I have never made Duchess potatoes. I’m intimidated by the pastry bag. 
Yeah, that part wasn’t super fun, but it was doable (I made mine ahead and am keeping in the fridge.) My SeriousEats recipe didn’t call for as much rich deliciousness as yours.
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I’m about to make a fruit compote for tomorrow night’s dessert. Compote is a standard for us on Xmas Eve and I always make enough so there’s leftovers to pick at over the festives when you just want a change from rich food. For several years, I’ve done Maria Jose Sevilla’s “Compota de Noche Buena”. But this year, I’m going back to my cooking roots and doing Delia Smith’s compote from her Christmas book published 1990.
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Just the 3 of us for Xmas Eve. We don’t really have any traditions, except to eat and drink to excess (maybe the latter not so much). We’ll probably be eating anything and everything with the intent of a fridge clean-out.
Xmas will be with my parents. Rough menu ideas which will be eaten over the course of a few days:
- Cioppino for the adults
- Pork tenderloin for the meat eaters
- Swedish meatballs à la IKEA (Spring Onion made these at his fall cooking class and loved the process and the end results; he and I will collaborate on this and it will be his special holiday meal)
- Mushroom (mix of oyster and cremini) and Swiss chard galette (will be my main meal but shared amongst the adults)
- Vegan mushroom gravy
- Mashed potatoes
- Air fryer Brussels
- Tuscan kale salad
- Kimchee
- Japchae (Korean glass noodles with veggies; HMart purchase)
- Gimbap (Korean “sushi;” HMart purchase, although this is another dish SO made in his class so we may collaborate on this)
- Buche de Noel (purchased from the neighborhood Japanese grocer sourced from a Japanese bakery so I’m hoping it won’t be too sweet)
- A new favorite primitivo to drink, which we shared with friends at a dinner party and absolutely loved.
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We are back on track at Casa Harters. Looked for a dessert in the supermarket and, lo and behold, they actually had lemon posset.
We’ve officially declared Xmas to be up and running. I’m sitting here sipping a San Pellegrino Aranciata and nibbling on a bowl of crisps - black pudding & English mustard flavour.
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Happy Christmas! And cheers.
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Yay, I’ll take your declaration of Christmas open season as a signal to pour myself a glass of champagne and have an apple almond biscuit.
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Best wishes from “oop norf”.
I’ve moved on to Lidl canape sized vol au vents, filled with Sainsbury crab pate, topped with a bit of cucumber. And to drink - an almost alcohol free “pink gin” - Lyres zero alcohol “gin”, shake of Angostura, Fevertree tonic.
Over to herself to cook the sirloin steak we got from the posh butchers on the other side of town. Saute spuds, broccoli, béarnaise sauce (bought). Cheese to follow - Montgomery cheddar & Sparkenhoe Red Leicester . Then the aforementioned lemon posset
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Sounds lovely. A very happy Christmas to you and Mrs H.
We braved an absolute scrum in the Marks and Spencer food hall nearest to my place of work, to nab a couple of steaks that my husband and son will eat for their Christmas meal while I’m working. We decided to splash out on Wagyu steaks - watch this space.
Went into Waitrose and straight out again because the crowds were simply unbelievable. No trolleys or baskets to be had. I’m sure we’ll survive without another trip to the shops.
Will nip out to deliver a last minute card to a neighbour now, then back to the sofa for leisurely nibbles and watching Gavin and Stacey on iPlayer.
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Which Primitivo? We’re fans as well — one of few red wines I drink anymore these days.
Of course, I don’t remember. I’m heading to the wine shop today (soon) and I have an account there so they will remind me. I will post a photo here. it was quite reasonable $30-$35 range, but it drank much more expensively.
We also love a wicked dry Lambrusco. This one was fun to drink.
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I’d thawed a bag of Black Tiger shrimp, but decided to thaw another one. It’s the holidays, fuckit! 
The gravlax has been flipped and enrobed with fresh bunches of dill. Apparently, I should’ve started it skin-side down, but didn’t. Oops. I’m sure it’ll be just fine.
I ate one too many eggs for my lunch from my PIC’s stash for his pistachio gelato & flourless orange cake for xmas day at our friends’ house OOOPS, so the poor guy had to run out into Dante’s 10th circle of hell that is the supermarket RN 
Not much else to prep for tomorrow — chill the bublé, slice up the gravlax to make room for the bublé in the fridge 
, arrange the smoked duck breast & cheeses in an appealing way, poach the shrimp & make the cocktail sauce… oh, and I still need to run out for a couple loaves of ciabatta.
