Unusual Christmas Dinner Inspiration?

[NomDeOrdinateur]

DH and I will be cooking for my parents and DB over the Christmas week (as we're the only ones who can/can be bothered). My family is half Cypriot and DH is half Scandinavian, so none of us like to stick to a plain English Christmas dinner.

I'm thinking of doing tapas for Christmas Eve, a hodge-podge of English and Greek for Christmas Day (moussaka, dolmades, stuffed beef tomatoes and peppers, and roast chicken with steamed and roast veg), rabbit lasagne for Boxing Day, and enough of everything left over to last for the rest of the week. It has to go round five people (most of whom eat A Lot over Christmas) and not cost the earth.

So, I have two questions which I'd be grateful for some help with:

1. Does anybody have reasonably cheap and easy tapas recipes that I could follow, please? So far I know I'll be putting out Greek Loundza (smoked ham), naice bread, roule cheese, smoked salmon strips, Greek salad, squid in ink, and stuffed peppers. Beyond that, I have no idea!
   
   
2. Besides roast gammon (which I'm substituting with Loundza), can anybody recommend some nice Scandinavian Christmas dishes that would compliment any of the 3 meals I've mentioned, please? (Nothing with salmon in please as I can't eat it without getting ill - I'm only doing it for the tapas as DH loves it!)
   
   Thanks in advance :)

[SugarHut]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but trying to serve up roast chicken and roasted veg alongside moussaka et al? Bleurgh

Please serve them separately, why can't everyone eat greek one day, Christmas dinner the next? Unnecessary rod for back springs to mind

[NomDeOrdinateur]

SugarHut - my thoughts exactly! DH and DB insist on both though, to the extent that DH got all forlorn when I suggested doing them on different days this year! (Apparently "it wouldn't be Christmas" if we didn't have both together, because we have eat them separately at least a few times a year.) They even have GRAVY and moussaka on the same plate...

The plus side is that I have a very stressful Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, and then the microwave takes over for a few days...

(Argh, Mumsnet is sooooo slow today!)

[SugarHut]

Heathens!! Make them sit in separate rooms so greek aubergine and christmas chicken gravy ne'er shall meet

[fuzzpig]

My favourite tapas type thing is where you have chunks of chorizo in a tomato sauce, then crack an egg on top and put it back in the oven so it cooks. I'm not entirely sure if that's really how you do it though.

Patatas bravas (sp?!) are nice too

[NomDeOrdinateur]

Thank you, Fuzzpig! I haven't had that one before, but it sounds delicious and very easy to make.

[girlywhirly]

What about turkey at lunch, then moussaka at dinner; they will still be eating them on the same day. It will be less work for you if you make the moussaka in advance and just put it in the oven to cook in the afternoon.

I'm guessing that Christmas eve will have a mix of hot and cold dishes, what about some mediterranean style herby roast potatoes to go with your buffet, cheap and filling. Make them small ones. Both Greece and Scandinavia have meatballs in their cooking culture as well.

[NomDeOrdinateur]

You know what, you guys have actually got me thinking - the "unholy union" of incompatible Christmas dinners is a family tradition that's older than I am, but I'm in charge of the cooking every year so I really don't have to do it! (And I'm sure the [shocked] faces around the table will stop happening after the first couple of years...)

New plan:

Christmas Eve - Tapas/Meze thing: Fuzzpig's chorizo and patatas bravas ideas, Girlywhirly's herby roast potatoes and (Spanish, spicy tomato sauce style) meatballs, squid in ink, loundza ham, smoked salmon, nice cheeses, good bread, spicy loukanika sausages, some nice salad and any other suggestions that arrive.

Christmas Day - Meze thing: moussaka, more herby roast potatoes, salad, more squid in ink, more loukankia and loundza, lamb/pork mince dolmades, vegetarian stuffed peppers and beef tomatoes, steamed veg, and Greek salad. (And some kind of roasted poultry later if it's the only way I'll get any peace!)

Boxing Day - Some kind of Scandinavian venison stew (but with a bit of chilli in it, because anything that isn't roasted has to be spicy in our house in order for everybody to like it), remains of mezze stuff, and roast veggies.

Girlywhirly - I already make the moussaka the day before as it serves better that way, but the dolmades are already giving me pangs of dread, despite being everybody's favourite part of Christmas. FIVE HOURS it took last year, even with a production line of me, DM and DH, and they were all gone within three bloody days! (And nobody in our house likes the tinned kind... ) I'd seriously consider making a dash down to the local Greek restaurant with a tupperware, but they're £10 for 8 in there, and we got through more than 80 last year!) Starting in November and freezing them may be the way to go, thinking about it.

Thank you!

[wheredidiputit]

I was going to suggest start making and freezing what you can now to make your life easier.

We like these spanish style prawns, and this smokey chickpeas. I have made with added chorizo and rocket right at the end.

[NomDeOrdinateur]

Thanks, wheredidIputit - both of those look lovely! I'm definitely going to need to start clearing out the freezer and then raid the 99p store's tupperware section in the near future .

[girlywhirly]

Nom, what about doing Kotopoulo Lemonato. It fulfils your 'roasted poultry' requirement, you can have potatoes with it, and it will complement your other Greek dishes if eaten at the same time. Simply means chicken cooked in lemon, you could do portions or breasts with skin. They are part roasted, part steamed in a cooking liquid of olive oil, wine, lemon juice and water with garlic and parsley added, the original has potatoes which cook in the liquid too and soak up the lovely lemon flavour. If you wanted crisp herby roasties you could just cook the chicken pieces on their own.

I imagine you could do a boned rolled turkey this way, as long as it was cooked right through. It would be lovely and moist basted with the liquid during cooking. Sorry no gravy but you could pour the cooking liquid over the sliced meat before serving. Plus you could chop up any leftovers and eat cold, fill pittas with it and greek salad, etc.

[NomDeOrdinateur]

Girlywhirly - thank you so much for the recommendation, it sounds delicious! I'll definitely try it this year, and shall inform DH and DB that they owe you one for putting chicken back on the table .