Festive lunch... HELP!!

[Bluestone]

I need to make something for 12-15 people, but don't want to be in the kitchen all day.
Don't want to a cold buffet, nor cheeses, but need some ideas for a fairly simple/quick menu.

Starter/canapes, main, pud, drinks.

Thanks :-)

[Bluestone]

Box, I went onto Tesco online and every Turkey I looked at said "available for delivery from 22/12/12"...?

Thanks, DT. Good suggestion with the cranberry sauce too! :-)

[boxtops]

They might be, bluestone, but if you go to the shop, the frozen ones are in - easily thawed :-)

[Bluestone]

Ah yes! Frozen! Didn't even think of that, mainly because I've always bought them fresh on Christmas Eve.

I would like to do the menu that's been suggested and have turkey and ham as the joints.

Thanks for that :-)

[ethandron]

Don't know if you have an aldi near you, but to save yourself a bit more effort they have potato dauphinois in their chiller cabinets. You'd need to buy three, maybe four of them but they really are nice. They're vacuum packed, a quick snip and they just slide out into an ovenproof dish, 25 minutes in the oven.I always used to make my own as we had them a lot but these days we have aldi ones instead, I have two in the freezer at the moment. They also do a cheese one and a ham one.

[Bluestone]

ethandron, thank you for that - that's great :-)
I do have an Aldi near to me, yes. I will have a look.
I think, rather than doing my shop online as I usually would, I will spend the day before going out and getting what I need. Will save a lot of bother if many items are substituted.
Thanks again.

[pastafreak]

If you get a frozen turkey-don't wait til the day before....it will need time to defrost thoroughly.

[Anngel]

Have you thought of making something with turkey leg mince. Waitrose do it. I made a meatball type thing yesterday and it was yum.. 500g turkey mince. I slice of bread made into breadcrumbs. Mix turkey and breadcrumbs and add an egg yolk with about a tablespoon of fresh tarragon (this is not cheap but does make it taste really special) finely chopped until the mixture holds together. Form together into approx 12 patties.. Brown an onion and a few button mushrooms in melted butter with some oil added. When onions are browned add the patties and brown on both sides. At this point you could remove each batch to a separate container. Add chicken stock up to half way up the patties, putting them as close together as you can. Cook for 45 minutes on 5, remove, turn over, Add a half cup of white rice per person. Return to oven and turn down to 4. Cook for a further 40 minutes (check the rice at this point, you may have to add a little more stock and cook for a little longer. This batch would serve about 3 people...so multiply up. You could easily prepare this in advance and freeze at the before rice point. alternatively. If you don't fancy rice, make some creamy mash. Again, you could do this in advance and reheat in a buttered dish after running a fork over the top, if you are doing this add an egg after cooled but before cooking. sorry this is such a huge post. Hope it makes sense. You have plenty of time to have a go at it before the event just for your family. My hubby and I are pigs so ate the whole 500g between the two of us. You can do this type of thing with any mince but turkey would be more festive. You can also add cranberries to the sauce if you like (although that might be a bit bitter). If you make them small enough you could serve two or three meatballs in a cup with a plastic spoon....

[mallyh]

what about a curry or chilli con carne