Quick and easy Christmas menu

With drinks: Olives, tapenade and breadsticks; Blinis, taramasalata and lumpfish roe; Mini cherry tomato, mozzarella and basil skewers. To start: Foie gras, toasted gingerbread and fig chutney. For the main: Salmon en croûte with beurre blanc. For the cheese course: Cheese board. For dessert: Chocolate mousse with candied clementines.

For 6 guests, the big picture: half-cooked foie gras (300 g), salmon fillet (900 g), Brie de Meaux (140 g) and dark chocolate (210 g). The full grocery list, aisle by aisle, is right above.

In two trips. Three days before, the stuff that keeps (17 items: produce, meat and seafood, dairy and pantry). Then the day before, the fresh stuff (12 items, like salmon fillet, taramasalata and mini mozzarella balls). You'll dodge the last-minute crowds.

To sit down at 8:15 PM, the first step of the big day starts at 5:45 PM: put the salmon en croûte together, keep it in the fridge. The main (salmon en croûte with beurre blanc) goes in the oven at 7:25 PM. Every step of the game plan is timed backward from when you sit down to eat.

This menu is pork-free. It's not vegetarian: for a meat-free table, there's a full vegetarian menu. A kid counts as half a serving in the quantities.

Yep, from 2 to 12 guests: change the number at the top of the page, and the quantities, the grocery list, the budget and these answers all follow.