Winter wedding food inspired by Christmas.
Whether you’re newly engaged, well underway with your wedding planning or already married, there’s no doubt that Christmas time gets us all thinking about food and drink!
When we craft our menus to cater for weddings and events, we’re often inspired by people’s favourite dishes, locations of venues and more often than not – seasonality. So here our Head Chef at Caviar & Chips Catering, Mike, has curated three very different menus inspired by three big days of Christmas.
We’re going cocktails and canapés for Christmas Eve, a traditional three-course menu for Christmas Day and then relaxed informal sharing food for Boxing Day. Covering different food styles, different ways you can serve your food on your wedding day and also using the winter season to give you ideas for your wedding catering. So we’ll hand over to Mike for him to walk you through his favourite festive menu:
Christmas Eve inspires cocktails & canapés
Christmas Eve is a day full of magic, anticipation and excitement building up to the next 12 days of Christmas. Celebrating with friends and family, meeting loved-ones that you haven’t seen all year and perhaps making new friends. This makes it the perfect occasion for informal, relaxed, social food. And that’s why the drinks and canapés after your wedding ceremony works so well to bring all of your guests together. Food gets people talking, mingling and trying new things. You can get really creative with canapés and use your favourite ingredients. Bring flavours together from different cuisines and create tasty fusions, or go simple, classic and elegant.
Canapés
Turkey & Chestnut Scotch Quail Egg
Minced Turkey and chopped Chestnuts make a delightfully seasonal mixture to wrap around a soft-boiled Quail Egg. Coated in a crumb made from Breadcrumbs, Crispy Smoked Bacon, Parmesan and Herbs. Deep-fried until crisp and golden brown, creating a wonderful blend of textures. You bite into the crisp, smokey, salty exterior, through to a soft and tender mix of turkey goodness. Before finally delving into a runny, rich, glossy egg yolk, you’ll feel the Christmas festivities starting with a bang!
Walnut-crusted Goat’s Cheese & Truffle Honey
For me, Christmas is a time for cheese and the more, the merrier! No need to dust off the old nutcracker, we’ve done that for you too! A disc of smooth, creamy, salty Goat’s cheese is crusted in chopped toasted Walnuts. Finished with a luxurious drizzle of Truffle-infused honey. I can assure you that when your guests try this for the first time, they will be singing your praises!
Lobster Brioche
Food doesn’t get much more indulgent than Lobster, so we’ve included it here as a final treat for your Christmas Eve. A buttered brioche croute acts as the base. Providing a crunchy, light, buttery sweet platform on which to display this majestic seafood ingredient. We’ve decided to gently poach the Lobster in Champagne and a little butter. Then using the shells and some of the meat to create a glorious Lobster mayonnaise. The Lobster meat is bound with the mayonnaise before being set atop the brioche, and, just for good measure, there’s a little Lobster meat added on top. Now there’s a luxurious Christmas treat for your palette!
Cocktails
Christmas Punch
You’re entering dangerous territory with this one! Delicious enough to want to finish the lot, but boozy enough that you might need to err on the side of caution! We’ve combined Prosecco, Apple Juice, Sloe Gin and a splash of Jagermeister, with Stem Ginger, Rosemary, Clementine and Red Grapes. The aromatics in the herbal liqueur help to accentuate those festive notes and we guarantee your guests will be heading to that punchbowl for a refill!
Mulled Gin
If, like me, you’re a big fan of Gin, then this festive number is for you. We infuse Apple Juice with Bay, Clove, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Juniper, Coriander and Honey, before mixing with Lemon and Gin. The result is a fresh but warming drink that will go down with ease (alongside a few delicious canapés!)
Festive Negroni
This is an absolute classic cocktail. First concocted in the early 1900’s, the Negroni is still incredibly popular today. A blend of Gin, Campari and Vermouth, garnished with Orange Peel seems like a good idea to us. However we wanted to make it more festive by introducing some sweet spices. Clove, Cinnamon, Star Anise and Cardamom. Balanced beautifully with the existing flavours, and still allowing for that twist of Orange Peel to top off your glass.
Christmas Day inspires a classic three-course wedding breakfast
So here it is, the big day! Santa’s been, presents are under the tree, the house is warm and cosy, with your favourite Christmas jingles ringing through the air…..now comes the feast. There’s probably not many days in the year that compete with Christmas Day for excitement and seeing so many happy faces. Your wedding day will be similar and if there’s a day to go all out with an impressive menu for your guests – it’s this one. So we’ve taken Christmas Day to inspire your three-course wedding breakfast.
