What is on your menu for the holiday feast?

Question

Just curious about what everyone is planning to prepare for their holiday feast. I am trying to keep my menu somewhat healthy this year, but may borrow from other people's ideas--either for this year or next...or for future meals. 

My menu is as follows:

prime rib
wild rice
cauliflower cheddar gratin with horseradish crumbs
maple dill carrots
sauteed zuchinni

DESSERT: fresh berries with creme anglaise

Answer

Prime Rib Roast
Twice baked potatoes with gruyere, Pancetta,shallots and creme fraiche
Creamed Spinach
Creamed Onions

Kick a@@ Egg nog
Holiday cookies and desserts

Answer

We're just going to be three - thinking of doing pork for a change - but haven't gotten farther than that.

Answer

Our menu is pretty tame and boring, but tradition wins out in our house. Making up for the sameness is the fact that I have to do the same menu twice for two different sides of the family! :)

Whole ham roast (with rind, scored and cloved)
Swedish potato sausage with lingonberries
Mashed potato casserole (with a bit of nutmeg and a bit of molasses, baked long and slow to get what the Finns call a "sweetening" of the dish)
Sweet and sour braised red cabbage
Cucumber and onion salad over fresh greens
Karelian pies with egg-butter
Relish tray with pickled mushrooms, cornichons, pickled onions

For dessert: Finnish whipped cranberry pudding with a drizzle of cream.

Answer

App: Shrimp wrapped in Bacon

Main: Texas Brisket
Roasted Green Beans with Carmelized Onion
Roasted Potatoes

Dessert: Chocolate Souffles with Creme Anglaise

Answer

Just two of us--I will boil potatoes and onions with beer and Old Bay for seasoning, then throw in smoked sausage, corn on the cob chunks, and shrimp, and call it dinner! Quite nice! 

Appetizers and dessert? There's cheese and chocolate everywhere I look...

I envy those with *many* to cook for, and love reading about it!

Answer

I'm not sure about the entire menu, but it'll definitely include:

Turkey, brined and herb-rubbed
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan-Streusel Topping
Artichoke and Spinach Lasagna
Stuffing, of the rosemary-mushroom-celery variety

Dessert: Earl Grey Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles. I've been obsessed with truffle-making lately.

Answer

well,i'm not making this for the holidays, but i am going to be making a glazed ham... anyone got any good ideas on how to do that, or for side dishes?

Answer

Well for Christmas Day our tradition is "thanksgiving" again; but for christmas eve we are doing a luxurious seafood stew with the recently way-over discussed bread to dip in it--
I think something along these lines---

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/277588?query=cioppino&user_name=

Answer

foie gras pate
torta of gorgonzola and marscapone
duck with armangac pate
goat cheese
shrimp cocktail

prime rib roast
mushroom gravy
roasted potatoes
candied sweet potatoes
asparagus wrapped with proscuitto
Greek Christmas Bread (with figs, raisins and walnuts)
yorkshire pudding

apple pie and pumpkin pie with ice cream

Answer

There will we 25 of us. Sraight and gay; white, Asian, black; Christian, Jewish and atheist, ages 2 to 82 and all one big mostly happy family. I wish our food were as interesting. It'll be cheese and crackers before, green salad, poached salmon, ham, asparagas, homemade bread and, for desert, too many pies and a boozy pudding we ignite. Last year grandma set the table decorations on fire. Ho ho ho.

Answer

I'll probably be making a roast and starting with a light salad. I'm planning to use beet and blood oranges because they're both my favorite and I think the oranges go with meat. Here's a photo and recipe of my golden beet and blood orange salad (it's also a very pretty and elegant dish to bring to the table, very festive for the holidays). http://singleguychef.blogspot.com/2006/12/blood-orange-and-roasted-beet-salad.html

Answer

I haven't made a final decision, but deciding between a Crown roast of Pork or a turkey. It depends upon how many we will be. 
I've never made the pork, but two good cooking friends do it all the time and can talk me through it!

