Sitting in peace, chatting and enjoying an elegant meal: there’s no doubt about it – things have to be festive in terms of culinary delights at Christmas. With a little something to start, a starter and a main course. And of course, a delicious dessert cannot be missed to end the party.
It all seems like a lot of work – but no one needs to be in the kitchen from morning to night preparing everything and finally sitting at the dinner table in a more or less stressed way.
“Many things can be prepared days in advance, so there are only a few things left to do before Christmas dinner,” says Susann Kreihe, recipe and cookbook author. That’s how professional chef Christian Türnich sees things. “It doesn’t have to be a complicated seven-course meal to prepare,” he says.
It’s important that you think about the design of the party from the beginning, preferably in the fall, and, finally, prepare it with love.
And just don’t try the Christmas menu: “If it goes wrong, it will only lead to frustration,” says Türnich. It is better to prepare what will definitely work for you. Now that you have decided on the individual dishes in consultation with your loved ones, about two weeks before the meal you should share the recipes and read them carefully again.
Check now which ingredients are already at home and which still need to be purchased. The following applies: “Anything that is dry, for example dried spices, can be purchased weeks before eating,” says Kzeile. You get fruit and vegetables about two to three days before the party, and fish and meat the day before.
But not only shopping, but also preparing individual dishes is easily possible a few days before the party. “A lot of things actually taste better when they sit out for a while,” says Türnich. The soup can easily be prepared in advance as a starter and only needs to be heated on the day of the celebration. Cold starters such as creamed tuna or potato salad can also be prepared a day or two in advance and stored tightly covered in the refrigerator.
If you want a fresh salad, you can cut and wash it two days in advance. Salad dressing can also be prepared: “Then place the dressing in a jar with a screw lid and close tightly”, says Susann Kzeile. And desserts such as creams or semifreddo do not need to be prepared on the day of the celebration. This can also be done two to three days in advance.
Would you like a suggestion for a banquet? Susann Kreihe recommends the following menu sequence from her recipe collection: carrot and chickpea paste – endive salad with roasted apple slices – lamb rump in Earl Gray with braised beetroot – speculative cream with kumquats.
The first two courses, each designed for four people:
Wash, peel and chop 3 carrots. Heat 1 teaspoon of mild olive oil in a small pan and sauté the carrots. Deglaze with a little water and cook the carrots in the liquid for 15 minutes until tender. At the end, remove the lid and let the remaining liquid boil.
Drain 1 cup of chickpeas (drained weight about 150 g) and place in a tall container or blender. Peel and add 1 clove of garlic. Squeeze the juice from one lemon. Add the carrots, the spices – a teaspoon of cumin powder, turmeric powder and honey -, the lemon juice, a teaspoon of salt and 75 ml of cold water and blend everything. Then add 4 tablespoons of almond butter and continue mixing for 1-2 minutes until it forms a smooth, creamy paste.
Pour the carrot and chickpea spread into a shallow bowl, make grooves in the surface and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of camelina oil. Serve with bread for dipping. “The paste can easily be prepared two days before the party,” says Kzeile.
Clean and wash 1 endive lettuce, spin and tear into small pieces. Wash 2 Boskop apples, cut into thick slices and remove the core. Wash 3 sprigs of thyme, dry and remove the leaves. In a frying pan, melt 1 teaspoon of butter and add 1 pinch of cinnamon and thyme leaves.
Then cook the apple slices in their own juice at medium temperature on both sides for 2-3 minutes. Chop 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds and toast them along with 4 tablespoons of panko breadcrumbs with 1 teaspoon of butter in a second frying pan. Season with a little salt.
Mix 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with 1 teaspoon each of honey and mild mustard and a pinch of salt. Then add 2 tablespoons of hazelnut oil to make a sauce. Marinate the endive salad with the sauce. Divide the salad and roasted apple slices between plates and serve sprinkled with pumpkin seed crumbs.
“You can easily make the dressing and prepare the salad 1 to 2 days in advance,” says Kzeile. Baked apple slices and pumpkin seed crumbs should be freshly prepared.