special and tasty culinary treats to bring a new feel to their home offices. If you want to know more about these recipes and others based on Simplot potatoes and avocado, go to Simplot México.