What can I make for Christmas dinner?

[PersisFord]

I'm excited to be hosting this year, but dreading the cooking. I am a perfectly competent cook usually but every Christmas it just falls apart. Plus we have such complicated dietary requirements it all ends up being a battle, and then people say "dont do anything special for me, ill just eat some coal" and it gets worse. So I am wondering if there is something I'm missing.

There will be 10 of us. 1 vegetarian, 1 coeliac. 2 life threatening allergies (mushrooms and nuts) so they can't be in any part of the meal at all. One child has a real aversion to mashed potato.

Roast dinner with a veg option is logical but I'm just not good at cooking it - last year it was about 2 hours late, meat overcooked, potatoes undercooked,veg cold. And I was nearly in tears.

Best Xmas dinner I've ever had was in Australia when I was backpacking - bbq prawns and salad. Would do this again except for I eat this most days...

Does anyone have any ideas?

If you do a roast there are ways you can simplify it. Cook the turkey the day before and slice it when cold, layer in an oven dish. Then you can add some stock or gravy to it and cover with foil, and then just heat up in the oven on xmas day. Red cabbage and stuffing can also be made the day before. You can also partially cook the roasties the day before and finish them off on the day. For ease, you can buy some cauliflower cheese and swede and carrot mash ready made. You could do a big tray on the day of roasted veg. So chunky carrots, parsnips, onion in olive oil and with Thyme is nice. You could just then do some peas and sprouts on the hob.

And forgot to say, M&S do some lovely cauliflower cheese pies for veggies that are really nice with a roast.

Have to cater for DH serious allergy to gluten and Ds anaphylactic nuts, peanuts, egg etc etc…

I buy Cealiac friendly frozen Yorkshire puds just for him due to cost and Cealiac friendly stuffing mix which I use for everyone and no one has complained.
I make yorkshires for everyone else which DS skips due to egg and milk.
I cook a simple roast, roast spuds in rapeseed oil, roast parsnips diy, assorted boiled veggies but nicer cut than usual, stuffing, home made gravy with cornflour as thickener with GF free stock cubes as most contain wheat. I cheat and buy a ready made GF free and nut free Christmas pudding which Dh and DS fight for and make it as easy as I can. I have no choice but to avoid all the food most supermarkets plug and go for simple instead. I just buy a nicer joint of meat and make a vegan main in the slow cooker as well.

If you make a GF cheese sauce for the cauliflower and add some nice grated cheese to the sauce and top with a cheese GF crumb you can also serve as a veggie mains.

Think what you do cook well and enjoy cooking and maybe use that as a start point for what to offer For a Christmas meal.

I’d do a Christmas dinner themed buffet.

Pre cooked Ham, turkey and beef joints.
Loads of baguettes & crusty rolls
Trays of stuffing balls, pigs in blankets and roast potatoes.
Jugs of gravy.
People can make Christmas dinner stuffed sandwiches.

For the vegetarians I’d do Brie & Cranberry baguettes and a butternut squash tart.

Buy all the party food from M&S or Waitrose, lay that out alongside and every will be happy.

I do roast turkey and all the trimmings but I buy lots of it from M&S.

If your family would be cool about not having a traditional turkey then how about making a casserole ahead of time and freezing it?
Chicken, carrot, leek?
Or beef, bacon, port, shallots?
Thicken with cornflour (gf)
Serve with dauphinoise potatoes and nice green vegetables.

Or you could buy all of this from ‘Cook’? They do big sizes of their dishes to serve a crowd.

Pudding - chocolate roulade (gf recipe) or buy a meringue roulade from cook?

Whatever you decide to do the most important thing is that you are happy and relaxed. Because if you are, everyone else will be too.

This is the best thing to prep in advance. Parboil the potatoes and then start them off with the fat - heat a huge roasting tin of (not duck fat cos of veggie) oil of your choice, and fry the parboiled roasties around in it on the hob till for about 3-5 mins, so they’re all well coated in the oil and a little bit slightly crisping in places.

Then leave to cool, and freeze them nicely separated on trays. (I do this a couple of weeks before Xmas as my freezer gets really full closer to Xmas). When they’ve frozen, empty them all into a big bag you can stash in the freezer.

