Christmas menu ideas!

[Averyshinynose]

Not done the food shop yet, not a fan of Turkey and since it’s only the three of us, I might go with something different. Is it normal to have a ham for Christmas Day? Do you have the usual potatoes, veg & gravy with it? Either going for that or roast beef.
My loose plan is this:

Xmas Eve

Carpet picnic with lots of sharing bits and dips

Xmas Breakfast

Crumpets with roulade and smoked salmon
Cinnamon rolls
Mimosa & baileys coffee
Chocolates

Starter (sort of )

Garlic mushrooms
Pigs in blankets

Lunch

Ham lunch with potatoes, veg etc

Dessert

Chocolate log/nice dessert
Cheese & biscuits
Heroes/mixed chocolates

Please give me your ideas/menus

Any ideas 🤔

Most people have turkey and ham so yeah. Christmas ham is lush.

Have you tried Google?

We have duck or goose on 25th. With sauerkraut or red cabbage kraut and some roasted veg. Mixing of cuisines here.
Started is a small prawn cocktail usually.
24th is either a schnitzel or fish with potato salad.

I'd maybe do Nigella's ham in Coke recipe for the fun of it - her brined turkey recipe is amazing so I'd trust her.

I’m finally having a year off cooking but usually mine would be...

Breakfast-
Croissants
Bread Rolls with Salami, Ham or Chocolate Spread

Lunch-

Starters-
Choice of Soup, Prawn Cocktail or Pate

Main-
Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Roast Potatoes, Stuffing, Pigs in Blankets, Broccoli, Cauliflower Cheese, Yorkies, Sweetcorn, Cranberry Sauce, Bread Sauce, Gravy.

Dessert-
We never have room for dessert but I usually buy a Cheesecake and Baileys Cream for anyone who wants.

We are doing a smoky brisket. Brie and cranberry filo tartlets and turkey sage meatballs for canapes. Xmassy veg. Normally get the waitrose lobster thermidor canapes but couldn't find them this year!

B- eggs benedict with Christmas ham

Lunch/starter (at about 1pm) smoked salmon and prawn salad

D (3pm) - turkey with trimmings
Pudding - chocolate cheesecake

Eve- cheese and charcuterie board (though not much ever gets eaten as everyone stil stuffed, so usually have it out again for Boxing Day buffet with leftovers)

Last year we did slow cooked beef rib instead of Turkey

@anotherBadAvatar I’ve always done beef when just us, Turkey when we go to others..ham I’ve never actually had 🤷🏻‍♀️

I would have to have pigs in blankets with the main as I like getting a bite with everything in it (although since you're having ham it does make sense).

We also do xmas eve picnic and smoked salmon brunch on xmas day!

I go way over the top with side dishes for Xmas dinner (I rarely do a proper roast in the year). Red cabbage, pigs in blankets, Butternut squash gratin, cawliflower cheese, roasted veg, red peppers with anchovies, roast potatoes, bread sauce, creamed spinach, yorkshire puddings, turkey, stuffing, brussel sprouts. Home made gravy, home made cranberry sauce.

The meal is always really delayed (I usually aim for 3 and serve about 5:30) normally that's a good thing as our guests are always late then happy sipping champagne anyway. This year it's just the four of us and we'll be eating leftovers breakfast lunch and dinner for days!

Xmas Eve we have hot roast pork and sausage stuffing , and gravy rolls .

Christmas Day this year will be pop tarts or waffles and maple syrup for breakfast. Turkey, roasties, carrot and Swede, sprouts and chestnuts, cabbage and gravy. Trimmings will be chestnut and cranberry stuffing, pigs in blankets, Yorkshire puddings and a range of sauces. Cheese cake or Yule log for after.

Boxing Day is a buffet with a special ham in the middle. Then I'm doing a hand raised gala pie, Turkey and leek pasties, cranberry and Clementine sausage rolls and buffet bits. To feed 18 so not too big this year

I love the Christmas cooking ❤️

Breakfast: croissants with ham and cheese or bagels with cream cheese and salmon
(Or chocolate eclairs if your DH)

Snacks: dips, crackers, chips, Salami and cheese

Lunch: Butterflied lamb leg cooked on the bbq, Ham, salads, roast potatoes, bread rolls, arachini, involetti and prawns

Dessert: pavlova with whipped cream Mango & berries, homemade chocolate eclairs & cannoli, brandy snaps and fruit

But we are looking at a possible lockdown so likely it will just be us not DH’s family and then it’s halumi, lamb and salad rolls & roast spuds then some of the Christmas desserts.

Christmas Eve

Beef Wellington

Christmas Day

Breakfast - smoked salmon and scrambled eggs
Lunch - no starter. Turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, sprouts, honeyed carrots and parsnips.
Supper - mushroom vol-au-vonts, cheese, pate, biscuits,

I don’t usually do a Turkey as there are only two of us but I felt like it this year. We will be having left overs for days. We have had goose a few times as there is not a lot of meat on a goose.

