To ask for help with my Xmas menu - 24 people, coeliac and vegan guest

[loonyloo]

I know, I know AIBVU to ask so early, but this week DH and I agreed to host his extended family on Christmas day, and I'm starting to panic about the logistics. There will be 24 people, 1 guest is vegan and another is coeliac. We have a normal kitchen (so no big ovens or anything like that) and none of the family live close enough to cook things and bring them with them. I want the vegan and coeliac guests to have a proper dinner, so ideally I don't want to do a dodgy ready-meal for the vegan or anything like that. I think the coeliac will be easier to cater for. I want to minimise time spent in the kitchen on the day.

So AIBU to ask if the following menu is workable, if the vegans and coeliacs amongst you would be happy with this, and if you have any tips for cooking for large crowds?

Soup course: Pear and parsnip soup - Vegan & gluten-free - make a few weeks before and freeze, reheat on the day?

Starter: Thinking some kind of mixture of cold meat, cheese, crackers, chutneys, antipasti-type veg - not very Christmassy but easy to prepare and the vegan and coeliac can just eat what they can - maybe give them first dibs on everything so they don't get short-changed?

Main: For meat eaters - Turkey (boned and rolled to fit in oven), roast potatoes, stuffing, steamed veg with flavoured butters (see below), gluten-free and vegan gravy.
For coeliac - as above but no stuffing, extra veg
For vegan - replace turkey with a chestnut, quinoa, butternut squash and cranberry parcel (will use Jus-roll as that's vegan and I can't make pastry to save my life), everything else the same as meat-eaters.
I can parboil the potatoes, do the stuffing, make the flavoured butters (using vegan alternative for to make single portions), and the filling for the vegan parcel the day before. Hopefully this means with the exception of the steamed veg, I can just put stuff in the oven on the day. I can make the gravy a week before and freeze.
Steamed veg - not very exciting, but I don't think I'll have enough room in the oven to roast veg too. So I'm kind of limited in the range of veg I can do and and am stuck for ideas. Perhaps kale, peas, carrots, sautéed leeks? I was thinking of roasting some beetroot the day before and throwing it in the steamer but apparently that's dangerous (??). I can peel and chop carrots the day before, and chop and wash the leeks. Would appreciate other suggestions for veg that steams well (can't stand sprouts).

Dessert: 1. Blueberry and apple crumble - vegan-friendly using coconut butter, make crumble mix the day before and use frozen fruit, stick in oven after main. Serve with sorbet.

1. Gluten-free chocolate sponge and chocolate butter icing. Uses quinoa for the sponge - have made this before and can make it the day before.

So, what do you all think? Does that sound workable? Are the vegan and coeliacs well-catered for?

How lovely of you to be so considerate.

I agree with the pp who said ditch the starter, I would either do nibbles or the soup, not both as that’ll be far too much food/work.

I also agree to make everything gluten free, I would buy a single portion of nut roast for the vegan just so you can just bang it in the oven and theirs no chance of cross contamination if the gluten free person has serious allergies.
I’m vegan and I can honestly say that I and all the other vegans I know are always just so happy we have something to eat that we don’t need a massive effort made.
Also normal bisto gravy is vegan.

Don’t worry about wine either the co op clearly label their wines and lots of the cheaper wines are vegan (maybe their more expensive ones are too, I wouldn’t know).

NotThereEileen - I like DH's family, and I don't mind the work involved per se. DH is a terrible cook, so the cooking is best left to me. He will be helping prep a lot of the stuff though. He'll also clean the house from top to bottom, set up the table, and plate up/serve. He'll be responsible for entertaining and fetching drinks for people while I'm cooking so people aren't traipsing in and out and getting in my way, and he'll do most of the washing up. I think that's fair.

Thanks to those of you who have warned about cross-contamination. I hadn't thought about gluten-free stuffing but I will use that instead, thank you. As for the desserts, the gluten-free cake will be baked the day before, so it won't be in the oven at the same time as the crumble. I will put it in a tupperware cake-dish in the fridge to avoid cross-contamination, and make it before anything else on Xmas Eve to avoid flour in the air. I'll give the surfaces a good scrub after I have used flour to avoid it too. Does that sound safe? I'd only open the Jus-roll immediately prior to cooking it, and I think that would go in last of my timings are right.
I wanted to give people a choice of dessert and this seemed the easiest way to do that. Obviously the vegan and coeliac won't have a choice unfortunately, but I'll try to find a gluten-free crumble recipe. I really love chocolate cake though so want to keep that ha ha!
Maybe someone could suggest a gluten-free alternative to the vegan parcel? I wanted to do something that will go with the rest of the Christmas dinner so stuff like chilli tofu won't work. The parcel seemed substantial enough and I thought the quinoa would be good for protein.

