OK serious foodies alert!!!!!! Run us through what you're planning for your Christmas and new year celebrations!

[moondog]

No talk of Paxo or Bisto puhleeeeeeeze!!!!!!

How about the booze issue????

I think Christmas Eve will be a seafood feast as usual (crabs from the lleyn peninsula are the best in the world!)
Lashings of Miuscadet to accompany and perhaps tropica lfruit afterwards.

Christmas Day.......goose and stuffed apples with spiced red cabbage,brussel sprouts,root vegetable mash (turnip,parsnip and carrots with cream and nutmeg) and roast potatoes. Good Burgundy avec
Smoked salmon and caviar blinis to start with vats of Champagne.
Christmas pudding,Stilton and oatcakes with a Sauternes.

New Years Eve....rolled pork belly and quince compote followed by a pavlova. Not sure of the accompaniments or the wine at present.

Over to you lot.....

Tortierres Mrs Darcy??????
What are they?

It's a meat pie made with ground beef, pork and onion. My DH's family are Canadian and I have had tortierre with them a few times (and my DH has made them too) but I've never made one myself.

I really like those sort of Xmas traditions but I haven't yet found a good butcher up here (north west), and I don't think it's worth making something like that without 1st class meat. So if it doesn't happen this year I'll resolve to succeed next year in my quest for a butcher!

I guess the other thing, for the future, is to order meat online, but sometimes it's nice to be able to buy it locally.

I went to M&S yesterday for some nibbles and found some rudolph and snowman shaped nuggets.

Im thinking about serving them as a bit of a change

Love this thread. Have got to come here more often! Some of the menus sound mind blowingly amazing.

We are going unusually for Thai Beef Curry on Christmas Eve. My husband makes a wonderful one and at 7 months pregnant I have a bit of a craving for it. In fact just writing about it makes me want it now! I also wanted something totally different from the rest of the fare we are likely to have between Christmas and New Year.

Christmas Day we are having salmon crusted in oats with a whiskey sauce to start followed by a Marbled Turkey which is Turkey stuffed with Goose, Duck, Chicken, Guinea Fowl and Pork and Apricot Stuffing. Our butcher is doing it, not something we feel confident about attempting ourselves. Served with brussels with chestnut puree, parsnips wrapped in bacon and carrots botticelli (with butter, herbs, white wine and chilli).

Husband is cooking and will get all the glory while I become Mrs Overall and constantly wash and clean behind him as he comes over all Gordon Ramsay! Needless to say no glory comes my way!!

New Years DAy we are having leg of lamb marinating NOW in 3 bottles of bordeaux, herbs, garlic and rosemary served with sheeps cheese mash.

HAve to go now because I have just dribbled on my computer but I hope that everyone enjoys whatever they eat at Christmas!

Well my Kelly Turkey has just arrived. You might have seen him/her on TV the other night as they filmed them in comparison to the horrible supermarket one's on offer. I felt quite sad opening the box wondering if I had actually seen the poor thing wandering around on TV. Sad but not enough to not eat it of course! Having it with Roast potatoes, Parsnips in Maple Syrup, Roast carrots and swede with whatever herbs I can find in the garden this time of year, brussels with chestnuts and pancetta. Home made cranberry sauce and bread sauce which were so easy to make I can't believe I haven't done it before. My MIL's homemade christmas pud which is some family secret but tastes divine and brandy sauce, my christmas cake which I am supposed to be making now but am clearly not because I'm procrastinating. DH bought some wonderful wines yesterday and some lovely Welsh cheeses when he was there yesterday so very much looking forward to a family feast and of course all those left overs. I'm also cooking a ham and piece of Welsh pork for cold meats later. Yummmmmmm.

