What veg must be had for Christmas dinner?

[leafybrew]

I know everyone has their own tastes - but looking for extra inspiration (not bothered re potatoes)...

Usually I would do some or all of the following-

brussel sprouts with pecan nuts/dash of maple syrup
carrots
red cabbage done with red wine/cranberry stuff/cinnamon
roast parsnips
cauliflower cheese

We always have sprouts, and have cycled through all the pancetta-chestnut-bacon-maple-syrup-sliced-almonds variations and come back round to having them plain. There's enough going on on the rest of the plate!

We traditionally have had carrots, generally roast with honey and orange zest, though this year I'm leaning in the direction of carrot and turnip mash with butter and pepper.

That's really all; by the time you have sous vide turkey crown, roast turkey leg, glazed ham, gingerbread stuffing, herby chestnut stuffing, roasties, croquettes (for DS; I can't abide them!), pigs in blankets (and pigs without blankets for DD), gravy, bread sauce and cranberry jelly, there's not much plate space left.

God, I love Christmas.

It needs more boiling than you'd think. Keep testing till your knife goes through a cube of swede with ease. You could always take a cube out and mash it with a fork to see how soft it is. I mash it with my trusty old-fashioned potato masher and it's been fine.

Ooh! That sounds lovely but I assume you're not having turkey and so on. What's your main course, if there is one?

My menu has changed slightly - since I'm doing crispy polenta and parmesan parsnips, I'll add in carrot and swede mash as well.

I'm not feeling particularly festive, if I'm honest, so I don't know why I'm planning so many dishes. Hoping the cheer will find me along that way.

We always have sprouts, and have cycled through all the pancetta-chestnut-bacon-maple-syrup-sliced-almonds variations and come back round to having them plain. There's enough going on on the rest of the plate!

That's what we're like with the stuffing - we've cycled through various fancy recipes, some of them quite labour intensive with not enough return for the effort, and we decided we just like the bog standard dried ones. Easy and never a faff. I'm so glad DH and I cook together because it were up to me I really don't think I'd bother this year.

Roasties
Something green

Red cabbage, roasties, parsnips, carrot and turnip (swede), sprouts (and pancetta), cauli cheese, broccoli, peas.

Thank you @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g .
ill give that a go.

I do my green beans with finely sliced onions, flaked almonds and lemon. Highly recommend it.

I’m tempted by the carrots with orange juice and tarragon recipe.

I usually do parsnips roasted in honey. I’ve tried parmesan parsnips before, but they weren’t that tasty, unfortunately.

Brussels sprouts
Carrots
Roast parsnips
Braised onions if we have beef

Not sure what else apart from roast potatoes.

Mashed swede, needs cooking longer than you think. Drain well and use the food processor to mash it. Add too much butter and a tablespoon of mash potato powder, finish with too much pepper.

@PeachPumpkin Try this with your swede...
Rinse or wipe the swede. Place in a bowl and microwave for ten minutes, turn the swede over and cook for a further ten minutes.

If using immediately, handle the swede very carefully with oven gloves as it will be very hot, or leave it to cool if preparing ahead. Cut the top off the swede and scoop out the soft flesh for use as required.

I like my mashed swede steamed so it's dried out after cooking (swede is a very wet vegetable!) then I just mash it with my potato masher and lots of black pepper, butter and a dollop of cream (or soured cream or creme fraiche, anything will do)
I do it Christmas Eve, one less job, then microwave

We keep the rest of our vegetables fairly plain because my gravy is epic ☺️

Roasted carrots, onions and parsnips
Red cabbage in red wine and cinnamon
Swede and carrot mash
Sprouts in bacon and chestnuts

@AdaColeman Thanks for the tip. I’ve tried that before and it was still lumpy. I don’t understand why I’m so useless at this.

Roast potatoes - Maris Piper done in sunflower oil
Roast parsnips
Carrots steamed then pan fried with butter and flaked almonds
Swede puree ( steamed , done in the food pro with a small amount of butter)
Cauliflower cheese
Sprouts - peel , cut a cross in the stalk ( to let Satan out ) steamed , add some chestnuts on the side
DD likes some steamed tiny potatoes too

Gravy made with the water from the vegetables

Parsnips.

My list:-
mashed sweet potato
green beans with lemon, onions and flaked almonds
sprouts with chestnuts and bacon
honey parsnips
carrots (unsure yet how I will prepare these)
broccoli (either steamed or roasted with salt and pepper)
red cabbage. I intend to cheat and buy it ready made.

We discussed. We’re having porchetta this year and veg will be red cabbage, leeks (the mustard recipe above looks great) and cauliflower cheese.

Steamed carrots (no honey, maple syrup, butter etc), stir fried brussels sprouts, mashed swede, roasted parsnips, again no glaze. We never have red cabbage as no one likes it or cauliflower cheese because it is a meal in its own right and doesn't go with roast dinner.

Roast potatoes, roast carrots and parsnips. Boiled sprouts for DH. Plus lots of stuffing and Yorkshire puddings and gravy. I’m always a bit limited with oven space.

I’m not surprised that people find cooking Christmas dinner stressful if they’re cooking a huge range of veg dishes.

We're not doing Yorkshire puddings this time. 😭😭

Must haves:

Roast potatoes cooked in beef dripping.

Carrots and parsnips (also roasted in the beef dripping but drizzled with a bit of honey too.)

Sprouts just steamed. I think it's quite nice to have one of the vegetables cooked very simply in a meal that has a lot going on.

And not a vegetable but always, always Yorkshire pudding on a roast dinner of any kind.

Nice to haves

Red cabbage

Cauliflower cheese

Carrot and swede mash

I may do one of these as an extra if I fancy it but it's not seen as an essential. This year we're having gammon on Christmas Day and I do want some red cabbage with it.

Meat, roast potatoes, stuffing, pigs in blankets and yorkshire pudding plus three extra vegetables as a minimum already feels like quite a lot. I can understand why people get stressed out cooking Christmas Dinner if they're doing 7 vegetables!

Roast parsnips
leek in cheese sauce
sausage meat stuffing

roasties
fried sprouts
carrot and parsnip mash

and that's about it veg wise

Sprouts, parsnips and roast potatoes are the only essentials. We do a starter, main and pudding, no one really wants 6 different kinds of veg with the main meal. Given that we just have a small group for Christmas, having a huge variety of veg for everyone to have a tiny bit would mean cooking, say, 2 carrots, 1 parsnip, 10 sprouts, 3 tablespoons of red cabbage...

We scaled back after we realised we had got up to six vegetables. It was very much the right thing to do.