Christmas Dinner Menu

[Lwrenagain]

Hi! Can we share what we're cooking? I want someone who shares joy in cooking Christmas food to get excited with!

I budget around £200 for the food for Christmas period, including treats and meals. I really shop around for this.

I make lots of "big" sides because we have open door policy for family/friends/neighbours/colleagues or if any school mums etc need some dinners plating up (we've had that happen when a mums oven broke Xmas day and we were able to drop off some dinners for her) plus DP works shifts, so if any of his colleagues are working over the Xmas day without a dinner we plate them up and he'll do a drop off.

To be cost effective I get loads of veg and tart it up for the mains, plus it lasts days/can be made in advance to help with small oven situations.

Meat - turkey / a joint of ham.
Stuffing - homemade - sage and onion with sausage meat is the favourite for my family but I prefer chestnut and apple stuffing 😋
Pigs in blankets
(I do try to stock in veggie/vegan equivalents in!)

Veg - roasties with garlic and rosemary and lemon
Potato dauphinoise topped with brie and sage
Carrot and Swede mash
Roasted garlic sweet potato mash
Glazed heritage carrots with thyme
Honey and mustard parsnips
Cauliflower, leek and brocoli cheese
Sprouts with chestnuts or pancetta
Braised red cabbage 😋

Homemade cranberry sauce/apple sauce and mint sauce (I dislike my homemade cranberry so I buy ocean spray for me, I just enjoy making it even if its a bit shite😂)

I make the gravy in advance and just use the Colemans bread sauce packets because I've never liked fresh bread sauce tbh.

I try getting all the veg and potatoes when they're on offer at aldi or lidl and to keep costs down I'll make a veggie soup or stew or curry for a few days we need something less rich to eat and also not dead expensive ☺

The meat when it's half price at sainsburys seems to be the best bargain because it lasts ages.

Last year Morissons had a great deal on wheels of brie being half price and some good deals on cheeses and pates.

For the veggies/vegans
I defrost vegan sausages and use them with sautéed mushrooms to make stuffing.

I see what veggie mains I'll see what's being stocked in all the supermarkets, aldi has vegan pigs in blankets etc

Lidl and aldi do nice veggie pastries ❤

Desserts
I'll make mince pies and a Christmas cake with the DC but also look for ideas on the Jane's patisserie blog, I like her trifle ideas ❤

I love stollen/dried fruit/marzipan flavoured puddings, anyone else?
I'd happily swerve chocolate for Christmas flavoured sweets!

Cheese board with homemade chutney (Mary Berry has a terrific recipe) and then some shop bought ones such as quince.
Lots of French stick/crackers/butter etc

We don't drink alcohol in my house but I'll get a baileys and amaretto in for guests, if anyone wants to bring their own booze I'll provide mixers etc maybe someone can recommend a nice bottle of wine for me to keep in for visitors? I'd appreciate that!

Last year was a really crap Christmas so I'm super excited for this one 🌠

Sounds fabulous…..open door you say? What time?

We actually do the same with having an open door from about 5 onwards. During the day, it’s just the 3 of us plus our New Zealand family on WhatsApp. We don’t do Turkey so this year I am thinking of beef Wellington. I’ll do that with veg, gravy, roast potatoes. Starter will likely be seafood and dessert we have as part of the open house.

The open house part we love. Lots of drinks and crisps, nuts etc. I do a huge cheese board and a large chocolate board. I will also get some bite size desserts. Marks and Spencer are good for those. We don’t do desserts like apple pies or Christmas pudding as we’ve found over the years people are too full so they’ve just gone to waste. There will also be magnums in the freezer.

Lots of alcohol and soft drinks too.

Im actually really looking forward to it.

@Escalateandcreate do you do that thing where you start stock piling bottles of soft drink for months beforehand and fill up the Christmas cupboard just for the festive 2 weeks but lose your absolute mind if anyone dares open a can of coke before mid December?
It can induce a breakdown in me, seeing the Christmas cans be opened end of November, it is probably the least chill thing about me 😂😂

I might look at the m&s snacky Desserts this year online, ocado do m&s now don't they?
I've never had m&s Christmas stuff before, I've never lived near one so I can order online now.

