Homemade sourdough pizza and a bottle of Chateauneuf followed by Eton Mess. Leaves plenty of family time and no dishes and it is delicious too.

We do have a very nice continental breakfast in the morning and on Christmas Eve we always have Lobster Thermadore & other shellfish with a nice bottle of petit chablis.

We try to spread the occassion out a bit.

Vegan one for me

You sure you want to know what it will all be

Yes, please.

white onion puree
white wine gravy

They’re new ones on me. *goes to google*

I think I’ll be doing a roast on Boxing Day rather than Christmas Day, for long and boring reasons. Just me, OH and my mum.

Probably some sort of veggie roast, might try doing a nut roast from scratch. I might chuck some pre-cooked Tesco chicken in the oven for the other two if I’m feeling generous.

Roast veggies; spuds, carrots, parsnips. Yorkies, peas, sweetcorn, caramelised onion and red wine gravy.

Afters, not sure yet. Oh, wait, yes I do, OH’s got some Heston Bloominhell pudding or other. *dubious*

I love cooking for Christmas.
I rarely do a big roast though, preferring to do lots of small courses stretched over the whole afternoon. This year it’s

Carpaccio of beef filet with parmesan
My homemade Gravadlax with dill sauce
Mini decadent fish pie with asparagus
Herbed Potato cake (with something I havent figured what yet, maybe samphire)
Dad’s 2year old xmas pudding
A cheeseboard of Stilton, aged comte, a brie that’s making a bid for freedom and if I can find some a Sparkenhoe Red Leicester.

And Im raiding the wine cellar for the good stuff. Got a collection of White and red Burgundies, a Bordelaise and a couple of Savennières Im looking forward to.

i think we’re planning on mexican themed vegan food for this year.

tamales of some description. and either enchiladas, or a chilli sin carne. and some form of green veg side dish, probably with chilli cornbread instead of more traditional carbs.

Turkey is crap, which is precisely why nobody eats it for the rest of the year. So we’re having beef, among other things

We’ve got a veggie round for christmas dinner with us, Mrs Binners is getting in a tiz about what to do for her. I have clearly stated that we should stick with time honoured British tradition, and offer to rustle her up on omelette 😉

Full English Breakfast

Salmon and Horseradish starter

Chicken* & Pork joint*, rice & peas, carrots, pea’s roast ‘tatoes, parsnips, pigs in blankets, maceroni & cheese*, wine.

Blackcake and XO rum*

Cheeseboard.

*all done the West Indian way

Brekkie.
Scrambled egg & smoked salmon for her ladyship.
Bacon butty for me (class act!)
Washed down with buck-fizz & cappucino’s

Go for a walk.
Walk finishes at The Local (Riverhead)

Amuse Bouche – nuts & crisps in above pub.
Starter – likely to be pate
Main – ham – got a 3kg one on order. Yet to decide on the glaze. It will be cooked on Christmas Eve. There may be some left for Christmas lunch.
All the usual veg trimmings.
Crimbo pud – little one each, home made by the local greasy spoon, they are delicious!
Cheeses – selection form the local deli / veg shop.
Wine – a selection from Hoults. Local independent outlet.
Told him the kind of thing we like.
Gave him a budget.
Gonna have fun working through the 12 bottles we have 🙂

Wait for it – oh, how we’ll get a kicking for this……
Main lunch will likely be a ‘knee tea’ fire lit, bad film on TV, totally chilled.
It will definately be at a relaxed pace – starter – chill – main – chill – you get the drift.
Starting eating around 3. Probably hit the cheeses course about 8 🙂
Just the 2 of us and the dog.
Last Christmas in our current house.
Move in January

edit – delete double post…. sorry

I do like a bit of turkey but have never tried brining it before roasting it.

Is it worth the faff??

@binners – surely a nut-roast needs preparing for the veggie?

All that lot i’m preparing is just the main, we’ve got a starter prepared by my bro-in-law, a massive cheese course and puddings to follow. Takes 6 hrs to get through the lot in our family especially as there’s 5 nippers to deal with as well.

@cougar – both the gravy and the puree are dead easy

gravy –
1 bottle of white wine reduced down to a third of it’s previous volume (flame off the alcohol if serving to kids)
Add a bit of stock made with the turkey gizzards
Add the cooking juices from the turkey whilst its resting (i cook my turkey on top of carrots, onions, leeks etc. so chuck them in as well)
Cook for a bit then pass through a very fine sieve.
Into a clean pan with a shit-load of butter and emulsify to a smooth shiny, near-syrupy consistency
season at every step and bob’s your auntie jess’s new name

The onion puree is lots and lots of onions cooked down for a long time with some bay leaves and a couple of peppercorns. Blitz up in the blender then refrigerate overnight.
When ready heat through gently in a pan and finsih off with butter and a bit of cream (or sour cream for adults)

Both can be adorned with various herbs how you see fit

Cheers for that. The only problem there is that whole ‘gizzard’ business.

I did find a veggie version of it though. It doesn’t sound overly exciting (probably because most of the flavour traditionally comes from turkey lard) but I might have a go anyway, see if I can tweak it.

What do you do with the puree, just add a spoonful on the side as a sauce? I’ve never come across such a thing.

nice one spawn – that puree sounds good.

Ive got 10Kg of onions in the cupboard (morrisons were doing 5Kg string bags for £2 each! 😯 and I love caramelised onions on anything, nom )

We’re going to her folks in that Yorkshire ‘appen.

We’re taking a stuffed turkey crown (free-range from Waitrose, obviously darling), ‘cos her mum’s a veggie, and I’ve been warned that it’ll be accompanied by assorted massacred vegetables, ‘cos her mum ironically can’t cook veg very well. And apparently a terrible trifle for afters.

But we’ll also take enough wine and champers that I won’t care.

I do like a bit of turkey but have never tried brining it before roasting it.

Is it worth the faff??

I’ve brined chicken, and it did seem to be juicier.

I bloody love roast turkey. I wish we had it more often.

No idea what we’ll be having. Whatever the chalet host decides to rustle up as we’re skiing in Italy for the week *smug mode off*

The other year we had a turkey and cheese panini at lunch time followed by a crepe.

sorry, didn’t clock the need for veggie. Yep the meat juices are a big part of the flavour.

The onion puree is an accompaniment to replace the bread sauce we usually have. It works great with poultry and roasted veggies and isn’t too heavy.

We’re going out for dinner this year, its going to be weird! Think i’m having steak.. so long as i get some pigs in blankets at some point over the festive period I’m not fussed!

I love the roast turkey, its not really about the bird, but all that goes with it, though I do like turkey, wrap it in 2 layers of bacon, the bacon then forms a late breakfast to soak up the early booze.

@marsdenman – rob hoult just did very very well out of my family as he does every xmas.

Good bloke though and he’s not steered us wrong once yet.