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?

I think that your menu sounds lovely. Really lovely, but it's a lot for you to do for 24 people on Christmas Day.
I generally cook for 20 or so at Christmas so herewith my tips:

1. Coeliac isn't a fad so do everything you can to avoid contamination.
2. Vegan is a choice so although f course you won't deliberately give them meat/animal products you can at least cook vegan and non-vegan meals together.
3. For 24 People I'd do 2 meats; a turkey on the day and a ham cooked the night before. Plus meaty accompaniments: pigs in blankets, devils on horseback. Plus 2xstuffings; a sausagemeat and a sage and onion. All these can be gluten free very easily: almost all supermarket 'finest/recommended' sausages are gluten free: just source a gluten free sage one or make from GF bread. then add your chosen bits to make them more special.
4. Potatoes: I know that it is contentious on MN to serve mash with a roast but unless your oven is massive you won't be able too cook more than 1 roast potato per person, so do mash as well: you can boil and mash in advance then freeze: heat in the microwave and add your seasoning/oil then. Remember no milk or butter.
5. braised red cabbage can be done in advance and frozen then reheated on the day.
6. pureed carrot with a dab of oil and a spoon of ground cumin is delicious: can be done in advance and reheated
7. greens: you can't avoid sprouts but do broccoli too, even peas if you have children in the group: with a small hob it is easier to do 4 or 5 veg for 7 people than 2 veg for 12 each.
8. While your turkey is resting you'll have enough oven space for stuffings, sausages, devils and roasties.
9. If you only have 2 oven shelves consider buying a third one which you only use at Christmas then put away somewhere.
10. Remember things take longer to cook when your oven is packed.
11. Thick your gravy with cornflour not wheat.
12. Pick a vegan option with is GF to avoid risk: if you pick something pastry it will need to be in the oven at the same time as the roasties/porky accompaniments. if you pick something loafy/roasty it can rest while your stuffings are in.
13. your soup sounds fab but what are you going to serve with it? GF bread is very heavy.
14. GF/vegan Christmas pudding is easy to source. Plain chocolate is often vegan. I'd serve (bought) Christmas pudding and homemade chocolate gateau, both with a choice of vegan/non vegan cream/butter/sauce.
15. A jug of warm cranberry sauce with a touch of port in makes everything taste better and can be eaten with a spoon in emergency if there's a lull between courses.....

...Good luck! 24 in a standard kitchen is no mean feat! [cgrin]

Well this thread has gone on longer than I expected! Thanks everyone. As you've all been so generous with the advice I should give you an update

MIL phoned me at lunchtime today, saying she'd spoken to the other members of the family over the weekend to see who can help. BIL, who is a good cook, is going to help in the kitchen on the day. He has asked me to write up a full plan with timings etc, as he has a chef friend who will look over it for us. DH's cousin and her boyfriend will come up on 23rd and help me with the prep. MIL will get antipasti type stuff for the evening if people want it. So with all that help it should be easy enough!

I'm going to stick with the soup course, as that can be made in well advance and it's easier than fiddling about with a more complicated start on the day. The soup is GF and vegan by default - I'm not sure I've ever come across a non-GF recipe (as long as you're careful about stock) so it's not much of a hardship.

I've decided to ditch the pastry element of the vegan main as I don't like the look of the ingredients of the GF Jus-roll and it has mixed reviews anyway. I've found another couple of suitable recipes so am going to give the vegan a choice. I might ditch the stuffing if I can't find a nice GF & vegan one. I'll do a vegan/GF stuffing if I can find a nice one. The gravy can be done from scratch in advance if I make the vegan and GF one - I found a nice mushroom-based recipe ages ago. I can't be bothered making two gravies so everyone will have it. The rest of the roast is GF by default so again no hardship there. I'm going to do red cabbage too so thanks for that suggestion.