My favourite thing about Xmas food is the cheese board, I love the more unusual flavours you can get now, its all very exciting for a cheese pervert like myself, who will literally stalk cheeses online like a crazy ex, waiting to see what new ones get released 😋

I hope people on here share some pics of their food

Oh yes. Christmas fridge in the garage is out of bounds and my voice will be raised if anyone breaks the rule!

Im with you on the cheese board. Love it. Over the Christmas period our favourite meals are homemade lentil soup and cheese and biscuits.

I find marks and Spencer good for all things good at Christmas. Their cheese is usually quite good as well. Next up will be the Tesco food order battle.

I made a Christmas cake last year and it was amazing to have a big slab of it to offer guests.
This year I bought a nutcracker cake stand for it to live on.

I can’t wait to start making it 😀

Your menu is remarkably similar to mine, including no alcohol. I do a few more veg sides and I make at least two stuffings. Usually a staple stuffing and an experimental. I also do three meat options (turkey, mustard glazed ham and topside of beef) and a veggie main which changes year on year. Haven't chosen for this year but last year, I did cranberry, mushroom and chestnut parcels. I always make a Christmas pudding and a trifle (white chocolate and raspberry last year) and then a cheese board as well.

I made broccoli, leek and cauliflower cheese last weekend and the DC asked if it's Christmas.

My big focus right now is thinking about the buffet for the evening which comprises mostly leftovers, but I try and make a few things in advance to add to it.

I've started spotting things in shops and quite gleefully cleared out The Cupboard in anticipation. Soft drinks are always the first buy and NO, you don't touch them until school breaks up at the very earliest.

I love the food enthusiasm here!

Do any of you live near farm shops?

I've got 2 localish here but they're massively expensive and overrated, but I'd love a Christmas mooch in a really decent one!

I adore Christmas and the day is so entrenched in tradition with food options now so limited by everyone's preferences that it's the build up I love most. I love make pastry trees filled with cheese and pesto or Nutella, the cheese boards, I make dough balls with Brie , and glaze hot nuts for snacks. I usually have at least a few nights in December where we host family and so I get to do a fancy buffet- usually with a glazed ham (ginger marmalade last year) cheeses , homemade chutneys and differ types of home made crostini- nigellas crab tortilla chips, beef pear and Stilton on sticks, homemade croquettes, a tacky but delicious prawn ring, sticky cranberry mini sausages, devils on horseback etc. Then I do a sweet table with mini trifles, choc logs, homemade fudge, snow rice crispy cakes, mini bundts decorated as wreaths, stained window biscuits, star biscuits, homemade battenburg in Christmas colours. I love it.

The Christmas dinner is always the same - cream of tomato soup for dh and dd2, duck liver pate with port jelly for me and dd1 (I used to experiment but these landed as favourites years ago and I'd have mutiny if I mixed it up)
The turkey is dry brined, then sausage and sage stuffing stuffed, served with goose fat roast potatoes, cauli cheese and yorkshires ( odd choices I know- but again the family fell in favour and I am powerless to the majority vote) sprouts with bacon and chestnuts, braised red cabbage, roasted honey parsnips and carrots and plain green beans. Despite the turkey and sausage stuffing pigs in blankets will also make an appearance. Sauces are a rich turkey gravy, bread sauce, and cranberry sauce.

Dessert is a thin slice of Christmas cake that none of us really like but we'll have made in November so want to eat, alongside a sharp cheddar.

And of course this all precedes the best meal of the year- the Boxing Day sandwich, which is much of the above in between two doorstop slices of buttered bread, followed by a thicker slice of that Christmas cake that is now fried in butter and served hot , with slightly crispy outsides and good vanilla ice cream

You sound lovely, OP! I may swing by with @Escalateandcreate 😉

My family is coeliac so we have lovely big GF Yorkshire puddings, a big turkey joint, crispy roast potatoes, baby carrots, peas, lashings of GF gravy and GF stuffing, as well as dauphinoise potatoes and cauliflower cheese. As our DC are young, we don't really tend to do starters, but as an appetizer, DH and I (and any family we are with) will have smoked salmon blinis (heaven!). We then will have a cheeseboard with lots of cheeses, crackers and grapes and then (if there is room), M&S did an AMAZING GF chocolate covered yule log last year (I'm hoping they do the same this year!).

How do you make your tomato soup, op?

Love this, I started my Christmas treats cupboard last week and the family known it to go near it! We also have the fridge/freezer in the garage so that will be repurposed as a Christmas stash holder as well!

