Christmas menu: many ideas for a better Christmas lunch than at the restaurant!
The Christmas menu is not easy to decide: of course there is no shortage of traditional recipes, but every year we puzzle to find some more original ideas, a different course that can make this party even more special.
Have you already thought about which Christmas menu to propose this year to family and friends? If you are still on the high seas, do not despair and let yourself be inspired by our ideas, particular and sophisticated, at the height of the best restaurant! Certainly there is no lack of meat and fish dishes, but we have also thought of some proposals for a vegetarian or vegan menu.
First, however, here are some ideas for setting the table in the Christmas spirit in the best possible way: because even the eye wants its part!
© iStock Christmas table decorations
Christmas appetizer: to open the menu in style!
At a Christmas lunch or dinner, appetizers cannot be missing: open your menu with a delicate and at the same time original course, which can tantalize the palate without weighing it down. You could experiment with salmon rolls (always very popular as an appetizer) with goat cheese and vegetables. To prepare them, like sushi, you will need - in addition to smoked salmon and goat cheese - a Romanesco broccoli to be seared in a pan, Jerusalem artichoke to cut into cubes, a little fennel, celery and pumpkin pulp to fry in the pan. The vegetables, mixed with the cheese, will then be spread on the salmon, cut into thin slices, then rolled up on itself and wrapped in a film. An "now in the fridge, et voilà: ready to serve!
Another decidedly delicious appetizer is the gazpacho-stuffed tomatoes. Cut the top of the tomatoes (preferably of the Marinda type), remove the pulp and blend it in the mixer together with half a peeled shallot, a yellow pepper, apple cider vinegar, a little oil, salt and chilli. To complete the gazpacho add some bread cut into cubes and browned in a pan. Fill the tomatoes with the contents and perhaps accompany them with fried courgette flowers.
And if you have children (and maybe you want them to help you in the kitchen making them have some fun "), you could make some cute snowmen with hard-boiled eggs! Preparing them is very simple: boil the eggs in water until they are hard-boiled, then Shell them and let them dry. Plant a toothpick in the center, vertically and add a mozzarella cheese on top, which can serve as a head. With the carrot make small triangles to stick as a nose and use caviar to imitate the eyes and buttons ... to other decorations or possible variations, indulge your imagination!
Christmas menu: a first course at the height of the best restaurant!
Starting from a traditional dish and then preparing an original variant can be an "excellent idea to create a Christmas menu with all the trimmings! What would you say, for example, to revisit the classic cannelloni? In this version they have a tasty filling based on radicchio and ricotta. First you will have to fry some shallots and add the radicchio cut into thin slices, salt and pepper and let it simmer for about ten minutes. The mixture will then be mixed with ricotta and cloves. the cannelloni that you have carefully spread on a cloth after boiling them Take them out of the oven, you will serve them hot on top of the salted zabaglione.
If your desire, on the other hand, is to amaze your guests, you could focus on an unusual combination like that of scampi and pomegranate, two flavors that - surprisingly - compensate divinely, especially when used as a condiment for beautiful linguine! After cleaning the scampi, cut them into small pieces of the same size and cook them in a pan with a clove of garlic poached with the oil and a sip of white wine. Add the pasta al dente in the pan and, when it is dry, add some grains of pomegranate: you will smell what a scent! You can also add other grains when serving, to give more color.
Another idea - simpler to make, but always very refined - is the orange risotto. Preparing it is easy: heat a knob of butter in a saucepan and start toasting the rice, then blend it with the juice of half an orange and continue. cooking with vegetable broth Then add the zest and juice of the other half of the orange to the risotto just before the end of cooking and stir in the risotto with the toma cheese cut into chunks.
Ideas for a second course based on meat, fish and vegetarian or vegan
Let's start with a second course based on fish, an essential ingredient in a Christmas menu. A truly exquisite dish that you can prepare to amaze your guests is the tuna fillet, to be cooked in a potato crust. To make it, place the tuna on baking paper and season it with salt, pepper and a couple of tablespoons of oil, then cover with the potatoes that you have prepared separately with chopped shallots, thyme, salt and pepper. In twenty minutes (15 to 180 ° plus 5 with the grill) will be ready: you will see what a success!
But let's go back once again to one of the classics of the Christmas menu: the stuffed capon. To make it truly special, you will need to prepare an exceptional filling. With what ingredients? It is easy to say: pork (minced), minced raw ham, ground beef and cashews. You will feel what a delicacy!
If you prefer a vegetarian or vegan second course to all this meat, here is the solution: a roast, yes, but of seitan! And for more with the addition of a nice cream of mushrooms. Use some Manitoba flour and, after sifting it, add a little water and knead for a long time. Dip it again in cold water and rinse to remove all the starch, until there is only the gluten. Wrap it in a tea towel and dip it in a pot in which you have boiled bay leaves, wakame seaweed, a carrot and an onion. Let it cook for a while. "hour and a half. For the mushroom sauce, just cook some porcini mushrooms soaked in water in a pan, together with a nice sauté. Tasty and light!
A Christmas dessert to end with a flourish!
The king of Christmas sweets, as we know, is the panettone. Do you think it is trivial and do you want to change? How about trying to make it a little more particular (and greedy) with some good filling? You could, for example, enrich it with an orange scented cream and a chocolate cream. After preparing the creams, cut the panettone into layers, making sure that the first is higher than the others so that it can hold the upper layers. Spread a different cream between one layer and the other, alternately. To make it even tastier, you can add chocolate chips in the chocolate cream and caramelized orange peels in the orange cream.
An original idea that will appeal to the whole family is that of the chocolate Christmas tree. Take 6 ice cream cones and, with a brush, cover them with melted chocolate. Then sprinkle some grated chocolate and decorate everything with colored grains of your choice. In our video you will find all the explanations to prepare this fantastic dessert step by step:
Finally, if you are looking for a more sober and refined dessert, bet everything on a mousse with dried fruit. Just cut the dried fruit of your choice into small pieces (plums, figs, apricots, raisins are fine ...), boil the sugar, orange peel and a finger of rum in water for a minute, then add the fruit and let it macerate. Add crumbled amaretti biscuits, a spoonful of liqueur, whipped cream to the custard and distribute the mousse in the molds and then keep it in the fridge for at least six hours. Garnish with dried fruit just before serving.
