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Christmas is over for another year. The presents have been opened, traditional breakfasts have been eaten (in our house, it's fried eggs, turkey bacon and sliced of toasted Panettone) and dinner feasts have been consumed. Once I again this year, I found myself confronted by one of the injustices of holiday eating, which is that a meal that takes all day to prepare gets demolished in less than half an hour. It never seems quite right to me.
Each year for Christmas, my family remakes the traditional Thanksgiving meal (we just like it so much) - turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gingery squash, brussels sprouts and cranberry sauce. We finished the meal with pumpkin custard (pie without the crust) and an apple crisp. It was lovely, although hours and hours later I still feel the need to waddle instead of walk.
I want to hear about the holiday feasts the rest of you partook in. Did you have turkey, ham or roast beef? A cookie platter or an assortment of pies? Tell us about your successes and failures and feel free to point us all in the direction of a truly excellent recipe.
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12-26-2008 @12:24PM Cool Cook Curtis said... This year I had friends over for Xmas, and wanted to change it up a bit. I bought this really hilarious cookbook a few weeks ago and wanted to break it in. We wanted to have a fun time.. good friends, good cheer, good fun, and good booze..lol. the cookbook is called "Get in the Kitchen, BIT@HES!" (bitchcooks.com) and I asigned everyone a different meal. My friends Beth and Larry brought the "Hurt Me Hen!"... Mona and Oscar brought "Poke Me Pork!" and my wife and I made the "Bend Me Over Beef". All turned out great and was a real fun time! Definitley a Christmas to remember!
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12-26-2008 @12:39PM Barry said... Scallops with butter, garlic and parsley served on shell
Twice baked potatoes with Gruyere
Caesar Salad
Boatloads of wine
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12-26-2008 @12:47PM OneIrishRover said... We special purchased a small leg of lamb from a sheep farm down the road and I marinated it in a mixture of oliver oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and rosemary that I gave a quick whish in my Magic Bullet. This was after I poked holes all over it and pushed in about two cloves of slivered garlic. I served it with small creamery potatoes, some sliced leeks cooked in butter, yeast rolls and mint jelly on the side. For dessert - key lime cheesecake.
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12-26-2008 @12:49PM Jen Yu said... Seafood all the way: bouillabaisse - my dad's recipe. We keep it simple, but special :)
http://jenyu.net/blog/2008/12/25/nothing-like-a-bowl-of-soup/
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12-26-2008 @1:31PM Laura said... We had a simple meal - honey glazed ham, roasted red potatoes and a warm spinach salad (w/ endive and a bacon vinaigrette). The new tradition was figgy pudding for dessert! http://www.toomanychefs.com/archives/001269.php
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12-26-2008 @3:00PM Amirose said... full on Indian fare...shrimp curry, fish curry, shredded cabbage thoren with peas, beef cochin (not quite a curry, but like roasted cubes of beef in a dark spice rub with chips of coconuts, pork and yucca in a thick spicy gravy, chili chicken (chicken fried and then sauteed with onions and peppers in a sauce), cutlet (think a consolidated shepherds pie but spicier)...that was just dinner...dessert was more american fare...cookies, fruit salad,
for breakfast we have traditional indian rice flour pancakes with a lamb stew (made with coconut milk) the little ones who don't like the lamb usually take theres with sweetened coconut milk..
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12-26-2008 @3:41PM Samme said... "Demolished in 30 minutes" would never happen in our family. We always head to my mother-in-law's house for xmas. This year, starting with proteins she served: prime rib, turkey, and seafood cioppino with scallops, white fish and shrimp. Then there were potato latkes (2 kinds), stuffing, some kind of cranberry pudding thing that was very tasty, green beans, rolls (2 kinds), assorted condiments, and then cookies, 2 kinds of fudge, and pie for dessert.
There is always way too much food there and it is really good.
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12-26-2008 @4:17PM Numb said... Christmas dinner with the GF's family:
Crab (imitation) and mushroom stuffing.... Not actually stuffed or served with anything else, but meant as the entree...
An odd (and frankly not good) dish for certain, but I suppose at least that the whimsical attempt at doing something different is worthwhile.
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12-26-2008 @4:44PM Kari Rippetoe said... We kept it pretty traditional, with slight twists:
Maple Glazed Ham
Rosemary Au Gratin Potatoes - these were absolutely delicious and went well with the ham. Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rosemary-Au-Gratin-Potatoes/Detail.aspx
Homemade cranberry sauce
Brussels sprouts w/ chestnuts and bacon - my first taste of chestnuts. Not bad.
Something I call pink stuff - cottage cheese, cool whip, mandarin oranges, and cherry jello powder mixed together.
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12-26-2008 @10:53PM Tom said... we usually do a traditional meal with ham and the like, but this year decided to something a little different:
roasted pork loin in red wine
sourdough rye stuffing
scalloped potatoes
cauliflower puree
roasted brussels sprouts
herb & cheese biscuits
succotash
christmas trifle (macaroons, raspberries, pastry cream, whip cream)
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12-27-2008 @1:01AM AL said... Appetizers:
Christmas Shrimp Nachos
Artichoke-Olive-Garlic Salad Tapenade
Bacon Wrapped Prunes
Christmas Dinner:
Fennel and Celery Salad
Cauliflower and Artichoke Gratin
Baked Mayan Sweet Onions
Dried Cherry and Sausage Stuffed Turkey Rolls
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12-27-2008 @2:04AM Mike said... I was a little busy. Didn't have people over at the house, but visited friends and brought food.
