Our Holiday Dinners

Sam D. said:

A couple years ago several friends and I decided that we would like to do something different for
a Christmas eve dinner. It seemed that by Christmas most of us have already had our fill of turkey
and ham from Thanksgiving dinners and the succession of Christmas parties that begins in early
December. With everyone contributing something, we put together a meal of traditional Jewish
dishes. Half of us are Jewish so our dinner was, in a loose sense, a sort of joint observance of
Christmas and Hanukkah but more of an occasion just to share good home cooked food with good
friends. This year was the third Christmas eve we have continued to get together for the same kind
of dinner. This is real comfort food, especially on a cold, rainy night like we had here this
year. My contribution was the soup. Here is our menu:

Christmas Eve Dinner for 8

Matzo ball soup

Brisket of beef Beef & onion gravy Kasha varnishkes Potato latkes Sweet potato latkes Zucchini
latkes Apple chutney Challah California red wines

Coffee & Desserts: Rugelach, meringue cookies, chocolate mousse
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The next day, I went to my youngest daughter’s home for Christmas day dinner.

Christmas Day Dinner for 9

Salad of baby greens, glazed walnuts and Gorgozola Balsamic vinaigrette dressing Boneless loin
pork chops Stuffed baked potatoes Crookneck squash casserole Sourdough rolls California red wines
Dessert: Dutch apple pie and vanilla ice cream

The pork chops were browned first, then brushed with a balsamic glaze and Kitchen Bouquet, then
simmered. They were outstanding. This was one of the few times when I didn’t have a major part in
the preparation of our Christmas day dinner. It was so-oo nice being able to simply relax and
enjoy a fine meal on this occasion.

Best wishes to all for happiness, health and good cheer in the coming New Year.

Two great meals! I hope that you will post some more of the recipes, the stuffed baked potatoes, for
example. Thank you for sharing. Margaret

Sam, sounds like a great spread!!!

My holiday dinner was a quickie - mostly b/c I didn't manage to make it to the grocery before
closing time on Christmas Eve, we had literally no fresh veggies or meat, just frozen
corn/peas/beans and two frozen chicken breasts.

I defrosted a chicken breast (the other one was too freezer-burnt to be useable), chopped it up,
browned it w/a little olive oil, dumped in 3 c of boiling water and 2 c of frozen veggies, brought
it back to a boil, and added a cube of instant Japanese curry mix. Serve over rice that didn't soak
before cooking (argh, had a hard core in each grain), and that was dinner.

I'll do better tonight, I promise...

-j.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Sam D. said:

A couple years ago several friends and I decided that we would like to do something different for
a Christmas eve dinner. It seemed that by Christmas most of us have already had our fill of turkey
and ham from Thanksgiving dinners and the succession of Christmas parties that begins in early
December. With everyone contributing something, we put together a meal of traditional Jewish
dishes. Half of us are Jewish so our dinner was, in a loose sense, a sort of joint observance of
Christmas and Hanukkah but more of an occasion just to share good home cooked food with good
friends. This year was the third Christmas eve we have continued to get together for the same kind
of dinner. This is real comfort food, especially on a cold, rainy night like we had here this
year. My contribution was the soup. Here is our menu:

Tasty menus snipped

That looked like last weekend, when I hosted the Latkepalooza dinner, then our neighbors had a
Christmas buffet (featuring latkes, pizza, and sushi).

We had Christmas dinner with SO's boss and family, another family, and a single man from SO's
department. It was a predominantly vegetarian affair, since one reveler was borderline vegan. Then
we brought the brioche [censored] with vanilla secret sauce and stewed fruit from "Baking with Julia".
(As I said, this recipe is too long to post. My wrist is still aching from all the whisking I had
to do for the sauce--KEEP YOUR THOUGHTS TO YOURSELF, SHELDON!). The fruit and sauce were
practically inhaled. We still have a little [censored] and sauce for tonight's duck in review (from
Christmas eve) dinner.

Cindy

--
C.J. Fuller

Delete the obvious to email me

June Oshiro said:

Sam, sounds like a great spread!!!

My holiday dinner was a quickie - mostly b/c I didn't manage to make it to the grocery before
closing time on Christmas Eve, we had literally no fresh veggies or meat, just frozen
corn/peas/beans and two frozen chicken breasts.

I defrosted a chicken breast (the other one was too freezer-burnt to be useable), chopped it up,
browned it w/a little olive oil, dumped in 3 c of boiling water and 2 c of frozen veggies, brought
it back to a boil, and added a cube of instant Japanese curry mix. Serve over rice that didn't
soak before cooking (argh, had a hard core in each grain), and that was dinner.

I'll do better tonight, I promise...