I’m really looking forward to hanging with our friends again! It’s been far too long!
Merry, merry, everyone 
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We host Christmas eve. I use my grandmother’s meatball recipe. I never met her but she lives on through her recipe, which my mom used to make every year and now I do.
Menu-
-cheese and crackers
-shrimp cocktail
-green salad
-garlic bread
-spaghetti and meatballs
-coquito and Christmassy beer
-sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies
-hazelnut and dark chocolate entremet that my culinary school grad brother in law is undertaking - can’t wait to taste it!
Enjoy the holiday to those who celebrate!
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I’m making a beloved pot roast recipe for xmas eve, but have yet to decide on a dessert . I’m considering:
Smitten kitchen’s luxe butterscotch pudding (have never made)
A citrusy ricotta cake of some kind ( I have a bunch ricotta as well as zested oranges to use up)
An orange tart (instead of lemon)
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For various reasons, we’re going minimalist and low-effort for a tiny crowd; circumstances mean bagging the more project cooking that we might have undertaken. My mother is basically pescatarian and my brother doesn’t eat any fish or seafood, ergo dinner will be vegetarian.
Brunch: Panettone and apple eggnog bread pudding and a big pot of tea.
Dinner: Baked pasta with tomato and roasted red pepper sauce, basil pesto, sautéed mushrooms and artichoke hearts, ricotta and mozzarella. Roasted Brussels sprouts with brown butter and lemon. Steamed fig pudding with hot lemon sauce.
The fig pudding is the one real nod to tradition this Christmas, as my mother has been making it for more than 50 years.
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With the family including parents. Each year my mum says she won’t be cooking and orders me to prepare most of it, but then when I come to their place she has made a boatload of food so we always have way too much lol.
For now, I’ve bought:
- Oysters, dozen from Ireland. I had a taste this morning at the shop and they are excellent. Also some smoked eel, a local specialty.
- Smoked salmon salad (few non meat eaters around)
- Potatoes (will be blanched and then sauteed in oil and rosemary)
- Some wild mushrooms (I may make risotto with homemade chicken stock, have chicken in the freezer)
- Fennel and fresh carrots
- And then the highlight, a big capon chicken from Bresse, France at almost 4 kilograms. I’ll stuff it with a filling of chestnuts, parsley, ground chicken, and some wine/armagnac).
- Ready to roast stuffed quails filled with mushrooms
- To drink: champagne, a sweetish French wine sauternes, and then regular wine.
On the day of xmas, the shop is open in the morning, so I’ll get some fresh fish then for the non meat eaters. I was thinking of making this wonderful recipe of Italian seafood salad by one of my favourite recipe blogs. And then I have to see what’s on offer and fresh. Maybe braised pulpo, or roast swordfish, or oven baked seabass or flatfish.
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I’d happily take some of the excess off your hands, with that menu.
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For the last several years, we’ve pre-ordered a turkey from M & S. Collection is usually well organised. Youre given a 30 minute slot for arrival and everything works smoothly - in and out in, say, ten minutes. We turned up today to find a long and very slow moving queue. We were in it for an hour. Fortunately for us, we had made it to the undercover area before it started to rain - there will have been some very damp and unhappy customers. When we were leaving we could see the queue had lengthened - reckon folk would have been waiting for 90 minutes. We’ve vowed never again - not least as we’d already been in Sainsbury for fruit and veg and there was, literally, no queue at their pre-order collection point.
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So…I won’t be cooking anything on Christmas Day.
Since I was alone (by choice) on Thanksgiving, and then in the hospital for a week (not by choice but necessary), my sister insisted that I join her and her husband at their niece’s house a little after noon, with dinner to be at 3. Which means I’ll be driving home in the dark, which I’m not crazy about, but…
No idea what’ll be on the table. I’ll bring a box of sea salt caramels and a bottle of red wine as a hostess gift, and make some Orange-Spiced Nuts as a noshie to go with whatever other noshies are there.
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Maybe you could spend the night? Or take an Uber there and back? Assuming niece’s house is Greater Boston, as you probably know traffic could be less crazy than usual, but not guaranteed.
I really understand the not full on driving home in the dark. Boston area driving even worse since pandemic ended.
I hope you enjoy Christmas and make it home safely!
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