Christmas dinner menu

[Ea134]

We are hosting Christmas for the first time in our new house; we are very excited! I want to make it super special but just want to get some inspiration.

christmas starters? None of us are huge prawn cocktail fans except my mum 😂

any amazing recipes you’ve tried and tested? We’ll be doing the gammon and everything else except the turkey.

any special “extras” that have gone down well?
it’s our chance to create some new traditions so I’m very open minded.

thank you 🎄🎄

A soup always goes down well with some crusty bread. Can be made ahead and people can choose how much they want.

Bacon Brussels sprouts are a game changer, plenty of recipes about for them

Make your own bread sauce - you will never go back to shop bought. I use Delia Smith's recipe (more or less, been doing it for decades) - essentially;

Halve an onion and stick it with cloves (number depending on how strong you want it).
Cover with milk, add a bayleaf and peppercorns, bring to boil
Take off hob, let it sit for an hour or so
Stir in breadcrumbs to desired consistency and add a knob of butter; reheat
Take off hob, let it sit till just before dinner
Take out bayleaf, onions and peppercorns, reheat, add double cream, another butter knob and salt and pepper to taste.

I quite like pate as a starter. Also just to generally nibble on Christmas week. It feels even more special if you also make the chutney. I make this way in advance of Christmas. And then usually do a chicken liver and brandy pate for the meat eaters and a mushroom, tarragon and red wine pate for the veggies. Delicious.

Crushed par-boiled brussel spouts with plenty of freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper, add chopped chestnuts and then plenty of creme fraiche. It can then sit in the bottom of the oven for an hour finishing off out of the way. We love it, even the children eat it and can't wait for it.

I always make a butternut squash and parsnip ‘dauphinoise’. Bloody lovely.

Camembert and cranberry parcels.

I’ve never done starters - IMO Christmas dinner is quite enough as it is. However I do dish out plenty of nice canapés 2-3 hours before (we don’t have Chr. dinner until 5 or 6). Usually they’ll be assorted fishy/smoked-salmon-y things - courtesy of M&S.

We usually have pate with Melba toasts and something salmony.

When at my mums we would always make a fab salmon mousse yummy.

Might go prawn cocktail alongside pate this year as T1 loves it!

We don’t eat Christmas dinner on Christmas Day anymore as I was sick of it taking over the day, but like PP we had canapés and champagne before the main meal in place of a starter. For me, the best part about Christmas dinner is the side dishes, especially when they make for excellent Boxing Day lunch too.

My menu is:
Turkey (brined)
Gammon cooked in ginger beer and glazed with crystallised ginger
Roast potatoes
Maple parsnips
Sprouts (halved and stir fried with butter, balsamic vinegar and chestnuts)
Carrots roasted with honey and thyme
Nigella’s gingerbread stuffing
Ottolenghi’s chorizo and Manchego stuffing
Buttered toast bread sauce

We issue start with garlic and chilli prawns or a soup for non prawn eaters

www.womensweeklyfood.com.au/recipes/chicken-liver-pate-6304

The best chicken liver pate recipe ever. In our house it's the rules. Every Christmas.

We don’t do a proper starter, we have fizz and nibbles (olives, hummus & breadsticks, cured meats etc) while the dinner is cooking, then the main course and often pudding is served some time later or even the next day! Whilst I have a decent appetite I tend to eat little and often rather than fewer big meals so I prefer it spread out.

Mini Yorkshire pudding with beef and horseradish or mini sausages
little tartlets made in muffin tin with a mix of chorizo,peppers,tomato and mozerella mix inside them
soup
baked eggs
salmon and cream cheese
mini beef wellingtons or sausage rolls
cheese and cranberry or cheese and onion puff parcels

sweet potoroos and red onion roasted is next level side dish
all the veg u can think of!!

Make your own sausage rolls with proper butchers sausage meat

We have nibbles /canapé style things about 2 hours before eating , smoked salmon , mini Yorkshires . Maybe some tempura prawns (bought) just a few tasty things with fizz and do pressies, then can pop veg on, make gravy etc and leave everyone so you can get sorted, takes pressure off everyone sat waiting at table and getting too full with starter
Apart from roast dinner, agree make own bread sauce (I do Nigella) Is worth the hassle. Buy a bbc good good mag at Xmas, they always have good timelines and veg options, but not all dishes need messing with , concentrate on not dry turkey, good gravy and good roast potatoes, everything else can be simple

I've been making pumpkin soup (bbc good food recipe, add 1 tsp cumin, coriander and smoked paprika as needs a kick) but I think it would be too filling, though maybe just a smaller portion. One of my mils used to do a salmon terrine with crispy pita triangles which was yummy. My mum used to do prawn cocktails - have to say I love them! Or try fresh crabmeat mixed with a bit of mayonnaise and paprika on endive leaves.
Waitrose's Number 1 Christmas cake is the best I've tried.