-j.

Mine was pretty lame, but honestly delicious!

Initially I planned on frying chicken, but having been badly burned doing that 20 years ago I
"chickened out" 🙂 So instead I boiled the small fryer with onion, carrot, celery and bay leaf to
make a decent broth. Deboned the chicken and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Strained the broth. I
made a chicken "pot pie" with the twist of cornbread stuffing as the topping.

By the time I finished with the broth and sauteed onion, celery and garlic for the stuffing topping
(broth blended in until nicely moist, along with some rubbed sage and parsley), I was practically
out of veggies. Luckily I had a couple of cans of 'Veg-All'. (If my freezer were larger I'd keep
mixed frozen veggies on hand for such emergencies, as you mentioned.) I drained and rinsed those and
placed them in a large casserole dish with the chicken. I chopped and sauteed the remaining onion, a
stalk of celery, a carrot and a potato in butter and added this to the chicken mixture.

Made a medium white sauce, using some of the chicken broth along with the butter, flour and milk.
Poured this mixture over the chicken mixture in the casserole.

I topped it with the cornbread stuffing. Baked it at 350F for 25 minutes, covered. Removed the cover
and baked another 10 minutes to lightly brown the top.

Considering it was a last-minute cooking decision, it was very tasty. And I have leftovers to eat
later today!

Jill

June Oshiro said:

Sam, sounds like a great spread!!!

My holiday dinner was a quickie - mostly b/c I didn't manage to make it to the grocery before
closing time on Christmas Eve, we had literally no fresh veggies or meat, just frozen
corn/peas/beans and two frozen chicken breasts.

I can honestly say my Christmas Eve was the best in years!

"The Evil One" is gone, so she couldn't do anything to put a damper on the occasion (although she
tried anyway). My children are now adults, so we had an intimate family dinner
- which included a "kid" (who is now a Marine pilot) my son has known since 1st grade.

Dinner was traditional: "Prime" rib (roast at 450 F for 15 minutes, turn down the oven to 350 and
roast 20 min per lb. Let rest for 20 minutes before carving), Yorkshire pudding and (kids request)
green beans & mushroom soup casserole - I made it with sliced almonds on top and the beans were
frozen haricot verts from Trader Joe's (99¢ for 24oz).

Dessert was chocolate souffle with a vanilla custard sauce.

Friends of both generations came over after dinner to socialize and did we ever! Red wine, Patron
tequila and Coronas flowed - it was a late evening.

Practice safe eating - always use condiments

jmcquown said:

June Oshiro said:

Sam, sounds like a great spread!!!

My holiday dinner was a quickie - mostly b/c I didn't manage to make it to the grocery before
closing time on Christmas Eve, we had literally no fresh veggies or meat, just frozen
corn/peas/beans and two frozen chicken breasts.

I defrosted a chicken breast (the other one was too freezer-burnt to be useable), chopped it up,
browned it w/a little olive oil, dumped in 3 c of boiling water and 2 c of frozen veggies,
brought it back to a boil, and added a cube of instant Japanese curry mix. Serve over rice that
didn't soak before cooking (argh, had a hard core in each grain), and that was dinner.

I'll do better tonight, I promise...

The way I see it, a nice dinner on holidays is great, but if it doesn't work out, there's tomorrow.

My dinner was excellent, at least to my taste. Standing rib roast with Paula Dean's house seasoning
(salt pepper and granulated garlic) rub, don't be shy, put on plenty ... and her brandied mushrooms.
Well, there were other things on my plate but I didn't notice them. Wow, was that good, and yes, my
slab of roast had the obligatory rib.

Quoted message said:

Initially I planned on frying chicken, but having been badly burned doing that 20 years ago I
"chickened out" 🙂

You probably can get decent fried chicken to go where you live, no? Because I would have to get back
on that horse if I ever wanted fried chicken again.

Quoted message said:

So instead I boiled the small fryer with onion, carrot, celery and bay leaf to make a decent
broth. Deboned the chicken and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Strained the broth. I made a chicken
"pot pie" with the twist of cornbread stuffing as the topping.

Yummy. I'm going to make turkey pot pies, I now have leftover turkey and leftover rib roast (and all
the sides) and have to do something with some of it.

nancy

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

June Oshiro said:

Sam, sounds like a great spread!!!

My holiday dinner was a quickie - mostly b/c I didn't manage to make it to the grocery before
closing time on Christmas Eve, we had literally no fresh veggies or meat, just frozen
corn/peas/beans and two frozen chicken breasts.

