Let's have a general 'Christmas Food' thread.

[Titsalinabumsquash]

I'd like to have a thread (safely tucked away in the Christmas topic

villagefete yesd please to the recipe :)

What are reindeer pancakes?

I am unsure about Christmas breakfast. Its a bit of a non event with the DC as they are more interested in their presents.

Last year I did a complete change of tack and put a character tin of pasta hoop things in their stockings. Think it was Hello kitty and Peppa pig. They had them on toast and loved because Father Christmas had bought it.

This year I have bought the multi pack of mini cereals they usually only have when we are on holiday. The plan is put a bow on top and leave them by the empty plate where Father Christmas 'ate' his mince pie and drank his drink They will LOVE that Father Christmas has bought them coco pops

Dh and I will probably have panettone - its quick, festive and yummy so ticks all the boxes.

Get some sausage meat from your local butcher (750g would do approx 14 people)

Chop some vacuum packed chestnuts and chuck them in to the sausage meat (Asda & Sainsburys have them in at the moment)

Grate a white onion into the mix, and also a green apple (A bit time consuming but honestly, so worth it, it needs to be grated for the consistency)

Chop some fresh sage leaves up & lash them in

Add a packet of ready made breadcrumbs, crack an egg in, some salt & pepper and mix it all together

Get some of those foil tins from the poundshop, put the mixure in, drizzle some olive oil over & add a fresh sage leave. Bake for about 50mins to an hour on 180 degrees until the top is nice and crispy.

Honestly, it's so bloody delicious, it's like having another meat dish on your Christmas dinner.

Hooray! I knew this thread would be fab!

That stuffing sounds lovely, I usually do sausage meat, crumbled up chestnuts, clementine zest, sage, onion and cranberries, I might do yours this year though.

I'm intrigued by reindeer pancakes too, although most years I have a sneaky bacon sarnie mid morning

I'm tempted to shred the sprouts before stir frying with bacon but I'm not sure if I'll miss the traditional steamed ones, I'm big on sprouts, my treat as a child was a bowl full of sprouts, roasties and gravy.
Maybe I'll do a test run before the big day.

Yy to instigating an ancestral trifle bowl. Ours was my great grandmother's: it is really quite vulgar, ornate, a scalloped edge, and panels of cheap red glass, not expensive cut glass or anything like that, we oh use it for the Christmas Eve trifle. Everyone loves it.

Love this thread :)

Christmas Eve (8 adults, 1 child) - DP is German and MIL will be here, so roast duck (would normally do something more relaxed like slow cooked ham & some easy veg) with all the trimmings - probably red cabbage, dauphinoise potatoes etc. Last year we had the traditional German carp but I don't think my very English family would eat it so duck is a compromise. Having our close friends round as well. I also want to experiment with mustard and herb yorkshire puddings.

Christmas Day (6 adults) -
Breakfast: undecided, probably something sweet. DP volunteered to make German pancakes but I think it will be too filling.
Lunch: prawn cocktail starter; turkey; pigs in blankets; 2x types stuffing; loads of veg - definitely carrots, sprouts, some form of parsnip; roast potatoes; gravy, homemade cranberry sauce, homemade bread sauce; Christmas Pudding; gluten free pudding (unknown, poss trifle)
Tea: leftovers! Mince pies, sausage rolls and cake.

Boxing Day (6 adults) -
Bubble and squeak at some point. Debating whether I need to do a ham as I imagine the duck will all get eaten on Christmas Eve.

Lots and lots of bucks fizz.

Fortunately some friends have gone home (abroad) for Christmas and they live two doors down and have said I can use their oven for the turkey. Otherwise I think it would be a bit of a nightmare. DP and I will cook jointly - he lets me come up with the menu (mostly - he sees Christmas Eve as his thing) and then he just does what I ask, he's pretty fab

I was pondering this (shocking!) business of people having Yorkshire pudding as part of Christmas dinner, and the fact that never, in the magazine cookery pages pictures of the Perfect Christmas Dinner does a Yorkshire pud ever appear, and I realised that they all show the turkey in the centre of the table.

Do most people have the turkey on the table and carve at the table? We don't. For 16 of us the turkey is carved in the kitchen an plated up with chipolatas and sausage meat stuffing and bacon rolls and brought to the table for all the veg and sauces and gravy to be added individually. Carving at the table would take ages and the first person would have finished or let theirs go stone cold before the last was served. Also there wouldn't be room on the table.

Christmas Eve, Nigella's Rudolph Pie, will make and freeze in advance and eat in front of a Christmas film with red wine.
Christmas day breakfast, kedgeree again made in advance and heated in microwave drink bucks fizz,
Lunch Turkey and all the trimmings, FIL is a veggie so will do a cranberry, mushroom and chestnut loaf for him. Will be making a Nigella christmas pud next weekend, cook and reheat it in the slow cooker.

Will be driving DD back to her flat on Boxing day so everyone can fend for themselves and I will have turkey sandwiches when I get back.

Blu, I carve the turkey in the kitchen and put the slices on a plate. Then we can help ourselves and put however much or little we want on our own plates.

