Please folks tell me what to have for Christmas dinner. I wanted Indian but my restaurant is closed. I can cook great roasts but we don't wanna be tied to the kitchen all day and want something nice, quick and very tasty. :D Goran isn't free mind ;)

Or should I cheat and get the tray fo ready roast spuds in duck fat from M&S, and other stuff that just goes in the oven and roast my chicken 3-quarters, then go to the pub, come back and finish it off? I do a mean home made lasagne, pie, casserole, stew, curry and most things and a wicked stuffed chicken breast with a dijon mustard, cream and garlic sauce stuffed with cream cheese but these things don't feel very festive! So give me a festive idea, involving any meat but pork. And tell me what you are cooking cos I am nosey :D

Oh and NO STILTON or blue cheeses cos I am allergic to penecillin and don't want to go to casualty like the other Christmas wioth the famous port and stilton incident! :lol: And no goat's cheese cos I hate it. Sorry Jo :D

Anythign that can be doen with smoked salmon as a started is appreciated. I usualyl put it on those blinis with cream cheese, I like gradvalax but George doesn't so that is out the swine. :D

Xmas Eve - A really gorgeous slow roasted Ham shoulder with garlic and mustard (nearly a full day cook) served with figs and lots of mulled wine to be drunk.. :D :D (lots)

Afraid I don't have anything extravgant for the main Xmas meal SB, it will be as per usual a big ass Turkey with all the trimmings. Can't be beaten on Xmas day I feel.
Drooling already :P

Personally I find turkey boring and dry and with all the bird flu stuff I don't fancy one really. We onyl ever had turkey once as kids, the farm capon chickens were better. Turkey is too big for my oven and us two anyway :lol: I do like a roast, lamb or chicken, but I now only buy the free range and the M&S Oakham. That's my back up plan, but I wanted to try something different. If I go for that.

I will not make my own stuffing this year from scratch , nor cauli cheese - (I combined Delia and Gary rhodes to great effect!) I will just buy them in. And I won't get 4 veg, I'll stick to carrots and broccolli cos George hates sprouts anyway and they are generally rock hard and vile. And I do great red cabbage with spice and wine in the sauce but he hates that so no point! Men eh? :lol:

We just wanted somethign quicker so as we could pop out Xmas morning and then have a lunchtime drink at the local if we fancy it, and still have food for 3 pm. The other Christmas I went out at lunchtime and then had to wait 3 hours while I cooked food!

Did I ever tell you what happened to my hoem made apricto and parsely stuffing? I got stoned and it got burnt and wa slike rocks! :lol: My firend won't let me forget it.

Bte I like the ham idea, I try nto to eat prok though but the hams often tempt me.

we always have a cheese fondue on Christmas Eve :blush: and boxing day i think my family have gammon, but i have the left over nut loaf from my xmas lunch, which i usually fry up with onion, mushrooms and then cover in gravy :ok:

my poor mother has spent years trying to persuade me to let her buy in the nut loaf but i refuse, 'cos even M&S nut loaf is nowhere near as good as hers. the flattery gets me everywhere B)

no use at all for you SB, but i now feel very hungry...... :P

Not that I am doing the xmas dinner this year - ma Pebs has kindly invited us over in lieu of possibly not having a kitchen - but when I do, its Turkey for us too SB - like Trisco, its a must - Mr Pebs wont let me change it!

I find the trick to not having a dry one is to make sure you dont overdo it on the size (not often I say that...) and to make sure you baste it often and, when its cooked and sitting on the side, turn it upside down so all the juices drain through to the breast meat.

Scrummy.

and plenty of trimmings of course :D

rubbing a good layer of herb butter between the skin and the breast works to keep the turkey moist too.

We're removing the legs and boning them, then stuffing them with sausage meat this year. Then everything cooks at the same time (apparently :unsure: )

We did goose a couple of years ago, that was really good, but I couldn't believe the amount of fat that came off it - brilliant for the roast spuds though

:)

Quite unfortunately, I will be spending Christmas eve on the road to Berlin :huh: So just sandwiches and crisps for this year, I s'pose :doh:

I actually like nut loaf, I used to eb vegetarian you know - I worshipped the shrine of Linda McArtney god bless her. :) . But a lot of the shop boight is dry and processed. I ate soem in a restaurant and it was to die for. Scrummy! :wub:

None of my firends of family will do turkey, as I say I am nto keen and the effort is a pain A good free range turkey is nice if you can get it. George hates it anyway, and his dad had a job at Bernard Matthews once in analysis of egg sizes! :lol:

A good roast is indeed great, in which case I will roast a chicken. I've done Lamb roasted in guiness and borwn sugar enough times and last time even though I paid a mint (pun :D ) for the lamb it was bland! It was M&S too :yikes: I just fear last year where we had all the raost in and were both too ill to bloody cook and eat it. I had it on the 28th i think and it wasn't right.