The original plan was ham. I had an FFA kid raise a Berkshire pig for me last year, so I had a fresh ham in the freezer. I put it in the brine just before Thanksgiving, put it in the smoker at Midnight Christmas morning to eat at 2PM.
Turned out one of the guests doesn't eat pork. So I tried an experiment with a turkey dish. I hollowed out a couple small loaves of french bread, lined the inside with sauted onions,smoked onions and garlic, sage and other spices, then laid in long pieces of turkey breast and thigh. The whole thing was tied up with butcher twine, baked for about 90 mins. The effect was all the moisture lost by the turkey as it cooked being absorbed by the bread which also got crisped by baking. Kinda like turkey on the inside of the stuffing.
To go with the meats were a glaze for the ham made of sugar, honey, chicken stock and home-smoked chipotle. The turkey had a gravy from stock made from the Thanksgiving turkey.
Somewhere along the line we decided on crab puffs for an appetizer. So in-between packing the rest of the food to go I made the pate choux puffs while the friends hosting the dinner made the crab filling to fill them when I got there.
Everyone got a bit of ham in their doggie bags, some got the 2nd turkey we didn't eat. I brought home probably 12 lbs of ham to vacuum pack and put away in the freezer for later.
My best Christmas present: Father and son arguing over who carried the ham home since each didn't trust the other not to eat it.
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12-27-2008 @2:36AM Irina said... Christmas Day: jugged hare from Jane Grigson's recipe, though done on the stovetop because our earthenware casserole wasn't big enough for the six-pound hare. Brussels sprouts, home-baked bread, stewed pears. As an experiment my other half made a Christmas pudding out of Mrs Beeton, which turned out excellent -- a shapeless blob but a delicious one. Then an assortment of cheeses.
Boxing Day: venison steaks, done very rare and very plain, with just a hint of salt and pepper; Francatelli sauce, turnips with creme fraiche and new potatoes. More of the shapeless blob, and chocolates, but no room for cheese left.
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12-27-2008 @8:07AM Kelly said... R.I. Style calamari
Spicy sausage-cheese on pumpernickel cocktail bread (a very 70's item that my mom always made for the holidays)
3 cheeses: blue shropshire, purple haze chevre, a good English cheddar
Salad: lemon marinated raw purple and green beans, Christmas Lima beans, red and gold beets, long stemmed artichokes, pinenuts, ricotta salata, meyer lemon-chervil vinaigrette
Chili-mocha crusted Hereford beef tenderloin
Maine lobster in a preserved lemon-tarragon beurre blanc with roasted tomatoes
A rainbow of roasted veg(baby eggplant, baby carrots, corn, tomatillos, asparagus, yellow bell peppers, fennel)
Butternut squash-Yukon gold potato gratin with gruyere
Good bread, good butter, good olive oil
Sticky toffee pudding- go to www.davidlebovitz.com right now, the most delicious thing I've eaten in months!
Nutmeg butter finger cookies
Fudge
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12-27-2008 @9:46AM tzurriz said... Very traditional for us:
Hot & Sour Soup
Egg rolls
Mongolian Beef
Shrimp in lobster sauce
5 Happiness
Szechwan Chicken
Fortune cookies
Although we did make one change - Guitar hero instead of movie rentals. lol.
Happy Hanukah!!!
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12-27-2008 @10:20AM dicus said... For Christmas Eve Dinner my brother and I did a multiple course tasting menu for our family and extended family of 14.
amuse bouche: Havarti souffle with a touch of french lavender honey and a single rosemary leaf
First Course: seared sea scallop over mixed greens drizzled with a fine balsamic and sea salt
Second Course: roasted celery root and apple puree with thyme infused walnut oil and crushed pistachios
Third Course: Salad of red and golden beets with carrots and a pear chardonnay vinaigrette
Fourth Course: Seared pork belly over pumpkin risotto with a Saigon cinnamon sauce
Fifth Course: Sliced beef rib roast over Russian banana fingerling potatoes drizzled with a port demi-glace.
Sixth Course: Deconstructed tiramisu with espresso caviar and creme anglaise
Final bite: Choice of dark chocolate lavender truffle rolled in honey powder or white chocolate Chambord truffle rolled in raspberry powder.
We had never made any of this stuff before so I was kinda worried, but it all turned out great. The espresso caviar turned out amazing. I got to play around with some molecular gastronomy for the first time. The caviar looked amazing and tasted great. Everything was a lot of work, but it was worth it for all the happy faces.
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12-27-2008 @10:10PM Lyn said... We always have spiral sliced ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans, and toffee cake for dessert. (Chocolate cake in a 9 by 13 pan, then poke holes in it while warm with a wooden spoon handle. Mix half a can of eagle milk with half a jar of caramel ice cream topping and pour it over the warm cake. Frost with whipped cream and top with crushed almond roca. Yum.)
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12-27-2008 @10:13PM Kelsey said... My family had our traditional dinner on Christmas Eve and it consisted of cornish game hens in a port wine cherry sauce and brocolli seasoned with olive oil and greek seasoning. Dessert was gingerbread cookies and Dove chocolate peanut butter cookies, which were a hit!
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12-28-2008 @12:30AM Danielle said... I makde filet mignon with a pinot noir red wine reduction, a potato gratin with gruyere and creme fraiche, sauteed broccolini with garlic, an arugula salad with homemade candied walnuts, dried cranberries, gorgonzola crumbles with a sherry wine vinaigrette and La Bete Noire with a Champagne creme anglaise
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12-29-2008 @12:35AM mamajane.123 said... My name is marijane, my email is mamajane.123@sbcglobal.net.
I sent the comment about Mexican food, but found no link to confirm.
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