What are your festive menus?

meester

Here's our current Christmas menu:

December 23rd: Moroccan Lamb with apricots, saffron and rose petals, with a buttered saffron and almond couscous
Christmas Eve: pan-fried wild brown trout with rice and steamed spinach (fish is good for Christmas Eve, something to contrast with the Christmas day blowout)
Christmas Day brunch: a selection of smoked salmons and trouts, with bagels, scrambled eggs, and very finely diced onions. Followed by a selection of cheeses: Isle of Mull Cheddar, Roquefort, Lanark Blue, and Brie de Meaux, served with freshly baked bread and crackers
Christmas dinner: barbecued turkey with brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, parsnips, peas, bread sauce. Followed by christmas pudding, set fire to with brandy
Boxing day lunch: cold turkey, with a selection of cheeses (as above), Turkey, Pork and Cranberry pies, plus a coarse game terrine, and pat! de foie gras
Boxing day dinner: turkey and pumpkin soup, followed by bubble and squeak with cold turkey

meester

oh, and I forgot, we will have a ham somewhere in there. Need to order one.

Austinhead

What an interesting read !!. Quite scary that so many people plan their Christmas menu so far in advance, makes me feel quite inadequate having planned very little with less than 2 weeks to go !.

Ours goes something like this:

21st
Siblings and partners over for dinner.
Starter:
Goats cheese with salad and dressing
Main:
Chicken breast covered in wholegrain mustard and wrapped in bacon. Roasted potatoes pieces. Roast veg (mushrooms, shallots, tomatoes e.t.c.)
Dessert:
Undecided, might go with just Cheese and Biscuits.

22nd
Phew a rest.

23rd
Over to mums for a big family christmas meal. All her food comes from M&S and will probably include turkey crown and I know she's getting that delicious beef joint with horseraddish filling. All the trimmings.

Christmas Eve
Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches with rare(ish) beef and crusty bread OH tradition

Christmas Day
Breakfast:
Buck fizz
Probably bagels with choice of smoked salmon, cream cheese, bacon, ham - I just put everything out and let everyone take what they want.

Lunch (ish) - we usually eat around 3pm

Starter: Pate i think this year, it's easy
Main: Roast goose, £15 from Aldi. Ended up getting 1 at the last minute last year as all the fresh ones were crazy money and we fancied trying it. Have to say it was delicious !. We are doing it again this year. We did have quite a fancy stuffing though that worked really well, will have to root out the recipe again.
Roast potatoes (in goose fat !)
Roast parsnips
Stuffing
Pigs in blankets
Brussels, carrots, peas and lashings of gravy.
Pudding: Unsure, no-one likes christmas pudding and we are usually stuffed !

Tea: Usually just grab leftovers if hungry, but considering the late lunch and vast quantities of chocolates, crisps, nuts e.t.c. it's nothing substantial.

Boxing Day
Always got to my dads for a big family get together. Usually consists of cold cuts and bubble and squeak (family tradition). My Step mum still insists on an enormous buffet late in the evening lol.

27th
Off to visit OH family for a big get together which includes vast quantities of food and booze.

Busy busy busy. Expect to look like the side of a house by the time i've finished

kunekune

22: DH's birthday. Roast lamb with rosemary & anchovies, potatoes roasted in goose fat, broccoli & carrots, bought tiramisu
23: shepherds pie made with leftover lamb
24: scratch lunch, casserole & dumplings, mince pies
25: BREAKFAST - chocolate croissants for the littlies, Full English including black pudding for the grownups; MAIN MEAL - roast turkey crown with stuffing from M&S, stir-fried sprouts & chestnuts, goose-fat roast potatoes, peas (cos that's the only veg my son eats), followed by trifle (individual ones so that the biggies can have boozy ones); EVENING SNACK - antipasto platter, good bread
26: ordinary breakfast, cold meat sandwiches for lunch, soup & christmas pudding for tea
27: drive up to Scotland, take sandwiches

redmel1621

I have just today begun to think about christmas food.

I'm not sure what to do New years eve, we will settle down and watch a film with the kids, so I might do my home-made take-away.....

On christmas day we always make the kids have breakfast before opening presents!!! so might get some croissants and fresh orange in this year...
Dinner will be chicken, mash, roasts, various veg and yorkshire puds, oh and little pigs in bankets....and a chocolate christmas log for pudding.....served between 3pm-4pm.
Won't usually eat anything else that day except maybe some chocs and nuts.....

I think my mum is doing a party on Boxing day eve - Buffet food. So we will just have a normal eating day i.e. cereals - sandwiches.

The rest of the week we will be back to normal, and on the friday before new year I am holding a party so more buffet food.

No plans as of yet for New year.

It's been lovely seeing all your menus
Mel x

gingin_2

Christmas Eve - Hubby and my romantic night - kids to bed early and I like to make a romantic meal .

Champagne
Hot and sour soup
Thai duck curry
sticky rice

Xmas day -
breakfast- bacon sarnies
whizz down m/way to parents
Lunch - no starter - turkey and trimmings
xmas pud and profiteroles for kids
tea - buffet

Boxing day-still at ma and pa's
Breakkie - parents home baked ham and bread
long walk at the beach with parents dogs and our new pup
lunch - hm soup followed by cheesy jackets and home baked ham - leftover puds
dinner -leftover buffet

New Years eve - I do a second christmas dinner with the lot a la gingin because my mum's is not that nice (ssshhhhh) but we love just being there and having fun with them so it's no biggie


:santa2:

Smickan

Christmas Day.
Breakfast: Cereal/Toast/Bacon Sandwich with bucks fizz (classy )
Dinner: Chicken, mashed potato, roast potatoes, bread sauce, gravy, stuffing, parsnips, peas, carrots, sprouts, cauliflower cheese, yorkshire puddings, little sausages wrapped in bacon etc.
Pudding: Trifle (poss a gatueau but unlikely
Any other meal time: Eat what we want when we want

That's about all we ever plan

susan1

christmas day don't intend to do anything as it is day off for week, wild mushroom soup, asparagas rolls and puff pastry mince pies with decent vanilla ice cream after we have been for a long peaceful walk. other days will be normal menu food!

RoxieW

i'm abit scared reading all these scrummy menus. i was planning to just hop along to sainsburies weekend before xmas and pick up everything i need rather than preordering this and that? i'm sure i have other years. now i'm terrified i'll go and there wont be a turkey in sight!

Nix143

How wonderful reading what everyone is eating.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year - I've had last 3 years off a traditional Christmas and I can't wait to jump back into it again :T

Christmas Day
Breakfast - croissants and bucks fizz

Dinner - about 3ish - incidentally does anyone else remember having to have Christmas Dinner while Top of The Pops was on so it would be finished in time for your Nan to watch the Queens Speech? LOL - was talking to my GF about that last night
Anyhoo - starter - prawn cocktail for us - and its the only time of the year you'll catch me eating prawns - melon and param ham for the squids
Free range bronze monster of a turkey, 2 types of stuffing, roast and mashed, honey roast parsnips, sugar snap peas (for DS) carrot and turnip, pigs in blankets, sprouts and a vat of gravy
For pudding Christmas pud and trifle and profiterole gateau - yuuuuum

Christmas supper for anyone who can move - free range ham - I usually do Nigellas ham in coke but want the stock this year so will be cooking it differently - with the biggest cheesboard ever, homemade pickles and chutneys and genrally gorgewous picky things


And I can't wait. I love that I will be eating basically the same thing that I ate as a child - with minor alts and updates. It means Christmas to me in my bones