I've decided against crumble completely, as it would be a second heavy dessert, as many of you pointed out. I'll do a bit of fruit and vegan sorbet. There'll be plenty of junk food in the house anyway so non-one will starve. I am keeping my chocolate cake though! It will be my reward for cooking

All that should mean the entire menu will be GF, and the vegan is catered for with minimal effort. Thanks to those of you who gave good advice about cross-contamination, most of the adjustments don't create any extra work and it will be less worry.

I don't think the meat-eaters are being short-changed - they still get their turkey with all the trimmings after all, and I'm avoiding artificial substitutes with the possible exception of the stuffing. I may even do a second meat now that I know I can rest the meat for ages with the aids of towels! If I have an uprising on my hands I can always set aside a bit of the vegan gravy and add the meat juices to the rest . TBH, I'm a bit surprised that people would have someone over for dinner and not give them something they can eat.

CountryGirl1985 Yes I think having people bring their own mains would be more hassle than it's worth.

Not bothered about pigs in blankets so I'll give them a miss.

traviata You're welcome!

Ohyesiam That is still a bit of a concern, but I think it'll be manageable given what people have said about being able to rest the meat for ages using loads of tea towels and part-roasting the potatoes. But I am going to get the measuring tape out just in case!

notapizzaeater As it happens, MIL has arranged for people to bring slow cookers to warm up the soup. It means we'll have them dotted around the house due to lack of counter space but hey-ho.

Kokapetl I've still made a few changes ha ha!

SleepingInYourFlowerbed Sounds like dinner must be fun!

ILookedintheWater There is some really good advice there, thank you.

Everyone else - thanks so much for the advice. It's been really useful. Feel really sorry for you with stories about having not been catered for!

Coeliac here - we always have chocolate roulade as a dessert option.

We use this Mary Berry recipe which has no flour.

Also where are the pigs in blankets?

Christmas is not Christmas without roasted veg.
Could you not roast parnips and carrots the night before, put them in those silver throw away baking trays and keep in the fridge or even in the shed/cool box outside if you are running out of room in the fridge then just throw them into the oven on a high heat to warm up after the roasties are cooked. They will only take about 5 minutes to heat up and you can use this time to be plating up other dishes.
I would also choose boiled veg that I could cook in a big pan together. So peas, leaks and shredded cabbage in one big pot.

That's a good idea to abandon the crumble but keep the chocolate cake, which sounds fab!
Hope it all goes well for you and you enjoy your day loonyloo !

How about gluten free beef wellingtons and vegan beetroot wellingtons for mains with roasted potatoes, sprouts and carrots cooked in olive oil and garlic and cabbage in the slow cooker. Do a vegan gluten free stuffing and gravy.

Deserts:
Dark chocolate and coconut milk tart on an oreo base. (Or use gluten free biscuits). Heat some coconut oil then mix with the crushed biscuits. Cling film a tart case and press the biscuit mixture into it and freeze. Heat the coconut milk in the microwave then pout onto the dark chocolate and mix. Add a bit of maple syrup. Pour onto the base and refrigerate.

Gluten free vegan xmas pudding. I'm guessing there is a recipe on Pinterest. It's an easy make ahead and very christmassy

Gluten free vegan christmas brownies pinterest.com/pin/AaL6HBt2F4w0uSOchTeFk0ARbLRkK5CrQirG0fsthcMigefI50ucnZo/?source_app=android

Gluten free beef wellington pinterest.com/pin/434667801522844762/?source_app=android
Vegan beet wellington pinterest.com/pin/179440366384536527/?source_app=android

Sorry if it's been said before (I haven't got time to read all the posts) but be careful with the chocolate cake. All the ingredients need to be checked, lots of chocolate isn't gluten free for example. I was caught out when someone cooked a 'gluten free' chocolate cake for my son, they had probably just used a gluten free flour but not checked anything else and he was really ill the next day. It was a kind gesture by them but it has made me very wary of giving him food cooked by others. The coeliac relative may feel happier if they can bring a desert to share, that's what we usually do now.

Christmas dinner for 24 people is physically a LOT of food
The main issue is getting / keeping it all warm at the same time, if you have a normal sized oven and a 4-burner stove.

