In today's Bite: Cool, calm and collected Christmas menu planning

Geoff Scott's fruit mince pie, scallops and rolled turkey. Photos / Bite magazine

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I love that Christmas dinner at Geoff Scott's doesn't always go as smooth or calm as he sets out to achieve. This brilliant chef serves diners plates of perfection from the festive menu at Vinnies five days a week. You will find lightly caramelised Whangamata scallops with chorizo, broccoli, red onion pickle and almond praline; brined turkey breast rolled around a sour cherry stuffing served with cavalo nero, chestnut, speck and a mulled wine sauce and fruit mince pie semi-freddo with strawberries and meringues on the menu until December 30. But when it comes to Christmas Day he's like the rest of us, furiously juggling food, family and friends. So he's given home cook-friendly variations of these Vinnie's dishes for your own Christmas menu, along with our most-used piece of advice - plan ahead and be organised. Peter Gordon also has menu ideas that can be prepared in advance.

If you're a turkey lover, this collection of readers' favourite ways to serve the bird may provide new inspiration and Ray McVinnie has ham lovers covered in his know your ham feature and his how to glaze a ham video.

Aaron Brunet's iced raspberry chocolate log is dairy-free and this berry merry Christmas cake is set for stardom - fresh, zingy and summery for those not so keen on the heavy-on-the-dried-fruit-and-nuts variety.

Dinner tonight? Light the barbecue and pick some rosemary for these lamb skewers with peanut sauce.

And don't forget about that garden - a little hard yakka out there now will reward you in the new year.