How to plan the Christmas menu
the celebrations of Christmas and New Year’s Eve They are the perfect excuse to gather family and friends. If you don’t plan ahead, it is possible that while everyone is sitting at the table, you are still putting the finishing touches on the next dish to be served.
Even, from the days before, you will be making endless queues and suffering the rise in prices that usually occurs on these dates. Why plan the Christmas menu easier, follow these steps.
Surely, for a few days you have been looking at recipes to determine your menu, but if you need inspiration, you can review all our recipes for christmas to find the dishes that best suit the tastes and needs of your family.
They are organized by level of difficulty and even by budget, to make it easier for you.
While you decide, make one Guest List and notes preferences, intolerances and allergies. Everyone wants to enjoy your dishes! Knowing the number of guests and taking into account some particularities, it is easier to plan the Christmas Menu.
To ease your chores, choose dishes that you can prepare in advance and combine them with some that you can finish before serving. In this way, you will get rid of a lot of work, but you will also give your family the opportunity to get involved in some tasks, while they tell you some secret that you did not know. The kitchen can be a great place to find out about the adventures and misadventures of the year, in small committee.
How to organize the purchase
There is always the fear of preparing too many dishes and that the guests arrive not hungry to try the dessert. Or that you feel that they stay hungry and devour even the shortbread they gave you in the work basket.
If you know how many will sit at the table, calculate portions per person. But keep in mind that there will be several dishes that will be served throughout the evening. If you are one of those who enjoys tupperware for work, be generous.
In Rechupete Recipes we try to make everything a little easier, to make cooking a pleasure and of course to be practical. Therefore, I advise you to read these 10 tips to make the purchase right Y how to save at the supermarket.
By organizing the Christmas menu note that you can include:
- Pecking. Sausages, ham, pâtés, creams such as hummus, crudités, cheeses, toasts and nuts.
- Then it will be time for center menu with the recipes you have chosen. Christmas dessert and sweets.
- Take into account the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Surely there will be people who arrive by car and others with children.
Before you venture to the supermarket design your list with all the ingredients that you have to buy, in total.
You can make a mock purchase on a supermarket website and get a preliminary budget of what you are going to spend. If you are not happy, you can modify the menu. Remember that in our recipe book we also include a guide of how much each dish costs, so you can orient yourself.
- Share the tasks among the guests. Who will take care of the bread? Who will bring the drinks? Do you need extra chairs? Don’t forget anything!
- The christmas sweets you can buy it in advance without problem. Check their expiration date, but they usually last for many months.
- The jamónot sausages and cheeses that you are going to serve, you can keep them in your fridge for a while.
- Vegetables and fruits, the closer to the date, the better. Of course, if you like to make fruits in syrup, you will need to have them at home beforehand, in order to prepare them.
- the cellar. Once you have the menu you can start making your selection of drinks, if you choose wines or beers, remember that you can pair by contrast or by affinity. It is very good to have the usual reds and whites. But why not take advantage and try new varieties or brands? Incorporate rosé, sweet or dry and play with their flavors to pair your Christmas Menu.
- A cava or champagne is always welcome. Even to drink during dinner. You can make a combination of cava with red fruits to to create a cdifferent cocktail. Although I am sure that after all the work you have done to entertain yourself with your dinner, it is also a good idea to have someone else take care of the cocktail bar.
- Don’t forget to have some non-alcoholic drinks, unless you want all the guests to have to sleep over after the toast. Water. Always have water or reserve a jug that you can put on the table.
- And even if you are thinking of innovating… you can get on the trend of a highball or long drink of whiskey with soda in some of its variants to accompany the meal.
If you want to lighten your list of obligations, take the opportunity to ask guests to collaborate bringing your favorite drink.
Shopping list
- Christmas is coming and you can save a lot of money buying now at a good price and freezing for when the holidays arrive. The savings are substantial and in our house it has been done this way for many years, my mother is very far-sighted.
- In case you are going to put seafood. I leave you with this post how to buy and store seafood. Do not stop reading it.
- When you are ready to make the purchase, take into account the food you want to order or have to order online. Also, organize the food that you have to buy in a specialized store that is not close to home.
