Light starter for Christmas Day lunch?

Penny-Pincher!!

What about a Rocket salad with pear and stilton.

Very easy!!

PP
xx

kitschkitty

Some great starter ideas, but a few of them don't sound like they'd go with the traditional Crimbo dinner, or is it only me that likes to choose a starter that goes with the main?

That said we never have a starter for Christmas dinner, just a few nibbles/canapes before.

Bronnie

I think melon is a perfect starter for a heavy meal like the traditional Christmas dinner, however at this time of year, a lot of melons are fairly tasteless.

I picked up a clever tip in a local restaurant however, they served a slice of peeled melon, fanned into 3 and drizzled with a home-made syrup of lemon and ginger and served with a tiny sprig of mint.

Something like this, I imagine http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Ginger-Syrup-238967
Easily made in advance and stored in the fridge in a squeezy bottle, ready to drizzle!

The restaurant lemon and ginger drizzle was quite concentrated and just lifted the flavour and sweetness of the melon beautifully as well as looking very pretty on the plate. So simple!

elf06

Ds and I always eat at my parents a Christmas so there is normally 5 adults and DS (so 4 generations altogether ) all who have very different eating habbits. My mum tried a fish pate a few years ago and it went down so well its become the 'tradition'. She gets a large platter and fills it with different kinds of fish (roast smoked trout, large and small prawns, gravadlax, hot smoked salmon etc), she puts it in the middle of the table and a seperate plate with small triangles of brown bread and some oatcakes and we each have a plate with a tiny amount of salad on it. Everyone enjoys its from DS whos 4 right up to my grandad whos in his 80's

THIRZAH

We don't have a starter-not everyone likes prawns or smoked salmon, soup is too filling and melon is often tasteless in the winter but I do do some nice nibbles before the meal-olives, nuts (Aldi do mixed salted ones), posh crisps and blinis with smoked salmon and creme fraiche

SallyForth_2

If soup is too filling, serve it in smaller bowls. It's a starter, not a meal in itself.

Ladyhawk

Here is the Beetroot Soup recipe... I don't remember putting the cabbage in with it so am sure it is fine to omit.


Beetroot Soup with Cabbage & Vodka

800g Beetroot
3 Onions
6 cloves Garlic
Half bulb fennel or 1 stick celery
Olive Oil
100g Potato
1500mls Veg Stock
1 Tablespoon fresh Dill, Fennel or Lovage
Large pinch Cayenne (don’t be scared of it! )
1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
Salt & Pepper to season
2 Leaves Savoy Cabbage
Vodka to serve
Soured cream to serve

Cook Beetroot in boiling water until tender. Then peel under cold running water and chop coarsely.

Meanwhile chop the onions, garlic and fennel or celery. Heat olive oil in a pot and cook them till the onions are soft.
Chop the potato and add it to the onions along with the beetroot, stock and your chosen herb.
Bring to a boil and simmer for thirty minutes or so until the potato breaks down.
Add Cayenne pepper and balsamic vinegar, simmer for 1 minute more.
Blend Soup to a smooth puree.
Season with salt & Pepper and reheat to serve.

Chop Cabbage into short thin slices and fry in olive oil over medium heat for a few minutes, until the cabbage is tender but not quite soft.
Pour soup into bowls, place a little cabbage sitting in the centre of each bowl.
Put a teaspoon or two of vodka into each soup in just one or two places rather than scattered thinly.


Drizzle a little cream or soured cream over each soup.

Primrose

Why not serve some crudities with a dip with pre lunch drinks (i.e. little strips of raw carrot, celery, radishes, red & yellow pepper, cucumber strips). It will be nice and colourful and the crudities can be prepared in advance and kept in foil or on a covered platter in the fridge.

megsykins

Last year we did scallops with pea puree based on a recipe from a restaurant I used to work it - not disimilar to this http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4068/scallops-with-pea-and-mint-pure

Went down very well. If anyone else loves mushy peas with mint sauce - the peas with mint and balsamic tastes a bit like a posher version of that!!

zarazara

I like segments of grapefruit and orange with a few flaked almonds sprinkled in. Its a light refreshing starter.