Opinions on my Christmas menus

[Crumpetandcake]

I love looking at similar threads (I really enjoy seeing what other people do for their Christmas meals).
We’re doing quite a lot of hosting so I’d appreciate any feedback before I go food shopping, there’s still time to make some changes!

Christmas Eve (6 adults, 1 toddler)

• Fish pie with buttered/herby peas and grilled asparagus.
• Tarte au citron, vanilla ice cream.

Christmas Day
Breakfast (2 adults, 1 toddler)

• Boiled eggs with smoked salmon soldiers
• Double chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and berries

Lunch (8 adults, 2 kids, 2 toddlers)

• Turkey
• Stuffing (sage, onion, sausage meat and roasted chestnut)
• Roast potatoes
• Honey and thyme roasted parsnips, beetroot, carrot and sweet potatoes
• Mashed swede and carrots
• Sprouts with pancetta (or peas with pancetta for those that don’t like them).
• Cauliflower cheese
• Yorkshire puddings
• Gravy
• (Possibly braised red cabbage and bread sauce if my husband’s friend brings them- no-one else is bothered).

• Christmas pudding
• Sticky toffee pudding
• Fruit salad
• Ice-cream, cream, custard

Evening (10-15 people):

• Cheeseboard
• Charcuterie board
• Crackers and bread
• Olives, nuts, chutneys
• Mince pies
• Christmas cake
• Yule log

Boxing Day Lunch

• Roasted ham
• Mustard Dauphinois potatoes
• Any suggestions for which veg to serve with it?

• Leftover fruit salad pavlova

Leftovers (we have people staying for a few days and other people visiting)

• Roasted root veg and cheese pie
• Turkey, mushroom and pea curry
• Turkey noodle soup
• Bubble and squeak with fried egg
• Cauliflower cheese and leek soup (for the freezer)
• The ham will go home with the friends who are having lunch with us on Boxing Day
• Cheese and charcuterie will get eaten over the course of the week with jacket potatoes or salad

Placemarking so that I can base my shopping list off of your menu!! Sounds delicious to me

Ratatouille works nicely with a roast ham.

Pigs in blankets missing from your Christmas Day menu!

That's a load of veg sides for your Christmas lunch. Do you really need them all?

It all sounds lovely!
Personally, I would miss pigs in blankets, and I can’t actually get my head round the idea of smoked salmon soldiers with boiled eggs!!

What is a smoked salmon soldier? Like a finger sandwich you dip?

Too much food and not enough family time imo but that’s just me.

Looks like a good traditional British roast to me! I would save the braised cabbage and have with the ham as you’ll need something tart to cut through the richness.

That makes more sense DoctorMartin! I was imagining trying to dip bits of smoked salmon! I now think they sound quite nice!

It sounds so nice! I’m doing similar, but including a tiramisu (because it’s my absolute favourite) and we have the ham hot with a gratin on Christmas Eve and then cold with a cheese board and sausage roll wreath on Boxing Day so I don’t have to cook again.

Leftovers:
toad in the hole for any chipolatas or pigs in blankets (as if, they all get gobbled up here 😂)
Christmas pasta (fresh lasagnes sheets cut into Christmas shapes with cookie cutters, cooked and served with sausage, bacon, chestnuts, veg and cheese)
turkey chowder - similar to your Turkey noodle soup idea

Seriously, your menus sound delicious

Room for one more, @Crumpetandcake?? Sounds incredible!

Looks amazing!
Possibly need to up my planning game as most of my meals are likely to involve Celebrations and Bucks Fizz 🤪

Sounds amazing! Personally, I would add pigs in blankets and/or chipolatas (or especially as you have kids on Christmas Day and I’ve rarely found a child who will turn their nose up at a chipolata, even if fussy).

For Boxing Day, I would do red cabbage with ham - it can be done in advance and frozen if you have space, it’s dead easy, and works really well with ham and dauphinois potatoes.

I'm just finalising the shopping lists now so this is a timely thread!

Xmas eve (6 adults plus 2 under 18s, 2 of the adults are vegans)

Vegans - chickpea and spinach curry
Non vegans - chicken and spinach curry
Sides - onion bhaji, rice, tandoori potatoes, peas (for some reason the kids love them with curry!)

Xmas day (15 people, 3 are vegans, 4 are under 18)

Little snacks before lunch - smoked salmon blinis, crisps and dips, carrot and cucumber sticks (kids love them)

Mains

Vegans - mushroom wellington (plus plain veg)
Non vegans - turkey crown
Honey roasted parsnips
Cumin carrots
Brussels with bacon and chestnuts
String beans in garlic
Roast potatoes with rosemary
Yorkshire puddings
Pigs in blankets
Sage and onion stuffing
Gravy

Puddings
Trifle (raspberry - I make that the day before)
Yule log (sponge made the day before then I fill it with whipped cream and coat it in chocolate buttercream on the day)
Vegans - chocolate torte (m and s)

I'm the only one that eats Xmas pudding so I get a small one for myself later!

Yep, buttered toast with smoked salmon on (my toddler loves smoked salmon and dippy eggs so we invented it for him, it’s a similar concept to eggs royale but without the faff of making hollandaise).

@Tequilamockinbird we are definitely having pigs in blankets. I can’t believe I forgot to write them down (I copied the list from my notes app so thank you for reminding me before I wrote my shopping list!)

Great menus but I think it's a bit cheeky that people are expecting you to plan the menu, buy all the food and prepare all the food for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day lunch and dinner and Boxing Day.

For the ham
creamed spinach
OR
braised celery
OR
buttered cabbage with caraway
Whichever takes your fancy
the first two can be cooked ahead and reheated

It all sounds amazing.

@Baxterbaxter not if I get there first!!

@Crikeyalmighty handbags at dawn!

@Chocdown I love tiramisu, if I didn’t have to consider anyone else’s preferences then that’s definitely what I’d have (actually if I didn’t have to consider anyone else I’d probably do the same as @Pennyplant19 and just have cocktails and chocolates!)
I might make some espresso martinis with a shot of Hotel Chocolat liquor to satisfy my craving.

Toad in the hole with pigs in blankets is genius- I might make that for New Year’s Day (I suspect there won’t be any leftovers for me to worry about anyway 😂). Yorkshire puddings are my son’s favourite so he’ll be delighted.

Red cabbage with the ham seems to be the consensus, which is helpful because it’s easy to make in advance.

@Turnippy that all sounds absolutely delicious. I’m very jealous of your trifle, my grandma always made it and it’s really nostalgic for me but I’m the only one who really likes it and it’s not very easy to make small portions of it.

It’s ok, we like hosting and it’s a mix of different people every day (we invited them all, no Christmas CFs!)

@SiobhanSharpe buttered cabbage with caraway seeds sounds delicious.

For the Boxing Day ham....buttered cabbage or Romanesco cauliflower
Or fried sprouts with caper aioli.

As you've already got asparagus, you could use some to dip in your eggs on Christmas morning, it would work well with the smoked salmon soldiers and be something different.