The Christmas Dinner is not like your typical roast dinner, more effort is put into it. You naturally want it to be the very best dinner for your friends or family.
A lot of the time its not just about cooking the main meal but what Christmas Dinner Starters you can make and what dessert to finish off with.
One thing you have to be careful of when deciding on what Christmas Dinner Starters you are going to do is the size. If you are doing the main course with all the trimmings etc, you don’t want people to fill up on a starter and therefore not eat all of the main.
I would personally avoid serving bread or a bread based starter as this will fill people up quickly. Id also recommend staying away anything with pasta/rice as I also find them very filling.
Below are a 4 perfect Christmas Dinner Starters that I think are perfect, they taste amazing, can impress your guests and also don’t take too much time away from the main meal.
If you are planning a large main course then you may not want to server a Christmas Dinner Starter. One option could be to do something around brunch time to get peoples appetites going, so that around lunch they will be ready for the main event!
These recipes will normally be suitable for 2-4 people, you will naturally want to increase ingredients if cooking for more.
Perfect Christmas Dinner Starters One: Pork Terrine
Pork Terrines are brilliant as they need to be made in advanced, which means if you can get it made the day before then you don’t have to worry about making it on the day. You can simply get it out of the fridge and serve it.
This Christmas Dinner starter does need time to set, so if you are thinking of doing this one then make sure you do it with plenty of time for it to set.
With the Pork Terrine you would normally use leeks and asparagus, I however chose to leave these out.
Ingredients
* Olive Oil
* 250g Streaky Bacon Rashers
* 900g Quality Pork Sausages
* Sage Leaves
* 5g Chopped Parsley
* Pepper
If your interested in making the Pork Terrine, you can find the complete recipe and method below;
http://www.amateurchef.co.uk/pork-terrine-recipe/
Perfect Christmas Dinner Starters Two: Broccoli & Stilton Soup
Every year I have a tradition and that is once the presents are open to have a glass of port and a bit of blue stilton. My wife introduced me to this tradition and its something that we have tried to do each and every year.
At first I never really liked blue cheese however with age I think I have began to appreciate it more 🙂
I made this soup the first time for my wife as I know she loves stilton so thought she would really enjoy it, needless to say we both did!
I personally think this would make a fine starter for your Christmas Dinner.
Ingredients
* 2 tbsp Olive oil
* 1 onion
* 1 stick of celery
* 1 Leek
* 1 Medium Potato
* Butter
* 1l of Vegetable stock
* 1 Broccoli
* 160g of stilton or another blue cheese
There method doe the Broccoli and Stilton soup can be found below;
http://www.improvemystyle.co.uk/broccoli-and-stilton-soup/
Perfect Christmas Dinner Starters Three: Scallops and Pea Puree
Scallops are one of my favourite starters, they can be made to make a wide range of different starters each tasting amazing.
I always find them full of flavour and can really look great, which makes them an excellent starter for Christmas Dinner.
I do have a couple of scallop starters including Scallops in pets and Garlic sauce (http://www.amateurchef.co.uk/scallops-in-pesto-and-garlic-sauce-recipe/), however I don’t think it looks as good as this one.
This recipe does server two, however you can simply double or triple ingredients depending on how many you are cooking for.
Ingredients
* 6 Scallops
* Shallots
* Olive Oil
* 200g Frozen Peas
* 100ml of Milk
* 6 Rashers of streaky bacon
The method for scallops in pea puree can be found below;
http://www.amateurchef.co.uk/scallops-with-pea-puree-and-streaky-bacon/
Perfect Christmas Dinner Starters Four: Prawn Cocktail Stack
For me prawn cocktail has always been the traditional Christmas Dinner Starter, however depending on where you go a prawn cocktail from one place can look very different from another. In America for example I ordered one and all I go was Prawns on ice in a cocktail glass….not what I was personally expecting.
I do like a good Prawn cocktail, however I find they can be a bit boring. If you wanted to do a prawn cocktail but put a little twist to it, why not do a prawn cocktail stack. It tastes great and I would say the perfect christmas dinner starter.
Ingredients
* 1 Pack of peeled/cooked prawns
* Cooked crab meat or crab sticks
* 2 Avocado Peeled
* Salad to Garnish
* Tomato Ketchup and Mayonnaise
If you are interested in doing this starter, check out the method below;
http://www.amateurchef.co.uk/prawn-cocktail-stack/
Brunch Snack
As mentioned above, if you don’t want to server any Christmas Dinner Starters but want to make something a little earlier then I would recommend this perfect brunch.
Perfect Christmas Brunch: Eggs Benedict
I love eggs Benedict, its a perfect brunch as its not to small so you are hungry straight away but big enough to keep you going till lunch/dinner. If you was doing a late christmas dinner, missed breakfast then I think this would be a perfect addition to your days menu.
Whats even better is that its actually not that hard to do!
Many people worry about the poaching side of it, however included is a tip so you can get perfectly poached eggs every time!
Ingredients
* 2 Eggs
* Olive Oil
* English Muffin
* Pack of Scottish Salmon
* Hollandaise Sauce
* Pepper
You will also need some clingfilm
Check out the complete method and video below;
http://www.amateurchef.co.uk/egg-benedict-recipe/
What Am I Having for my Christmas Dinner Starter?
My brother in law and I are making christmas dinner this year, I will be making the Pork Terrine for our Christmas Dinner starter.
Yummy!!
Id love to hear your thoughts and what you are making for Christmas?
Happy Christmas!
Bookmarking this for next year!