Starters

[SaintGutFree]

Inspiration for starters on Christmas Day needed please! Ideally something I can make in advance. Thanks!

Traditional prawn cocktail, always.

I would never have a starter for Christmas, I can eat a lot but I just think it's too much with a starter as well . Might do a few small pieces of rye bread with smoked salmon to nibble on with drinks before sitting at the table.

Also too fiddly to eat a starter and then have to get up and serve the rest of the meal unless you have staff.

Cheesy garlic mushrooms and bruschetta!

I don’t think I could manage my dinner if I had a starter on Christmas Day. I already have to remind myself not to scoff too many snacks during the day in preparation!

We usually do things like blinis, homemade sausage rolls or bite sized pastries to hand around to guests when they arrive with drinks

Canapés about an hour before dinner.

Blinis
Vol-au-vents
Mini Yorkshire’s
Mini quiches/tarts

Tempura prawns with sweet chilli dipping sauce. Just 2 or 3 each to get the ball rolling!

I love garlic mushrooms and bruschetta but even I couldn't eat that before a full Turkey meal. And I am not someone who only eats a slice of Turkey and one roast potato and then declares themselves 'stuffed for a week' .

We have our Christmas dinner late afternoon/early evening so I suppose that might make a difference; we generally have a fairly light brunch, then mince pies/biscuits/etc here and there for anyone who wants it - and that way we have plenty of room for the main meal of the day.

Soup with star-shaped croutons (made with a small star biscuit cutter). You could serve cheesey cauliflower soup but then skip the cauliflower cheese from your main meal. Ditto for spiced parsnip.
Smoked salmon tartlets
Beetroot and goats cheese tarts

We don't do a Christmas Day starter but if I did it would be Breaded Camenbert and mango chutney wih some rocket

Breaded and left in the fridge then deep fry at the last minute .

Mines not made in advance but literally takes minutes, heat olive in a frying pan, add crushed garlic, I use 2 cloves worth, and a green chilli slit down one side. Cook for around 30 seconds. Then chuck in some prawns, we've had both shelled and peeled ,sometimes in the same one. Can be served with salad, or bread sticks or sliced baguette.

Personally I love a Camembert starter on Christmas Day. 'D'H unfortunately grew up with a tradition of having Yorkshire puddings and gravy as a starter on Christmas Day and insists on maintaining the tradition seeing as we don't have them with the main meal 😏

Watermelon, feta and mint salad, we had it last year and it felt like the perfect starter before the heavy Christmas dinner.

No starters at the table. Smoked salmon on small rye bread squares with horseradish cream, tomato purée and pesto puff pastry whirls and marmite whirls for the veggies.

@Ragwort Well I am pregnant this year so will have no problems polishing it off however don't really have any excuse for previous years

I want something that requires close to zero cooking so I can get the main out hot. I'm thinking pate and melba toast with nice chutney

No starters here, we don't want to take the edge off our appetites. We have some nibbles a couple of hours beforehand, olives, crisps etc. We tried doing canapes early in this way one year but even that was too much before the main meal. Neither of our families have ever done starters at the table.

Prawn cocktail with smoked salmon, brown bread and butter and little gem lettuce. I’d never want anything else as a starter - the fish course is a lovely contrast before all the meat.

Always prawn cocktail and only takes 5 minutes to put together.

Prawn cocktail, piece of cake to put together, you can make the sauce the day before and stored in the fridge, all I you need to the next day is mix in the prawns and add your lettuce.
DH hates prawns so he gets pate (not homemade) and toast, I use a star cookie cutter to cut up the toast to make it a little fancier. Again, takes 2 minutes to prepare.
In the past we've done soup. Made the day before so we only had to reheat.

We don't do a full on starter either as we already have a break between main and dessert and coffee- we couldn't eat it all (I do the cheeseboard on Boxing day!) I usually put out a few bowls of nuts and crisps to have with a drink before lunch at 2pm. We do have a proper breakfast, though - pastries and Bucks Fizz.

DH does Christmas dinner. We eat about 2ish & probably have a croissant for breakfast hours earlier. Guests arrive 11ish for champagne cocktails & have olives, nuts, crisps.

For Starters we have a selection but each is literally bitesize & plated up

prawn cocktail
smoked salmon
garlic prawns - only one cooked on day
crab
my brother as a longstanding ritual also has caviar & blini

DS12 who does not like shellfish traditonally has a chocolate sandwich, crusts removed & cut into 9 squares dusted with edible glitter - he had it at 5 & when we try to change it he insists its not Christmas dinner without …...

Parma ham with melon or fresh figs, try with Caesar salad dressing.

Avocado vinaigrette.

Asparagus vinaigrette with Parmesan shavings and hard boiled quail eggs.

Scallops & diced black pudding flash fried served on wilted bitter salad leaves.

Prawn cocktail with a slice of whole meal bread. Not too filling