Christmas dinner starters - ideas please?

[judegarland2512]

I need ideas. In past years I have done:
smoked fish terrine (v yummy)
brie & cranberry parcels
indian starters
prawn cocktail

I want to be different again this year....any ideas?

lobster?

I love smoked salmon with brown bread - very easy to prepare, but perhaps you want something showier than that?

Went to a friend's house for dinner at the weekend and she served this. It was absolutely scrumptious and apparently v.easy

I'm doing it for Xmas too! You need those little metal rings (chefs use)

Smoked Salmon and goats cheese (4)

170g smoked salmon chopped
300g Chavroux goats cheese (or similar ie rindless)
3 tsp horseradish
2 tbsp fresh dill chopped

Mix together above. Decorate plates with rocket, cherry toms and wedge of lime. Place metal ring in centre and spoon in goats cheese mixture. Serve with melba toast or pitta bread.

Doesn't have to be showy - altho i do enjoy preparation etc, but made or part-made in advance if possible. The terrine was made in advance as was the cranberry relish for the parcels.
Possibly would like something a little unexpected/bit different.
Unfortunately SpaceDonkey my experience of lobster hasn't endeared it to me (nor me to it presumably!)

chinese starters???

(I love the idea of indian starters first .. sounds fab)

Sushi .. very easy to make and very impressive

Like the sound of the goats cheese and smoked salmon (altho not a fan of goats cheese myself). Don't think i could do sushi - not really me (more through never having tried it than actually not liking it - DS would have a field day with that).
Other proviso is that has to be reasonably acceptable to kids (7, 5, 4.5, 1.5) - but generally they get what they're given and if they don't like then tough!

SHamelessly bumping for the evening crew..... :) The more ideas the merrier

Roasted red peppers and soft cheese. Dead easy and scrummy.
Cut up peppers into 4 (deseed etc) Brush with a little oil.
Put under grill or in oven until soft and charred.
Arrange on plate and fill with a blob of soft cheese. Et voila!
Delicious hot or cold.

ooh buttonmoon - that reminds me of those long thin red peppers (like massive chilli peppers) stuffed with feta cheese mixed with chilli & herbs. Good thinking!

Our Christmas dinners are pretty informal so I tend to just go with the best quality ready made pates (duck and game this year) that I can find. One year when we had my vegetarian MIL I did a nut and red wine pate that was nice for everybody.

If you're going to have giblets going begging you could make a soup with that, perhaps? We don't like turkey so are having goose on Xmas day and duck on Boxing day. I'm planning to make duck giblet stock and use it for carrot and orange soup. That works brilliantly.

Where are you? We have really good local thai supermarket/takeaway where you can buy real thai spring rolls/dim sum/prawns in stuff etc etc. SW London. But lots of the supermarkets do quite good copies.

Too much of a cheat?

Always happy to cheat but do enjoy getting stuck in! Am in Solihull so access to plenty of supermarkets. Am doing 2 christmas days. First one with Turkey, Gammon & trimmings, and second one with a 3-in-1 turkey, duck & pheasant (+ trimmings). Like to do a starter that i can repeat.
Unfortunately a picky lot, but as long as i can please the majority!

I never do a starter - plenty of turkey and yummy trimmings to fill us all up. Yum.

these sound scrummy, but my family have conservative tastes, and if it ain't prawn cocktail then nowt else will do.

Lovely one I want to try:

Scallop and leek gratin (serves 6)

12 scallops
50g butter
500g leeks (finely sliced)
95g parmesan cheese
200ml double cream
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs mixed with a little butter
salt and pepper

cut each scallop into 3 slices horizontally
brush 6 ramekins with melted butter stand on baking sheet
cook leeks for 10 mins or until soft in melted butter in pan
Put cream into bowl, Stir parmesan into cream add salt and pepper then add to leeks. Cook untill cream is reduced.
Divide leek mixture between 6 ramekins, top with scallops, brush with melted butter, add breadcrumbs and extra parmesan. Grill 4 inches away from heat for 5 mins until scallops cooked. Serve immediately.

yum.

Easy peasy one - baked camembert (or whole brie if cooking for a lot of people) with crudites and bread.

You take one of the cheeses that come in the wooden boxes - take it out of the inside wrapper and wrap in tin foil. Bake in a moderate oven for 20mins or so, then serve with crudites and crusty bread. You put it in the centre of the table and everyone digs in dipping into the soft runny cheese centre. Yummy!

Otherwise I like to do blinis with sour cream, salmon and 'caviar'. Pile all the bits in the centre of the table and allow people to make their own. The real secret is to serve chopped hard boiled eggs and spring onions - weirdly this really enhances the flavour.

Or how about warm pancetta and quails egg salad?

Couple of bags of rockett dressed with a nutty dressing (make a classic dressing using hazlenut or walnut oil), fry some pancetta and soft boil some quails eggs. Serve the rockett on the plates scatter over pancetta and quails eggs.

Oysters?

Or go retro and do a homemade prawn cocktail - children seem to love that one!

Once saw the following on a blackboard outside a pub:

Starters
raw cock 2.95 (some comedian had rubbed off the P and the tail)

Dont fancy that one! GingerBells