To ask for your easy Christmas side dishes

[Flouncysinatra]

I love cooking Christmas dinner, enjoy the prep etc. However last year decided to go lazy and get all the sides(except of course for the roast potatoes) pre-done from M&S. Almost all were awful.

However I did enjoy not faffing around trying to find room in the oven for roast carrots, red cabbage, fucking about with cabbage etc.

So Aibu to ask for your prep ahead Christmas sides?

Anyone?

I parboil the spuds ready for roasting and stick them in the freezer. Thaw overnight and cover in goose fat on the day, absolutely delightful.

All veg peeled and topped/chopped and left soaking in water overnight Xmas eve.

Sprouts with chestnuts on the day - dead easy.

I roast the turkey for the 3 hours or whatever and then when cooked, take it out, double foil wrap it and put a tea towel over the top and it stays hot for 2.5-3hrs which frees up oven space for the spuds, mash, Yorkshire’s etc

I think you'd have more luck over on the Christmas boards.

It won't stop the faffing, but you could make your red cabbage now and freeze it. Then you can just microwave on the day.

You could also do the same with cauliflower cheese, although lots of people don't think it has a place at Christmas dinner.

I make my stuffing balls from scratch too (same and onion and also chestnut, apricot and sausage meat) and I freeze them way before Christmas. Then all I have to do is Chuck them in the oven.

Never thought of doing stuffing balls and freezing - great idea! Just want to get ahead so Christmas Day is more of a shoving things in the oven affair as opposed to peeling and chopping and stressing

Red cabbage, apple, smidge of cinnamon and a glass of orange juice in a slowcooker for six hours on low. Freeze and zap in microwave on the day.

Yorkshire puddings can be made the day before and frozen still in their tins then on Christmas Day they only need 5-10 mins in the oven to defrost them and heat through.

I do more or less the same as 1wokeuplikethis.

I also cook both the turkey and ham in the slowcooker too. Just bung into the oven to brown or glaze.

Oh and steam the pud in one too!

Red cabbage is easy af. I make it in a pan on the stove and slow cook it a couple of days before Christmas, then stick it in the fridge for a couple of days. It gets better as it ages and you can just microwave it before serving.

Red cabbage works well done before and can be reheated in the microwave.

Parcook , boil or steam as appropriate, potatoes, carrots, peas, sprouts etc. On the day, place these in ovenproof dishes, preferably serving dishes, add butter if wanted, cover with foil and put in the oven with the roast potatoes. It works really well and reduces the pan pile on the day.

I blanch carrot and parsnip batons sometime in november to use for roast on christmas day.

I use a large roasting tin to do carrots, parsnips, peppers, cherry tomatoes in.

oven juggling is shit though.

All the following made in advance and frozen:

In advance:
Red cabbage
Potatoes peeled and parboiled
Stuffing balls
Pigs in blankets
Cauliflower cheese (not traditional but in our home it is!)

Christmas Eve:
Peel and chop carrots
Wash and prepare broccoli
Defrost all of the above
(I have cooked the turkey the day before a few times, sliced and poured over the juice to keep it moist and also done the gravy and then warmed it all up on the day - this frees oven for all the rest and Yorkies etc)

Parsnips freeze well and chick then frozen into hot oil.

I use the pre prepared veg judiciously, is I like the m and s red cabbage and that’s an easy microwave. Buy sprouts ready peeled. Buy gravy and stuffing....

There’s 15 and no bugger helps....

Do people really call their vegetables sides, outside of restaurants? I would just do the vegetables that I know will get eaten, I wouldn't go for complicated or showy-offy. The bit that stresses me is my lot demanding Yorkshire puddings.

Cook the turkey on the bbq then you have the rest of the oven free. It's a revelation!

As with pp, I make most stuff in early December and freeze. Christmas day is then just a case of remembering to defrost and reheating and cooking Turkey and sprouts. My make in advance things are bread sauce, cranberry sauce (though than can be tricky to make too early as the cranberries aren't in the shops), stuffing (frozen in a foil dish that can be shoved straight in the oven), red cabbage, blanched parsnips, parboiled roast potatoes. I also make some freeze ahead puddings (cheesecakes etc) so if I end up hosting family at short notice over Christmas I have a nice pud ready to go.

Great ideas here, thanks all!

I can’t think of anything we do from scratch on the day apart from the goose! Gravy we save from roasts through the year, freeze and reheat. Pigs in blankets I make and freeze, same with stuffing, a few weeks before. Parsnips and carrots are chopped on Christmas Eve (don’t peel them, they’re nicer!), spuds are parboiled Christmas Eve, sprouts prepped Christmas Eve. Ham is cooked on Christmas Eve too. Everything is then chucked in the oven (with military timing - this years timetable is already done, just waiting for the weight of the goose!) on the day. We all muck in to help though and have a great time singing and chopping together, for me it’s part of the fun.

I never do it this far in advance, but you could make and freeze stuffing.

Breadcrumbs (or just a pack of stuffing!)
Mushrooms
Nuts
Sage
Half an onion
Sausage meat
Garlic

Blitz together, add some hot water to bind esp if using packet mix, then mix well with the sausage meat.

Form into balls and freeze.