Then on Xmas day you empty them into big roasting tins and put straight into the oven, probably takes about 45 mins. Practice this beforehand to check! (And it takes longer with two massive trays of them in the oven than if you’re doing one small tray for practice).

I think your slow cooked lamb idea would be great - I’d cook it on low overnight like nigella does, then it can just go back in with potatoes at the end, with foil over the top, to warm through before eating.

Look up Nigella Lawson's ham in coca cola. You cook it on the hob, and you don't need to bother with the bit at the end where she puts it in the oven. I have aboutc15 people over every year and do this plus a turkey and pigs in blankets.

Also do a red cabbage and creamed spinach, again on the hob. Both are lovely with a roast. I also do Jamie Oliver's celeriac, also on the hob.

And a traybake of roasted veg.

What you need to do is to cook the turkey way early, then take it out and wrap it in foil while you cook the roast potatoes and tray based veg (and a cauliflower cheese) in the oven.

Everything takes longer than you think because there is so much to cook.

For the vegetarian, just buy a ready dish from M &S or similar.

DH and I do a roast every year and have it down to a fine art. He deals with the turkey and tatties, I'm in charge of everything else and making sure we stick to the timetable. We binned off any tatties other than roast years ago, the kitchen window is kept wide open at all times to let cool air in, and nobody but nobody else is allowed in the kitchen while cooking is occurring. There's been the occasional hairy moment with the gravy where the Bisto has come to my rescue but other than that, it works fine.

I don't think I could pull it all off without DH though, so maybe see about getting another reliable pair of hands to help out...or at the very least station them at the kitchen door so they can threaten bodily harm to anyone even thinking of coming in to harass you.

honesty, cauli cheese with veg and trimmings is a great meal and I have to fight the meat eaters off my cauli cheese every year too 😆

Aunt Bessies pots (check the oil for the veggie and that there's no gluten as a lot of the pre prepped ones have a coating). Aunt Bessies yorkies and if you can find them pre made gluten free ones.

Make cauli cheese ahead and freeze, or buy one if you can find gluten free

swede mash is required for christmas dinner here but if not for you just do carrot ash and heat either/both in microwave

Parboil carrots, parsnips, and then put in a roasting tray with onion chunks and any other veg you fancy and rapeseed oil - half an hour on a low shelf just check and turn occasionally.

pre made (by you or shop) gluten free mushroom free stuffing - paxo sage and onion is mushroom free so if they do a gluten free one you're good. Then just needs heating.

meat either go giant pigs in blankets (aka normal sausages) or just buy a turkey breast and cook it ahead of everything else.

Practice oven jenga - if necessary get an extra shelf. With the exception of the turkey and the yorkshires everything would go in at 180 for 30 minutes and then straight to the table. Yorkshires go in for five minutes while everything else goes to the table.

or yup, chilli sounds good!

Ditch the turkey, if people are wedded to it get a stuffed, rolled breast from the butcher and ask for exacting timings (you could low and slow and then finish it uncovered to brown it off). Instead do a piece of meat that can be cooked low and slow and won’t be overcooked. A large piece of gammon is easily bought at Christmas, this can be slow roasted, or cooked in pineapple juice / cherry coke / red berry cider / something else and then baked with a marmalade crust for 20/30 minutes at the end.

vegetables can then be your star, whole carrots peeled and baked in foil with some butter and orange zest and a woody herb is delicious.

sprouts roasted with chestnuts, dried cranberries and lardons are delicious, just peel them and chuck them in a pot covered with foil. You can do them without bacon and chestnuts, just chuck them in with cranberries and butter and a little veg stock to cook, once they are soft take a lid off and brown a little.

leeks - buy some fresh cheese sauce, cook the leeks and then chuck them in the sauce and into the oven

cabbage - just slice up and sautee with butter and garlic.

potatoes - just roast them, add some rosemary and garlic if you fancy.

do a really good stuffing (loads of interesting packet mixed or make your own and freeze in advance)

for a main for the vegetarian you could do a stuffed butternut squash, maybe lentils, kale, beetroot and feta with some mixed spice?

or you can go down the curry feast route, buy some really good sides and naans and then in advance knock up two or three different curries and freeze them.