Yeah I knwo the turkey tricks but I will just never do one, at least i doubt it.

Goose - nw that IS an interestign prospect so we chose that 3 yrs back. It's the traditional Russian thing so I hear. But we hunted hugh and low for it and when we found ti it was about 50 quid and just too huge. We do want to try it one day though. George is often threatenign to kill one of the geese at the lake where we go to feed them. :lol:

Goose fat IS the thing for roasties. They sell it seperately now you know, but Sainsburys ran out one year cos Delia Smith use dit on TV!

Poor Hp and his crisps! :lol:

So what did folk eat other than turkey?

I had gorgeous smoked salmon with poached slamon mousse, and ate it yesterday also. I had free range chicken, cauli cheese, raosties, English carrots and beans. Oh and the sausage/ bacon things and stuffing. It was nice, our only gripe was that we ended up unable to buy things small enough for just 2 and could have fed four or six and are still eating it. :yikes: And we had home made mince pies courtesy of Gordon Ramsay's protege George :lol:Next year I am going to deffo try for a meal out if I can find one close by at a reasonable price cos it's just less hassle and it woudl eb nice to just get up, get all dressed up and go on the razz then come home to watch TV without having washed a dish or lifted a pan. I've cooked so many Xmas dinners now and I would just like someone to cook mine at Xmas, and it is not as if we don't cook good stuff throughout the year anyway. Tonight's dinner is looking interesting with the left overs, however at least I won't have to eat turkey sarnies all week and have it thrown into curries and pies.

Hope everyone had a nice dinner whatever you ate. :ok:

Was traditional all the way for us, can't imagine not having turkey! My only contribution is the bacon rolls!!!
Turkey soup tonight :ok:

Turkey soup :lol: I never heard of that!

My family never do turkey, they did once but it was a nightmare so never again. Besides I cannot fit it in the oven honestly and the chickens I get are free range and taste nicer, plus I don't have to work hard to keep them moist.

I think my mum hates turkey cos she was chased by a few once, they are huge and quite viscious :lol:

:yep:

same here - well, my mum did it all traditional :) it was most lovely as always... now, all I need is my traditional new years eve curry!

Do you have it out or make one? Not turkey I hope ;) :lol: Surprised so many had turkey as they said sales were down due to bird flu problems. That had no influence on me, we just prefer other meats, plus practicalites of cooking and size! I once got a huge lamb leg - fabulous it was from a halal shop, but it didn't fit in the oven. I had to call up my mate with a saw Xmas eve! :lol:.

Had curry Boxing Day, and last NY Eve at restaurant party. Eat it each week as you know, but always up for trying new stuff which is what they did - homemade recipes you don't find in many places :ok: I almost made special Xmas curry but changed mind on account of Boxing Day plans. Considered KingFish as special, different, cooks in 5 mins. To die for if bought fresh :wub: If you don't already do stuff like that, or indeed tandoori stuff, do try cos it is quick, easy and really tasty. I marinate Chicken overngiht in spices and stuff, then cook it with naan and a potato, chana or veg curry, great hot or cold. :ok: You can do stuff with duck also, it's called 'hash" on Indian menus - interesting but I just prefer to use lamb, chicken or fish for curry/tandoori. Actually didyou know mackerel is good in curry?

that all sounds fab SB! but I confess its take out - its my night off! the most I will be doing is opening the wine :D

Oh I don't blame you! Hope you get a good wine in, Mr PEbs will need to buy champers - if he doesn't then I will come over and smash up his Darkness CDs :lol:

You obviously cook a lot with a family, I was just thinking that if you liked curry you coudl throw some together assuming the family like them. I've experimented and it's getting better and it can be quick too. I have no quantity measurements but take the following:

fresh grated ginger
fresh chopped chilli (plain green ones)
a fresh lime squeezed and chopped, or a lemon
fresh coriander if not take the seeds and roast them, crush them up or whatever, or used th epowder - but i really love the fresh stuff
fresh garlic
oli as a base - peanut, sesame work best I reckon
salt and peeper as needed
cumin seeds give a warm strong flavour if you add them, like Jeera chicken

chop them up and throw together over chicken pieces and marinate over night. Or do this thing I do - chuck whatever you go tin a blender and make a paste and rub in. Pataks own Balti marinade is good also. Just experiment, but you do need to have an oil and a citrus to make i work. Add coconut milk if you wan tThai flvour or yoghurt to make it like tikka. All you do then is cook the chicken dry. or you can then curry ti, it will have bette rflavour and be really tender. I love ti and I do ti a lot. :ok: