Christmas Eve lunch

[NewChoos]

DH's family will be visiting for the day on Christmas Eve (leave again later that evening for other locations).
Any idea's for a nice lunch? I definitely don't want to do a roast. FIL is a very fussy eater. Nothing too spicy I believe which cancels my original idea of a curry.
Needs to be hot, people will be travelling for 2-3 hours, so I don't think a cold meats/salads will be adequate.
I am wondering about a big cutting pie but it doesn't seem special enough.

I love pie so I'd be more than happy with that, or maybe a fish pie?
Casserole?
I'm doing a chinesey pork belly thing from the freebie Waitrose magazine, cooks for about 4 hours which means I'm not faffing when people are there

I always cook either:

Sausage and mash with a yummy onion & red wine gravy
Cottage Pie (inspired by Nigella's Rudolph Pie but kept to beef so as not to scare DCs :o )
Ginger glazed ham with mash and veg sides. (again a Nigella recipe from her Express book. Very easy and much more simple than her other roast ham recipes). The advantage with this one is that if you do a large joint you will have plenty left over for Boxing Day and beyond.

BTW, it will be special because you are all together. I always felt I should do something mega but the next few days are such a feast that I find it a real pleasure to cook simply and eat without stress :)

could you have soup and then cold meats/salads which you could do jacket pots with?

i usually just do a carbonara or beef stroganoff for christmas eve dinner - easy and tastey. but if its lunch you could make a big pot of soup in the morning and serve with fresh crusty bread?

A lovely cottage pie with loads of cheese on top. You could make it all the day before.

I'd do a stew. Jamie Oliver does a good melt in the mouth beef stew. You could serve with jacket potatoes or rice.

My FIL is v fussy too - they are here for thr next 5 nights. It's hard work thinking of something!

Some sort sausage casserole, maybe with venison or boar sausages to make it a little special?

And a lovely pud and drinks. Hot choc fudge cake and ice cream? Bread and butter pudding? Traditional trifle?

And maybe a few bowls of nibbles, nuts etc for everyone to pick at before and after lunch?

Have you decided what you'll be doing?

I second Jamie o's 'Jules favourite beef stew' with lemon and rosemary sprinkle at the end which is a lovely addition. Cooked this recently adding lots if baby leeks etc for a special night and it went down a storm.

Wow thanks for all the suggestions! Some really lovely idea's.
I like the idea of stroganoff - not sure about FIL though. So maybe do Sausage and mash as well. I will definitely do the hot chocolate fudge cake with ice cream for pudding - will dig out my domestic goddess book.

Thank you :)