No inspiration for family Christmas get-together

[IAmRubyLennox]

Christmas Day & Boxing Day are sorted because there will only be DH & I and the DCs.

On 27th, my parents and my aunt are coming to see us, so there will be 5 adults and 3 DCs (7, 6 & 4)

The table doesn't really seat 8, it's been done, but it's one hell of a squash.

Trouble is, I have absolutely no inspiration for what to feed them all - whether it's a sit down meal or more of a buffet-type thing.

Please give me some ideas about what I could do with this lot. No major food restrictions or allergies, by the way.

Have you got a little table that you could put next to the dining table for the children to use?

I know it's fairly standard but how about a ham/dauphinoise/red cabbage kind of meal. Nice squishy chocolatey pudding. You could do a dish of macaroni cheese for the kids if you think they'd prefer it.

Why not just finger foods?
Sandwiches, sausages, fruit, chocolate, cheese straws etc

After the expense of buying Xmas food for your family on the big day I'm sure they won't mind you doing a simple spread.

Also, why not ask them to bring a simple dish also? No reason why you should have to pay for all the food over Xmas.

Also at least you know that the dc's will eat the finger foods and not waste them.

great minds, etc....

I was thinking about ham, and dauphinoise (DC would eat both, fortunately).

DC not great with red cabbage, but I suppose I could do a green vegetable as well, couldn't I?

I would go with the cold buffet approach under any other circumstances, Mummy2Bookie, only they're all coming a long way and staying for a few days, so at some point in proceedings I do need to give them a proper meal of some sort.

Pudding recommendations? I got stuck on trifle and didn't get much further.

I see what you mean lol
Crumble with custard?
Home made made sponge cake?
Apple pie with ice cream or custard
Bread and butter pudding?

yy to Ham or Jamie has a wonderful looking slow roast marmalade pork in this month's Sainsbo's mag I can post recipe if you like. When my SIL BIL nephews and FIL/MIL are over I normally sit the children on a long window seat we have. I take the seat pads off and its like a mini table, I have mini chairs that are fine. The children are 4-10 and love it. We are open plan so they are in the living area and we are in the kitchen area but we can all see each other.

You can make it more special for them by providing their own napkins/crackers etc.

If I were to do the pork or ham for them, I might serve it with baps instead, but go dauph/good bread for the adults.

I think a choc pudding sounds good. I'd either make brownies ( Nigel Slater's are good ) or maybe a buche de noel ( Yule Log!). I'd also do a fresh fruit platter for those that prefer. Pineapple is good at this time of year, maybe with kiwi/passionfruit/mango etc.

Slow roast marmalade pork sounds great. Please do post the recipe

Slow roast marmalade pork

Serves 8-10

1 x 5.5kg neckend shoulder of pork or 2 x 1.75kg boneless shoulder joints
olive oil
half x 340g jar good quality fine shred orange marmalade
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 red chillies
small bunch mint, leaves only
small bunch, flat leaf parsely, leaves only
1 lemon
sea salt

Preheat oven 180c/fan 160c/gas 4. Place pork in large roasting tray. Using a small very sharp knife ( Stanley knife ideal ) score deep incisions into the skin of the pork at 2cm intervals in a crisscross fashion. Drizzle over a generaous lug of olive oil, season with sea salt and pepper, then really rub seasoning into meat. Roast for about 5 hours ( 4 hours if using boneless joints ) or until crackling is crispy and meat is absoltuely tender and shreds easily when you pull it with a fork.

Once the pork is ready, remove it from oven and carefully drain away the fat ( good for roasties ). Tip marmalade into a bowl then mix in teaspoon of black pepper. Spoon this all over the pork, then put back in the oven for 30 minutes or until its golden and glazed.

Take pork out of oven cover with foil and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile finely slice red chilli and roughly chop herbs. When ready to serve, shred the meat and crackling using a sharp knife and a fork. Drizzle some of the sticky cooking juices over the meat, scatter over the chilli and herbs then grate over zest of lemon and toss together. Serve on a large platter. ( I would 2 do platters - one with chilli for adults and one without for the children )

If they are staying for a few days and they've already had their own Christmas/Boxing Day dinners, I'd go with something quite plain & simple for one of the meals - like Shepherd's/Cottage pie for example to counter all the rich foods. (plus you can make ahead and freeze, another bonus)

Any kind of stew or casserole, again can be made ahead and frozen.

Just found a recipe I posted on MN a few years ago - a lovely and very easy cakey type pud:
Raspberry Cinnamon Torte:
By hand or preferably with food processor, mix 5oz each of margarine, sugar, ground almonds, self raising flour, 1 egg, 1tsp ground cinnamon. Spread half the mixture in 8 inch loose bottomed/spring release cake tin. Sprinkle over 8 oz rasberries then dot with remaining mixture so that it almost covers the fruit (don't worry if it doesn't completely cover it) Bake 45 mins gas mark 4. You might need to cover with foil if it starts to brown too much (If I was doing this to freeze, would only cook for 30 mins, then defrost and reheat for 15 - 20 mins before serving) Cool in tin for about an hour. Can serve with raspberry sauce, btu not essential. Cream probably is. I often use mincemeat at Christmas instead of the raspberries. This is SO simple, esp if you have a food processor, and absolutely delicious. Sometimes sprinkle with icing sugar before serving as it doesn't always look anywhere as nice as it tastes

Thank you taffe

You could try a fresh fruit pavlova.

Thanks for great ideas, and especially to those of you who posted recipes.

Love the sound of the pork, in fact I might need to do this for Sunday lunch, never mind Christmas!