Jessica Nguyen Creates an Easy Festive Feast in under an Hour

First up, style a grazing plate with cheese, charcuterie and chocolate. Jessica’s golden rule? “There are no rules… your platter is whatever you make it.” She recommends taking cheese out of the fridge an hour beforehand so that it’s at room temperature for best flavour. Add your meats, then sweet fruits such as strawberries to balance out savoury elements. “It’s about making everything look beautiful and abundant,” she says. Jessica also adds David Jones Salted Pretzels and David Jones Ruby Chocolate. After all, “No one’s going to say no to chocolate.”

“When you pull together something big like a festive feast, it’s better to focus on one element,” says Jessica. Her pièce de résistance for Christmas cooking? A whole baked snapper, which she calls, “a modern take on the traditional festive dish.” Assemble it in a baking dish around 30 minutes before you need everything to be ready, then pop it in the oven as you prepare the rest. Check out Jessica’s recipe — with plenty of lemon, olives, garlic, thyme and oregano — over at At Home With DJs.

For fuss-free sides and salads, Jessica opted for potatoes, salads and pre-prepared cooked tiger prawns — which she says are “quintessentially summer in Australia” — all from David Jones Food stores. They’re thoughtfully prepared to save you time, and taste delicious. Her top tip? Serve seafood such as tiger prawns on a bed of ice to keep them super chilled.

“I don’t think a Christmas is complete without Champagne,” says Jessica, who likes to serve hers in a celebratory coupe. When it comes to cocktails, “I like to have drinks ready to go so that people can pour them themselves.” Her solution? A festive punch, which she likens to “a mix between a G&T and a moscow mule,” using Four Pillars Christmas Gin along with beautiful fresh fruit and herbs.

As well as being refreshing and delicious, by serving Jessica’s fruity festive punch in a beautiful pink Maison Balzac carafe, guests can serve themselves — freeing you up to mingle. Jessica opts for the limited edition Christmas Gin from award-winning Australian distillery Four Pillars, which, as an added bonus “smells a little like a Christmas pudding.”