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tomato-soup

@determinedtomakethiswork I make this except I throw in some roasted red peppers, just to give it a bit of depth, goes amazing with a cheese toastie!

The other wintery soups I make are spicy squash/pumpkin with coconut milk, goes lovely with some pita breads or naan bread.

I also love leek, potato and broccoli with loads of garlic, really nice and thick and feels like eating a bowl of goodness 😋

https://www.jamieoliver.com/videos/jamie-s-mexican-tomato-soup/

@determinedtomakethiswork this one is also really fun to make, my kiddos love this one ❤

And of course this all precedes the best meal of the year- the Boxing Day sandwich, which is much of the above in between two doorstop slices of buttered bread, followed by a thicker slice of that Christmas cake that is now fried in butter and served hot , with slightly crispy outsides and good vanilla ice cream

That sounds amazing! 🤩

Love reading Christmas dinner menus. We also have an open house with people dropping in at various times. Do a mix of homemade and bought ready prepared.

For nibbles I’m making spicy nuts, this year these. Hot cocktail sausages these are a contender. Devils on horseback.

Starters are cold and retro served canapé style or a mini trio at the table. I always make an interpretation of prawn cocktail and assemble melon chunks/balls some with Parma ham, some with cherries. One or two others undecided maybe ready made.

Main course - roast bird most often turkey as we love it, I could be tempted by goose. Plus another, gammon last year, vegan this year no idea what though.
To go with - pigs in blankets, Yorkshire pudding, sage and onion stuffing balls and Dh’s stuffing surprise. He makes the gravy and I make Nigellas cranberry sauce a day or so in advance, homemade bread sauce only if a guest would like it.

Vegetable sides, we like simple - roast potatoes, roast parsnips, new potatoes, chantenay carrots, swede carrot mash and well done sprouts. Other sides make guest appearances depending on attendees.

For intermission this Sorbet sounds interesting.

Dessert is a choice of puddings -traditional (a much adapted Nigella recipe), steamed sponge possibly this one, a jelly from packets this year and stripey. Last year I bought a Pandoro and dusted with icing sugar an idea I got from a thread on here and will do again this year. A choice of iced rum sauce (Nigella), thick pouring cream, squirty cream, jar of brandy butter or scoops of vanilla ice cream. Readymade hot white sauce only by request.

I don’t make anything for the cheeseboard. I might have a go at a chutney this year, usually buy an assortment. We cut the Christmas cake which is an evolved Nigella recipe of course (all from Domestic Goddess). I do make peppermint creams for the mint selection!

We have drinks - champagne, wine, dessert wine, port or sherry and liqueurs. The usual spirits and beers. We also have a selection of fancy cordials which we only buy at Christmas, it’s squash for the rest of the year.

@Lwrenagain sorry, did you say you can make plates up for friends who have oven disasters? I think my oven is due to breakdown at 5:49pm Christmas Day 😉

I shouldn’t joke, my Mum’s large oven broke down one Christmas Eve about 20 years ago & I had to cook the 22lb turkey in my old 50cm one. It was so large my Dad & I had to sit with our backs on the oven door, bracing our feet on the washing machine opposite just to get the oven door closed!

Everything sounds wonderful! I’ve been making my own Christmas cakes for over 30 years (starting in September so lots of time to feed it). Last year, DH bought a Costco Fruit Topped Cake as my 50th birthday cake (in November).

A complete game changer. I honestly don’t think I will make ours again, and for £14.99 (last year’s price) it’s certainly cheaper than just the 75cl bottle of mid-range brandy I usually buy for the cake. And it’s just as moist as my (full bottle of) brandy sozzled cake. I may remove the glacé fruits this year & marzipan & ice as usual as I did miss the decoration last year.

I will always make my, as requested, son & DIL’s cake (with strong tea & no alcohol) as usual, so I’ll always be icing anyway on the run up to Christmas.

The Costco cake also freezes better than mine (being diabetic, even with DH’s love of fruitcake we chunk it into portions & freeze before New Year).

Son & DIL are saving for a house deposit, so always make various chutneys & marmalades as gifts, so we always have something with our cheeseboard, but Sainsbury’s has some fabulous Taste the Difference chutneys & preserves that were better (& far better priced, especially as they were on offer in October last year) than the Fortnum & Mason one we usually would buy. The name escapes me in this infernal heat today, I think my brain has melted.

