How do you tart up your Christmas dinner so it's spectacular and not like a Sunday roast?

[Bauble16]

Making the Sunday roast today and trying out a few diff ideas with the veg as not risking a new idea for Christmas dinner without a trial!

Decided to try the Jamie Oliver recipe for pan fried sprouts with bacon. Very nice but not sure it works with a roast hmm.

So what do you do other then steam or boil your veg? I'm fine for parsnips as I've gone the lazy route and bought frozen glazed ones. But would love ideas for the rest :)

Do some Cumberland Sauce. Delicious with turkey or ham if you're doing one.

Mine IS like a Sunday roast (we even have Yorkshire pudding which I understand isn't de rigeur), just with extra red cabbage, sprouts with bacon and then as many pigs in blankets as I can fill the oven with.

Also lots of Paxo. For some reason we only have that at Christmas and the sage and onion smell of it makes me feel really festive. Big huge crunchy balls which are so crisp the only way to make them safe for the teeth is to drown them in gravy.

My goodness I'm hungry!

Pate & fancy toast for a starter, and blackberry or raspberry sorbet between the starter and the main course.

You can make the sorbet in advance (it's incredibly easy, but halve the sugar in the recipe) & then put the glasses in the microwave for 10 seconds before serving. I got a pack of little glasses on Amazon for just a few £.

Buy posh gravy that you can just put in the microwave to make like a bit easier.

I did all this for a dinner last night & it was v effective. The 1st course worked out at £1.50 per person, if cost is an issue, and required no work at all, and the sorbet cost about 70p per person (Waitrose frozen berries) and took 10 mins that morning. The whole effect was very festive & made it seem grander than a regular roast.

What makes it special is more side dishes and "extras" than normal. Pigs in blankets, bread sauce as well as gravy, cranberry sauce (apple sauce for goose), red cabbage cooked with cider, apples and cloves, roast potatoes and mash, cauliflower cheese, some sort of gratin (celeriac or Jerusalem artichoke), or creamed root veg, roast parsnips, pomme dauphinois maybe as one of your potato options? I have done roasted cauliflower before, roasted spiced pumpkin or squash, something been and leafy like kale, peas with mint. A trick with carrots us to boil or steam, add butter and a tiny drop of Pernod, sounds weird but makes the carrots ultra carroty somehow. Fennel is nice roasted or radiccio cut into wedges, brushed with olive oil and charred on a grill pan. Green beans amandine. Some of these dishes might be a main meal in their own right at other times of the year but become posh side dishes for Christmas. I don't do all of them every year! I like to vary the meat from year to year so pick a selection of about 6 veg to suit. Roast potatoes and parsnips are a constant though. I hate sprouts!!

Our christmas dinner isn't super posh but at Christmas feels special. We always have a starter (usually prosciutto and melon as kids love that) and choice of special puddings (hot puds with custard, raspberries, cold puds, fancy ice cream).

We take a break between each course so we can really enjoy it and not be stuffed, which I like too.

For the dinner itself - turkey roast, cranberry sauce (never usually), stuffing, chipolatas, wide range of veg. This year I may do a small potatoes dauphinoise, roast carrots are delicious and a nice change too. Caulk cheese?

We have a good expensive wine too with the main and the children choose their soft drink of choice. That all adds up to special enough for us, no fancy recipes, really, just a slightly better three course roast!

Will watch for ideas, though!

I set the table with candles and greenery, we eat by candlelight, with Christmas carols playing. I try to set a 'mood' which sets the meal and the day apart.

Don't forget the crackers!!

Champagne!

We have
Roasted potatoes
Maple glazed carrots and parsnips
Brussels with chestnuts (pan fried) (normally with bacon but my mum is coming and she is vegan so trying to keep things simple.
Spiced red cabbage

Ours is just another roast tbh but when we have a Sunday roast I make a big effort. Twice a month generally, dining room, serving plates/bowls etc., etc..

Today's roast was a sirloin joint cooked medium with honey/parmesan parsnips, cauliflower cheese, cabbage sweated in a pan in butter with garlic and thyme, carrots, roast potatoes, spiced red cabbage, homemade horseradish sauce and Yorkshire puddings!! Red wine gravy made with a bone from the butchers.

No dessert as we had been at a food thing and have been eating cake all day.

I am stuffed! So it is just another roast here tbh - eating lovely food at home is our biggest luxury. We rarely go out to eat apart from coffee/cake here and there.

Well, we don't have a Sunday roast so that makes it easy!

But - we'll have 2 kinds of potatoes, and several different veg., plus stuffing and home made cranberry sauce. We all prefer lightly boiled veg. so don't even bother with doing fancy sides.

Then, we eat in the dining room and have crackers, with music playing.

We don't even bother with desert though, as we get too full for anything. I do let DD dig into the chocolate from her stocking.

It sounds a bit scrooge-like, but it feels sumptuous.

Set the table nicely, add butter orange juice and maple syrup to carrots, cream and chestnuts to sprouts and mash them a little. Apple juice in with the leeks. Stuffing balls, sausages wrapped in bacon. Peas with bacon. Roast potatoes and parsnips. Great home made gravy, from proper stock. Homemade cranberry sauce with spice and orange- or a good bought one. I do these things other times as well, but not all on the same day.

As much as the food it's about the table settings and company. All the family together, best China and glasses, candles, Christmas table runner, chargers and napkins. I always like a good range of veg but go all out at Christmas!

We have 2 types of meat which I would never do usually - this year Turkey & Beef, last year we had Turkey & ham but tbh most of the ham was used for butties later
Cranberry sauce is something we only ever have at Christmas, also pigs in blankets and sprouts

We have a break between courses aswell which there's never time for usually and a choice of deserts - warm mince pies & clotted cream/Xmas pud and brandy sauce/chocolate pot and custard (for the kids generally) and there's usually a cheesecake knocking around too

And everybody drinks wine of course - the kids have those Disney sparkling juice things in champagne bottles and plastic wine glasses

I bloody love Christmas dinner

Pigs in blankets
Homemade stuffing balls of pork mince with finely chopped onions, sage, apricots and walnuts
honey glazed carrots
parsnips roasted with caraway and cumin seeds
potatoes roasted with garlic and rosemary
sprouts with chestnuts and pancetta

We prefer the food kept plain, so no cream, cheese, honey, cloves etc here. Also no starters. However it's the only meal of the year when we have cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets and stuffing, so it is special. In fact we only have a roast a couple of times a year, which adds to it feeling special too. Posh tablecloth, candles, job done.