Rick Stein’s celebration dinner menu

What’s on the menu, Rick?

“It won’t surprise you to know that, as a family, we look forward to enjoying plenty of fish over the festive period. Christmas Day itself tends to be meat-centric, so we like to make sure fish gets a look-in during the lead-up. It’s traditional to serve fish on Christmas Eve, so that’s exactly what we’ll be doing this year, with this four-course menu built around some of the finest fish native to the UK. This is exactly the kind of menu we enjoy and we hope you enjoy it too.” Rick and Jack Stein

Click on each picture below to be taken to Rick, Jack and Charlie’s individual recipes.
 

The cocktail: Christmas Campari fizz

“This is the perfect pre-dinner champagne cocktail. Aromatic with the Campari, lemon thyme and grapefruit, it’s also a little bitter. The recipe is in two parts – first you make a sherbet, which you use in the final recipe.” Charlie Stein

First course: salmon gravadlax with soda bread and horseradish 

“This is a classic recipe from Scandinavia and a good make-ahead first course as it’s all served cold. It’s easy to cure your own salmon, and the dill gives a wonderful dimension to the flavour that we associate with Christmas. Originally Douglas fir would have been used, but the dill works really well. Soda bread is an easy-to-make loaf, and horseradish works so well with the richness of the salmon. If you’re not keen, you can use mustard instead.” Jack Stein

Main course: lemon sole with potted shrimp butter

“Serving a whole fish is celebratory and makes the perfect main course when you want to serve a special dish. Whole fish stays softer than fillets because the bones protect the meat, and lemon sole is one of the best you can choose as it’s so easy to cook and take off the bone. Serving sole with brown shrimp is classic, but we’ve given the recipe a slight twist by using potted shrimps. These have a lovely Christmassy spicing with nutmeg, and the added capers are a wonderful counterpoint to the shrimp butter.” Rick Stein

After dinner cheese: Cornish gouda with sourdough and rocket

“I once had a version of this at Paul Cunningham’s restaurantThe Paul in Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen. A cheese course is a special treat at Christmas…We often just have a load of cheese, but this is a nice sharing option. You can use any hard cheese but Cornish gouda is a favourite of mine. It’s like a big sharing pizza with cheese and truffle. What’s not to like!” Jack Stein

Dessert: custard tart

“You can’t beat a good custard tart – the wobble is hypnotic! This recipe does have a dozen egg yolks in it but bear with us: yes, it’s indulgent, but I promise you it’s worth it for a special occasion like Christmas. We all love it.” Rick Stein

“Happy Christmas from all of us to all of you. This, more than any other time, is a year when we need special recipes on the menu – and special drinks, too… Enjoy!” Rick, Jack and Charlie Stein

If you’re still on the lookout for Christmas menu ideas, head to our Christmas recipe hub for all the inspiration you need!