Boxing Day & the cold meat buffet is my favourite meal. I usually make a double quantity of pigs in blankets (with veggie ones if needed) so we have enough for both days.

I usually use around a kg of sausagemeat under the neck end of the turkey as that’s a favourite to serve cold. Also, when dressing the turkey, I use at least 3 packets of streaky bacon to completely encase the breast in a lattice. Before I stuff the neck, I run my fingers under the skin to separate it from the breast, then work the sausagemeat under the skin, topping with cold butter (still under the skin). Then comes the bacon lattice - a faff, but looks good for serving - and the whole thing has more butter & seasoning over the bacon.

DS bought me a meat injector a few years ago & if it’s anything over 6kg (as mostly everyone comes here & I love cooking) I melt butter, season it & inject into the breast & legs.

So, there’s no dry turkey on the Boxing Day table!

Prawn vol au vents are a nice nod to our 70s childhood & are just traditional now (with the dusting of paprika/cayenne). And I always make a Tunis cake for those that don’t eat fruitcake https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunis_cake#:~:text=A%20Tunis%20cake%20is%20a,is%20traditionally%20eaten%20at%20Christmas.&text=It%20is%20thought%20that%20the%20origins%20of%20the%20cake%20are%20Edwardian. Again, a nod to the 70s Christmas of our youth where the McVitie’s Tunis cake, with its marzipan fruits and orange & yellow icing was pride of place on my Grandad’s Boxing Day table.

It. Is. September.🙈

DD,DH and I are vegetarian. DS eats chicken amd some fish , sausages if they're really well cooked (but not bacon so no pigs in blankets)

I have a traditional list that I stick to for meals - there are loads of other days to try new things out .

Christmas Eve - fish fingers for DS , vegetable grills or vegan fish grills for us , triple cooked chips and dips

Christmas Day - chicken for DS (and the cats . Quorn roast . Aldi Nut Roast on the side
Roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sprouts and chhestnuts, cauliflower cheese , carrots, swede puree , new potatoes , Yorkshire Puddings, gravy , red cabbage

Boxing Day - homemade pizza (dough goes in the breadmaker on the morning then slowly raises ) with sauce that I make and freeze .

We decide on breakfast according to how hungry , what time we're eating dinner
I do make puddings but they might get eaten later .
No starters

I freeze leftover vegetables to use in the soup maker . Random Soup and fresh bread is delicious

I've never cooked a goose, it sounds like a victorian Christmas fairytale food though, I'd love the drama of it all!

@CentrifugalBumblePuppy you've twisted my arm to get the Costco fruit cake, thank you! I'm recovering from a c section so I was worrying about the cake being a push too far, especially with how expensive making a Christmas cake is.

Oh I love you wonderful festive food friends, you're all absolutely welcome for dinner ❤

Tunis cake is a new one for me, sounds fabulous!

Also the open door policy happened when my exH and I broke up, I worked in a care home and many of the staff were also young single mums and I happened to live a stones throw from the home.
I was also off and many of the girls struggled for child care or had no dinner plans so I planned a massive get together, they dropped their DC off to my house and went to work, a few other staff not on shift also came and we just gave the kids a great day and the girls came home to a proper roast.

The kitchen staff at the home found out we were doing it and made our kiddos the most gorgeous chocolate cake and lots of mince pies, that kindness always stayed with me ❤

It. Is. The. Christmas. Board.

Oh , I just love it when someone piles in thinking they arebeing so original and telling us the error of our ways . But it's actually really patronising

Yes . It is September
But I'm guessing no-one is holding you in a HalfNelson and forcing you to read The Christmas Threads <clue is in The Name : Christmas>

But here just for you :
Oh yeah , you;re right ! How stupid are we ? Didn't realise it is only September !
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa

Not

Hold the fucking phone, it's September?!?

Jesus, I need to take the sprouts off the boil.

Are you mad? D'you want them raw ?

I love a Christmas cupboard.
DH thought I was nuts, I was so happy when a very funny Derry Girls episode featured one!

I enjoy a goose but we have MIL this year and she doesn't like them, so Turkey this year ( she is really nice so I'm fine with swapping over)

Be grateful the festive food fiends waited until September.
I start to crave stollen in April.

@moresleepthanks I adore the derry girls, I'll have to watch that episode!
I low key have a crush on grandpa Joe 😂🙈