Christmas Menus

dolphin city

is it too early yet to even think about the menus.

This year, because we are having guests from Poland we are having a major Polish Christmas Eve meal (fish), but then we will show the Poles how it's done on Christmas day here.

Would love to impress with a seafood trio starter, i.e. prawns, scallop and salmon - anyone got some good ideas for great seafood starters.

have also decided to do fillet of beef as well as the traditional turkey, ham and roast duck (we will have about 30 people) so any ideas would be more than welcome.

as you can see it will take a lot of preparation hence the early post.

any ideas for starters, mains and desserts would be great.

Little Alex

You could check out M&S' Christmas food catalogue for inspiration regarding presentation and possible combinations, etc. They always have really lovely stuff.

Also look for some of Nigella's Christmas recipes, especially her brined turkey method. We used this last year and the results were brilliant - juicy, moist turkey instead of the usual sawdust. Her Christmas Puddini Bonbons are also the custest little things ever! You'll find both of these by googling.

foodaholic

I made a salmon and smoked trout terrine if your intrested. Really easy to make. made the day before so no hassel on the big day

dolphin city

thanks guys - yes I am looking for ideas at m and s and other websites, however I want it to be a completely home-made affair with everything made at home (can't let the side down )

also I find that the cooking times for turkeys are always at least an hour off the mark. People end up with dry turkey - turkey only takes about half the time the recipe tells you it takes. It always comes out moist - no need to steep it in a basin of flavoured water overnight.

foodaholic

This is an avoca recipe


Ingredients:

juice of 1 1/2 lemons
2 tsp gelatine powder
800g salmon filet, cooked and flaked
110g smoked trout, flaked
300ml/ 1/2 pint of mayonnaise
300ml double cream, lightly whipped
tsp horseradish
Big bunch of dill, chopped
200g sliced smoked salmon (I used way more than this)

1. Put lemon juice in a bowl and sprinkle over the gelatine Leave till it sponges up. About 5 mins.
2. Put the cooked salmon and trout in a bowl, fold in the mayo, cream and horseradish. Season well and stir in the chopped dill.
3. Line a 2lb loaf tin with clingfilm. Line with slices of smoked salmon, allow a good overlap at the top.
4. Put the bowl of gelatine mixture over a pot of simmering watter and heat gently without stirring, until its melted. (trick: mix a bit of the salmon mixture in the gelatine bowl) then fold it into the rest of the salmon mixture.
5. Check seasoning, pour half mixture into the lined terrine. Layer remaining smoked salmon, and then add rest of mixture. Fold overlapping smoked salmon over mixture,
6. Leave to chill overnight


What you could also do is layer indivdual ramekin dishes.

dolphin city

foodaholic - that sounds brilliant - I'm going to do test run on that before Christmas. Thanks so much

foodaholic

Well it went down a treat here, looks very pretty too. Hope you enjoy