To start. Gin & Tonic-cured Salmon
Served with Dill Mayonnaise, Torched Lemon, Pickled Cucumber & Rye Crisps
This fresh, vibrant, zesty Salmon dish is a take on a classic Christmas Day starter. Although not smoked, the boozy citrus cure brings a wonderful flavour to the Salmon. Lightly bound with a little of the Dill Mayonnaise, this is topped with acidic but light pickled cucumber. More of the herby, creamy mayonnaise, blow-torched Lemon segments – to add a touch of caramelisation and char to the citrus. Then crisp, wafer thin shards of Rye bread. An absolute winner on any occasion but a fantastic way to start the proceedings on the big day.
For main. Prosciutto-wrapped Turkey Ballotine
Turkey Sausage Roll, Goose Fat Potatoes, Glazed Baby Vegetables, Cranberry Purée & Turkey Gravy
The Turkey dinner has been done every which way but loose, so we’re not going to try to reinvent the wheel here. However, that doesn’t mean this is your typical Turkey roast.
Starting with the star of the dish, we’ve decided to present two different Turkey elements. The first is a poached Ballotine of breast, rolled in Prosciutto before being roasted. The Prosciutto adds a lovely saltiness to the Turkey, and poaching means a gentler cooking process so that meat doesn’t dry out. We’ve also taken the leg meat and turned it into a sausage roll. This provides a different element on the plate, and a welcome addition of the moist dark meat.
For the potato…Goose fat, thyme, garlic and salt. That’s it! I’m a big fan of keeping things simple with roast potatoes – let their crispy exterior and their fluffy potato inside do the talking! Baby Leek and Heritage Baby Carrots are glazed in a generous amount of butter, for a melt in the mouth, sweet, buttery addition. The Cranberry Purée is a little different to the usual Cranberry sauce, bringing a little more acidity to the plate to stand up to the richness of the Turkey. Finally, a Turkey gravy is a thing of beauty. If you’re going to create a plate of food as delicious as this, then you’ve got to make sure the gravy is equal to the taste.
For dessert. Chocolate Bouche de Noël
Served with Dark Chocolate Ganache, Praline Cream, Cranberries, Candied Hazelnuts & Pecans, Honeycomb, Chocolate Shards
Bouche de Noël, Yule Log, Swiss Roll, Christmas Log – regardless of the name, we can all agree that this one is a show-stopper!
A Cocoa Genoise Sponge, lightly sprayed with Brandy, and rolled around a sweet and nutty praline cream is just the kind of start we want. Soft, supple, moist, creamy, and a little boozy….perfect! Then comes the magic. We’ve generously spread a rich chocolate ganache over the top. Then used this as a platform to build some texture and some playfulness into the dish. Chunks of honeycomb provide a sweet, caramel crunch, while the candied pecans and hazelnuts add texture and some warming, roasted flavours. Fresh cranberries provide some acidity (after all it can’t all be rich!). Before the whole thing is decorated with large shards of chocolate. This truly is a worthy centrepiece on your table at Christmas, and we’re certain your guests will be wowed by the look, taste and want for more!
Boxing Day inspires relaxed, sharing food.
Now you could see Boxing Day food a little like the food you may have on the evening of your wedding day. A little more relaxed and informal – guests taking their time. Having a bite or two and grazing at leisure while they enjoy drinks from the bar or dancing the night away to your playlist of festive classics!
I’m keen for this not to feel like a retro buffet and I also want it to be something for your guests that they wouldn’t quite expect. So I did say earlier that I love cheese at Christmas time and so indulge me a little here while I get a bit carried away with that classic, soft and creamiest of cheeses – Brie. But for this it’s about the presentation and so I wanted to create a food-inspired festive wreath.
The Festive Food Christmas Wreath
A Circle of creamy, soft English Brie, topped with some absolute charcuterie classics;
Smoked Salmon, Salami & Parma Ham, Nocellara Olives, Sun-dried Tomatoes, Marinated Artichokes, Pickles, Figs, Artisan Bread, Citrus & Leaves.
This sharing dish could work equally well as a sharing starter course. Imagine served at the centre of your table and then guests taking a little bit of everything or trying something new. Created as a relaxed and informal ice-breaker to your wedding breakfast.
That’s the great thing about food and drink – particularly on your wedding day. There are no rules. Essentially do what makes you happy. Eat and drink what you enjoy and explore ways your guests can interact with the food you have chosen for your big day. Take a look at some of our wedding story examples for inspiration of how we’ve worked with other couples on their bespoke menu.
However you’re inspired to plan your catering, I hope you have a peaceful and restful Christmas and wish you a wonderful New Year.