I was going to say exactly the same thing. I always pre cook my Christmas roasties in November using this method, then whack the oven temperature up and cook them from frozen whilst the roast rests

If you have the money, buy GF vegetarian gravy, you can add your own twist to it by putting in additional flavours.

If you really want to do turkey, you're best buying a turkey crown as it's much easier to cook evenly.

I never do Yorkshire puddings for Christmas dinner, not because I'm a purist but because it's one more sodding thing to do.

Our veg are always red cabbage, Savoy cabbage, roast carrots and roast parsnips. Brussels for those who want them which is usually only 2 or 3 people. Then we also have PiB and stuffing.

I'm presuming the celiac isnt the vegetarian? In which case I'd have a veggie stuffing, probably chestnut and apple, then a sausage meat stuffing made with GF sausages.

My niece is vegetarian and I usually make her a nut roast. Obviously that's not an option for you. What about a ready made good quality veggie wellington. There's an amazing vegan wellington one of the supermarkets do, can't remember if it's m&s or Waitrose. Cook (the food shop) also have a good range of veggie dinner party food but obviously you need to check the ingredients.

Can you ask some of the visitors to bring some of the food? Last year we went to our son's for Christmas. There were 14 of us, his PiL made the Christmas Eve meal, for Christmas day I made and brought with me red cabbage, someone else made the Christmas pudding. Just make sure everyone is aware of the allergy situation.

Roasts are so easy to make gluten free and you have loads of great advice. I would just caution not to have anything containing gluten if you are having any kind of self service or buffet as cross contamination is impossible to control with spoons going from one bowl to another or even just crumbs dropping over the food. Cornflour is your friend for crispy Yorkshire puds, flouring the spuds and making the cauliflower cheese.

I follow Jamie Oliver’s plan for a roast, but you said you’ve tried a timetable and it didn’t work so if you really want different ideas, could you do a buffet? When I’ve done this before, I’ve cooked a turkey crown and a ham beforehand to serve cold, I’ve also done a sausage roll wreath (just roll do a gluten free pastry, and there’s a vegetarian sausage meat called Sosmix I think which is edible, though not delicious), chutneys, cheeses, fruits, gluten free crackers (I really don’t enjoy gluten free bread). Cheesecakes can be made with gluten free biscuits as a base and can be made ahead as well. Also lemon possets with a gluten free shortbread. I’ve made a gluten free Christmas pudding once which was very tasty, although it was quite crumbly- this could have been my mediocre culinary skills though!

It creates a really relaxed atmosphere for Christmas, where people can graze on food in between present opening etc. I’ve almost persuaded myself to do it this year actually!

Buy ready made yorkshires (frozen ones) even the GF ones are good if you go for a decent brand eg M&S
The thing with a meat thermometer is that the meat temperature will rise considerably during the resting time - so if you take the meat out at the “done” temperature, it will be overcooked by the time you come to serve it.

You have plenty of time to practice, even if you do a roast dinner once a month for the next few months you you will be much more confident
get bags of ready prepped microwave veg or Cook do a Christmas dinner where everything just goes in the oven

make all the gravy GF and all the roast veg veggie ( don’t use animal fat). Cook, M& S and Waitrose all do decent veggie mains for your one veggie - although the ones in our family are happy with a full roast dinner minus the meat, so make sure the stuffing is veggie and GF by using GF breadcrumbs or a packet mix

you can do this!

The Christmas after my mum left, my dad did a roast chicken and massive tray of roast root veg. Very simple but delicious. Pretty fuss free, just chop, season, bung it in the oven. Obvs you need a veggie option too, just pick something equally bung in the oven ish!

You can rest a roast turkey for up to an hour and a half so plenty of time to cook everything else, even if they need extra time because of the oven being full.

Coeliac and a nut allergy is a tricky combination because so many Christmas foods have gluten (gravy, PIBs, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese) and alternatives often use nuts. Can the person with the nut allergy eat chestnuts (some people can)?

