Christmas starter ideas???

[yorkshirepudsx]

It's all in the title, no clue what to make for starters so any ideas will be appreciated! Thanks!

We’re prob doing Christmas dinner around 5pm and have a lot of food and small children so will do a light lunch in lieu of starters I reckon

mini filo tarts stuffed with spinach and artichoke dip and pecans
crudites
kale salad

the tarts I did for a friend’s wedding last weekend (not done them before) and they were lush!

We eat a bit later for the main meal so the starters are a light lunch

belini with smoked salmon, prawn, crab, caviar- not all on one at the same time or pate brochette

We have fish - prawns and avocado smoked salmon faux caviar, smoked mackerel and tempura prawns/calamari at lunch then Christmas dinner at around 5

Smoked salmon blinis or you could use a good rye bread.

My mum has always insisted on making a fancy prawn cocktail starter for everyone in great glass dishes, which makes timings tricky with cooking the final bits of the roast tbh and the kids don't want or need one. This year I've said I'll do it as we're hosting and I'm going to do a platter of big prawns, smoked salmon, brown bread and butter, lemon wedges and marie rose sauce - basically deconstructed prawn cocktail – so the kids can pick and not upset grandma by not eating it and we won't get too full!

No starters here either. I never feel as uncomfortably full as I do after a Christmas lunch so the idea of a starter as well seems very unnecessary. And when I was growing up, we never had pudding until the evening...basically our tea was pudding!

This actually reminds me of a conversation I had with my DH very recently. It's just us and the DC together on Christmas Day and he's the only one in our family that likes Christmas cake and Christmas pudding. I made what I thought wasn't an unreasonable request that as it's only him who will be eating it, maybe he could chose whether he would prefer to have Christmas cake OR Christmas pudding rather than getting both (especially as we go away on Boxing Day).

Oh. Good. Lord. The outrage! He started banging on about how Christmas pudding is pudding; Christmas cake is categorically not pudding, it is something you have mid-afternoon AFTER the biggest meal of the year and pudding, and then he also has cheese and crackers for tea. This is in addition to a constant offering of nibbles. I mean, this seems bonkers to me! Does anyone do this? I think I indulge on Christmas Day, but the amount of food he wants makes me feel 🤢

We have chestnut soup at mine (with garlic bacon croutons). Yum!

Smoked salmon blinis and a bottle of crémant. Or caviar and champagne if you're feeling flush.

Oooh is it homemade?? That sounds delicious!!

Do you have a recipe for the goats cheese parcels you could share? They sound lovely!

We usually do baked camembert with crusty bread.

I do a starter mainly because it corrals people at the fecking table and ensures everyone is sitting down and not wandering off to the loo/washing their hands/making random WA messages when I’m trying to get the main course hot and on the table. It’s a crush so people need to be sitting down or everyone has to get up. I forget every year how much Xmas dinner gives me the rage till about the 16th December, then I remember why last yearI said never again. Anyway - basically it’s a platter of deli meats, smoked salmon and pate with crackers. It’s dumped on the table and they help themselves. I’m usually in the kitchen at this,swigging wine and cursing. Then when I’m ready I whip the platter away, bring the main dishes through and plan never to do it again.

I adore your honesty with this comment 🙈 I'm always telling people off for not being at the table on time, so hopefully the starters work for that!!

We are doing blinis made with buckwheat piled with crème fraiche and smoked salmon with a squeeze of lemon and a bit of dill. Easy and bite-sized and they go wonderfully with bubbles. Also good to pass around for a pre-dinner standing around snack if you don’t want a formal sit down starter.

I made these for the last 2 years and i love them - able to make them in advance and leave in the fridge as well which is great.

www.recipesmadeeasy.co.uk/smoked-salmon-cream-cheese-and-cucumber-parcels/

Pulled beef in a Yorkie with Red Wine gravy. They also make great nibbles if you make little yorkies or big ones for a starter :D

At home I do garlic and chilli prawns and soup for the prawn haters. This year we're at DD's and were having my MiL 's red pepper soup

I usually do filo parcels of some sort. Filo pastry always looks a bit more special. Served with rocket and balsamic dressing. The most popular parcels are mushrooms with garlic, chestnuts, lemon juice, pepper and parsley. You finely chop the mushrooms and fry them in butter for ages until they're almost dry (you can help them along by draining the liquid off and/ or using kitchen roll to soak some up) before adding the other ingredients. Nobody wants a soggy parcel! I've made optional soup before - parsnip or butternut squash.

Id be producing a single serve pudding and mini Christmas cake. In fact I’d probably put them in his stocking and tell him to sort himself out 😆

No one here eats Christmas pudding, DH would eat cake at a push but I’m the only one who likes it, I was thinking of getting a box of Mr Kipling Christmas cake slices to satisfy my craving.

We have a big brunch late morning then Christmas dinner is an evening meal so no time to eat loads afterwards.

We have smoked salmon, cream cheese and Melba toast. DD2 then decided she didn’t like smoked salmon, having wolfed it down before, so I added Yorkshire puddings with stuffing balls and cranberry sauce to the starter. Yum, and means we can eat whenever the dinner is ready, rather than being in a rush because everyone is starving

We always, since my childhood and I'm 51 now, have prawns and bought, fresh soup for my daughter and neice who don't eat seafood. It's gone from traditional prawn cocktail, in a fancy glass of course (as in Schooner Inns back in the day) to prawns in rose Marie sauce but with avocado, rocket and a bought smoked salmon roulade on the side ... now served on a plate. I can't see that tradition ever changing. Needs to be something easily prepared and doesn't require cooking. My sister is kindly hosting 12 of us, so I'll sort the starters, whilst she watches the cooker!
We all contribute to the main meal - mum buys and cooks the Turkey, fillet of beef and gammon. I make the cauliflower cheese, leeks in cream and red cabbage. Niece brings her own veggie main. Desserts are bought, not home made so we all bring one, not all 12 of us, four of us!

We don’t have one as such, just have olives, nice meats, posh breadsticks and hummus etc or smoked salmon and cream cheese Bellinis with fizz while the dinner is cooking. Then people can have as much or little as they want and the people cooking can dip in n out from the kitchen.

This year we’re thinking of doing potted shrimps and as an alternative, mackerel pate.

We have a really informal starter of smoked salmon on brown bread with a squeeze of lemon and cucumber with champagne in the living room before the main meal.

Back in the days my (sadly deceased) ILs came the starter was always the same.

fresh thinly sliced brown bread - smoked salmon- dill- boiled and halved quail's eggs - caviar (well, salmon roe)- sour cream and fresh dill.

This year i am planning on raw oysters with lemon. But only I will eat it as everyone else is vegetarian. For them I am planning warmed blinis with diced marinated cooked beetroot and fresh cucumber, sour cream and dill.

Smoked salmon blinis and other seafood canapés and Prosecco at around 1pm rather than a starter.