Christmas Day menu

[Ea134]

We are hosting Christmas for the first time in our new house; we are very excited! I want to make it super special but just want to get some inspiration.

christmas starters? None of us are huge prawn cocktail fans except my mum 😂

any amazing recipes you’ve tried and tested? We’ll be doing the gammon and everything else except the turkey.

any special “extras” that have gone down well?
it’s our chance to create some new traditions so I’m very open minded.
thank you 🎄🎄

I think there's talk of a whole salmon, with pickles, mustard, rye bread etc. Going Nordic themed. Then we are Christmas all over again Ukranian style on 7th Jan for my Ukranian guest. Need to do some research.

Prawn cocktail and wheaten bread was a family tradition when we were growing up. My husband will not eat prawns so we do smoked salmon, gravadlax, prawn cocktail platter with wheaten.

Tbh that's v early on in the day, followed by turkey and ham (gammon, cooked Christmas eve) with trimmings. Pudding usually cheesecake or something, but frequently not touched til boxing day

I always do what’s now called a grazing board to start. Lots of charcuterie, king prawns in shells, smoked salmon, olives, etc.
It’s easy to prep in advance, looks good and can be made to last for ages if the main course takes longer than expected to cook.

We don't do a sit down starter for Christmas dinner, instead prefer canapés with drinks.
Blinis with either smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill or beetroot and horseradish.
Chicken tikka pieces or curried chickpeas on little squares of naan with mango chutney and raita.
Crostini with fig and blue cheese, that kind of thing.

We never do a starter, I do make soup on Christmas Eve though so a bowl of that is available if people take kids and dogs out for a walk and come back cold. Instead we have nice bits through the day, like a platter of smoked salmon, mini quiches (which I would never look at any other time of year but they just scream Christmas to me!), sausage on sticks.

Then we eat at 5, for me the main thing is sprouts - I'm the only one in the house that eats them so I only ever have them on Christmas Day and I always make a lot of effort over my one tiny dish of sprouts.

We have gammon on Boxing Day, usually with the soup and other charcuterie as we usually have family arriving then.

My family have never done a starter and we have had no desire for one. There isn’t any starter that would make me want to eat less of my Christmas dinner! And it’s more pressure and work for the cook.

I know some people who always have a starter on Christmas. Something like a twice cooked cheese soufflé would works well for them.

I do a little salmon mousse on one side of the plate and a mini prawn cocktail on the other side, literally a few bits of shredded iceberg, about 3 big prawns and some sauce. I was never bothered about prawn cocktail but my Dad likes it so this covers that and something different.
www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/individual-smoked-salmon-terrines-for-christmas/

No starters here either. Christmas dinner is already more than I can eat

My best advice for you, one gentle, quiet word in your ear is to not to put do much pressure on yourself.

Wanting to make it super, super special is a very high bar. Where are you going to go with that in future?

How about settling for an easy, enjoyable time for everyone. With everyone being given a chance to contribute, to come together as a family for a special occasion.

I'm sure you will do brilliantly. Don't forget to breathe and enjoy.

turkey is actually quite dull, its the bits you add that make it special such as stuffing, pigs in blankets. we always have cauliflower cheese as no-one likes sprouts. most people dont like christmas pudding either so we also have option of cheesecake.

agree with previous poster - doont make it too hard. Do what you can the previous day. make sure the table looks nice as that will make it more special.

We’re hoping to start a family next year so hoping this will be the first and last time of hosting for a while 😂 we will get as much done Christmas Eve so we will definitely be on the bucks first on Christmas Day morning!

son who works for a retailer and says that turkeys may be in short supply due to bird flu - its really bad outbreak apparently. So I've just placed my christmas food order.