Have you decided what you are having for Christmas day starter?

[ilikemincepie]

Or did MN decide it was unnecessary? Inspiration needed, nothing too complicated as it's complicated enough already!

We have crab, prawns and salad...

Baked Camembert and warm bread with some deli meats and olives.

Gambas pil pil

King prawns cooked in a garlic and chilli oil/sauce - lovely mopped up with fresh bread

yum. they all sound lovely. though I'd have to resist filling up on bread i think.

Prawn cocktail . Not too exciting but easy and dm is making it so even easier for me

Prawn cocktail with avocado salad.

smoke salmon for myself and fil. mussels in white wine for oh and mil.

We never have a starter- will run out of kitchen/ oven space as it is :D I suppose at a push we might have smoked salmon.

A bacon sandwich when I get up (which will be about 11 or 12 - bliss!) Followed by a glass (or 3 ... of champagne while I prepare lunch - sit down is just after the Queen when we eat the main course and we usually have Christmas pud about 6.00pm.

No starter - drink and nibble

Chestnut soup and then chicken liver pâté.

Nibbles whilst drinking, Waitrose bung in the oven prawns with aioli, cheese bites and cranberry and Brie mini tarts.

For the last million years I have done a homemade smoked salmon pate with prawns, frilly salad and melba toast. I am now fucking sick of it and will be doing either something with pate or a baked Camembert that we can all dip crusty bread into.
And I am also effing sick of effing turkey so we'll be having duck.

A bottle of bubbly.

Just a few crisps and nuts around midday (dinner at 2.30). Have done canapes the last couple of years and it's taken the edge off our appetites too much. Never done an actual starter, either at our house or at my parents growing up.

smoked salmon and mini pizzas.

Chocolate and gin.

Antipasti bits: salamis, Parma ham, olives, cornichons, bread etc. We'll also have a few smoked salmon blinis and fizz a couple of hours before.

Nibbles and fizz, then prawn cocktail and salad. Only decided this yesterday as it's usually mixed smoked fish platter.

We're doing a sort of picky bits, so there will be:

Smoked Salmon
Pate
Olives
Prawns
Scallops
Potted Crab

And various other antipasti type items I pick up when I do the shopping. For us this works as we're a big group, and it can be hard to find something everyone will like and to get portion sizes right. Plus I can plate nearly all of it up the night before so requires no effort.

Crunchy potato cakes with smoked trout and horseradish & creme fraiche.

Cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup.

I can't wait! Still undecided though; was thinking maybe keep it very simple with smoked salmon blinis or something, but so many possibilities seems a shame in a way not to do something more special.

We are doing picky bits too-
Pate on Melba toast
Brie and grapes
Smoked salmon and cream cheese on bruschetta
Prawn vol-au-vents

Saffron soup this year, instead of the usual smoked salmon/prawns/pate + salad.

I have never made this soup before so it's a bit of an experiment but I thought it sounded nice