Talk to me about your Christmas menus please

[thereistheball]

I am doing all the food for Christmas for the first time ever this year and am absurdly excited about it. I've planned 5 days from Christmas Eve to Monday 28th, written the shopping list, made a list of equipment I'm going to need (cooking at MILs who doesn't cook so there is no guarantee of anything incl basics eg cheese grater), assembled all the recipes into one document. Am considering putting everything into a spreadsheet and costing the list at various online supermarkets to see where is cheapest (live abroad so really have no idea what the cost would be in the UK). What are you cooking and do you want to see my meal plans?

I want to see the meal plans!

Hell yeah I wanna see a meal plan!!!

Oh OK then

Christmas Eve:

DIY ploughmans: assemble what you want from homemade cheese and mustard soda farls; ham; cheese; egg; salad; pickled onions; crunchy salad of celery, apple, fennel and white cabbage; homemade Christmas chutney

Baked squash stuffed with leeks, bacon and blue cheese; with savoy cabbage
Plum and sloe gin sorbet

Christmas Day:

Bucks Fizz, Smoked salmon and brown bread

Dates in bacon
Roast beef with yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and parsnips, carrots, Brussel sprouts, baked onions with parmesan
Hazelnut cake with marinated blood oranges

Boxing Day:

DIY ploughmans

Leftover cold roast beef with hot celeriac gratin

Sunday 27th:

Walnut, beetroot and goats cheese salad
Sweetcorn pancakes with bacon and maple syrup

Roast chicken and (leftover) veg pie; green beans stewed with lemon; baked potatoes if necessary
Chestnut meringues

Monday 28th:

DIY ploughmans

Wild rice salad: wild rice, shredded leftover chicken, avocado, watercress, dried cranberries

Always out for pudding/constant grazing: plate of clementines, brazil nuts, dates, crystallised ginger, dark chocolate.

I can hardly wait.

God, I'm salivating.

Can I come to yours for Christmas???

Love the sound of the baked squash with all the stuffing.

Good luck with all the cooking, you are going to be one busy lady

I am outsourcing all childcare to MIL and am planning to ensconce myself in the kitchen with Radio 4 and a bottle glass of wine

Here is the squash recipe

Your menu sounds great and please, pretty please can I have the recipe for hazelnut cake with marinated blood oranges.
I have hauled out all my Christmas magazines - I have the Good Housekeeping and Good Food December issues going back to 1999, and yesterday while my swine-fluey DD lay on the sofa and watched the entire Little House on the Prairie season 1 box set I went through them and put little post-it markers on the pages I want to use this Christmas. How sad is that?
Know what you mean about your MIL's kitchen - my mum doesn't own a cheese grater either as I discovered a while back when trying to make pasta for six children.

I thought I was doing well, but I've only planned for Christmas day, not the days either side!!!

We're having Christmas day at our house for the first time ever this year. My Mum's coming to help me cook as I'll have a 3-4 day old baby on the day and a c-section wound to deal with!

Need to have everything in for her to cook though as she lives a 3 hour drive away so can't pop home for stuff.

Can you make the Christmas Chutney in advance? Is it hard?

The recipe for hazelnut cake is Nigella's from How to Eat. Here is a blogger talking about making it. Nigella suggests serving with a peach and redcurrant salad, ie something high-summery, s o I have decided to substitute blood oranges. I haven't decided what to marinate them in yet though - maybe Grand Marnier, maybe orange blossom water.

I am planning to make the Christmas Chutney in advance, this weekend in fact. Got the recipe from the Observer Monthly on Sunday. Here it is:

Christmas chutney

2 white onions, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2tbs ground cinnamon
5 cloves
200g muscovado sugar
100ml white wine vinegar
100ml sherry vinegar
8 Braeburn apples, peeled, cored, and diced
4 Williams pears, peeled, cored and diced
6 plums, diced
juice and zest of 1 lemon
honey to taste

In a large pan add a little vegetable oil and sweat the onions and celery slowly until soft with the garlic, cinnamon and cloves.
Add the muscovado sugar and vinegars and bring to the boil. Reduce the liquid until it starts to become like a syrup.
Add the diced fruit, lemon juice and zest and cook until the fruit becomes tender but not mushy.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool. The chutney will become quite firm. Taste when cold and add a little homey to adjust the sweetness.
Store the chutney in an airtight container and serve when required.

