How to make traditional Christmas dishes easier?

Choose your dishes well

It’s hard to lose weight when the temptation is so great. First of all, you need to choose what dishes will be served during the meal. land side, lean meats such as turkey, chicken or rabbit are best. That’s good, that’s what we prefer for the holidays! On the sea side, salmon is always preferable to a piece of red meat, but white fish will be even better for keeping the line! It is much less caloric. Sea bass, monkfish, sole… all species can be included in recipes. Seafood can also be a good option as a starter or main dish. Think oysters, shrimp, lobster, and scallops (no coral!). Avoid starchy side dishes, especially at dinner. Seasonal vegetables such as squash (squash, butternut squash, etc.), Jerusalem artichokes, cauliflower, endive, parsnips or even leeks work well in many light meal recipes. Think they won’t be festive enough? Think again. Fennel cappuccino sublimates fish, individual walnut gratins are delicious with poultry, and lobster navarine is perfect with seasonal vegetables. You can even include them as an aperitif by making taramasalata toast with black radish slices. Eating easy doesn’t rhyme with being sad! For lunch, you can serve vegetables with a few small potatoes, fresh wholemeal pasta or quinoa in a delicious risotto. The method of preparation is also important. Cook without a doubt a roast that does not require the addition of fat. We also test foil wrapping and steaming. On the other hand, be careful with fried food and adding fat to the pan.

Is foie gras for you? Serve it as a starter, and as a compensation, prefer a light dish. Guinea fowl and turkey are lean birds. A good option would be fish. Fillet of saffron sea bass, roast duckling, roast monkfish… they invite themselves to the festive table. You can also make a mini croque monsieur of gingerbread and foie gras for an aperitif to enjoy the bites.

If you can’t resist the capon, opt for a light snack. Indeed, capon is a bird meat with a little more calories. The same goes for the duck and its breast. Raw fish appetizers, scallop casselet with light cream, avocado, grapefruit and shrimp tartare, sea bream and citrus tartare or ceviche are very good choices to surprise your guests.

Choose the right ingredients

You can choose recipes that are very easy to prepare and yet look complicated. The rules are simple to avoid the accumulation of calories: reduce the consumption of fat and sugar. Avoiding butter, reducing sugar, opting for low-fat cream and skim milk are all ways to enjoy good food without feeling guilty about your diet. And we bet your guests won’t notice! Feel free to play with spices and herbs to make the preparation easier.

Also, revise traditional dishes by substituting the most caloric ingredients or changing the recipes. Smoked salmon on toast with butter can give way to salmon tartare or rillettes. Foie gras on a bed of onion confit can be tasted with a spoon (the amount will be reduced this way) or make small cabbage rolls from the foie gras. The least fat bird remains the turkey, but it is sometimes avoided because its flesh is dry. Therefore, stuffed turkey often turns out to be more tender and juicy. For a light topping, choose herbs and cream cheese, sage and onion, chestnuts, or even prunes and corn.

Prepare a light dessert

If it’s easy to lighten up the recipes of traditional dishes, how about the famous holiday log? No one will surprise you if they tell you that oil logs should be avoided. Opt for seasonal fruit, buy sorbet or turn charlotte into a log. Here are some tips to help you make an easy dessert:

• Make a roll sponge cake or a very light egg sponge cake.
• Avoid fillings that are too heavy. Choose fresh seasonal fruit (mango, kiwi, passion fruit, etc.) rather than fruit in syrup (too sweet!).
• Replace butter cream with fruit mousse.
• Limit sugar consumption and prefer fruit.

If you don’t need a log, it can be replaced by a variety of verines, chocolate pears, a surprise with a baked apple, a Clementine cake or a fruit salad. Make your own homemade gingerbread and chocolates too…but that won’t be an excuse to overdo it!

To go further, find out how to prepare a balanced and much lower calorie Christmas meal?