Christmas dinner for people who don’t like roasts?

No vegetables?! 😱
I like the idea of doing a roast on Xmas eve, and then heating up leftovers for yourself on Xmas day, and leaving them to it.
Would they be happier with a curry? You could probably order / collect one if they're open near you on Xmas day.

Agree.

My DH loves them and tries to sell them to me because it is too much food for him alone in his mind.

I don’t like roasts, never have, and don’t cook them. I don’t care what he eats as long as he doesn’t leave the kitchen a bomb site where I can’t cook what I want to eat. He could easily do a small one for himself or go out and eat one.

Ah, shame, was hoping for a career change and stardom 😁

Sadly no, although I love music I can’t play anything and sing like a strangled cat. Many family members are though, I missed the gene!
apologies for the derail..

What’s your family’s favourite dinner? You could just sex it up for Christmas? If it’s spag Bol you could make it with slow roast beef instead of mince and serve with fancy pasta. If I asked my family they would 100% ask for fajitas instead of Christmas dinner - chicken, roast veg, cheese, etc. you could nearly design it to make it Christmassy.

Upwiththisiwillnotput

Read post back in Blur style, sounds good, do you play any instruments? We could gig lol

Parklife!!
(sorry, couldn’t resist 😆)

Yes, exactly. The idea of blithely ‘suggesting’ what someone else can make for you while you don’t give it another thought!

A turkey is large though, and Christmas often means a larger coming together of family. I wouldn’t do a turkey for just us but I often do what is essentially the same dinner with a chicken or Guinea fowl.

I also tend to think that if a turkey roast was so nice, people would have it at other times as well, but oddly enough it is never top of anyone's list for 364 days of the year

We would, however where we are, it’s only available over Xmas period. You can put in an order with a butcher to see if they could get one during the year but then you are buying the whole turkey. We only like the breast, which you can buy fresh rolled (as in multiple breasts rolled and netted for roasting) for Xmas. I presume they just do the majority of breeding/raising of turkey’s here for Xmas season only. You can buy rolled breast frozen in supermarket during the year but that is 🤢, nothing like the fresh rolled stuff from butchers at Xmas. If we could get that year round we would have frequently!

I'm sure they're capable of at least suggesting what they might like to eat, and instead of expecting (and you accepting) you to organise everything. Weaponised incompetence at it's best.

I also tend to think that if a turkey roast was so nice, people would have it at other times as well, but oddly enough it is never top of anyone's list for 364 days of the year.

We have a Chinese!

I’m in Australia and unless you are 90 odd or a blow in, it’s not usual to do a roast. No one wants the house heated up from cooking in summer. Some do a BBQ outside otherwise a cold buffet.

We tend to go for cold buffet on Xmas day, being:
A Ham leg
Pre-cooked turkey breast/roll (so now cold) with cranberry sauce
Prawns - lots and lots of these 🤣
Roast pork loin roll (cold) with apple sauce
Nice bread rolls
Coleslaw
Potato salad or Pasta salad
Greek salad or a Green salad
Pavlova
Trifle

We do the BBQ on Boxing Day. Prawns still obviously mandatory though 😁, and you can stick in some lobster tails as well as the other usual nice BBQ fare. Leftover pavlova and trifle is mandatory 😊.

I made a salmon wellington one year:

two boxes ready made puff pastry, 2 sides of salmon, then filled the middle with herbs and citrus fruits

I like the idea of a nice roast on Christmas Eve. Then you can just spend Christmas relaxing and have cold meats plus throw some pigs in blankets / sausage rolls / chips/ party bits in the oven to add something hot.

If DH suggests a spread then let him pull his finger out and do a spread then...

I’d also have the turkey on Christmas Eve, so you have leftovers. I’d also cook (or buy a cooked) ham, and in advance make a batch of Nigella’s festive mac n cheese, red cabbage and pigs in blankets. I’d serve all of that with a winter slaw on Christmas Day. Have cheese and chocolates later. Actually I’d make some Christmassy rocky road.

A make ahead spread that doesn’t need much work on the day.

I wouldn't cook a meal no one wanted. I'd probably go for the cold meat buffet they would enjoy, but get them to sit to the table when they'd filled their plates and do the crackers and candles and things as we would if eating the traditional meal. That way its still a bit special but they enjoy the food.

I don't really understand why people are such sticklers for roasts on Xmas day or why not wanting a roast is a problem. Have literally any food your family actually enjoys. Get them to suggest things.

We've had everything from game pies to slow-cooked ragu to a selection of curries on Xmas day. Haven't eaten turkey in about 20 years and don't miss it in the slightest.

I don't want a roast this year either so I'm making this. It's quite easy.
www.deliaonline.com/recipes/collections/large-servings/foil-baked-whole-fresh-salmon-with-green-herb-mayonnaise

We never eat a roast on Christmas Day. You’re all weird for doing that.
Christmas Eve is the day for a roast dinner. Then Christmas Day is cheese, blinis, chicken nuggets, ham, crackers, little cheesy breadsticks, hummus, dips, pigs in blankets, crisps, Brie and Camembert, grapes and apple slices and massive slabs of warmed bread dripping with butter.
I look forward to it every year and it hardly takes any prep or time and it’s amazing

'Vegetables' is a very broad category to just dismiss as "I don't like that" - unless maybe you're 3 and you haven't learned to be brave and to enjoy a proper balanced diet yet.

Agreed! Do they ever eat vegetables or do they all just live on junk food? It feels odd that they can’t just sit down at the table and eat a nice dinner that they haven’t even had to cook. They sound feral.

I’d insist on going out somewhere that I could choose a Christmas dinner and they could order something else.

I would love a massive fry up for brunch and then pizza/party food in the evening. An ex colleague told me she did this on Christmas Day when her kids were wee and it’s always stuck with me! They then had a turkey on Boxing Day.

Otherwise, a steak pie would be nice, although that’s a New Years Day thing in Scotland. Chicken, ham and leek pie maybe? Lasagne? Chilli but with chunks of beef instead of mince?

@NavyTurtleI get that but its an option if it’s something she still wants to have , why should she miss out on what she fancies having because no one else wants one .