Seafood smörgåsbord

The beauty you see here is a brilliant principle to embrace during the festive season, or, frankly, at any sociable get-together at any time of year. There’s not much work involved – it’s all about the art of assembly. It’s beautiful for two or four people, but you can easily scale it up for eight or ten, if you want to.

Simply buy an interesting mixture of wonderful fresh, raw, smoked, pickled and cured seafood, which you can find in all good fishmongers – ask their advice on what’s best right now. Get yourself a large rustic board or platter, then take a bit of pride in delicately arranging all your favourite things. Here’s what’s made it on to my smörgåsbord:

1. Quenelles of Smoked salmon pâté
2. Freshly shucked oysters, lightly drizzled with cider vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with finely chopped Bramley apples, and a pinch of fresh chervil
3. Tasty piped lashings of Taramasalata
4. Smoked king prawns, which you can ask your fishmonger to get in for you, or do yourself by heating a large handful of wood chips in a pan over a medium heat. Pop a wire rack on top, lay in your raw shell-on prawns, put the lid on, wrap the pan in tin foil and smoke until they’re pink and delicious – do this outside on the barbecue if you can
5. Roses of quality smoked salmon or slices of gorgeous Gravadlax
6. A handful of clams, mussels or winkles, popped into a pan on a medium heat with the lid on and heated for a few minutes with a small splash of white wine and 1 knob of unsalted butter (discard any clams or mussels that remain closed)
7. Cooked, shelled cockles, lightly dressed with nice oil, vinegar and herbs

With some freshly buttered brown bread and a few lemon wedges on the side for squeezing over, this is a feast fit for any festive king or queen. Enjoy.