xmasday starter and dessert - what you having? need ideas

[theladylovescupcakes]

apart from the usual prawn/smoked salmon - need some inspiration! thank you.

Last year I did cold meats, pates and pickles with warm bread and butter. We'll prob have smoked salmon this year! Trifle for pud!

Ah!

Thread just started on this over here

thanks cat, but not quite what i was thinking of.....

was thinking about trife for pud, but something a bit more special?

starter choice of
cream of tomato soup
goats cheese and red onion tart
pate and toast

dessert choice of
xmas pud
rapberry cheesecake
selection of ice creams

canapes instead of starter - smoked mackerel pate on crostini, peppadews filled with cream cheese and boursin, smoked salmon and fish roe with sour cream blinis, feuille de brick with parma ham, pecorino and rosemary.

pudding - Christmas pudding with brandy butter etc or pineapple sorbet with pineapple as an alternative

We don't bother with a starter but I'll get some olives and salted/smoked almonds etc to have about an hour before.

Christmas pud for pud - of course! And brandy sauce or cream or icecream.

We have our "starter" for lunch and eat our main course at around 5ish. That way, I get to enjoy eating it all, no one gets uncomfortably full and our two pre-schoolers don't lose the plot completely. When they are a bit older we will eat in a more conventional way.

There are no drinkers in our house so we'll do some mulled apple juice in the morning.

As for what we are going to have, I'm yet to decide, but I'll probably do feta cheese parcels, blinis and pigs in blankets as canapes (for christmas isn't christmas without them) followed by some sort of tart and soup for lunch.

Not sure about the pudding yet. I need to make a non-alcoholic christmas cake this week and I my sons will want a chocolate yule log. I'll probably do a cheesecake too. We always have our cheeseboard in the evening with some cold cuts of meat and fruit.

I'm feeling full already.

Starter: Plateau de fruits de mer
Dessert: Chocolate yule log (buche)

LLareggub - that's what we do too: "starter" for lunch and main around 5pm!
Cheeseboard when DD has gone to bed

I cam across a lovely recipe today for melon and parma ham with a delish pomegranate syrup. That's what I 'd have for an adult starter (without ham for kdis) if I was making one.

I am going to make a mango and cardomom syllabub for christmas eve dessert

Ooh that sounds lovely Pointy - recipe please? The mango one not the ham one.

Hang on.

serves 8

4 large mangoes, finely chopped
10 green cardamom pods
zest & juice 2 limes
85g icing sugar
4tbsp brandy (will leave out)
568ml double cream
4 meringues
mintsprigs to serve

put flesh of 2 mangoes in processor and blend to puree. Stir in rest of chopped flesh (apart from some to dollop decoratively on teh top at the end). Spoon into base of 8 purdy glasses.

Grind cardamom to a powder, put in bolw with lime juice & zest, icing sugar, brandy. Stir well, tip into cream, whip until it holds its shape. Fold in crushed meringues.

Spoon cream mix on top of mango and then final mango dollop on top and sprig of green.

That sounds yummy - thank you.

But my food processor is dead. :(

DD1 wants to make Eton Mess for Christmas Eve but yours sounds nicer! I think Waitrose sell cans of pulped mango, so I could get that maybe? Ooh I wonder if that might be nice with my Prosecco too?

I love smoked mackerel pate too. Easy peasy.

You could just have all teh mango finely chopped. I don't think it would make much difference especially if you held on to all the juice.

I have already bought creme de cassis and cava. I love kir royales.

Good point!

Dp loves smoked mackerel pate - blah.

Caramalised onion and goats cheese mini tarts

Xmas pud and a chocolate bomb!