4 Easy Christmas Recipes

We all like to serve up a feast at Christmas, but it’s a busy and sometimes stressful time as it is. If you simply don’t have enough time, don’t worry! YourSurprise chef Leopoldo Castillo has created 4 easy Christmas recipes, which will allow you to treat your guests to a festive Christmas dinner in no time at all!

Always in a hurry

We’ve all been there: wanting to go big for Christmas dinner to impress our guests, blowing them away with how tasty it all is. This can be challenging though, as we really don’t have much time to spend on it all and, despite wanting to spend hours in the kitchen to make it all as perfect as possible, this simply isn’t realistic. We’re running from shop to shop to get all of the ingredients, decorating our homes from top to bottom and have Christmas drinks to attend, all while trying to take care of the kids. We understand, which is why we asked our YourSurprise chef to put together 4 easy recipes to form the perfect, easy Christmas dinner. Happy cooking and bon appetit!

We’re assuming you’ll have a large group of people over for dinner, so all of these recipes serve 10 people. If your party is smaller, simply adjust the quantities.

Starter: Salmon tartare (10 people)

Why is this an easy Christmas recipe?

This recipe is easy to follow and takes no time at all, you can plate up in 30 minutes! It also looks festive and tastes delicious.

Ingredients:

• 450 grams of raw salmon, skinless and deboned
• 1 shallot
• 1 avocado
• 2 tsp capers
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tsp fresh chives
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 1 pinch of salt

What to do:

1. Cut the salmon lengthwise into eight pieces, then cut these pieces again, into eight pieces widthwise. The pieces that are now left over, again cut into eighths. You should end up with small squares of salmon. Place the salmon in a bowl.
2. Chop the avocado so that the pieces are the same size as the salmon cubes. Also finely chop the shallot, chives and capers and mix everything together in the bowl.
3. Add the olive oil, lime juice, mustard and salt and mix lightly. Store in the fridge until serving.
4. When you are ready to serve the dish, you have several options. You can serve the tartare in a pretty bowl on the table as a snack with tortilla chips. A surprising twist for this Christmas! Or you could opt for the traditional way and serve on a plate, in which case we advise serving toast with it, or cucumber as a low-carb alternative. Garnish with a slice of lime and some fresh chives.

Main: Maple syrup Christmas ham (10 personen)

Why is this an easy Christmas recipe?

Preparing a ham may sound complicated, but it’s much easier than you think! Others will think it’s complicated too, which means you’ll score some serious points when you serve this up. It does take a little time, but can be made 2 days in advance, so the work can be spread out and you’ll have more time on the day.

Ingredients:

• 5 kg of ham, on the bone
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp of peppercorns
• 1 tsp of coriander seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 25 cloves

For the glaze:

• 200 ml ahornsiroop
• 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce

What to do:

1. Place the ham in a large pan and add cold water so that the ham is almost completely submerged. Add the herbs and bay leaf. Bring the water to the boil. When the water boils, turn down the heat. Leave to simmer for about 1 hour and 50 minutes. When the water evaporates, add boiling water again. If foam appears on the water, scoop it off.
2. Carefully pour off the cooking liquid. You can save it and use it as a base for soup if you like. You set the oven to 190 degrees (170 for a hot-air oven or setting 5 for a gas oven). Let the ham cool for a while while the oven heats up. Place the ham in a large roasting pan. Cut away the rind so that an even layer of fat remains everywhere. Make notches in the fat, you do this by cutting in a criss-cross pattern. Spread the cloves over the ham and insert them into the meat. You can finish the ham now, as described in the next step, or you can store it in the fridge for up to two days.
3. Mix the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl. Pour half over the ham and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Now remove the ham from the oven again and pour the rest of the sauce over the ham. The ham goes into the oven again for 35 minutes. In between, take the meat out three or four more times to pour the cooking juices and sauce over the ham again so that it absorbs well into the meat. Also, turn the meat in between so that it cooks evenly. When the ham is ready, leave it to stand for at least 15 minutes before slicing. You can eat the ham immediately, but what can also come in handy during the busy holiday season, it can also stand in the fridge for two days and then be served cold. That is just as tasty!

Side dish: Roast potatoes with crunchy bacon (10 people)

Why is this an easy Christmas recipe?

This is an easy Christmas recipe because few actions are needed before the dish is on the table. You boil the potatoes and then they go into the oven, otherwise you have little work to do. In a relatively short time and with little effort, you will have a festive side dish on the table.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg potatoes
• 200 grams of bacon strips
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 150 grams Parmesan cheese
• 70 grams finely chopped parsley

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees with the grill on the lowest setting.
2. Wash the potatoes well and cut them into quarters. Put them in a saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add a small teaspoon of salt and cook for 12-15 minutes or until you can easily cut through them with a knife. Do not overcook the potatoes, they should not crumble. Drain them and set them aside for a while.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, cut the slices of bacon lengthwise into strips. Then slice them widthwise again until you are left with pieces of about 1.5 centimetres. Fry the bacon until it is just barely crispy. Drain the bacon on kitchen paper. Save the frying fat for later.
4. Spread the olive oil and cooking fat from the bacon over a roasting pan. Place the potatoes inside down in the sled. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake the potatoes in the oven until they have a crispy coating, which is about 35-40 minutes.
5. Remove the potatoes from the oven and serve with the fresh parsley and parmesan cheese.

Dessert: Tiramisu with a twist (10 people)

Why is this an easy Christmas recipe?

Of course, you can endlessly go about splitting eggs and beating egg whites for the perfect tiramisu. This is fun if it succeeds, but if it fails, you spend a huge amount of time. What you can also do is tweak it a bit. For this tiramisu recipe, you add airy whipped cream, which means no egg whites are involved. Much quicker and success guaranteed. And chances are your guests won't even notice.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of espresso, or a cafetiere for four cups of strong coffee
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 50 ml amaretto, or any other liqueur you like
• 1 Panettone, this is an Italian Christmas bread. If this is not available then add ladyfinger biscuits.
• 1 vanilla pod, halved with the seeds scraped out
• 150 grams icing sugar
• 200 ml whipped cream, beaten until small mounds form when you remove the whisk or mixer from the bowl
• Cocoa powder
• Dark chocolate, grated for garnish

What to do:

1. Mix the espresso, caster sugar and amaretto in a large bowl. Cut the panettone into 1-centimetre-wide slices and add them to the coffee mixture. Leave it to infuse well.
2. Mix the vanilla seeds, mascarpone and icing sugar in another bowl. Add the whipped cream and mix by gently stirring.
3. Place half of the panettone in a large bowl. Top this with half the mascarpone mixture. Then follow with the last layer of panettone and the final mascarpone layer.
4. Finish with a layer of cocoa powder and place in the fridge for about two hours to stiffen. Before serving, add another layer of chocolate shavings. Enjoy your meal!

Looking for beautiful kitchen accessories or Christmas table decoration? The following items will look wonderful at your Christmas dinner!