I defrosted a chicken breast (the other one was too freezer-burnt to be useable), chopped it up,
browned it w/a little olive oil, dumped in 3 c of boiling water and 2 c of frozen veggies,
brought it back to a boil, and added a cube of instant Japanese curry mix. Serve over rice that
didn't soak before cooking (argh, had a hard core in each grain), and that was dinner.

I'll do better tonight, I promise...

-j.

Mine was pretty lame, but honestly delicious!

<<<<<<<<Snipped>>>>>

Quoted message said:

lightly brown the top.

Considering it was a last-minute cooking decision, it was very tasty. And I have leftovers to eat
later today!

Jill

Sounds Delish.... Mine was a Crock Pot Meal A Picnic Cottage Roll (Pork Shoulder) And a old favorite
wild rice and Long grain rice Casserole with pecans ...

Both of these require more time than effort...which is good , because I have a cold and don't feel
much like trying hard at cooking.

--
And the beet goes on! (or under) -me just a while ago

Sounds yummy. What texture should the asparagus be? Crisp or soggy?

"RMiller" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Mine was pretty lame, but honestly delicious!

Initially I planned on frying chicken, but having been badly burned doing that 20 years ago I
"chickened out" 🙂 So instead I boiled the small

fryer

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

with onion, carrot, celery and bay leaf to make a decent broth. Deboned

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

chicken and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Strained the broth. I made a chicken "pot pie" with
the twist of cornbread stuffing as the topping.

By the time I finished with the broth and sauteed onion, celery and

garlic

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

for the stuffing topping (broth blended in until nicely moist, along with some rubbed sage and
parsley), I was practically out of veggies. Luckily

I

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

had a couple of cans of 'Veg-All'. (If my freezer were larger I'd keep mixed frozen veggies on
hand for such emergencies, as you mentioned.) I drained and rinsed those and placed them in a
large casserole dish with

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

chicken. I chopped and sauteed the remaining onion, a stalk of celery, a carrot and a potato in
butter and added this to the chicken mixture.

Made a medium white sauce, using some of the chicken broth along with the butter, flour and milk.
Poured this mixture over the chicken mixture in

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

casserole.

I topped it with the cornbread stuffing. Baked it at 350F for 25

minutes,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

covered. Removed the cover and baked another 10 minutes to lightly brown the top.

Considering it was a last-minute cooking decision, it was very tasty.

And I

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

have leftovers to eat later today!

Jill

My dinner was great, I had fresh asparagus soup, Caesar salad, Roast

Beast (

Quoted message said:

standing Rib ) twice baked potatoes , and for dessert , that Yummy Gooey

butter

Quoted message said:

Pumpkin dessert. All turned out beautifully.

Asparagus soup

Take a bunch of fresh asparaus, break the tough ends off and throw away,

steam

Quoted message said:

the asparagus in a little water and put aside. Make a roux, I used about

half

Quoted message said:

a stick of butter and several Tablespoons of flour, tossthe the

asparagus

Quoted message said:

and its water into the blender, blend till smooth. Then add to the roux, stirring all the time
along with about three cans of chicken broth, and

some

Quoted message said:

cream, I guess I used about half a pint, season with salt, and fresh

ground

Quoted message said:

pepper, and then some fresh lemon juice, Delicious. Rosie

Sam D. started the discussion:

Quoted message said:

A couple years ago several friends and I decided that we would like to do something different for
a Christmas eve dinner.

My Christmas Eve dinner was:

Tossed Salad with Persimmons, Toasted Almonds, Feta Cheese, and a dressing made of red currant
jelly, cider vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, and Dijon mustard (I got this recipe off rfc.)

Scallop Cheesecake with a Pecan Crust (as made with crabmeat at the Palace in NOLA), with a wine-
butter sauce

Hawaiian Bread (which I didn't make, I bought -- what a slacker I am!)

Scampi Rockefeller (like Oysters Rockefeller, but with shrimp: The shrimp are peeled and put into a
single layer in a baking pan, then they're covered with a topping of spinach, basil, Romano cheese,
Tabasco, garlic, scallions, and Pernod. The pan is put into a very hot oven for just a few minutes,
to cook the shrimp.) -- I got this one off rfc, too

Saffron Rice (After I peeled the shrimp, I boiled the shells to make a kind of simple shrimp stock.
I added saffron to the stock while it was still hot, and used that stock to cook the rice.)

Steamed Snow Peas with a lemon-soy-butter sauce

Poached Sea Bass, cooked in a broth flavored with lemons, soy, and onions

French Silk Pie: Basically, this is an ultra-smooth chocolate pie. The pie crust is unusual; it's
made by blending brown sugar, flour, butter, and walnuts. The recipe is from _The New West Coast
Cuisine_. It's got raw eggs, so I deviated a small bit by using pasteurized eggs.