I'd love recipes for the asparagus wrapped in proscuitto and for the roasted green beans with carmelized onions, please!!

Answer

Antipasto and veggie sushi for appetizers

Roast Turkey
cornbread stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce
Beef Curry
Chipotle Sweet Potatoes
Roasted Fennel and Carrots
Green Beans with almonds, etc.
Green Salad

Gingerbread biscotti
Peppermint Oreo cheesecake
Fruit

Answer

Rib roast
Spoonbread
Mushroom Gravy
Creamed Spinach
and I don't know if either of us will want anything else.

Answer

I usually do prime rib but this year we have only 6 for Christmas including two kids so I'm thinking of something else and not real sure of what to do--beef tenderloin maybe. We are having our big family dinner on New Years Eve and I'm having fondue and crab. I did this night a couple weeks ago and it was really tasty--pork tenderloin on top of mashed potatoes with sauted chard with garlic and currants finished with a balsamic reduction made from the drippings.

Answer

Christmas Eve:

Extra extra large Shrimp Cocktail
Baked Clams Oreganota

Italian Antipasti - Thibk good salad with olive oil and balasalmic with plenty of italian meats and cheese

Main Course - Shrimp, Calamari, and Lobster in a spicy red sause over Angel Hair

Dessert - Something chocalate.

Plenty of good wine, champagne and home made egg nog.

Chirstmas Day - Country Ham. App's, sides, and desseert to be determined

Answer

Menu is still in flux but I'm thinking of the following (just 2 of us - I refused absolutely to go to SIL's after a ghastly Thanksgiving dinner):

Cambodian duck soup
Rack of lamb
Bulghur pilaf
Kaddo bowrani (Afghan pumpkin with garlic yogurt sauce)
Salad of some kind - thinking of arugula with poached pears or roast beets

Dessert will be selected from lemon mascarpone cheesecake, macarons, and Recchiuti truffles and fleur de sel caramels. Unless Dh gets his way and we have pie.

Answer

This was the menu for a family gathering this past weekend:
(everything was prepared the day before)

butternut squash/pumpkin soup
ham
dinner rolls
southern sweet potato salad
macaroni salad
cole slaw
morrocan green beans

dessert- disaster trifle (I made a choco-peppermint cake. My cat decided to jump on the counter when I was truning it out the pan and I dropped in onto the counter. Had tasty cake pieces. So I whipped up some vanilla pudding & whipped cream and layered it in a glass dish. no one was any wiser <grin>)

Not the most exciting menu but I was dealing with older not-very-adventurous guests. The out of norm stuff (butternut soup, sweet potato salad and morrocan green beans) wound up being the hits of the party and garnered the most recipe requests. 
Go figure-- from a bunch that thinks Denny's is Gor-may

Answer

Husband & I have this as our 'traditional' Christmas Eve dinner by the fire:

3 lb rib-eye roast - we love leftovers!!

Au gratin potatoes made with Yukon Golds

Green beans - although this year I plan to embellish this otherwise boring dish by including onions sauteed with garlic, anchovies and chopped olives

Merry Christmas to all my foodie friends!!!!!

Answer

Okay, here goes nothing!

Christmas #1: at my husband's aunt's house will be a Mexican Christmas where we will be having enchiladas, refried beans, etc., etc. I was going to contribute a main dish or app. of some sort and a dessert, but am wimping out and will probably do a couple of desserts since I'm comfortable with that. There are two desserts in "The Art of Mexican Cooking" that I'm considering and the mexican chocolate streusel cake from Rick Bayless.

Christmas #2: crappy, I'm sure storebought, appetizers, etc. I will contribute an appetizer (something good!) and some cookies.

Christmas #3: is always dinner at my great aunt's house with the whole extended family- is always chili and vegetable soup with appetizers, etc. I'm probably going to contribute a dip of some sort, maybe the hot artichoke crab dip from Epicurious and cookies again!

