Boeuf bourguignon for Christmas Eve?

[BeWellJ]

We have 12 people for dinner on Christmas Eve and I also have to work on that day, so I want to keep things simple.

Thinking of making a boeuf bourguignon ahead and freezing it and then just doing mash and a couple of green veg- do you think that seems reasonable? Plus some canapes and champagne before and yule log for pud + cheese.

Any ideas for making the BB seem festive? Everyone will like it apart from possibly my neighbour's 6yo but I can stick a tray of sausages in as well for them. (I'd normally design a menu with more thought so that this wasn't needed but I really need to prioritise doing something I can get on the table with minimum fuss).

I disagree. Cake is different to dessert. If you go straight to cake you've skipped the dessert course.

Sounds a bit Letitia from vicar of dibley !

Ooh yes sounds absolutely lovely!

Sounds lovely but I have tried to freeze it in the past and the sauce goes sort of lumpy as it defrosts- the recipe I have says it can’t be frozen. I assumed it was the red wine that did this.

That's odd, I've frozen it dozens of times with no issues. I've also never seen a recipe where it can't be frozen, so maybe there's something specific to your recipe.

dessert is a sweet course eaten after the main meal. Cake does that job just fine. If you feel inclined to add extra sweet courses after your main course then I’d be a massive fan of that if I were your guests but it’s not necessary.