thinking ahead to xmas foodie tips needed ...(so shoot me...)

[givemeaclue]

Hi all
every year I think I will do fabulous festive cooking. every year it gets to 2 weeks before, I've run out of time to look at recipe books, try out recipes or make anything beyond the normal festive fayre e.g smoked salmon and roast turkey etc.

this year I would love to have time to try out some recipes in advance and plan ahead. Xmas dinner is taken care of as we will go traditional and we always have a buffet style left over turkey etc on boxing day.

share with me your fool proof suggestions for xmas eve (to avoid shepherds pie again), new years eve, and the days inbetween etc

preferably things that look/taste impressive but don't take hours of fiddling

thanks in advance

We just eat normally on those days, so no help sorry

I can PM you my recipe blog address though, to see if there is anything on there you might like to try? I get into trouble for posting the address in threads

Coke chicken or ham. There's a recipe online and it is delicious.

Try posting in the Christmas topic or doing an advanced search on previous Christmas recipe threads?

I always do cherry coke gammon at Christmas :)

I've never tried the coke gammon, it doesn't appeal to me at all.

Other than the actual Christmas day meal, which I spend days cooking for, I cook less at Christmas, as I treat myself to lots of lovely deli foods and stinky cheese.

This year I'm determined to do half a pig's head as the main meal.

Hi there, we've moved this into the Christmas topic now. Thanks.

Has anyone made the coke gammon with boston baked beans as a side? Would love a decent recipe for the beans...

I've made boston baked beans, here
And I've just got molasses to try out this recipe next week.

I always cook a huge gammon on Christmas Eve. It makes an easy dinner that night, then is excellent with the turkey for nibbles the next few days, and will also get put in a turkey and gammon pie at some point.

I'm the same OP. always plan on trying out loads of recipes (more for snacks and treats though, as I'm quite happy with our usual main courses) and never get round to it!

We don't really need to do a full ham, so last year we went for a "tasting" menu, tapas type of meal on Christmas Eve.

I got a few slices each of nice parma ham, braseola and salami. A tub of mixed olives. Some pesto, hummus and tapanade. Calamari and prawns in a spicy oil (M&S). Some plain cooked prawns and bowls of seafood sauce and sweet chilli sauce for dipping. Fresh cherry tomatoes. Peppers in oil. Nice french bread and some breadsticks. Olive oil with some seasoning for dipping (I use an Oil & Vinegar mixed herbs tub). Some nice cheeses.

We just laid them all out on the table and were able to each pick what we wanted without over-eating, and it was a nice light meal before the heavy roast dinner the following day (and all the nibbles as we went on our visits). It is easier though as there are only 3 of us, and DD finds plenty in that eclectic mix to please her, and DH and I both love it all!!

Get a raclette - traditional Christmas eve in some parts of Germany and very easy.

You could make chutneys and pickles now, and pate (freeze it now) and then just serve with cheese and bread.

Yy to the gammon coke. It takes an hour for the ham but I find that it's easy just leaving it to cook for an hour or so while we hang out at home.

We have festive food on Eve/Day/Boxing Day then have regular meals out of the freezer like Bolognese, lasagne, curries as we can't be arsed to cook after the 25th.

Mash freezes well and so do par boiled potatoes (for roasties/wedges).

We have homemade meatballs in beefy gravy in big Yorkshire puddings on Christmas eve.... mmmmmm with carrots and green veg (peeling/prepping extra for Christmas lunch). Would like to say I make the Yorkshires - but Tesco's own frozen dinner plate sized are fab.

I do a nigella recipe on Christmas eve. Basically, stick a gammon joint in big pan, cover with unsweetened pineapple juice and simmer for 1-2 hours.
Eat warm with baby jackets, pineapple and chilli salsa that day and the rest does for colds over the next few days. Mmmmm!

I also do a beef and stout casserole the week before and freeze it. Then defrost between Christmas and new year and add some horseradish and herb dumplings before reheating. Makes a change from turkey and really easy.

Just watching Wednesdays. WTF? Cannot work out what is meant to be going on at all. Considering fast-forwarding through Thursdays.

Just read next week's spoilers. Bit sad if it is true.

Sorry, wrong thread!!