I am a thirty year old Christmas virgin.

alixandrea

Hi everyone. I'm in a very similar boat to the OP this Christmas as it'll be my first time doing dinner for my family. The difference is that there'll only be four of us, and only two will be eating turkey.

My partner is pesce-vegetarian and I don't like turkey, so we're having nut roast, which I will make the day before, and re-heat in the microwave (we usually do this for Xmas dinner with the family).

Where on Earth can I find a bit of turkey small enough to feed just two people?? The smallest I've found is a crown to feed 4-5. I'm not going with turkey roll as a/. they'll hate it, and b/. I only cook ethically sourced meat (I haven't ever seen a free range turkey roll before now). Do you think a local butcher might be able to sort me out a piece of turkey for two?

I plan to do everything else like a regular Sunday roast with potatoes, parsnips, and carrots roasted, plus steamed veg (sprouts instead of my usual cabbage; plus peas, broccoli and cauliflower), stuffing balls, yorkies and (veggie) gravy. I don't usually par-boil stuff but would be interested to know if it makes a difference to taste/texture. Would stir-frying the sprouts be a good trick to make them taste a bit different?

Is there anything else I should do? I still need to source Xmas pud. I could do a cold starter but not sure what. The smoked salmon and asparagus spears recipe in one of the links further up here looked nice, but not very MSE... :rotfl:

Thanks for your help. :beer:

Alixandrea

LittleMrsThrifty

Happy New Year!

I thought I'd just call in to update you all on my first ever Christmas lunch. I am pleased to say it went really smoothly! I got out of work a bit early on Christmas Eve so managed to do a lot of the prep in the afternoon. So come Christmas day I put it all in the oven at the required time. I managed to wash up most of it was I went along and then put the foil trays in the bin afterwards so minimal washing up. All my family were really impressed that I didn't mess it up!

So I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who offered me tips and advice. Wishing you a wonderful 2015.

the_cake

Many thanks for this thread LMT - as an old veteran of many a Christmas meal I learnt a lot of useful stuff too. And I am delighted your meal went so well - bet you earned loads of family brownie points! And a Happy New Year to you, too, and everyone who posted such helpful info.