Make it all ahead? Help me, oh Cooks-Amongst-Us

[MademoisellePraline]

This year, we're doing a luxury type meal as opposed to Christmas dinner. I'm not too sold, but DH thinks try it for one year and see, so we shall.

Part of the reasoning is that we want to have the meal later, more like 4pm/5pm. Otherwise we aren't hungry after a fancy breakfast, and secondly, a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings at 2pm means I spend virtually all morning faffing in the kitchen. We go out for a lovely full Christmas carvery the week before also.

So... We'd like to make ahead as much as possible. 6 adults, 2 children to have starters, mains and pudding, and we think we'd like to do some kind of elevated prawn cocktail (to keep some tradition damnit!) followed by châteaubriand, then maybe fruity pud of some kind. Thinking fruit will cut through the richness of the main.

If I do the PCs the night before, will the lettuce brown overnight in the fridge? Will the toms go watery and I'll have a mushy bottomed PC, God forbid.

What's a lovely fruity pud to make ahead? Pavlova? Will that start to bleed and go watery if the fruit are cut if assemble it the night before too? Better options?

Accompanying Châteaubriand will be dauphinoise. Anyone have a stellar recipe?

What's a good green veg dish I can do the day before and won't be any the worse for being reheated. DC love broccoli, cabbage, peas. Not so much leeks.

Does anyone have a tried and tested jus recipe that I can serve with the CB? Red wine jus? Shallot?

Hopefully, everything will just need heating/serving other than the CB. And that's very doable on its own, for 5pm. Can anyone see any flaws? Make any further suggestions?

We'll do a little canapé selection around midday to curb post breakfast munchies, but not fill anyone up too much. Plus nibbles in bowls dotted about.

Also, DC love Yorkshires. I can do them alongside the CB, even if it's a tad uncouth!

I can’t say for certain, but I think the PC will be fine if you keep all the components separate until assembly. Keep the lettuce in a sealed container lined with damp paper towels so it stays crisp.

Not sure if this is fruity enough for you, but Mary Berry’s pear frangipane tart is delicious and it freezes/reheats well https://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/recipe/pear-frangipane-tart

That tart looks delicious! Maybe not for this meal, I think it's a bit claggy/heavy to follow a claggy/heavy dauphinoise though.

Will add to the recipe book though!

@MademoisellePraline Nigella Lawson has a recipe for spiced plums baked in red wine. They’re delicious and you can make them in advance. We never have them hot; we prefer them cold and serve with thick cream. The recipe’s in 'How to Eat' and not on her website but it’s online in various versions.

Even if you don’t have it for Christmas I'd definitely recommend trying it! My mouth is watering just thinking about it now….

Absolutely do your Yorkies in advance and freeze them. I’ll do mine on stir up Sunday (alongside my gravy and turkey stock pot) and they will happily sit until Xmas day

Last year I used https://www.instagram.com/deliciousandreal - if you scroll back to Nov/Dec you can see. The veg and potatoes worked on the day, and the ginger cocktail was lovely too.

I don't suppose this can be accessed anywhere else? I don't have Instagram...

Lemon tiramisu is brilliant for this, you HAVE to make it the day before to let all the flavours meld together.

Oooh. Yes to this. Do you have a link to a good recipe?

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/lemon-tiramisu/
I used this but bought the lemon curd, I’m not a complete masochist!

that tiramisu looks lush!

I make a posh prawn cocktail ahead some years, mix in langoustine tails with king prawns and some little ones to fill the gaps, you can make that ahead, and wash the lettuce ahead and wrap in kitchen paper/tea towel, even cut up the lemons etc, then just cut the lettuce, assemble and sprinkle some paprika over last minute. Serve in your best 70's sundae glasses.

Braised greens might work? loads of butter and a bit of stock in a pan with some crushed garlic, add green veg of all sorts, clamp on a lid and cook it until just tender and most of the liquid has gone (like braising cabbage but more interesting veg). Make day before and just reheat in a pan with a bit more liquid and butter, serve with buttery juices and top with really finely sliced garlic which you can prep ahead and then just fry in veg pan after you empty the veg out - takes seconds to crisp up if you've cut it ahead. We do it a lot when we have small amounts of random veg in the summer but it seems to work with anything and would scale up.

I was thinking lobster chunks in with the prawns. Langoustine tails would work and be a tonne cheaper too! Thank you!

Do you not put tomato and cucumber in your PC? Just chopped lettuce?

I've always done a bed of finely shredded lettuce, chopped tiny tomatoes, and diced cucumber. Top with prawns. Shake of paprika. Lemon wedge. Slice of brown bread, cut into triangles, and yes our best 70s glasses!

an accompanying greens dish for the main could be creamed sprouts.

Steam or boil sprouts, then crush with a potato masher (roughly is fine), then stir through plenty of butter, double cream and salt/pepper. It’s delicious.

You can keep in the fridge for a couple of days and microwave to serve.

If you're just going to have prawn cocktail, beef, and a fruity pudding, you might as well just have a proper Christmas dinner followed by Christmas pudding, you're really not mixing it up much at all.
Have you thought about making a curry instead?

