The French Table | Christmas Edition

If you've ever wondered how French families actually celebrate Christmas, this is one menu example, start to finish.

Ten recipes that go together: three apéritifs, a starter, two sides, the main, the dessert, and two sugared decorations for the bûche and for the table.

• Smoked salmon cream puffs
• Goat cheese "Christmas trees" with caramelised apple
• Gingerbread canapés with fig and Comté
• Scallops baked in their shells with leek and mushroom fondue.
• Duchess potatoes
• Celeriac purée with wholegrain mustard.
• Turkey roulade stuffed with chestnuts, dried apricots and gingerbread, wrapped in bacon.
• Chocolate bûche de Noël.
• Sugared rosemary
• Sugared cranberries, which decorate the bûche and the table alike.

It's elegant, and it's all doable at home. Nothing here needs a pro chef shop, and no equipment beyond a piping bag.

I've also added the preparation guide, which is the part I use myself. It tells you what can be made ten days ahead and frozen, what to do two days before, the day before, on the morning of the 24th, and two hours before, with a time next to every step. On the night, you're in the kitchen for under an hour.

It's a 30-page PDF, to read on your phone or to print. Each recipe sits on a spread, with my notes on storing and reheating. It arrives by email right after checkout.