What’s your fave Xmas eve dinner?

[Mamabear0202]

Usually go here there and everywhere on Christmas Day so don’t actually do much cooking.

I would like to do something special / a bit different for our Xmas eve dinner, any ideas? What do you usually have?

I could do a take away but would rather cook something nice / get nice food in.

This Sounds good. Would you share you recipe please?

We get a takeaway from the local italian

Fish and chips from the chippie.

Christmas Eve is my favourite! We do an M&S buffet and it’s perfect.
Camembert cooked with garlic and rosemary with crusty bread for dipping.
Other fancy cheeses/crackers/chutneys/grapes.
Cured meats.
Oven bits- pigs in blankets, mozzarella stars, loaded potato skins, spring rolls etc etc.
Sticky sausages- cook sausages in equal amounts of honey, soy and sesame oil. Delicious!
Then crisps and dips, mince pies and quality street!

Chinese here too, we learned the hard way a few years ago to phone or call in to order it the day before or there's no chance on the 24th evening! If we go to Midnight Mass, for me the start of Christmas, there are usually sausage rolls and with the advent of air fryers they are ready more quickly.

And you still sleep after all that???

Chilli or curry normally as an antidote to blander roast dinners

Yes, why would I not? I don’t eat the whole thing by myself.

This sounds absolutely gorgeous.

Ooh this would be lovely. We are not by the sea and have salmon en croute with green veggies and boiled potatoes

We have a charcuterie board (fav of DH and one DS) and a seafood platter (fav of the other DS and me) with garlic bread, olives etc and salad. It's probably my fav meal of the year! I get the charcuterie board and seafood platter from M&S - kind of expensive, but worth it in my opinion!

Gammon Ham, Egg and Chips

We have a garlicky baked Camembert with a delicious red wine at about 9pm after the cathedral carols. It’s very Christmassy imo.

it all sounds sooo heavy. Im not sure we even have a meal Christmas Eve!

Too full from Christmas build up and then got to face Christmas dinner...

I am no fun.... I admit it.

Before I stopped eating meat always used to be a joint of ham with salad and either baked potato/potato gratin/mac and cheese. Now this thread is inspiring me with the fish and risotto ideas - so I think this year might be a leek and smoked haddock risotto with a poached egg on top!

We have maple mustard glazed ham, roast potatoes and veg.

I said this last year under a different user name. I cook the ham in the Instant Pot (pressure cooker) remove the fat and slice the whole thing. Then in a double foil lined baking dish I layer slices of ham, pour on glaze, another layer of ham, more glaze. I don't just want glaze on the top edge of the ham.

We then have the leftover ham (always do a large portion) warmed back through on Boxing Day on part baked baguettes or petit pan each with a pot of the glaze to dip the sandwich in. We have done this for about 15 years and no one in the family wants to change this.

My sister cooks Christmas Day lunch for which I am forever grateful.

Always something a bit posh and fishy, not too heavy - e.g halibut with sherry braised lentils and creamy watercress sauce or scallops with squid ink risotto

Nigella macaroni cheese made with evaporated milk as its requires minimum prep and I can shove it in the oven whenever we come back from whatever we’ve been doing. Also my extremely fussy 5 year old will eat it.

I love the sound of the chestnut and spout risotto but I’d be the only one who would eat it in this house 😞

My DHs dad was a butcher and every Christmas Eve they had roast pork, gravy and stuffing/applesauce barms. So we have always done that for our children .

I'd happily eat a cheese sandwich if it was round my lovely late gran's kitchen table.

We used to have home made fish pie, but now as we struggle to eat such a big Christmas dinner on the day itself we have some of the trimmings the night before instead, so vwe have a few pigs in blankets with cauliflower cheese and roast parsnips. Then Christmas day is just a simple roast lamb dinner which we love. Boxing day is steak pie day. There's only two of us so we can just do as we please 😁

We have crackers and cheese with pickles/chutneys, i spend most of Christmas eve prepping and cooking food ready for Christmas day so don’t really want to cook for dinner, we also open the Christmas chocolates/ nibbles, hot chocolates with whip cream and marshmallows in santa shaped cups and watch muppets Christmas carol lol xx

when we have hosted lots of family - takeaway indian curry.
because our fridge and the coolbox outside the back door were totally full of the christmas food!

I buy a deluxe seafood and fish platter from our fish shop (we live in a fishing village). Huge dish, pile of ice, arrange the seafood on it. Lemon wedges.

Fresh bread. Butter. Salad. Mayo. Marie Rose.

Done this 3 years running and everyone loves it. The platters are getting pricey now but, hey, its Christmas.

Married to a German here so Christmas eve is Christmas day for us and then I have to do it all again with my English family on Christmas day.