Make sure everything has plenty of space when you cook them. If your roast potatoes etc are squished together, they will take longer to cook. Yorkshire puddings will reheat in the oven if 5 mins if you make them in advance. Cauliflower cheese reheats well in the microwave or oven, as does braised red cabbage. Roast parsnips and carrots will also reheat in the oven or you can pan fry them in minutes to reheat. Gravy can be premade and reheated. It’s only the roast potatoes, PIBs and stuffing that need roasting rather than reheating.

My top tips are:

Use a meat thermometer

If you want to eat at X o clock, calculate your timings to be ready 30 mins before as it will inevitably take longer than you think. 😂

Cook the turkey. If there is room, you can start cooking the roast potatoes (parboiled the night before). If not, cook them and the stuffing/PIBs while the turkey rests.

Warm serving dishes in the dishwasher or microwave.

When the potatoes are nearly cooked, start reheating things and steaming any fresh vegetables. Take the potatoes and PIBs out, reheat the Yorkshire puddings for 5 mins while you start putting things in warm serving dishes. Turn the oven off and put all the serving dishes in the oven while you heat plates and carve.

With the right timetable it can be very calm.

chop and measure everything in advance. Make all the vegetables the day before and just bake them or in a few cases microwave to reheat. 2 hours before the meat is done, pull them from the refrigerator to come up to room temperature. Then when the meat comes out of the oven to rest, you put everything else in to cook.

transfer the meat to a cutting board and tent with foil. That frees up your roasting pan and gives you access to the drippings so you can do your gravy on the stove top.

enlist someone else to carve meat as you are finishing up the gravy and pulling dishes from the oven.

Book a restaurant! Can’t be doing with allergies , special diets. Perhaps they could bring their own food. Even with preparation in advance it’s a slog for the poor cook.

Well, I suppose this might be a perfect occasion for a favourite table, as it’s known here.

we do this when run down, busy, whatever.

you ask everyone for one favourite thing for a sharing table.

so you already have
salad and prawns
coal
next person might say gammon, that works.

we even had an instance of the most spectacular table summer party type food and a steak pie.

but what was more important was there was something everyone LOVED, those who could tried other things, those leftovers were fantastic, and none of the rest of it mattered.

Honestly if I was going to someone's house for Xmas dinner and they didn't do a roast I'd be pretty gutted. I'd rather host myself. So maybe if you float that idea someone's else will rise to the occasion and you'll get a Xmas roast and not have to cook it, juicy bonus

I practice roasts in Oct/Nov and I have found this helps me get into a groove. Although you are hosting, is there someone else who loves cooking or Co-cheffing? X

I have been cooking Christmas dinner for years and guest numbers have varied from 3 people to 20. It’s honestly not that hard, but you are probably putting too much pressure on yourself. Feeling stressed is no fun.

I think the issue most people have with it is twofold 1) people “helping” when actually it just interferes and makes things more stressful and 2) worrying about getting it perfect. But these can both be addressed - ban everyone from the kitchen (apart from one helper if you need one), and keep in mind that no one cares about perfection but the cook themself. Do you feel critical when you go to others’ homes for dinner or just pleased to see them and happy to be fed? If the latter then remind yourself of that and be nicer to yourself.

Christmas dinner is just a roast with extra bits. If you can make a roast, you can make Christmas dinner. And M&S is your friend! Trimmings are the best part, not the “centrepiece” so focus on making those (many of which can be made in advance and some can even be made a few weeks in advance and frozen) and just get an M&S prepped centrepiece. They are impossible to cook wrongly.

I do a trad Christmas dinner but make and freeze loads of it ahead- red cabbage, bread sauce, cranberry etc. You can even freeze your parboiled potatoes.

Cauliflower cheese is a great option for the veggie.

Or loads of curries as suggested by PP- can all be made and frozen ahead, then you just need to do the rice on the day. Buy the naan and poppadoms.

1) people “helping” when actually it just interferes and makes things more stressful

Couldn't agree more. Everyone knows to fuck off out of the kitchen in our house and DH is primed to gather up any guests who don't take the hint 😂