Good food during Christmas week

[MissPB]

I am thinking of what good things to get to eat during Christmas week - ie not actual Christmas Day but the few days (before and) afterwards. Things are either non-cook or easy to prepare.
I was thinking of smoked salmon, getting a gammon to roast so lots of ham to eat but can't think of other things to make my life easy while we have lots of visitors! Any ideas? What do you do?

Just marking my spot, good thread, will be making notes

I might make a pot of pate and get some different chutneys in for simple suppers with cold meat. Apart from that I need inspiration!

Buy or make a joint of ham, then added to your turkey it bulks out cold cuts for sandwiches, buffet etc.

Selection of cheeses, pickles.

Selection of salads - pasta, rice, couscous, feta and olive.

Dips, breadsticks, crackers. Bread rolls for the freezer you part bake.

Then just keep topping up the table if you are having people around it's easier to let them pick their choices in a buffet selection.

Good fresh bread is a must. I buy naice stuff and freeze it eg a sourdough loaf

I often want salady stuff or spicy. Or plain eg eggs.

I always roast a marmalade ham on Christmas Eve and I make a cranberry and orange compote a few weeks before Christmas that is lovely with cold meats.

Yummy speshul cheeses like stilton, manchego, jarlsberg, cambozola etc, fresh celery, fresh grapes - actually frozen grapes v good.

yy to smoked fish, I am pondering smoking a side of salmon myself this year. Lots of fresh herbs - dill for the salmon, tarragon for a turkey and ham pie, coriander and a tin of coconut milk for a Thai turkey or veg curry.

For the days before i like nice cosy food like beef casserole, venison sausages, coq au vin and then bit glut of mac and cheese with gammon on xmas eve...but I'm always on the lookout for more ideas, sort of feel like I've done them to death. need to do things with sage, pancetta and chestnuts mmmm

Mmm cranberry and orange compote - recipe? Sounds lovely!

We always have Chinese on Christmas Eve, and I always cook a ham ready for eating over the festive period. I make lots of nibbles and freeze them uncooked so they can be thrown in the oven whenever we feel like eating.
I tend to cook on Christmas Day and then not again for quite a few days afterwards. We live off leftovers and party food for days.

XBenedict - its very alcoholic - do you def want it?

Great ideas! Yes yes to cheese, ham and extra salady things. Salads with apples and walnuts are great.

Also a good idea to get crusty bread. I might also make foccacia in the middle of the week as an extra treat for visitors.

Roasted chestnuts are great too - mmmmmm.

What can we get now to stock the cupboard with?

Game - or whatever you fancy - pie. Goes well with cold cuts, cheese, preserves but can also be warmed up if you have unexpected guests for a proper meal.

Raw radishes sliced up work really well with rich winter food, keep well in the fridge and just look really nice on a cheese/ham board.

Homemade mayo - honestly easy to do but a bit special. Try using duck eggs. Gives everything a bit of a lift and looks like you've gone that extra mile.

Good thread!

I like to have in a few different cheeses and some good biscuits (especially Rick Stein's seasalt oatcakes which are the bee's knees of biscuits for cheese!) plus grapes, celery, rock hard pears, apples and pickles for easy picky meals. Garners red cabbage a must too.

And a day or two afterwards I ALWAYS want a curry - so some paste, coconut milk and chickpeas are good to have in the cupboard with maybe a butternut squash or some sweet potatoes to shove in it, because they keep well.

Hell yes! It's sounding better and better

OP what are your favourite foods? I choose my favourite foods and really indulge in lots of posh M&S stuff and sainburys party platters. So say from the 21st I bring out all the chocolates, sugared almonds, nuts and turkish delight and my fridge and freezer is stocked with platters, picky things, favourite things, cheese, smoked salmon and philly bagels, croissants, and my favourite garlic mushrooms.

Christmas is a time to indulge in what you really really love.

Shamelessly marking place!

Am getting DD3 christened on Dec 23rd so have various visitors from Dec 21st onwards. Really need naice food with minimal effort!

It seemed so romantic; a Christmas christening, I must be mad Can't even swig gin as I'm breastfeeding

Pate, ham, Cheeses (lots of) chutneys, Pie as all have said. Game stew with lots of juniper berries.
I like a nice soup as well, butternut squash and smoked bacon with crusty bread.
We make mince pies, fig pies, Christmas pudding and Christmas cake.

We have recently discovered our new favourite cheese, Delice de Borgogne, a sort of tastier looser textured Vignotte, will be making a trip to Booths to stock up and this will feature heavily over Christmas.

Blody love Christmas food

Great thread.

Another request for your recipe please Taffeta :)

Remus, I am so getting a curry in the freezer for Christmas week after your post. After days of chocolate standard Christmas/buffet fare that's exactly what I always fancy!

You could start packing the freezer (as I have been this weekend) with home made or bought sausage rolls, mince pies, cookies.

I have made mine, but bought a Daim cake, Stollen, pannetone (which makes an excellent bread and butter pudding btw) for the freezer/dry cupboard.

You can buy your tins of crackers, biscuits, dry snacks now. Some cheeses freeze very well too. I've frozen my pigs in blankets, extra bacon, sausage meat etc this week too.

The German part bake rolls and breads in Aldi are really good. The Germans really know how to make nice bread. Freeze pittas, buy vacuum packed pumpernickel etc?

Excellent thread. My first time hosting Christmas this year so on lookout for all good tips.

On a bit of a tangent - It's also an opportunity to create our own traditions - so far we haven't really come up with anything but really want it to be different to Christmas at either in-laws (as the past 20 years have been). I guess these things may just happen then you build on them/ repeat them the next year?

Whatevertheweather a Christmas Christening sounds lovely very romantic and hopefully a bit of calm at a hectic time of year.

And I'm sure loads of people will say it's fine to drink and BF (how much alcohol is in breastmilk?) but you don't want your DD to have a hangover for her big day

70isalimit she is very festively named Holly though born in August!

We're vegetarian (DH and I- the DC aren't)

I have a vegetarian lasagne in the freezer for the quiet times, and some Spinach quiche (made with garlic&herb Philedelphia, cheese and fresh spinach + eggs and mustard) in the fridge.

And some food for a Mexican meal- refried beans, wraps, tacos, sour cream dip, salsa, onion+lettuce+cheese, sweetcorn fritters

Whatevertheweather I've got a 10 yo Holly born 25th June.(so 6 months exactly before Christmas)

It's a lovely name spikey and poisonous

What breads can you freeze? I know you can freeze normal loaves but what about tiger loaves, cheese topped rolls etc? And what cheeses can you freeze?
Christmas dinner is the last proper cooked dinner we have for days! We have tea at mom and dads,mother in laws, grandma's and friends! It's fab! :)