Christmas dinner for 1

[CloserIAm2Fine]

I choose to spend Christmas on my own, so I’m not looking for sympathy!

I always cook myself a full Christmas dinner, the last few years I had chicken but looking to see if anyone has any other ideas? I’m happy to have leftovers but I have small oven so nothing too big.

Beef wellington!

We will be having a quiet post-Christmas and hibernating until New Year. Planning to either get a turkey crown for 4 or a gammon, as both are really good cold in sandwiches or as cold cuts.

The leftovers will keep or easy enough to make into a pie.

Pheasant? Quail?

Guinea fowl.

I adore turkey so would cook myself a turkey crown and some trimmings (my favourites are roast parsnips, sprouts, and Paxo sage and onion stuffing) then continue eating turkey either with more parsnips or in sandwiches with leftover stuffing for the remainder of the festive period.

If you're not bothered about turkey/a traditional roast, you could get some nice pâtés, or cold meats or cheeses. Beef Wellington was also a great idea from a PP, or a nice piece of steak with proper chips, mushrooms, pepper sauce?

Duck? Small enough to do a whole one and have some decent left overs.

Another vote for turkey, xmas dinner is my fave thing ,if i were on my own id still have my turkey x

What about a poussin? Stuffed it'd be very celebratory. That said- I'd still go small turkey- for the leftover sandwich (best meal of the year) , pie, salad and soup

Lobster and chips!

What about a goose? It has the visual oomph of being a proper big roast, but with very little meat to show for it. You can get lots of stuffing in which is the most important thing and if you strain the fat it will keep you in roast potatoes for a month of Sunday’s!

I'd go Wellington, any excuse for pastry! If you're after a Christmas put Tesco had their little Finest ones half price for £1 last week, for us it's just me and DH so I bought 2 as a normal size one is too big.

Ooh while I remember last year M&S did a small turkey roll in a metal tin, I think it was stuffed with spinach and mushroom or something like that and it was delicious! Might be worth looking to see of they are doing something similar this year

What about a huge duck breast from a butchers? Not the supermarket tiny ones. I did this one Christmas (with a turkey crown) and it went done really well. The duck takes about 15-20 minutes and one was plenty for two people with the turkey

A leg of duck or duck breast (or a whole duck if you like doing shredded duck etc with left overs) with spiced red cabbage, roast potatoes and roast carrots and parsnips.

I had a Christmas Day lunch on my own once (through choice), and I treated myself to a roast duck. It was lovely eating as much as I wanted and still knowing the were leftovers for the next day or so.

I'd do a lovely turkey crown - perfect amount for you to have some for Xmas day, then to have some sandwiches/make soup for a few days after!

Hope you have a wonderful xmas!

I got a turkey breast for thanksgiving dinner last week. Useful as totally meat and no bones to clean off (but no chance to make stock for freezer). But surprisingly tasty despite that lack of bones. I got a large one in M&S to serve 8-10, they had a smaller one as well - but if you can freeze leftovers, I’d get the larger as it was much better value. It came in a roasting tray and fit well in the oven , and also sat for 25 minutes before carving but was still hot for eating (despite me forgetting to cover it while it rested).

A duck, or half duck, could be really nice instead.

Or a poussin or guinea fowl as something a bit special.

If you have freezer space, it’s worth making stuffing as I often freeze a bag of it when I already have enough plain breadcrumbs - it’s great for a quick nice dinner with chicken joints or to make stuffed mushrooms and tomatoes in a hurry etc.

(I do the same with crumble mix for making desserts - make a decent batch, use what I want that day and freeze the rest for other easy dessert days).