I alternate between cooking the gammon in thatchers cider and fresh pineapple juice- I think our favourite is pineapple juice, I also soak the gammon for 24hrs to get rid of some of the saltiness- changing the water regularly.

if you like pate, a good farmer market/ artisan shop might have salmon terrine, that’s lovely on crisp bread

I don't think you need a starter but chicken liver pate is easy to make and can be made ahead.

One starter / canape I've done a few times (not Xmas) soak dried apricots over night, stuff with a bit of brie, wrap in bacon and bake for 10 mins.

Filo parcels with brie and mango chutney are also easy and look impressive.

You could also go retro 1970s and serve a slice of melon, with or without Parma ham.

A rustic 'terrine' can also be done ahead.

You need

Streaky bacon
chicken mini fillets or chunks
2-3 different types of sausage
chicken fillets

Line a loaf tin with the streaky bacon with the ends hanging out.
Skin the sausages.
Put pieces of chicken, chicken liver and mould the sausage into a sort of thick patty.

Keep putting layers in until the tin is full.
fold the over hanging bacon to make it a parcel.

Put in the oven for 30 mins.

THIS IS IMPORTANT

put a plate or small chopping board on top and weight it - there is a lot of fat in the terrine, this will push it out, after about 10 mins, drain the fat off and turn it out on to a plate.

Some slight variations on the usual sides.

I wouldn't do all of these but have done them in the past for dinner parties.
Roast carrots in honey and oil.

Make a mash of potato and parsnip with a clove of garlic and some powdered ginger or nutmeg.

Swede mashed with cream and crispy bacon.

I've also done a parcel of veg, not very Xmassy but could be adapted so a piece of carrot, a baby corn, a green bean tied together with a bit of spring onion - maybe too fiddley for this.

One pudding idea I saw on TV, I think it was James Martin, was to crumble up a Xmas pudding and mix it with vanilla ice cream for a slightly lighter pudding - but don't try to set it on fire.

A lovely cheeseboard wouldn’t go amiss. Pastry wreaths with brie and cranberry can look quite festive. A crisp white table cloth always makes things look spectacular.

You could start with canapés and appetisers if your guests are coming earlier.

Breakfast is panettone French toast and Bucks Fizz

We don’t have starters. I just do some nice nibbles instead - usually olives, root veg kettle crisps, pistachios and cheese palmiers.

Main course is turkey and all the trimmings.

Pudding is Christmas pud and something chocolatey - in previous years have done Black Forest trifle, Ferrero Rocher cheesecake and Baileys tiramisu. I think I’m doing rocky road ice cream bombe this year.
Afterwards we have coffee and after dinner mints.

Tea is cheeseboard with fancy biscuits, chutneys, pickles, relishes, grapes etc….

@Fivemoreminutes1 , what are cheese palmiers?

@Sallyh87 A type of thin biscuit which melts in your mouth! Oodles of recipes online but I buy them from the supermarket. Google them and you’ll probably recognise what I’m talking about.

I think starters would ruin it for me. What we have done is provided little canapés to have with drinks an hour or two before dinner - this year I might do glazed pigs in blankets with a mustard dip etc, maybe some little cracker breads with pate/chutney on.

Dinner will be turkey, homemade sausagemeat stuffing, roasties, honey roast carrots, cauli cheese, shredded sprouts with bacon, maybe braised red cabbage or creamed leeks. I make the gravy ahead of time and freeze it to save time and just add the turkey juices on the day.

Dessert will be a choice of apple/mincemeat crumble or Christmas pudding.

@Fivemoreminutes1 ,googled them and I have never seen or heard of them before! They have been added to the Christmas shopping list.

I agree that 3 courses can be a bit much.

I've done this smoked salmon terrine in the past which could be a starter- or left out earlier as a canape/dip.

I usually do a rib roast with the trimmings as not keen on turkey and depending what veg I have:

• mashed swede
• brussels/bacon/chestnuts
• roast potatoes
• peas
• cauli or broccoli cheese
• leek/bacon
• yorkshires

Dessert- a trifle (I've cheated with using a bought jam roll), pavlova or a hazelnut/choc/meringue gateau. MIL does a simple lemon cheesecake which is refreshing after a heavy meal.