Ooh, Thank you thereistheball - that looks delicious

You wanted our meal plans too didn't you?

I've only done Christmas day but here goes...

Breakfast - Bacon sandwiches and Orange juice - my family has been having the same thing for years. Will also get some mini cereal packets for DS who is 2 and a bit small for Bacon Sarnies

Lunch - Roast Chicken, Nigella's Ham in Cherry Coke, Roast potatoes done in Goose fat, maple glazed parsnips, carrots, sprouts (for my Mum), mini sausages wrapped in bacon and stuffing.

Desert - choice of Homemade Christmas Pudding, Home made Christmas Cake or Trifle/Chocolate Gateau.

Dinner - much the same as your DIY Ploughmans (may have to pinch the name )
Leftover Chicken, ham, sausages, stuffing etc with bread rolls, pickles (and now chutney too!) cherry tomatoes, cucucmber, carrot sticks, spring onions, small cheese board with crackers (I'm desperate for some garlic-y baked Brie once I've had this baby - scooped up with fluffy while bread rolls - yum) pickled onions and boiled eggs. Apples, clementines and raisins for desert along with left over cake, pudding and trifle/gateau from lunch.

Need to remember Christmas Eve and Boxing day now although I'm hoping for an invite to SIL's on Boxing day so that might help

pmsl at Strawberry's Boxing Day breakfast!

Xmas eve - Beef Stroganoff and birthday cake.

Xmas Day -
Bacon rolls and champagne
Home made sausage rolls
chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate

Twice baked goats cheese souffles
with cream and tomato sauce
Turkey, goose fat roasties etc. Home made cranberry sauce.
Bouche de noel since nobody likes Xmas pudding or cake.

Boxing Day - baked ham courtesy of my Mum!

Goldensnitch which Nigella book is the ham in cherry coke from? It sounds incredible!

It's in "Feast" It's meant to be amazing.

I'm having to borrow the book from a friend as it's on my Christmas list but that will be too late to make the ham in time for Christmas dinner

I'm liking Supersal's breakfasts - who could go wrong with chocolate, wine, and paracetamol?

Actually last time I went out on the piss I remembered to take the paracetamol before I went to bed. Made all the difference!

GoldenSnitch - meant to say congratulations on your incipient Christmas present!
LadyG - it's tricky cooking in someone else's kitchen isn't it? I had to buy wooden spoons one year after I discovered, too late, that MIL didn't have any.

Nigella's ham is amazing - I did it last year for the first time.

I dont like Gammon but this was lovely - infact my favourite meal of the entire festive period was boxing day lunch of Nigella ham, fried egg and home made chips

Thereistheball I can remember going to do scrambled eggs for my BIL on his wedding day and MIL didnt have any utensils apart from a can opener knives, forks, a few spoons and a fish slice. She dint even have a wooden spoon

Thanks thereistheball It's going to make Christmas hard work but I'm sure she'll be worth it

I'm trying to get everything made in advance to make things as easy as possible. Christ,as cake is done. Puddings - and now chutney - this week, then all I've got to do is meat and potatoes, Mum's cooking everything else when she gets here and I can just chill out on the sofa in my PJ's and feed while I watch DS open his presents and play. I'm so excited

I can confirmm that the Ham in cherry coke IS AMAZING. Ive been doing it every year for about 5 years now i think?? Its wonderful. Last year i actually did 3 hams, one for me, one for mum and one for my sister. This year they can do their own though. Plus its really easy too.

Glad to hear it's easy shop. I shall be directing DH and he is NOT a natural cook - he gets confused boiling eggs bless him!

Any tips?

Do I need a huge pan?