Your favourite buffet items

[Veryitchylegs]

I’m doing a buffet on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day (Christmas eve just me, DH and DD and hosting my family on Boxing Day)

I’ve wrote a list for what items to have but quite a lot is shop bought.

What do you want in a buffet?

Fingers only or knife and fork?

We like sushi, salads (orzo with sun-dried tomato paste mixed through, halved cherry tomatoes and some sun dried tomatoes cut up, fresh basil. Cous Cous with herbs and roasted veg and tabbouleh), sage and pumpkin quiche (without feta, annoying! But the consensus is more people eat it without), sandwiches (Brie, grape and cranberry at Christmas and Wensley Dale with carrot chutney), crisps, dips, crudités.

And a buffet of puds. Usually a no bake tray bake like a fake reeses or mint aero, lemon drizzle cake, Victoria sponge.

Sandwiches, crudités and dips, pickled onions, chutneys, crackers, cheese board, macaroni cheese, tomato salad, crusty bread, lurpak, potato salad, mini quiche, mini pork pies, mini pasties, cocktail sausages, crisps, we normally do a tray of mixed Indian/Chinese bits, prawn cocktail, trifle, cheesecake.

Mini sausages with baked with honey & mustard
Mini sausage rolls
Quiche
Cheese & pineapple on a stick

Nice ham, sliced meats, cheese, bread, salad, new potatoes, sausage rolls, pickles, olives, coleslaw, crisps and warm mince pies with double cream

Peppadew peppers stuffed with cream cheese, al dente asparagus spears wrapped in Parma ham. Cherry tomatoes stuffed with pesto and peperami

Chistmas cake small square topped with same size but a bit shallower square of creamy Lancashire cheese.

On homemade small toasts or blindbaked toast cups (thin sliced brown bread, remove crusts, rolling pin flat, use cookie cutter to cut out rounds, pop them in a muffin tin and bake at 160 for 20 mins to dry out - can be done in advance, leave to cool then store in an airtight container)

Quinels of salmon mouse garnished with Ikea sea pearls (look like caviar really nice taste) and dill,

Mackrel with horseradish and radish garnish

Love those tartare soft cheese appetisers can find them in tesco 😋

One of my favourite foods for a buffet are duck spring rolls,also like bbq chicken pieces,tempura prawns,pizza,sausage rolls,lots of different crisps and nuts which are my daughters favourite items (Shes 13 😆). Homemade quiche and because I'm from Cornwall I sometimes order Cornish Pasties online and either order the buffet size or standard steak ones and cut them in half 😋. You could also do some type of pasta salads etc. X

Some of the above but my favourite is mushrooms a la greque. Mushrooms in a tomato and coriander sauce.

Home made sausage rolls every time!

I love anything sausage based - home made sausage rolls, pigs in blankets, honey and mustard glazes sausages, mini toad in the hole.
Probably not all of those...

I also love breaded or battered prawns.

I made nigellas Christmas slaw last year. It was delicious and a bit hit with everyone.

Probably wouldn't bother with a buffet for 3 on Christmas Eve - I'd go out! However on Boxing Day I would serve pigs in blankets warm from the oven, ditto sausage rolls, quiche, cheese board, crusty bread, various pickles, mixed salad, coleslaw, potato salad, turkey sandwiches, crisps, twiglets, cheeselets. Desserts would be Christmas cake, mince pies, some kind of M&S chocolate affair and a trifle. That should cover all bases. In addition, in our case, I would add falafel/cous cous etc for vegan DD and DGD

Smoked salmon blinis or the pre made M&S smoked salmon bagel bites.

A collection of stuff from M&S party food, mini Kiev's, the little burgers, filled wraps etc, basically when I "buffet" it all comes shop bought from M&S.

Went to a wedding recently and the my had pineapple and cheese on sticks. I had forgotten how marvellous this culinary delight was. Every buffet needs them

No Christmas buffet in the peck household is complete without my Snowy Rocky Road, made from a Good Housekeeping recipe from a few years ago.
Great reminder from PP re cheese and pineapple on sticks: definitely greater than the sum of its parts!
All best enjoyed while watching "Elf".

Home made sausage rolls, (I use rough puff pastry).
Devilled eggs.
Vol au vents, chicken or mushroom filling if hot, or prawn mayonnaise if cold.
Mozzarella sticks, good with a sweet chilli dip.
Roast chicken drumsticks.
Pastry squares with goat cheese & fig, or brie & grapes or something with tomato.

Cheese & pineapple on cocktail sticks is compulsory!

I'm not keen on sandwiches for a buffet.

Pineapple and cheese on sticks!!!!

M&S lattice pork pie.

The best buffet my mum does is on Boxing day, just dumps the leftover Turkey, stuffing, bread & cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets, prawns, smoked salmon, cheeseboard, a massive salad, a quiche, garlic bread, baguette & butter, loads of pickles & chutney, plus a trifle on the table, a pile of plates & cutlery. Then leaves it so we can all graze when we want to.

High fives @Cherryrainbow

These are definitely on my list this year

Quiche, vol au vents, cocktail sausages, mixed Indian type snacks, just anything inside pastry. Small sandwiches, cheeses, pickle, etc.

Sweets, I love trifle, black forest gateaux,