Yuletide Munching - The Shaw's Xmas Luncheon

As much as I'd love to host a Christmas Day Dinner I don't think six adults and a baby sitting on a five seater sofa with trays is really the best way to achieve a merry Christmas.

My cute Nephew, Nate, getting into the festive mood.

Instead I opted to host a pre Christmas buffet lunch to get the Shaw Family into the festive spirit. With the Yuletide tunes playing and the Christmas decorations hanging I got stuck into preparing the buffet.

After visiting a total of four supermarkets in one day (and still managing to forget something!) I was finally ready to begging cooking. I had compiled a little menu of treats:

On Arrival

Mulled Apple Juice

Savory Buffet

Hand Carved Turkey, Cranberry and Stuffing Sandwiches

Roast Beef on Rye with Horseradish Creme Fresh

Smoked Salmon Croustades with Dill Creme Fresh

Cheese Board with Fruit Cake

Venison and Shetland Gin Pâté

Pigs in Blankets

Cheese and Branston Pickle Rolls

Feta, Clementine and Winter Leaf Salad

Pork Pie

Pickled Onions

Olives

Crisps

Sweet Buffet

My Mum's Christmas Cake

Raspberry Trifle

To Finish

Tea and Frangipane Mince Pies

A fair bit of the menu was simply shop brought, so it was just a matter of arranging it nicely on a plate. The beef, smoked salmon and salad were easy as it was more about building than cooking. Apart from toasting the bread in the oven it's pretty easy:

Roast Beef on Rye with Horseradish Creme Fresh
- Slice rye bread into small(ish) rectangles, top with roast beef.
- Mixed creme fresh with a little creamed horseradish, salt and pepper.
- Place a small teaspoon full on top of the beef and then finish each with freshly milled black pepper.

Feta, Clementine and Winter Leaf Salad and Beef on Rye.

Feta, Clementine and Winter Leaf Salad
I got this recipe from Good Food, great seasonal dish using fennel, chicory and clementines. Quite a light dish amongst the usual rich foods consumed over Christmas.

Smoked Salmon Croustades with Dill Creme Fresh

- Take white sliced bread and roll as flat as you can with a rolling pin.
- Take a pastry cutter and cut circles (big enough to fit in a cupcake tin)
- Place the bread circles into the tin and gently press them down to achieve a cup shape.
- Melt butter in a pan and then brush over the bread.
- Place in a pre heated oven, 180c, for 15 minutes.
- When cooled top each with smoked salmon.
- Mixed lemon juice, chopped dill and creme fresh together
- Place a small teaspoon full on top of the salmon and then finish with a small dill sprig.

Smoked Salmon Croustades.

Frangipane Mince Pies
The most labour intensive part, though they were though much easier than I had thought, and they tasted really good so were worth the effort. They are a lot lighter than a traditional pastry topped ones - means you can eat more! hanks goes to my Mum for giving me the recipe.

Frangipane Mince Pies and Raspberry Trifle.

Homemade Trifle
A Christmas traditional in the Shaw household, but it's the first time I've made one. I layered Madeira cake followed by fresh raspberries and raspberry jelly, topped with Birds custard and freshly whipped cream.

Everything looked and tasted really good, with exception to the rye bread, I just don't dig it!

Even the Christmas crackers were good, the jokes weren't too lame and the scratch cards I had stashed in them came up with a few winners, Sue won £5, Mum won £2 and I won £1, I felt like a bad host as may Dad was the only person to miss out :( going to buy him another one with my winnings!