An alternative Christmas dinner

Click here to sign up to our free newsletters!

Tempted to shake things up on the festive food front?

Here are a few ideas for serving up something a bit different this year.

Breakfast

If you usually have: Smoked salmon blinis

Try: French toast

There’s something luxurious and sophisticated about smoked salmon blinis at Christmas, but they are fiddly. You need something that will just about keep you going until lunch, but is quick to snaffle amongst all the flying wrapping paper.

Try thick triangles of brioche French toast dusted with cinnamon, and drenched in syrup for a decadent, still-sweet option – they’ll soak up all that Bucks Fizz you’ll be drinking.

Lunch

If you usually have: Roast turkey and all the trimmings

Try: Having your actual favourite meal

There’s a reason we rarely eat roast turkey other than on December 25 – it’s a colossal effort and requires more gravy than seems possible. Steer clear of fowl completely and go with chef’s choice.

It’s the most special time of the year, right? So serve up the food that means the most to you.

It might be platefuls of spaghetti bolognese with piles of buttery garlic bread or a Chinese banquet, with every type of dim sum and a tangle of sticky ribs to work through.

Why be held hostage by bread sauce and Brussels sprouts? Break free.

Pudding

If you usually have: Christmas cake or Christmas pudding

Try: A sponge cake

It’s hard to not enjoy setting something alight, especially when it glows blue and everyone around the table squeals giddily, but be honest, how many of us genuinely like eating Christmas pudding?

And Christmas cake is good, but once you’ve picked away at the marzipan (the best bit), you’re basically left with a lump of sodden fruit and too-thick icing.

Between the (many) After Eights and Brazil nuts you’ve been picking at throughout the day, anything too rich just isn’t going to cut it either. Which means you need something light, airy and vaguely medicinal, like a ginger cake. Tea on the side, please.

Boxing Day

If you usually have: Turkey curry

Try: Turkey fajitas

We have nothing against turkey curry – especially if there’s naan, mango chutney and crisp onion bhajis involved.

However, why not consider Mexican instead? Boxing Day fajitas offer plenty of virtuous veg – onions, peppers and all the guacamole you can physically eat.

They are also a non-parch inducing way to reuse your leftover turkey, as they come with lots of spicy tomato sauce and sour cream. Best of all, fajitas are help yourself if you just place all the bits on the table.

---

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.

---