November 3, 2026, by flowererman

Into the kitchen: a 3-course Christmas dinner by Bibi Loomans

Eat & Drink, Christmas, Recipes
November 3, 2026, by flowererman

Into the kitchen: a 3-course Christmas dinner by Bibi Loomans

Bibi caught our eye with perhaps the most delightful collaboration imaginable: creating a cookbook with her grandmother. After all, who still makes a classic Russian salad or an old-fashioned pudding? Exactly. Grandmas. Together, they put pen to paper and compiled a book full of delicious, classic classics that shouldn't be forgotten and make for a perfect menu for a Christmas dinner. With a modern twist—that’s Bibi’s style.

See more of Bibi's cooking skills? Be sure to take a look at her book. 

Appetizer | Shrimp cocktail

Appetizer | Shrimp cocktail

Ingredients

  • 100 ml cream
  • 8 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 4 tbsp ketchup
  • 2 tsp. Tabasco
  • 2 tbsp. whisky
  • 1 tsp. paprika powder
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • salt and pepper
  • 200 gr. Dutch shrimps
  • lettuce, finely chopped
  • handful of white grapes, halved
  • curly parsley, finely chopped
  • lemon slices

Appetizer | Prepare shrimp cocktail

Appetizer | Prepare shrimp cocktail

  1. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, Tabasco sauce, whiskey, paprika, and lemon juice. Fold in the whipped cream. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
  2. Divide some lettuce among four glasses. Top with the shrimp and spoon 2 tablespoons of sauce over each. Garnish the glasses with a few grapes, more lettuce, some curly parsley, and a lemon slice.

Main course | Green risotto with guanciale

Main course | Green risotto with guanciale

Ingredients

  • 2 vegetable stock cubes
  • olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 300 g risotto rice (arborio)
  • 100 ml of white wine
  • 150 g guanciale, diced
  • 300 g chopped kale
  • 1 tbsp baking soda
  • 70 g Parmesan cheese
  • 20 g butter
  • peper

Main Course | Prepare green risotto with guanciale

Main Course | Prepare green risotto with guanciale

  1. Heat 750 ml of water with the stock cubes in a saucepan. Heat some olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and sauté the onion over low heat for about 3 minutes. Add the risotto rice and cook for another 2 minutes, until translucent. Pour in the wine and let it evaporate. Then gradually add half the stock. Add or ladle each time the stock has been absorbed.
  2. Meanwhile, dry-fry the guanciale until crispy. Then drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
  3. Blanch the kale in boiling water with the baking soda. Drain the kale and purée it with 50 ml of the stock and half the Parmesan cheese until smooth. Gradually add the green sauce to the risotto until the risotto is cooked through, adding more stock if needed. The risotto will cook for about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the butter and the remaining cheese. Let it sit briefly to melt. Season with pepper. Serve the risotto with the guanciale and, if desired, more cheese.

Dessert | Panna cotta with fig leaves and fresh figs

Dessert | Panna cotta with fig leaves and fresh figs

Ingredients

  • 10-15 fig leaves
  • or half a vanilla pod
  • 250 g whipped cream
  • 100 g sugar
  • 3 leaves of gelatin
  • 250 g thick Greek yogurt or quark
  • 6 fresh figs
  • 6 tbsp honey

Dessert | Panna cotta with fig leaves and fresh figs

Dessert | Panna cotta with fig leaves and fresh figs

  1. If you're using fig leaves, wash them and pat them dry. Heat the cream with the leaves over very low heat, allowing the flavors to infuse. This will take at least an hour. Remove the leaves and squeeze them over the cream.
  2. If you don't have any leaves, you can scrape out the pith from half a vanilla pod and let the pith and pod steep in the cream over low heat for 10 minutes. Then remove the pod.
  3. Increase the heat to medium and dissolve the sugar in the cream. Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water and dissolve the soaked leaves in the warm cream. The mixture should not boil, but the gelatin should be completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and whisk the yogurt or quark into the cream mixture. Transfer to a jug and pour the panna cotta into the wells of a silicone muffin tin or glasses. Let it set in the refrigerator for at least three hours.
  4. Loosen the panna cottas by briefly placing the pan in a bowl of hot water. Turn the pan upside down and pour the pudding onto dessert plates. Quarter the figs and garnish each panna cotta with a quartered fig and 1 tablespoon of honey.

Whose beautiful photos are these? It's Saskia Lelieveld. 

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