My carving skills are very ummm... amateur, so I doubt anyone wants to witness me massacre the turkey at the table

PS, Yorkshire puddings are a must!

I usually (well always really) host Christmas, so I have my food fine tuned to what provides the tastiest morsels for a crowd.

Christmas Eve is always hot roast pork sandwiches.

I make a huge plate of them. And provide another plate of crackling. Then I keep them coming!

Christmas Day is traditional. A Kelly Bronze, stuffed and roasted upside down, covered in streaky bacon...

Right. I start planning the Christmas fortnight (I know...) in the summer. For the main days the plan is:

Xmas Eve
++++++++

• Polish cabbage and mushroom dumplings (buy from Polish supermarket if can)
• Roast ham, new potatoes, carrots, beans, red cabbage (stove top), maybe bread sauce?
• Xmas pudding, cream/brandy butter

Xmas Day
++++++++
Smoked salmon scrambled eggs and bagels with bubbly for breakfast

• gravlax
• roast sirloin w. roast potatoes & parsnips, yorkshires, peas and carrots, sprouts & bacon in reisling, red cabbage, roast shallots, brocolli, green beans
• Xmas pud cigars with cinnamon ice cream

cheese & pate board for later in the evening

Boxing day
+++++++++
Porridge with whiskey soaked sultanas and cream fro breakfast

Cheese/pate/ham/fish/beef/pickles board w. biscuits & crusty bread for lunch. Micepies and cake.

Eight Jewel Rice (basically special fried rice with chicken, ham and prawns) for dinner.

I could go on but I won't!

Mincepies not micepies!

issy Please do!

Love hearing about all these delicious menus.

extremely resentful I will yet again be eating mil's microwaved awful dinner

Ooh, I like this!

We have a lovely modern Dartington trifle bowl which we got as a wedding present. At the time we were a bit about it as it wasn't on our list. i think it was from DH's office, they obv had a whip round and someone thought "oh, we've got x, nothing left on the list but, oh look, if they like those glasses there is a trifle dish in the same line for x. Sorted". we never knew we needed a trifle dish but we love it!

I'm looking out for a nice fish dish for Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is a meat fest par excellence, Boxing Day is leftovers, 27th we always have a big family gathering. so I need something light for Christmas Eve (although I'm loving the sound of pulled pork rolls with cracking..)

My tradition is that we usually get a small side of salmon and make gravadlax a week before Christmas. It lasts really well and means you always have some in the fridge which is great for all those meals when you don't really want a meal - on fancy bread, on plain bread, with scrambled eggs etc.

Thanks izzy and herrena, will look into both those ideas! And lots of other people's as well since I have maternity leave to try out all your amazing recipes :)

All my Christmas food rituals are lifted straight out of nigellas Christmas book! I do her ham in coke and mac cheese for Xmas eve, then her breakfast muffins in the morning. I love the smell of the muffins cooking! I'm doing three hams this year, one for us, one to take to DMs for Christmas and one for DH to take to the ILs on Boxing Day (I'm working).

Have also bought a gingerbread house kit to do with DS on Christmas Eve or at some point on the run up to Christmas. My dream is to be one of those people who does their own pudding, cake, sloe gin, mince pies, loads of Christmas baking etc but it just don't have the freezer space or organisational skills!

i need help with my ultra fussy family.

Ds has severe food allergies to eggs nuts fish seafood cocoa and sesame and won't eat anything remotely spicy as it feels like the beginning of an allergic reaction.
DF is coealic, DM doesn't really eat meat (exceptions bacon, gammon and if pushed spag bol/lasagne)
DB is fussy - no italian, very few carbs and loves spicy food
DSIL can't eat pork as it makes her ill and has gone off meat!!!

So can you find one meal that everyone might eat?
I have been scratching my head for ages and failed miserably.
I think I have Christmas dinner sorted but not pudding.

I need a hand, too.
Usually we go to Whoever Is Hosting but this year everyone's going away so it's just DP, me and little DD, who will go off to her daddy's at midday.

For Christmas eve, I have a blank. It needs to be something super-special, but not involving turning the oven on at all because it'll be 40 degrees ++

For Christmas breakfast, I was going to do Owl Eggs for DD and croissants for DP and I

From lunch on it's just DP and I. Help?

Boxing Day is always Fridge Pie.

Another one for the Ancestral Trifle Bowl. Grammy brings it with her every year (a ten hour drive!) and makes her Famous Trifle.

I feel quite bereft, actually. Usually I bring plates and make death by chocolate cake and that's my fattening contribution!

We've done a few different things on Christmas Eve, but my favourite is a combination smorgasbord/tapas/antepasti sort of buffet. Smoked salmon, chargrilled squid rings, prawns, braseola, Parma ham, nice slalami, sun dried tomatoes, olives, hummus, tapenade, fresh cherry tomatoes and sliced peppers, garlicky potatoes, various cheeses, nice bread sticks or flat breads, bowl of salad etc. leave it all on the table for everyone to helps themselves.

I also peel everything on Christmas Eve, potatoes, carrots, sprouts, cauliflower, etc. well, not parsnips, but the rest. DH makes th stuffing.