Christmas #4: always brunch at my grandma's house- my favorite part of Christmas! I'm helping my grandma cook all the usuals on Friday before, but my husband is in charge of something new this year- biscuits and gravy! I will have to make some kind of a lemon cookie for grandma as well!

Christmas #5: brunch food, yet again, because my other grandma has heard us talk about how much we love my other grandma's brunch food on Christmas morning, which is fine, but why oh why does it have to be just an hour after we have brunch at my first grandma's?!? The usual suspects here too! 

Christmas #6, that's right, I said #6!: hopefully a relaxing dinner in my p.j.'s at the in-laws! 

Can I go away to a cabin in the woods in the middle of the Canadian wilderness next year?! Please, pretty please... I've been real good this year Santa! ;-)

Answer

Hello-
New to boards here. Everyone's menus sound amazing! Me and my mom are doing Christmas dinner for 17 this year. It's been a bit of a battle between her somewhat conservative tastes and my more eccentric ones, but here's what we've come up with:

App:
-Mixed cheeses with crackers and veggies

Dinner:
-Lamb with a red currant and mint sauce
-Roasted root veggies (parsnips, carrots, rutabegas, onions) with a roasted garlic dressing
-Potato gratin
-Peas with mint (hmmm... too much mint?)
-Dinner rolls

Dessert:
-Baba au Rhum (The Barefoot Contessa's recipe, has anyone tried it? Might be a little over-ambitious, but if I completely wreck it there's always the backup cookies)
-Pecan bars dipped in chocolate
-Cream cheese lemon cookies
-Hazlenut-jam thumbprint cookies
-Spicy ginger-molasses cookies

Whew! All this has reminded me of all the work I still have to do! Happy Holidays and Seasons Eatings everyone. 3:o)

Answer

We are doing a Maryland themed Christmas, but since our family is pretty lackadaisical when it comes to themes there will be a few departures:

Apps
smoked trout from local smokery on granny smith apples 
spiced nuts
cream cheese with homemade spicy red pepper jelly
crackers

First course
broiled crab balls on a salad mix of some kind

Main course
MD stuffed ham
scalloped potatoes (taters from neighbor's garden-- yum!)
sauteed carrots, mushrooms and peppers 
sweet potato biscuits
regular biscuits
maybe some honey butter or herbed butter

Dessert
Lady Baltimore cake
clementines
espresso

Answer

Pamela, how do you make your maple dill carrots? (I know it probably is so easy and I am asking for the recipe!!)

Thanks

Answer

Menu: 
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Prime Rib Roast
Yorkshire Pudding
Sauteed Green beans w/ Mushroom, Red Pepper and Onion
Glazed roasted carrots
Baked Potato
English Trifle
Chocolate Flourless Cake with Raspberry Coulis

Answer

We'll have a private Christmas Eve dinner for just the two of us. Christmas Night we'll be at his mom's for the goose dinner with chestnut stuffing. For the two of us:

Mixed greens with candied walnuts, blue cheese and apple cider vinaigrette

Duck breasts with Blackberry conac sauce
Mashed sweet potatoes with nutmeg
Roasted Brussels sprouts with pancetta
Buttermilk rolls

and for dessert, I'm making Chocolate Coconut rum tartlets

Answer

Christmas Day:
Cream of Cilantro Soup Shots
Sparkling Hard Cider

Roast Turkey
Sausage Stuffing 
Mexican Boneless 'Filled' Turkey w/Olives, Almonds, Jalapeño Chiles, Cherries, and Prunes 
Carrots in Ginger Cream
Green Vegetable (a guest is bringing it)
Mashed Potatoes
Giblet Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Rolls Stuffed with Cream Cheese

Dragani Montepulciano 2003

Tarte Tatin
Rosemary Shortbread
Orange/Almond Flourless Cake
Kahlua/Chocolates
Candied Almonds
Coffee/Tea
Sparkling Hard Cider

Alka Seltzer

Answer

we are celebrating in a relaxed way here-veggie lasagna-cobb salad-garlic bread-the feast will be week-long-so---meatball parmigana heros-chicken soup with rice-and a roast turkey with chestnut stuffing-side dish rice and carrots-something chocolate for dessert and capirniahs--and of course--cappacino

Answer

Christmas eve we do light low-key.

