Can anyone suggest a good Christmas Day starter other than smoked salmon?

Question

Wow, good answers guys! To clarify, the reason for not having smoked salmon as a starter is that we will be having it with scrambled eggs for breakfast....

Answer 1

good old prawn cocktail hunni

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Can anyone suggest a good Christmas Day starter other than smoked salmon?

Answer 3

There is a recipe which i tried when I had a wee bit extra money, which was the following:
a tuna loin fillet - size dependent on how many people your are having over.
A sheet of tin foil
Crushed black pepper, finely chopped coriander, parsley and dried chilli powder and cayenne pepper mixed together.

On the foil scatter the herb/spice mix and then roll the tuna over absorbing the mixture. Then roll the tuna in the foil. Ensure there is enough foil on either side as you will wrap the loin like a chrimbo cracker. Stick in the fridge for a couple of hours. Take out the fridge and rest till at room temp, then heat up a frying pan to a high heat. Place the loin in (still in the foil) and sear for 15-20 seconds all the way round.
When this is done let the fillet rest, then unwrap and slice wafer thin and serve with a tomato, mozzerella and basil salad covered in Balsamic vinegar.

Answer 4

Christmas Day Starters Jamie Oliver

Answer 5

What ever is your main entree is, this always goes well... "Smoked Salmon Salad"easy and fast to prepare... SMOKED SALMON SALAD: 2 cups smoked salmon 1 cup diced celery 1/4 cup sweet onion 4 Oz's sweet pickle relish 1 head Iceberg lettuce French salad dressing Look the salmon over carefully, removing any skin or small bones. Break into medium size pieces and mix with the celery,onion,relish and the French dressing and marinate this for at least 30 min. Drain the mixture. Pour over chopped lettuce and serve with a Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing , garish with tomato slices This serves 4 people. Great as left over , next day lunch

Answer 6

we have salmon and eggs for Chrissie breakfast, followed by warm croissants and brie, yummy

For a starter try frying button mushrooms in their own juices with a little garlic and onion sliced very very thinly, (optional), when nearly cooked add cornflour to thicken juice, pop in small prawns and right at the end of cooking, some single cream to make the sauce. Delicious

Answer 7

I think that on Christmas Day you only need a very light starter and I prefer melon. You can either make this into boats or as I prefer serve merely melon balls which look very effective when you use 2 different types of melon. An added festive touch is to pour a drop of cointreau onto the balls.

Answer 8

I always think that smoked salmon is for breakfast on Xmas day!

In my opinion the most important thing about Xmas day starters is that they can be prepped in advance and there is no cooking involved. The oven and hobs are busy enough without adding more to them! Also, depending on how many you are cooking for, the last thing you want is loads of plates to lay out in the kitchen, so pouring bowls of soup is a bit of a pain (unless there are only 2 of you in which case its not too bad) Finally, when you are looking for flavours, consider that the main meal is rich enough without a starter of heavy cheese or meats. Go for something that goes well with champagne and you cant go wrong!

This year I am making a seafood platter with oysters, lobster and prawns served with some lovely mayonnaise, lemon wedges and salad, but I'm assuming if you dont want Snk salmon then you are not keen on the idea of seafood at all.

If so, then I recommend one of these:

Platter of Antipasti. Things like olives, artichokes, marinated peppers and mushrooms, bread, melon, fresh salad - especially tomato, parma ham and mozerella. All of this can be bought in jars prepped in advance and plonked on the table for everyone to help themselves.

"Home made" meat pate: Buy a good quality light pate/mousse from the supermarket. Take it out of pack and mash with some cream (or cream cheese if you want to make it taste lighter) brandy and a splash of orange juice. Add the rind of the orange - grated and serve with melba toast (very thin)


Home made mackeral pate: MAsh some smoked mackeral - remove skin and any bones. Add some cream cheese, squeese of lemon, rind of orange loads of blck pepper and a good splosh of sherry/brandy/white port. Serve with lemon wedges and melba toast.

Answer 9

My mum makes a delicious salad - I think it's a Jamie Oliver one.

Lay a bed of salad leaves out on a big serving plate. Tear up some mozzarella into bite-sized chunks and place over the leaves. Then, pop on some peeled peach slices and some prosciutto (sorry if spelled incorrectly!) ham. Add some torn mint leaves and drizzle the whole thing with a good olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve it with some warm crusty bread. This one's good as it's quite sociable, what with being on one plate! It's also fairly light so won't ruin the main event.

Easy as pie - no cooking and it takes only minutes to put together. Hope you like it!

Answer 10

Prawn cocktail. Or Lobster. Or Crab. Or some other sort of seafood. God i love seafood.
Failing that; Melon. Always a good starter.
I'm having Salmon. I love Salmon.

Answer 11

Try a nice soup like butternut squash or beetroot, you could top a beetroot soup with a little creme fraiche and smoked salmon?
A festive salad could work too, how about blood orange, prosciutto and walnut, or figs and prosciutto? Or cure your own gravadlax style salmon;
make a cure from equal quantities of salt and sugar, a grated beetroot, a large shot of vodka and plenty of chopped dill. Coat the flesh side of the salmon with the cure, cling film, weight and refridgerate for 24 hours-48 hours. Rinse off the cure. Serve with sour cream, dill, lemon and brown bread.