Thanks everyone! Really appreciate this

Well it depends on the reason why someone is gluten free to how much you have to worry about cross contamination, with most people having the parcel cooked in the oven will be fine but for some people it might not be. I know my friend has to have a separate toaster to the rest of her family

I would never offer a soup course along with a starter on Christmas Day. And Christmas isn't Christmas without Christmas pudding.

But aside from that, stellar.

Make sure you have helpers for all the peeling on Christmas Eve. (Roasties for 24, eep!) And an assistant or two for cooking on the day. Assuming those helpers are women, leave the huge clear up for the men.

Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, On Food Network, always advises when hosting to only ever make two out of the three courses from scratch - otherwise you’ll never escape the kitchen and be able to enjoy the meal yourself. Can you buy a pudding that can be heated up or just served straight from the fridge/freezer like posh ice cream? Booja Booja do very acceptable vegan ice ‘creams’.

Agree about the ice cream, Ben and Jerry’s vegan is yum and after a few sherry’s the non vegans won’t even notice...

Although I admire the logistical nightmare of cooking for 24. The most I’ve done is 14 with a double oven and it was hell on Earth. At my current house I manage ten max and that’s a humongous struggle.

Maybe buy some hot plates to buy you some time to serve everything up.

Re the alternative to the parcel, jusrol do great gf pastry that happens to be vegan too. If you can find it! The meal looks great. I'm a gf vegan and would turn up expecting a plate of vegetables (if I was lucky!) so I'd be astounded at that offering!

Ooh, Vegan Xmas Dinner - my specialist subject .

• Vegan nut roast & cranberry sauce
• Roast potatoes (with vegetable oil)
• Glazed carrots (with maple syrup)
• Other veg
• Vegan Yorkshire puddings (not Xmassy, but we like them)
• Gravy (Bisto is vegan).

Try to cut down on your workload by making all the veg vegan.

I would also make a Vegan Mud Cake (loads of recipes on the 'net). Non-vegans will love it also.

It's pretty easy to find gluten-free and vegan ingredients for Christmas pudding - are you avoiding it for a reason?
Well, I always like a chocolate cake at Christmas, which I was trying to find a way to keep it in MrsHathaway Also, I'd prefer to avoid some of the more "processed" coeliac/vegan alternatives, as I know some of them can be really unhealthy, so I was trying to keep it simple by using standard ingredients that would work for both. Found it hard to find a nice recipe that would work for both vegan and coeliac. I'd planned to keep the veg butters separate so people can use what they wan't. I thought sorbets were all dairy-free though! Aren't they just juice and water?! Luckily the vegan is a gin-drinker.

Doilooklikeatourist Coeliac's disease is not a fad and is very dangerous. The vegan is making a choice, yes, but one I respect. I don't mind making an effort.

PorpoisefullyObtuse Thank you for the advice about oven shelves.

Everyone else, thanks for the dessert suggestions. I will give each one careful consideration and due research

Doilook - "faddy eaters"? You sound ignorant.

I think you're doing a great job but as others have said it is probably easier to make everything gluten free apart from the vegan food which can be kept apart. Gluten free actually healthier anyway.

Gretia good idea about the lemon and herb dressing.

Sentimentallentil I don't think Bisto is GF, unfortunately.

I may ditch the non-soup starter, I think you are all right. I can always have a stock of nibbles for later in the evening. Plus the soup will make up for the lack of roast parsnips.

RobberOfCatan I will look at GF Jus-roll, thanks for the tip.

Yes, forgot to say all oils etc will be veg oils.

Leilaniii I thought nut roast was a bit boring and wanted to avoid it - I though vegans must be sick of it!

It sounds brilliant and you've got loads of good suggestions. I just wanted to add watch out for adding butter, goose fat etc to the veg and potatoes. You can cook the potatoes in an oil and use a non dairy butter for all veg to make life easier (same with milk or cream if you make mash). I'm sure you've thought it already, I'd love to come round and sample the vegan menu!

Sounds like a meal everyone would throughly enjoy!

Just had a thought regarding the beetroot. If you boil it the day before (I use a pressure cooker) and leave them in their skins, I find them at their tastiest at room temperature. Could be turned into a salad with some rocket, walnuts (and cheese on the side) but not essential!

