Xmas Eve dinner solved: prosciutto, fig and burrata tart with hot honey and walnuts

Christmas Day is challenge enough if you're cooking, so don't sweat about dinner the night before. I've got easy, quick and celebratory ideas so you're free to watch Elf.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall in homes where everyone sits down to an elaborate Christmas Eve feast. I mean, let the festivities commence and all that but who has the mental bandwidth, energy or time to execute a fancy meal the night before cooking Christmas lunch?

Our home on Christmas Eve is the eye of a pleasantly violent storm, a maelstrom of wrapping paper, vegetable peelings, gravy making, cursing the lack of room in the fridge, list ticking, phone calls to relatives in Australia (where it’s already morning on The Big Day), unexpected guests and furtive hopes of sitting down to watch Elf.

On top of all that, it's a challenge to conceive a suitable meal. It has to be celebratory, of course, but not too heavy (excess food incoming), doesn’t involve meat/poultry (we’re eating that the next day), simple to throw together and foolproof enough to be cooked by someone who’s downed several glasses of fizz. 🙋🏻‍♀️