I don't want to think about my Christmas eating plans in detail just yet, but I wouldn't mind just a few ideas to mull over to get me in the mood. With that in mind I suggest a few bits and pieces that might just end up being part of my own festivities this year: a quick-cured salmon for starters, some jolly little peppers to pass round with drinks; a bright tasting versatile fish recipe and some jewel-flecked chocolate nibbles suitable for kids to make. Add to that a bowl of baby mozzarella marinated with hot pickled chillies and fruity olive oil and maybe I could be tempted to at least start making my Christmas shopping list. After all, there are a mere 41 shopping days left to go.

Feta-stuffed chillies

I am not one for stuffing olives, mushrooms and the like but so many have asked for 'something interesting to pass round with drinks at Christmas' that I decided to break the habit of a lifetime. These mild, round chillies stuffed with a mixture of feta cheese, fresh basil and green olives are especially good with a glass or two of bone-dry sherry. The fat chilli peppers are available in bottles from good delis and food shops.

serves 6

feta cheese - 200g
basil leaves - 12
green olives - 10
bottled round, red chillies - 200g fruity olive oil

Put the feta in a bowl and mash it with a fork then season with black pepper, the shredded basil leaves and the chopped olives. Stir in three tablespoons of oil.

Rinse and dry the chillies. Stuff a teaspoon of the seasoned feta into each of the chillies then put them on a large serving dish. Cover with kitchen film and leave for a half hour or so for the flavours to marry. Drizzle with olive oil just before serving.

Marinated bocconcinni

Those long green chillies, the ones that curl up at the ends like Aladdin's slippers, add a mild peppery crunch to bland soft mozzarella. Some hot bruschetta on the side might be good here.

serves 4
baby mozzarella balls - 10
black peppercorns - 12
olive oil - 150ml
long green marinated chilli peppers
small capers - 1 tsp

Break the balls of mozzarella in half and put them in a shallow dish. Crack the black peppercorns without crushing them to a powder, and scatter them over the cheese. Pour over the olive oil , then tuck in the chillies.

Leave to marinate for a good 4-6 hours (overnight won't hurt), then serve them, scattered with the capers, with hunks of bread or on thin sluices of garlicky bruschetta.

Red mullet and ginger salad

So much Christmas food is rich and sweet that I find myself constantly wanting something sharper, crisper, smarter. This is such a recipe. It is perfect as a starter before something more meaty, but good too as a main dish in its own right. It will survive very nicely in the fridge overnight.

serves 2 as a light lunch, 4 as a starter

red mullet - 2, filleted by the fishmonger
white wine vinegar - 50ml
lime juice - 120ml, (3-4 limes)
lime leaves - 6
small carrot
small onion
small clove of garlic
small, fresh red chilli, seeded and very finely sliced
palm sugar
star anise - 2 whole ones
coriander seed - 1 tsp
white and black peppercorns
olive oil - 80ml
a small knob of fresh ginger - 1cm long
a little parsley, quite finely chopped

Pour the wine vinegar and the lime juice into a stainless-steel saucepan. Add the lime leaves, scrunching them slightly to release their fragrance. Scrub the carrot and slice it as finely as paper - you should almost be able to see through it - then peel the onion and slice that similarly.

Drop them into the pan together with the garlic, peeled and squashed flat (you just want the merest whiff), the chilli, a teaspoon of palm sugar (though you may need to add some more later), and the star anise, coriander seed and 10 white peppercorns. Bring the lot to the boil, add a good pinch of salt, eight black peppercorns then pour in the olive oil and let the mixture simmer for a minute or to. You want the onion to have softened slightly. Heat off , lid on, and leave to settle.

Warm a little olive oil in a non-stick pan. Season the red mullet fillets with salt and black pepper and lay them in the hot olive oil. Cook them lightly on one side - which will mean keeping the heat high and letting them colour on the skin side, then turning them over and letting them colour on the other. Lift them from the pan with a fish slice or palette knife and place them on a shallow dish.

Grate the ginger into the marinade and stir in the chopped parsley. Taste it, adding a little more palm sugar if you think it needs it. It should have a little kick to it. Spoon it over the fish and leave to cool. Lift the fish on to plates and spoon over the vegetables and liquor. Serve triangles of rye bread on the side, buttered if you must.

Baked salmon with dill

Few things are more useful at Christmas than a piece of cold baked salmon that you can eat with mayonnaise or stuff into slices of soft brown bread with slices of crisp cucumber and watercress. You could poach it, but with the oven on so much over Christmas, I tend to wrap a large piece of fish in foil, seasoned with a few suitable herbs (dill, tarragon, chervil) and a splash of white wine and bake it when something else comes out the oven. Useful to have around, and fabulous for a quick and suitably extravagant festive snack.

serves 4
tail end of salmon, filleted - 1kg
olive oil
dill - a small bunch
white vermouth - 3 tbs

Set the oven at 220°C/gas 7. Place one half of the salmon on to a piece of kitchen foil or baking parchment, skin-side down. Brush it with olive oil. Season with salt and a little pepper, white if you have it, black if not. Remove the dill leaves from their thick stalks and lay them on the fish. Place the second half of the fish, skin-side up, on top of the dill. Sprinkle over the wine. Wrap loosely in the foil or parchment and bake in a roasting tin for 10 minutes per 500g. Remove from the oven, let it cool and serve at room temperature with homemade mayonnaise into which you have stirred some lemon juice and chopped dill.

Chocolate fruit discs

Something for the kids to do while you are wrapping presents. For safety, I would suggest starting off by getting the almonds out of the boiling water and the chocolate , then taking the bowl off the heat before leaving the children to do their own thing with the melted chocolate and nuts. You will either end up with nine beautiful chocolate discs studded with crystalised fruits and nuts or you will have to redecorate the kitchen. Maybe both.

serves 9
dark chocolate - 150g
assorted crystallised fruits - 200g
shelled almonds -a handful

Pour a kettle of boiling water over the almonds. Break the chocolate into small pieces and put it in a bowl over simmering water. Once it has started to melt, switch off the heat and leave it, unstirred, to melt completely.

Lay a piece of waxed paper on a flat work surface or chopping board. Pour spoonfuls of melted chocolate on to the paper, flattening them out into discs about the size of a digestive biscuit with the back of a spoon. You should have about nine.

When the water over the nuts has cooled sufficiently for you to dip your hand in, remove the nuts one by one and slip them out of their brown skins. Cut the almonds in half lengthways and then into thick shreds. Toast them lightly under a hot grill or in a dry, non-stick frying pan.

Chop the dried fruit, removing any stones where necessary. Scatter the fruit and toasted nuts over the wet chocolate discs and leave to set. When the chocolate is crisp, peel the discs off the paper and keep in an airtight plastic box until you need them. They are best eaten the day they are made.

· Next month: Nigel Slater's delicious recipes in his countdown to Christmas