Time is running out, there is little left and guests are about to arrive. Is it a scene you've already been familiar with just on Christmas Eve? No fear! Here are four quick and easy-to-prepare proposals for Christmas starters in half an hour It takes 30 minutes to present yourself at the table with an intriguing and suitable proposal to stimulate the appetite for the most important dinner of the year.

Christmas appetizers: bruschetta with thyme with lemon and scampi

Half an hour and no idea about Christmas starters? The prawn bruschetta will make everyone happy. For four people they serve 150 g of homemade bread, 110 g spring onions, 8 shelled lobster tails, a ripe tomato, a bunch of thyme, acacia honey, lemon, extra virgin olive oil, salt to taste. Let's start right away heating bread slices for 5 minutes at 170 degrees on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. We hull the onions keeping the green part and then slicing them into slices: brown them in a little oil for about a minute, lower the heat, add a teaspoon of thyme leaves, grated lemon zest, a teaspoon of honey. Cooking must continue for a maximum of three minutes. After slicing it into four wedges, the tomato must be rubbed on the slices of bread removed from the oven which, afterwards, we will have to salt and perfume with a grated lemon peel and the advanced thyme. We heat a veiled pan of extra virgin olive oil to burn only on one side the shelled prawn tails. Spread the onions on the slices of bread, finish with the prawns and serve on the table.

Stuffed anchovies of salvia elegans and pine nuts

For four people 150 g of pine nuts, 24 anchovies, 20 leaves of salvia elegans, 2 eggs, white wine, breadcrumbs, extra virgin olive oil, flour and salt are enough. After cleaning the anchovies, rinse them with white wine. Chop the sage with pine nuts, salt and 4 tablespoons of oil to obtain a not too fine mixture: all this will make up our filling. Pair the anchovies stuffing them, pass them in the flour, in the beaten eggs and in the breadcrumbs, press the breading and then fry them in abundant oil for about a minute on each side. After draining them on absorbent kitchen paper, serve them hot.

Salad zucchini and fish balls

Speed ​​is the secret of this preparation which, for four people, requires 160 grams of fillets of sea bream, 150 g of courgette, 85 g of Greek yogurt, 800 g of mixed salad, butter, pancarrè, flour, lime, aromatic herbs, milk, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. After grilling the courgette cut into thin strips for 2 minutes per side, we wrap them around. We whisk the skinned sea bream fillets with 20 g of bread soaked with a tablespoon of milk and a pinch of salt: we obtain small balls to flour and cook in 10 g of butter for 3 minutes. Mix the yogurt with the zest and juice of half a lime, a tablespoon of oil and one of water, salt and pepper. We place the meatballs in the glasses alternating them with salad and zucchini, garnishing everything with the yogurt sauce and aromatic herbs and here is one of the most delicious Christmas appetizers of the buffet.

Cucumbers with Duse

Among the Christmas starters this certainly has the most theatrical name dedicated to Eleonora Duse. For four people, we need 500 g of cucumbers, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 salted anchovies, onion, mustard, fresh horseradish and white wine vinegar to taste. To begin, we must peel the cucumbers in alternate strips and cut them into logs about 4 centimeters each. With a knife, we dig them inside leaving a layer of pulp on the bottom which will serve as our basis. After having thrown them in boiling water slightly acidulated with vinegar (just a spoon), cook them for about 3 minutes after boiling. We clean the anchovies, wash them from the salt and then cut them in a very finely chopped with the knife along with a quarter of onion or a spring onion. We sieve the eggs, mix them with the beat and, together with a teaspoon of mustard, we get the filling. With this filling we make the cucumbers and then serve them garnished with grated horseradish and herb leaves.