- go ahead and buy fresh produce before prices go up and freeze. Or opt for deep-frozen for some of the dishes on the Christmas Menu.
- The days before Christmas or New Year’s Eve, shops and supermarkets are usually packed with people. And something that you could buy in 10 minutes, can take you hours, running the risk of running out of the product you were looking for and having to change the menu. Avoid complications and plan your Christmas Menu.
What foods can be bought in advance and frozen?
First of all, make sure your freezer is at least -24º for optimal freezing, especially for seafood.
Sea products
- Take advantage of the offers from the previous days and look for fresh fish that has not been frozen. Otherwise, in the deep-frozen section, you will find many options. They are usually already cleaned and pre-cooked, so you save time.
- If you prefer to buy deep-frozen seafoodMake sure they are from a recognized brand. You want your Christmas Menu to be yummy!
- So that the products of the sea conserven all propertiesTransfer them from the freezer to the fridge the night before.
Raw fish and shellfish you can’t freeze
- Oysters, clams and barnacles, for example. Although its prohibitive price for these dates makes you think several times whether or not you want to continue with the tradition of including them in your Christmas menu. If they have been frozen, it is better to avoid them.
- Unless you are going to include them in a cooked recipe like the clams marinara style, nails Fabes with Clams (the Asturian recipe that I propose is succulent and tasty) or you can opt for some clams with artichokes to incorporate some vegetables.
- But the star rice dish at Christmas is the rice with lobster, a way to succeed and look like a real chef with your guests.
The meats
- If in your Christmas Menu there is lamb shoulders, legs, chops and sirloins or other pieces that you plan to grill, you can also leave them in the freezer.
- Chicken is always a good investment, you can keep it in the freezer and serve it stuffed or use it to prepare the base broth of some recipes.
- The stuffed poulard It is a classic of the Christmas Menu. And, just like chicken, you can prepare it and keep it in the freezer. However, remember that they will need their time to thaw correctly.
- If you serve them cold, place them in the refrigerator 48 hours before serving so they are completely thawed.
- On the other hand, if you are going to roast a whole turkey, perhaps it is better to reserve it in the store and take it home the same day. Its preparation takes several hours in the oven and, due to its size, it will occupy almost the entire refrigerator.
Vegan and vegetarian options
We are increasingly aware of what we eat and we know the importance of vegetables and legumes on our table. Include vegan and vegetarian options in your menu.
In addition, it is possible that some of your guests decline due to these eating trends. It’s always good to try new flavors or experiment with new recipes.
to whet your appetite
- The humus with some raw vegetables or crudiités is always an easy, delicious and practical option.
- the mutabal, Baba Ganoush or eggplant cream is a recipe that always looks good on the table.
- The tapenade of olives can accompany bread and toast to snack on before sitting down at the table.
- The guacamole Mexican is easy, practical and even the little ones are usually delighted. Combine it with a Pico De Gallo Salsa And remember to have corn tortillas or nachos.
starters
- A vegetable cream with a different touch, it is a substantial and economical option that you can prepare in advance.
- For example, the pumpkin cream and the cream of leeks they can be a good option. For decoration, you can replace the traditional ham with some croutons if you have vegans or vegetarians at the table.
- Lto Pumpkin And Carrot Cream that we have in our recipe book is delicious, it is very light but tasty.
Then the more substantial
- A good rice, always enters through the eyes and when you try this recipe with boletus, you will adopt it for the whole year. The vegetable paella also always creates fans at meetings.
- If you want to innovate, prepare a Dahlo red lentil curry, very substantial and makes you warm up right away.
These are just suggestions, there are many more options that you can find in our Christmas cookbook. You will surely discover something easy and practical with ingredients that everyone likes.
By Alfonso Lopez
I started Recetasderechupete.com in 2009. In these years I have written recipes and books, recorded videos, I have given face-to-face courses and classes in catering schools. Y cooking for my family and friends It is still my great passion. On this website I want to share all my experience with you, so that you enjoy cooking as much as I do and all your dishes turn out delicious.
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