We don't tend t overdo the Christmas feast. It's just us 3 when we are cooking. So we do a turkey, ham and spiced beef (but we use lots of leftovers over the next few days and freeze the rest, none is wasted). I usually do a dish of roasted root veg, a cauliflower cheese, and sprouts with bacon - but just enough of each for what we'd eat. Probably a serving of peas for dd as well. Proper gravy with turkey stock.

We don't usually do much of a starter, but a couple of packs of M&S nibbles while we open prsents in the afternoon and the bird cooks. DM makes a pudding for us every year. And then I get a bag of Leonids orangettes for with coffee later.

Boxing Day is lots of M&S nibbles, sausage rolls if I had time to make and freeze them, turkey and ham sandwiches, and mince pies and a box of biccies. But we have people coming and going all afternoon. It ends with birthday cake for Dd.

We do a bacon and Stilton potato bake another day. And I do love to have a curry feast night too, but that wouldn't work on Boxing Day - I do have them frozen from about now.

I love to make my own mince pies, but am not the best nor have time for making pastry a lot the time. So I use vol au vent cases sometimes, or bought pastry. But I do make the mince and leave it for at least a year to mature, witha good splash of booze in it.

Sorry for random misspellings and apparent gaps, the ad cannot keep up with me and I have not got the energy to go back and fix everything.

Oh, for Christmas breakfast, we do freshly squeezed OJ, and then bake croissants - unroll a jus roll pack, slather Nutella in 1 for dd, and the other 5 are plain but I love proper bitter marmalade in mine. And plenty of nice hot coffee to wash it down. Proper coffee.

Vegetarian family here!

Christmas Eve breakfast- santa claus pancakes
Lunch-veggie paella and bread roll
Dinner- buffet with cheese board, crackers, hummus selection, falafel, quiche, breadsticks, naice crisps, quorn 'meats', veggie sausage rolls, mince pies.
Afters we have the snowman cake baked with DC that morning.
Then we watch a movie with hot choc topped with naice cream, marshmallows and a chocolate flute. DH and I have Booja booja ice cream when DC are in bed .

Christmas Day breakfast- pannetone, croissants with chesnut spread inside, pain au chocolat, my own Christmas morning muffin recipe that, if I may say so myself, stomps all over Nigella's , thumbprint jam cookies with homemade jam, cinnamon honey, Christmas marmalade and milkshake.
Lunch- cheese and tomato baguettes and twinings Christmas afternoon tea.
Dinner-
Starter- cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup with bread roll.
Main- Delia's cheese and parsnip roulade, brussel sprouts with veggie bacon and maple syrup, homemade chestnut stuffing, veggie pigs in blankets, homemade onion gravy, truffle oil roast potatoes, braised red cabbage, honey roasted parsnips and chanteney carrots and homemade cranberry apple sauce.
Dessert- Yule log and chocolate gingerbread cheesecake.

In the evening we have christmas cake, cheese, crisps and chocolate boxes (getting the prestat one this year, uber excited )

Boxing Day is a much more relaxed affair...
Breakfast- raspberry dark chocolate and banana crepes
Lunch- chutney, cheese selection, bread roll, Christmas cake and probably chocolate.
Dinner- pizza!

Phew.

Ohh what do they make the Booja Booja ice cream with? I know it's dairy free.

I'm really fancying an M&S seafood party platter and crusty bread for Xmas eve, I wonder if I can tempt MIL?

Reindeer pancakes sound a lot better than the reality :) they are basically just pancakes decorated to look like a reindeer

www.iheartnaptime.net/rudolph-pancakes/

Thank you for the sprouts recipe it sounds delicious and hopefully may encourage my DCs so eat them!

Great thread. Already got some ideas! Hosting DH family on Christmas Day (7 people) and DH extended family on Boxing Day (12 people and two kids). My mum's a vicar so our family Christmas is on 28th and we're doing a bring a share.

24 December DH and me

• probably some form of pheasant casserole (as I bought some pheasant breasts in offer at Waitrose ages ago and they've been sitting in the freezer looking for an appropriate occasion ever since).

Xmas Day
Breakfast: muffins (bread type) smoked salmon - my family Xmas day breakfast that I've imported to DH's!

Lunch: Turkey, stuffing, pigs in blankets, parsnips, goose fat rosaries, swede and carrot mash, sprouts (Urgh), other yet undiscovered veg
Pudding: Xmas pud and Brandy butter and chocolate roulade (or as I always overdo the cream chocolate fold!)

Dinner: if anyone is remotely hungry - Christmas cake, ham, cheese crackers.

Boxing Day
I've said that if I'm doing a roast on Xmas Day - which I don't actually like! - we're having curry of Boxing Day. Which I'll make in advance between now and Xmas and freeze.

So lamb bhuna, chicken kofta (meat balls), dhal, probably aloo paneer ghobi with peas, rice, naan.

28 December- bringing trifle (no ancestral dish!) and any left over curries.

Have done a huge waitrose order to be delivered on 22.12.14.

Scanning this thread for veg ideas for Christmas Day!

I love the idea of goose fat rosaries very appropriate for a vicars daughter.
Badgerlady you have bought a smile to my day.