ooh have got to add that I am icing my cake with Apricot Jam and Marron Glaces (spelling??) which I bought in Florence last weekend. They were 5 euros EACH

am about to go and make white bean and rosemary puree for the veggy/vegan canape offering

am also doing goats cheese (local natch) with chili jam

both on baguettes slices toasted in oven with olive oil and garlic

yum enid!
ok
lemon and lime ice-cream being churned (sorry ) as we speak
meringues in the oven
will marinade beef for tomorrow's cinnamon beef stew
will make apple and cranberry sauce later too

mmm

so lemon/lime ice cream is for what

to go with meringues?

well, meringues only really because they're dd's favourite, but they'll be nice with the ice-cream I think
Usually I like some amaretti biscuits with ice-cream

ice-cream is dessert for Xmas eve, wanted something light so we can have lots of chocolates, pates de fruits, calissons, etc sent by parents

Mmmm Enid - goats cheese with chilli jam sounds yummy yummy yummy

I can highly recommend teh goats cheese with chili jam (i make my own obv but you can buy nice stuff)

it is soooooo moreish and everyone loves it

Right, can finally contribute to this as its all organised including all the shopping.

Christmas eve - Lamb tagine with bulgar wheat and salad. Pudding homemade mince pies and vanilla ice cream.

Christmas breakfast - eggs benedict for the grown ups and pain au chocolate for the DDs.

Christmas lunch - Traditional roast turkey, (free range organic kelly bronze). Chestnut stuffing. Roast potatoes and all the trimmings inc bread sauce and cranberry sauce. Pudding homemade christmas pud (made by DM and stirred by the DDs)with brandy butter and guernsey cream.

Christmas tea - Cold meats (ie leftover turkey, stuffing and ham) with guernsey biscuits and fruit salad to finish.

I am cooking christmas eve DH is doing christmas day.

I like yo' style laydeeeeez.....

Tell me more about maple glazed parsnips-have both in my larder.
Although perhaps too ott with my goose with apples and prunes in Argmagnac?????

Sounds good..very good.
All semblance of self control leaves me when faced with maple syrup or condensed milk.

If I pass it in a shop,have to avert gaze instantly.

Condensed milk! Thoughts turning inevitably towards banoffee pie, yummy scrummy.

Nearly forgot.

NY eve - DH is doing greek mezze (sp) for us to knosh on thoughout the evening. We are entertaining our neighbours from two doors down. Washing it down with hugh quantities of Graham Beck (South Sfrican bubbly).

PMSL Sfrica, Have had bottle of Beck already this eve.

Does anyone have a recipe for the goose with mash stuffing - pretty please?

yes I do will post later

moony - boats didnt go out today so the crab is off the menu now have to think of something else quick and glamorous for tonight

I'm amazed how many of you have starters with Christmas dinner - when I've done that no-one's wanted pud so now I don't bother.

Will have mulled wine (with generous slug of brandy) on the go from about 11 ...

We're terribly traditional here. Roast turkey (Bronze, organic, free range, cost an arm and a leg - what have you lot done to me...?), stuffed with sausagemeat/chestnut/Bramley apple stuffing. Lots of chipolatas wrapped in streaky bacon (best bit!). Another stuffing - sage and onion with cashews I think. Roast potatoes. Roast parsnips (umming about doing them with maple syrup a la Jamie O). Carrots and butter. Delia's red cabbage. Sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts.

Bottle of Amarone. Have a couple of bottles of some fizzy nonsense as well.

Christmas pud (M&S - not made my own) and brandy sauce. And I have a chocolate/orange/almond torte and Courvoisier thick cream as an alternative. Have a bottle of pudding wine - Sainsbury's own as they had no Brown Brothers this year.

Then we all fall onto the settee and go to sleep while kids go "can I have something out of my selection box....please?"

Have all sorts of goodies for ongoing food-fest between Christmas and New Year: lots of pate, smoked salmon, Waitrose party food stuff, going to make some bread...

And (my real reason for posting on this thread!) - yoyo mentioning Eynon's in St. Clears! That's where my PILs live. Well, not Eynon's but just up the hill. It's a fabulous butchers isn't it?