Yes, you can cook lots of things in advance & re-heat, but large quantities take much longer to re-heat in the oven / microwave than usual family portions, and they can't all be done at once.

Do you have / can you borrow a large multi-level steamer for several types of veg at the same time?
A slow cooker?
A kettle BBQ?
Borrow a second microwave?

If I'm cooking for those sorts of numbers I do a running order e.g. burner 1 Soup followed by gravy, burner 2 carrots & broccoli. I also work out quantities (e.g. if you would normally make 1 pint of gravy for 4, then you need a pan big enough for 6 pints for 24)

I then put all the planned pans on the stove & dishes in the oven to make sure they fit (allow for height of turkey, will you have to take the 2nd shelf out?)
Its much easier to borrow different pans / buy disposable foil trays that it now, than have an oven crisis with a hot oven & big trays of hot oil

As a coeliac can I just say that you sound like such a lovely person

Kallo do a very good vegetarian gluten free stock cube. My coeliac Mum and veggie DH approve! Can't recall if it’s vegan but it most likely is, and the labelling is very clear. Thank you for all your thought into this, if only some of my extended family were this understanding!

The Kallo stock cubes are also vegan-friendly! www.kallo.com/things-we-make/stocks-gravies/organic-vegetable/

That sounds so lovely and the coeliac and vegan will feel welcome and as much part of the group as everyone else.

Can I make a suggestion (as the mother of a coeliac). It would give the coeliac enormous peace of mind if you talk through the menu, ingredients and your cross-contamination-avoidance measures beforehand. So often, people are lovely & kind and want to cater for a coeliac, but make errors (as a PP said about the chocolate in a chocolate cake) which end up making the coeliac very ill.

For example, we went to a party a couple of weeks ago, having taken snacks for my coeliac DS. When we got there, the host had gone to lots of trouble providing gf food for him. I am usually very careful about checking with people exactly what's in food & how it's prepared, but because it was really busy I didn't feel able to do this, and since I know her pretty well, I assumed (fatal error) that all would be fine. It wasn't, and he was ill that night and has missed several days of school as a result.

He's a very sensitive coeliac, so I think it was cross-contamination rather than ingredients (food was bought in and heated up - probably on the same baking tray as other food and/or without silver foil under it). It has made me realise that I need to stick to the rule of not letting him eat anything unless I know exactly how it's been prepared.

That's awkward when you get somewhere and the food's already been prepared/the host is very busy. Much easier when the host talks it through in advance and you can make suggestions and/or suss out if it's clearly too difficult for them/they're not careful enough, and politely insist on bringing your own.

Sounds like you're a great cook and can manage all this. But with a lot of 'helpers' in the kitchen, the plan for keeping things safely gf needs to be watertight. It's so lovely to find people who are prepared to do this. Nothing's more miserable for a coeliac than the constant exclusion from shared meals/occasions. Thanks on behalf of your coeliac friend/relative!

I'd agree with others. When I'm catering for coeliacs I make the entire menu GF to avoid cross contamination (particularly when dealing with crackers etc served with meats and cheese, pickles etc: too easy for someone to accidentally cross contaminate).

Just wanted to second Margaret's idea of doing a mock dry run with your oven and stove top. With the oven it's also another advantage of using foil trays because you can squish their sides a bit for a really tight fit (plus all new trays seem like the best way to avoid contamination issues).

For the stuffing I see you've thought about quinoa, but other things that work well include mashed potatoes, pieces of dryer winter squashes, rice, chickpeas and other pulses and nuts. I often use potato starch as a thickener, it might work better in gravy than cornstarch and is gluten free (I use it because dh does lots of Japanese cooking so it's always in the cupboard).

My Dd is a coeliac and I do a roast most weekends that’s free from wheat, barley and rye and the whole family have it you don’t notice the difference.

Paxo now do gluten free stuffing you’re find it down the free from isle also bistro do gluten free gravey as well, you just have to make sure about cross contamination with utensils as they can get very poorly, that’s why with roast I do a gluten free one for the whole family.