Christmas day, served in courses:

Arepas?? maybe spinach and goat cheese
Chiles en nogada and fresh tortillas
Jicama, grapefruit, avocado salad
Chestnut crepes with roasted persimmon ricotta

Answer

app:
crabcakes over microgreens

main:
mustard-herb crusted rack of lamb
creamy polenta
honey-butter roasted carrots

dessert:
prob something easy, like a bread pudding with cherries and chocolate.

Answer

Just the two of us for a relaxing weekend and food-filled private celebration (before we get together with the family in Vegas next month for more eating!)

Christmas Eve:

Tom and Jerry's

Butter lettuce salad with Satsuma mandarins, avocado, and shallot vinaigrette (getting a jump start on January's CH cookbook with "Zuni")
Jumbo stone crab claws shipped from Florida with two sauces - lemon mayo (Zuni again), and Dijon mustard sauce 
Florida Pie with key lime juice and coconut (from this month's CH book - Dorie Greenspan's "Baking").

Christmas Day Brunch:

Billecarte-Salmon Rose champagne 
Our traditonal Lobster Melts (from Jasper White's "Lobster at Home"). Going to butter the bread with white truffle butter from D'Artagnan this year. heh heh

No dinner planned for later, we're always too full. Hmmmm....maybe just multiple glasses of eggnog with healthy shots of Blanton's. ;)

Answer

I am doing three small meals, one on Saturday for a friend, one Sunday night for my sister and her daughter, and one on Monday for another friend.
Saturday : start with 
spicy sausage meat patties and chipotle hummus,

mains grilled tuna with a salty-sweet glaze and a ginger-miso sauce (from epicurious) with a Japanese potato salad 

and Christmas pudding with rum butter; 

Sunday

a cold pickled tongue with salads (we are in hot Africa) and homemade Christmas cake and true vanilla ice cream

Monday

chilled peach soup
grilled matured rumpsteaks with harissa & green beans with lemon - Nigella & oven-baked carrots with sherry and black pepper
Christmas tiramisu (made with Christmas cake crumbled and triple sec)

I will be cooking like a madman, but it will be fun!

Answer

I will make main dishes and dessert, guests will bring the starters and sides.

To start, antipasti and garlic bread

Two lasagne: one with roasted butternut squash, mixed mushrooms, spinach, and ricotta; the other a variation on traditional lasagne bolognese with bechamel, with duck ragu instead of bolognese. 

Green salad and another vegetable dish on the side.

For dessert, bittersweet pear fudge pie and a dollop of barely sweetened whipped cream.

Answer

Roasted Ham
Rice Pilaf
Sauteed Green Beans
Collard Greens

Answer

yum... everyone's menus have me hungry!

This year, as a gift to my mother, step-father & husband, I am cooking a meat dish - I've been a vegetarian for a VERY long time, so this is big!

apps:
mixed plate: smoked mussels, olives, pickles, bread
dinner:
the short ribs recipe from the CH boards that are braised in ale & then covered with a maple/rosemary glaze (looks amazing!)
mashed turnips & carrots w/ horseradish & some maple to tie in with the ribs
braised greens (hoping I can find black Kale) w/ TONS of garlic
dessert:
two free-form crostadas - one apple with ginger, the other pear w/ chocolate... and Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream, of course!

also planning a pre-xmas 'tea' on Sunday, but haven't fully formed the menu... thinking a Cauliflower Soup, smoked salmon tea sandwiches, a dark wheat fruit/nut bread and lots of cookies, chocolates, nuts, etc.

Answer

Prime rib roast (my first)
Horseradish sauce (Contessa recipe)
Whipped sweet potatoes with cream and nutmeg
roasted potatoes
Popovers (my first - I'm using the Contessa's recipe)
Probably green beans (I don't have any wow but easy green dishes)

Red wine (undecided) with dinner
Veuve Clicquot with desserts (undecided)

Answer

It's looking more and more like it will be just me and Mr. DeeDee for the big day. If that is indeed the case, we will have little meals throughout the day.

