Christmas day starter ideas

[beneathhereyes]

Just as the title says really. Dsis and her family have turned veggie so will need to do something different from them. Apart from prawn cocktail and vegetable soup, any other ideas?

some of us have prawn cocktail and some of us have pate and toast and the rest don’t have starter. Been like that for years..

@VanillaSpiceCandle I followed the Gauthier recipe (having seen it on a Bosh cookery programme and it’s still on their website).

It went down really well - hence making it again. It calls for beetroot purée but I just added some cooked beetroot (it’s at the liquidiser stage so purées quite quickly!).

pear, walnut, blue cheese and chicory salad. Lots of recipes online for dressing etc. Feels Christmassy, not too heavy, v quick and easy and will work for veggies (check the cheese is veggie).

Do you need one?! The roast is so filling, and I love a bit roast I have to say

Pate on toast. Veggies could have mushroom pate on toast.

Noooooooo!

No starters. Traditionally, they aren’t served with a roast because you will have so much else on your plate (both literally and figuratively.

If you feel you need something, how about canapés or crudités before you go to the table. Or a shared platter of some kind?

Don’t ruin the roast!

I did this this week. Courgette parcels

you need a courgette, some mozzarella and some grated parmesan,

Slice the courgettes thinly length ways - I used a potato peeler and when the piece got too small I put it away to use for something different.

Salt the courgette for 10 mins and dry.

Take a slice of courgette and break a piece of mozzarella off, wrap it in the courgette slice and put in a lightly greased dish.

DO the same until the courgette has been used up, sprinkle the 'parcels' with the grated parmesan and bake for 12 mins.

Other vegi starters I've done are filo parcels filled with brie and mango chutney.

Tomato salad.

A selection of melon chunks and grapes / fresh fruit salad.

Stuffed tomatoes.

This is what happens at PIL's.
I don't have the starter because I don't like either and apparently following the tradition is more important than being a good host🙄

Every year we have homemade carrot and coriander soup with warm breadrolls

Thanks so much. It looks perfect. Will be giving this a go for my veggie friends this autumn/winter.

Homemade chestnut soup!

No starters here but if I did it would be closed cup mushrooms , de-stalked and filled with garlic/herb Philedelphia , egg and breadcrum double coated then deep fried .
They can sit happily in the fridge

Or camenbert breaded and fried Serve with a pickle or cranberry sauce

If I have soup in a resturant its because I don;t like the puddings

This is what I came here to suggest! My mother-in-law does a great version of this, only in very small servings, but I like that it feels seasonal. She sometimes adds some very finely sliced raw red cabbage too, for a little colour.

Never have them. It’s such a pain in the arse when you’re already trying to plan roast timings perfectly. Plus the extra plates and clearing away.

We always have canapés with champagne before lunch as an alternative. Some mini veg tartlets or similar could work well and you can prepare them in advance.

Some chocolate and Champagne. Never have a starter before Christmas dinner, the dinner in itself is massive so I don’t feel the need.

I’ve done a small buffet selection early on in the day so people can grab a plate while chatting opening presents etc

i did salad, crusty bread, pate, dressed crab, prawn cocktail, tempura prawns and some nice prosciutto, salami, topped hummus and melon for the fussy one. Quite a big spread but there was 12 of us with lots of different ideas on what the starter should have been, this solved all the problems.

Goats cheese tarts are great, cook ahead 2 days or so and reheat on the day

DGPs and DPs always had/have either smoked salmon on brown bread or prawn cocktail in halved avocados.

DMIL used to do smoked salmon followed by soup. DSIL now does vol au vents filled with a creamy chicken/ham/mushrooms sauce - which could easily be changed to a veggie sauce.

In our house, we don't have formal starter at the table - we have. 1 (or 2 if we're particularly hungry) packs of M&S party food while we open presents as roast is cooking. If I was to do that formally at the table, present them nicely on a few salad leaves with cherry tomatoes or diced peppers as jewels scattered about. And there is a good choice of both meat, fish and veggie options normally in that range.

I've also seen lovely filo pastry parcels involving crumbled black pudding and feta as the filling, made into Christmas cracker shapes, and you could easily do some with a veggie filling that would work.

We don't do starters because we have a full English once we're all up.

However, having seen this on Pinterest I am tempted. Nice and light, easily adaptable to vegetarian/vegan/other dietary requirements, or made more substantial if you wanted. I think I'd replace the rosemary with rocket leaves so it could all be eaten.

Love pâté will be doing this year.

Goats cheese, pear and walnut on toasted brioche.

I had a starter in a resturant that was leafy salad, goats cheese -tiny pieces , carmelised walnut (delicious ) and a drizzle of dressing.
It was very light and ideal before a big meal.

Mushroom pate is a good one or mushrooms on toast. Otherwise I would go cheesy - breaded brie with cranberry sauce is nice and festive colourwise (and delicious) or a pear and goats cheese/blue cheese, beetroot and walnut salad.

Any Birmingham ones here asking this is Christmas food related is the m an s near the bullring a food hall? Be great if it is and is it ground floor.

Our local, small chain butchers make seafood platters so for the last three years we have had that.
The vegan is in NZ at the moment but normally chooses something and sometimes makes it. In the past I had two veggies kids so we had Canapés, small baskets of stir fry sweet and sour veggies, Filo Cracker with veggies and a dipping sauce. Heart puff pastry with cheese sauce and veggies inside and cut out heart with the cut out placed on top. Curried parsnip soup with a swirl of yoghurt and chopped chives. A puff pastry star another year. Palmiers with cheese and olives.
I try and think of something different each year.