I never understand how anyone manages to serve a starter before a roast? I'm always desperately sorting the gravy and roast potatoes last minute how do you manage to calmly sit down to a soup while having the roast ready? I also don't understand the people who manage to cook an entire roast on time and don't leave the kitchen looking like an absolute bomb site!

@InTheDrunkTank

I never understand how anyone manages to serve a starter before a roast? I'm always desperately sorting the gravy and roast potatoes last minute how do you manage to calmly sit down to a soup while having the roast ready? I also don't understand the people who manage to cook an entire roast on time and don't leave the kitchen looking like an absolute bomb site!

Resting the meat and timing it so whatever is in the oven will give me 20 min. Gravy is just finished by then and is kept warm. No bombsite because whatever isn't getting used anymore is put straight in a sink or a dishwasher. Or the second person washes bits right away. Mind me because I have sense of self preservation the most we ever cooked for was 7.

@SchrodingersImmigrant I think my natural level of disorganisatio and messiness is just too high for that! To be fair I'm usually cooking for 12 but I bet I'll be just as bad this year with only 4 of us!

Rib of beef and yorkshires on Christmas day. I still make pork, sage and onion stuffing and serve on the side though, as I love it too much not to have it. Roast spuds, red cabbage, carrots, peas. I'd like cauliflower cheese, but need to draw a line somewhere.

No sit-down starters, just canapes during present opening. Tiny bruschetti, pistachio and parmesan sables, smoked salmon. Pudding is apple and mincemeat sponge puddings, which are really christmassy but lighter than christmas pudding proper.

Kids have chocolate for breakfast. H and I save ourselves for lunch. Cheese and biscuits, Christmas cake in the evening. I'm not a native Northerner, but the Lancashire tradition of christmas cake with cheese is genius.

Christmas eve is smoked haddock, colcannon and poached egg. Boxing day will be a pie of some kind, and M&S party food.

Breakfast - pain au chocolat
Starter - smoked salmon and cream cheese blinis with champagne
Dinner - we are traditional, so turkey and all the trimmings. Lots of veg - boiled carrots for the fussy youngest, then honey roast parsnips, Brussels and bacon, red cabbage and apple for everyone else.
Pudding - panettone bread and butter pudding and Yule log.

Just two of us this year so placemarking also for ideas...

Christmas Eve or 27th
Delia's salmon coulibiac with probably new potatoes and a winter salad

Christmas Day
Breakfast tbc...possibly bacon sandwiches
Lunch porchetta, sides still being debated, probably will involve some kind of garlicky greens, potatoes and cauliflower cheese...additions possible
Dessert Christmas pudding with brandy butter

Oh goodness and pigs in blankets of course

I detest turkey so ham sounds great! I usually slow cook mine then give it a glaze of honey, mustard and brown sugar and bung it in the oven for 20 mins. Delicious.

We're having beef brisket this year which I'll pop in the slow cooker before going to bed on xmas eve and will be done by the time all the present opening chaos is over in the morning. Serving with honey carrots and parsnips, broccoli, roast potatoes, yorkshire puddings and loads of gravy. Will be making a lemon and raspberry cheesecake for dessert. Kids have got chicken nugget christmas trees for dinner and a novelty reindeer cake for dessert as one has sensory issues and the other is a fussy git

thanks for your post! I really needed it as well as many people think.
lost in thoughts of what to cook, never tried Mimosa & baileys coffee. Are you adding mimosa petals - or what does that mean? please tell me. We have a favorite salad called Mimosa too.
His recipe
1st layer - boiled egg whites on a strong grater
2 layer - cheese (like Edam / Gouda) on a fine grater
3 layer - 1/2 can of canned red fish (you need to knead with a fork and drain the juice, leaving a little juice so that the fish is not dry)
4th layer - a layer of mayonnaise
5 layer - finely grated butter (it is better to freeze it first)
6 layer - chopped or grated onions - to your taste
7 layer - 1/2 cans of canned red fish
8 layer - mayonnaise
9 layer - finely grated egg yolks
it is advisable to insist the salad for a couple of hours. but not necessarily
My husband loves this salad - it may seem a little unusual

[quote InTheDrunkTank]@SchrodingersImmigrant I think my natural level of disorganisatio and messiness is just too high for that! To be fair I'm usually cooking for 12 but I bet I'll be just as bad this year with only 4 of us![/quote]
The secret is... Chill. The food will be there. That's it. 😁 And if anyone has a problem and runs their mouth, we might eat them too😂

Someone very kindly sent me a large frozen turkey, I’m pretty sure I don’t like turkey (when did it become a Christmas thing, I’m sure it was goose back in the day) but I’ll roast it somehow and use the meat to fill tamales.