While opening presents, coffee and popovers, with some blueberry syrup made by a friend.

a couple of hours later, his father's recipe for stuffed mushrooms, with sausage and cornbread. Prosecco.

If I can find some nice big lobsters, I'll fix them early afternoon, steamed, with butter and some braised spinach. Otherwise, some giant shrimp cocktail or scampi with a little salad. some white wine.

Around suppertime, some homemade cream of mushroom soup, with garlic toast. maybe a dark beer.

We'll probably visit a local shrine with a huge light display and walk around a little. Hot cider, maybe a little quiche and some cookies when we get back. a little brandy.

Answer

Great reading everyone's menus. Our Christmas Eve is a traditional American-Italian seafood feast that's changed little over three generations. Big table: 25 adults, 10 children, a 5-hour meal. Everyone brings a few dishes, so preparations vary, but main items are:

Antipasti: shrimp, crabcakes, clams oreganato, seafood salad, arancini (rice balls), anchovy filets, various bean, olive, and tomato bruschetta

Pasta: Linguini with a choice of sauce: marinara, garlic & oil, or Calamari in Marinara
 
Dinner: sea bass, scallops, stuffed flounder, shrimp, lobster tails, bacala
 
Veggies: roasted winter veggies, mushrooms, broccoli rabe, salad

Dessert: traditional pies and pastry

Wine: yes

Yule Log on TV: if available

Gin rummy: until 3 or 4am

Answer

Buffet for 15: 

Smoked ham
Smoked turkey
Assortment of tamales from Hot Damn Tamales (being shipped from Fort Worth--you can take the girl outa Texas, but you can't take Texas outa the girl. . . .)
cheese board
crab dip and crackers
cranberry-pecan slaw
Camembert mashed potatoes
green beans with Dijon mustard sauce
rolls and butter
cranberry chutney
Assorted European Christmas cookies (from local German bakery)
Yule Log (from local German bakery)
Assorted candies and nuts
Riesling, Beaujolais Nouveau, beer, and sparkling cranberry cider for non-drinkers

Answer

Christmas Eve: "light" (ha!) supper for 8...following my husband's family's tradition of clam chowder and little sandwiches on Christmas Eve...

Clam Chowder
Deli meats, cheeses and small rolls
Veggie platter
Nigella's Chocolate-Cherry Trifle
A 2nd non-chocolate dessert to be brought by friends
Glogg (nonalcholic)
Sparkling cider

Christmas Day -- for "just us" -- family of 4:

Prime Rib (Suzanne Goin's recipe)
Yorkshire Pudding
Ina Garten's Spinach Gratin
Roasted Green Beans w/Lemon, Pine Nuts and Parmigiano (from Fine Cooking)
Coffee-Macadamia Creme Brulee

Topics

Locations

Your post has been published!

What is on your menu for the holiday feast?

More from Chowhound

Guides

The Ultimate Spring Produce Guide: What's in Season & How to Use It

Recipe Round-Ups

Quick and Easy Instant Pot Breakfast Recipes for Less Morning Stress

Guides

How to Care for Enameled Cast Iron So It Lasts a Lifetime

Home

The Best Tool to Clean a Wood Cutting Board Is Probably in Your Compost Bin

Trending Discussions

Favorite Chowhound Memories

A Final Goodbye for Chowhound

Chowhound Recipes That You are Saving

Food52: Goodbye to Chowhound, the Internet’s First Food Hub

NY Times: Chowhound Closes After 25 Years of Food Obsession, Wisdom and Debate

Quick Links

Latest Discussions

Cookbook of the Month

Dish of the Month

Weekly Menu Planning

Get fresh food news delivered to your inbox

12 Irish Foods to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day That Aren’t Corned Beef and Cabbage

Chowhound

Policies

Community

Editorial

Content