What do you do with your Christmas Dinner? Trying to impress!

[Babymad4num3]

I've offered to do Christmas dinner for the in-laws at my house, I know mad! I want to get it just right, there will be 10 people and I want to impress! . I just want to get as much information about all them extra special bits you can do!

Blinis with smoked salmon, and creme fraiche plus Champers are dead easy and everyone loves 'em.

mmm, blinis

my top tips are don't bother with boiled spuds roast all of them, you can never have too many roast potatos

make your own stuffing - i make two one with almond and apricots the other with spinach and parmesan, angela hartley recipes.

don't do it too early, serve it up about 4pm, so its going dark and you can have it candle/treelit. also gives you more time to cook it in a relaxed way

my tip is

Don't spend ages making lovely stuffing and then leave it in the larder

Forgot to add i have a big big pork joint!

Honey and mustard sauce with pork is totally delicious.

oh, can;t help you there....i only eat the non meat bits, hence my stuffing obsession

I have also offered to cook Xmas dinner this year.

My parents are coming down from Scotland and have also invited my inlaws so there will be 6 adults and my DD. She will need to sit at her little table as we only have 6 chairs for the main dining table.

I am going to try making my own chrstmas puddings this year and also a Christmas cake.

book a swanky restaurant, thats what we are doing (forever and ever from this year on)

then you can be lovely and swan about, not get pissed and forget to cook the damn dinner, like me last year

MadameButterfly, if you don't have one I have very easy foolproof Christmas Pud recipe.

They dont like mashed potatos !

And for Christmas Pud i haven't got i clue! I have these 10 little glass pud holders things and dont know what i can do for pud that will go in them!

How do you do your Veg!

roasted carrots with honey and thyme
sprouts with chestnuts
keep it simple
DH always also insists on making bread sauce at last minute every year which noone else likes and congeals in the pan disgustingly.

Steam broccoli sprouts and cauliflower, roast parsnip, red onion and spuds. Also, we have chestnut stuffing, sausages in bacon, sausage meat in balls and bread sauce. Yum, my mouth is watering. (and we have turkey, gammon and beef, we are piggies)

To be honest, I cannot remember the last time I had a christmas dinner, it's just usually the 2 dds and myself. If I ask them what they would like they usually say pancakes or yorkshire puddings

I LOVE bread sauce. But you can't make it at the last minute. It needs time to infuse...

Red cabbage cooked with onions, apples, nutmeg, alittle bit of cider vinegar. Yum!

Sprouts, sliced in half, fried in butter with shallots and some lemon slices... probably some herbs too, but will have to ask DH when he gets in. SO nice compared to boring old boiled sprouts.

LOL at fancy sprout recipes. My MIL is a classic boil them to extinction cook when it comes to veg, especially sprouts. One Christmas her sister was helping cook lunch and sliced the sprouts and fried them with chestnuts. They've barely spoken since!

Dh and I hate sprouts, so I only do them if we have family over. I cooked 5 for my dad the other year!

Steer clear of goose!
Was cleaning my over months later.
Very good tip re no boiled potatoes,also doing it late.
Bread sauce.Yuck!
What is that all about?
It's the sort of thing Oliver Twist would have eaten in the workhouse.

Or sprouts with walnuts and crispy smoked bacon.

Don't really know about turkey, we usually have goose or fillet of beef Prince Albert (foie gras and truffles, yum)

at moondog's characteristically pithy assassination of "bread sauce". I agree, it sounds positively morbid.

Nigella does a great recipe for red cabbage cooked in red wine. Yummy and looks so festive on the plate.

Another vote for sprouts fried in butter with chestnuts and definitely honeyed parsnips. I do things like roast some sesame seeds or almond slices and then toss them with butter with whatever plain old boiled veg I've done. Makes it look a bit more special. The sesame is nice with carrots and the almonds go well with green beans or any green veg.

A nice apple sauce is lovely with pork. I always rub my pork with a mixture of English mustard and demerera sugar then give it a blast under the grill for a nice crust. So easy but looks quite fancy.

Homemade breadsauce is yummy!

Have no idea what I will do for Christmas dinner this year but I do remember talking about it with dd nearly 3 years ago (she was 2.8 then) and asking if she knew what special food people might eat at Christmas.

Her response was "spaghetti bolognaise and a yoghurt".

I know it sounds awful but last year we ate while ds (21 months) was asleep. It was so much easier.

Also I think it may have been Issymum(?) who suggested a posh casserole (boeuf bourguignon type thing) might be the way to go this year. And I have seen a recipe from someone here which involved lamb marinaded in loads of red wine - wish I could remember who it was. I really don't want to do turkey again.

Mercy.how often do you have turkey??
If it aint broke,don't fix it!

Must admit, I love bread sauce when someone else makes it. Nigella does a great potato recipe with the flavours of bread sauce (can you tell I love Nigella ). It's basically a gratin but uses mace. Very nice.