My family is obsessed with beetroot

I know you said family lives too far away to use their ovens, but could some of them not bring desserts and nibbles for a starter and you provide the main? The menu you've proposed does sounds lovely but does seem a little unfair that you'll be spending most of the festive period prepping and cooking. Also the less time spent in the kitchen, the less opportunity for people to get under your feet 'helping'.

Another one saying ditch the starter. Soup is enough - and sounds interesting. As you say, it's not very Christmassy, and doesn't really add anything to the meal. Also, more washing up and finding room on worktops to put the serving dishes etc.

I cook for 11, in a galley kitchen with a v small oven. My main problem is warming plates and keeping things hot while waiting for the rest to be ready. I've just been looking at plate warmers in Robert Days, or those metal things with tea lights they have in Chinese restaurants would be useful. Or a hostess trolley, if you know anyone who'd lend it.

My (luckily!) lovely MIL is vegan and coeliac. The past two Christmases I did a lovely spiced veggie tagine that she had with roasties (we do our ones in olive oil) and a tart that weirdly enough was from a Jamie Oliver recipe but the ingredients for it came to more than everything else! We had to get most of it from one of those specialist organic unicorn fart delis. Good job we love her really...

Oh - and both things we made a day or so in advance and just heated up on the day.

I also made a gluten free chocolate cake that involved avocado and cocoa powder. Sounds rank but my word it was bloody lovely and went down a storm.

My OH's coeliac and that looks like a good menu to me. The only thing I would say is that have you considered just making one coeliac/vegan dessert for everyone rather than faffing with separate desserts? Whenever I cook for myself and my OH I normally just do the whole thing gluten free/vegetarian (I'm veggie) rather than spending ages making two separate dishes.

Sorry - Dyas. I hate auto-correct.

I had to make a large Christmas meal with a small single oven a few years ago and used Mary Berry's Christmas cookery book to get it right. She had lots of tips for pre preparation which made life a lot easier (especially as it was my first Christmas hosting solo). Two things made a big difference. The first was using the joint's resting time to do all the vegetables, and the second was previously part cooking the roast potatoes.

So now I have trays of roast vegetables ready to go straight in the oven when the joint comes out, the joint wrapped up in double foil and then lots of towels resting beautifully for 40 mins or so which is long enough for the potatoes and parsnips to go lovely and crispy (in a very hot oven). I also have enough space in the oven once the joint is out to get a tray of cauliflower cheese and stuffed butternut squash in as well as the roasting veggies. Both go in foil trays with lids under one of the roasting dishes and then when the roast veggies come out I take the lids off and turn of the grill for a few mins to crisp up the tops. Cauliflower cheese wouldn't be a great choice with a vegan/GF menu, but an alternative baked creamy type dish might work (and I see the vegan society have a gluten free cauliflower cheese recipe). I like bakes because you can make them way in advance and freeze them so you can make them quite fancy without any work on the day.

If you are serving a braised vegetable dish you can make that in advance and just microwave it on the day so that your stove top is just for gravy and a couple of fresh green vegetables. If steaming seems boring then what about a stir fry?

I'd avoid hot starters or puddings unless you think that your main isn't going to be filling enough. Crumble is a super easy option and you can buy or make really good vegan and/or gluten free icecreams (not sure about sorbet). Your platter sounds nice (although probably expensive - can you ask for people to bring items for that, shouldn't be an issue with traveling). I'd make a rice based stuffing to avoid cross contamination worries.

No good suggestions but I just wanted to say that I luffs you it may shock you to learn I'm vegan

ButFirstTea I am not making mash, though I do love it. I only eat it when I'm out - the mash residue that covers everything else when you try to wash up is the devil's work.

natwebb79 I will try to find a recipe for the avocado chocolate cake, thank you.

I've decided its safer to make the whole meal gluten-free, so if I can't get GF Jus-roll I will try to figure out similar to the parcel but without the pastry. And I've found a gluten-free crumble recipe which avoids oats here, so I'll try that next weekend and see if it works www.healthyfood.co.uk/recipe/berry-quinoa-crumble/

Thanks everyone!

That sounds great! And also should be less work for you overall.

Alas I was not kidding about sorbet, and your understanding is the same as mine before I had a nasty shock in a gastropub. But check ingredients lists carefully and you'll be fine.

nooka Thank you! Some really useful suggestions there.

LaContessaDiPlump

LittleBirdBlues I also have a beetroot obsession