Because Christmas dinner entails: roast meat/turkey/etc, Yorkies, roasties, pigs in blankets, stuffing, broccoli, sprouts and pancetta, mashed swede, roast parsnips, peas, carrots, cauliflower cheese, and gravy.

So rather than pare it down and seem lesser than other years, it's something different.

never cucumber - revolting stuff 😬

the full seventies experience had no veg (fruit) aside from lettuce in my experience but you could prep the tomatoes and just stir them in before serving? I guess it would go watery if you mix them in beforehand.

PP reminds me of a fairly make ahead sprouts recipe too - halve and cook until the dente side of al-dente. Grate loads of some parmesan, Have chilli flakes, seasoning and lemon zest ready. Ten minutes from serving fry everything but the parmesan in some olive oil until the sprouts start to crisp, stir in the parmesan and cook until it's the level of toasted cheese you like

Simply mix up the cocktail sauce the day before, add prawns etc and cover. Wash little gem lettuce and spin in a salad spinner. Prep cherry tomatoes.
Assemble quickly on the day.

Make Yorkshire batter the day before.
Do carrots whole. Just top/tail and peel. Lay on foil, quarter an orange and add, plus a piece of star anise, knob of butter and tsp of sugar. Wrap and bake in the oven for 45 mins.

Pudding:
Champagne jellies and frosted grapes
caramelised orange trifle
both Delia

My rule of thumb is that if you can buy it ready made in the fridge or frozen section of a shop, you can make it ahead.

Think of a bagged salad: they keep the sauce, croutons, cheese separate from each other. But it’s just a quick last minute assembly.

I put my sauces and drizzles into piping bags, so I can snip and squeeze just before serving.

Pavlova can definitely be made the day before. You might prefer to use shop bought whipped cream as it contains stabilisers which stops it going a bit runny (I don’t mind that myself). What kind of fruit would you use? There isn’t much in season at Christmas.

https://deliciousandreal.com/blog/christmas-made-easy/

Although it is worth downloading Insta juat to watch the how to videos. Also if that's the only thing you watch, the algorithm will start spamming you with loads of other Christmas get ahead posts. I made potatoes two different ways last year - unfortunately I didn't label them in the freezer so I'm not sure which were best in the end.

Lemon possets are easy make ahead desserts that are delicious, especially served with shortbread (which or course I make from scratch and never buy from the supermarket 😉)

Or a trifle? I’m not generally a trifle fan but there’s so many variations (ie strawberry/ raspberry with champagne in the jelly, chocolate orange etc) there’s bound to be one you like - and if you put it in a fancy bowl it can look very festive.

Lemon posset also sounds very good

I have made burnt cheesecake with cherry compote for Xmas before. Can make ahead and even freeze it.
For greens I would choose something very simple, like blanch fine green beans, tossed them with butter and garlic. Done.
Chateaubriand deserves a demiglace which can take days to make, but you can make it in November and freeze it.

For pavlova prep everything the day before (I.e. make meringue and wash/cut fruit) then wait until just before serving to whip the cream and assemble. Takes all of 3 minutes and means nothing goes soggy!

If it’s a proper dauphinoise you want, Tom Shingler takes it very seriously. He wrote an article accompanying his recipe in Delicious magazine and it’s spot on how I’ve seen the French prepare a dauphinoise.

I love roasted veg with dauphinoise, rough chopped peppers and onions with olive oil and rosemary shoved in the oven. Very little on-the-day prep required.

Instead of châteaubriand how about a boeuf bourguignon (or made with venison). Really tasty, feels special and can be made completely in advance and kept in the fridge or frozen. Last Christmas I boiled carrot battons then froze them in those little metal trays. Reheated them in the oven with butter, honey and caraway seeds on Christmas day and that worked well.

The Get Ahead Christmas Cook by Jane Lovett is excellent for planning ahead. Or just reading and imaging you are someone who entertains and is organised at Christmas!

Well unless you are serving tiny portions it’s not a chateaubriand as that is for two people.
Presumably you will be ordering the middle piece of the fillet which is a barrel. Fgs -find a good local farm shop/butcher and order it from there,
I get two every Christmas (one 800g and one 1200g) and order them at the beginning of November which is when most butchers will open their Christmas order books.
I serve it with a hybrid cross of dauphinoise and Boulanger -half stock, half cream. Still utterly delicious but not so rich it knocks you sick. I cook it on Christmas Eve, lay a double layer of foil on the top while still quite hot and put weights (tins are fine) on it to press down then put in fridge when it’s cooled.
Heats up great either as a whole thing or individually cut into squares and heated (very cheffy). Have a test run with a chicken in November.

Nigellas spiced plums are fab with almond biscuits&cream -I like them room temp..
This can be made in advance and assembled just before serving. Veryvery lovely. https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/collections/soft-fruits/pecan-shortbreads-with-raspberries-and-raspberry-puree

Lemon posset can also be made in advance , serve with sharp homemade lemon curd and tuile biscuits.

HTH