Shortbread Cookies with Lemon Curd: Originally, I'd planned to make a lemon [censored], but when it came
time to do it, I discovered that I didn't have the right pan. So I made the lemon curd anyway, and
made "Black Butter Shortbread" cookies from _The New West Coast Cuisine_.

Christmas dinner was:

Sour Cream Green Bean Soup: This is Barb's well-known recipe

Spiced Ham: From Alton Brown's "City Ham" recipe

Apple and Pecan Spoonbread: I got this recipe off an episode of "Emeril
Live."

Spiced Persimmon Chutney: I don't remember where I got this recipe; I think it was posted on rfc
some years ago.

White Winter Vegetables Baked in Cream: Parsnips, turnips, fennel, celery root, leeks, and garlic
are covered with cream, rosemary, and buttered bread crumbs, then baked utnil the vegetables are
tender and the crumbs are crisp

Slow-cooked Collard Greens with Mustard Seeds, Garlic and Chiles: This is an adaptation of a
Kashmiri dish called "Haak", which can be found in the _World of the East Vegetarian Cookbook_.

Dinner Rolls: I just followed the recipe in the cookbook I got with my Kitchenaid mixer.

Hazelnut Pie with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream & Chocolate Sauce

Bob

RMiller said:

Quoted message said:

Mine was pretty lame, but honestly delicious!

Asparagus soup

Rosie

Ah, Rosie... you know the way to my heart! Soup! And asparagus, no less! Sounds great, I will try
your version soon 🙂

Jill

Quoted message said:

From: "Bob" [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

My Christmas Eve dinner was:

Tossed Salad with Persimmons, Toasted Almonds, Feta Cheese, and a dressing made of red currant
jelly, cider vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, and Dijon mustard (I got this recipe off rfc.)

Scallop Cheesecake with a Pecan Crust (as made with crabmeat at the Palace in NOLA), with a wine-
butter sauce

Hawaiian Bread (which I didn't make, I bought -- what a slacker I am!)

Scampi Rockefeller (like Oysters Rockefeller, but with shrimp: The shrimp are peeled and put into a
single layer in a baking pan, then they're covered with a topping of spinach, basil, Romano cheese,
Tabasco, garlic, scallions, and Pernod. The pan is put into a very hot oven for just a few minutes,
to cook the shrimp.) -- I got this one off rfc, too

Saffron Rice (After I peeled the shrimp, I boiled the shells to make a kind of simple shrimp stock.
I added saffron to the stock while it was still hot, and used that stock to cook the rice.)

Steamed Snow Peas with a lemon-soy-butter sauce

Poached Sea Bass, cooked in a broth flavored with lemons, soy, and onions

French Silk Pie: Basically, this is an ultra-smooth chocolate pie. The pie crust is unusual; it's
made by blending brown sugar, flour, butter, and walnuts. The recipe is from _The New West Coast
Cuisine_. It's got raw eggs, so I deviated a small bit by using pasteurized eggs.

Shortbread Cookies with Lemon Curd: Originally, I'd planned to make a lemon [censored], but when it came
time to do it, I discovered that I didn't have the right pan. So I made the lemon curd anyway, and
made "Black Butter Shortbread" cookies from _The New West Coast Cuisine_.

Christmas dinner was:

Sour Cream Green Bean Soup: This is Barb's well-known recipe

Spiced Ham: From Alton Brown's "City Ham" recipe

Apple and Pecan Spoonbread: I got this recipe off an episode of "Emeril
Live."

Spiced Persimmon Chutney: I don't remember where I got this recipe; I think it was posted on rfc
some years ago.

White Winter Vegetables Baked in Cream: Parsnips, turnips, fennel, celery root, leeks, and garlic
are covered with cream, rosemary, and buttered bread crumbs, then baked utnil the vegetables are
tender and the crumbs are crisp

Slow-cooked Collard Greens with Mustard Seeds, Garlic and Chiles: This is an adaptation of a
Kashmiri dish called "Haak", which can be found in the _World of the East Vegetarian Cookbook_.

Dinner Rolls: I just followed the recipe in the cookbook I got with my Kitchenaid mixer.

Hazelnut Pie with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream & Chocolate Sauce

Bob

Sounds fabulous!

Ellen

Nancy Young said:

My dinner was excellent, at least to my taste. Standing rib roast with Paula Dean's house
seasoning (salt pepper and granulated garlic) rub, don't be shy, put on plenty ... and her
brandied mushrooms.

Ohmygosh I can't *stand* to listen to that lady!! Her inane chatter with that horrible voice (no,
not accent, I live with that accent. It's her voice added to the stupid giggling she does) drives me
bonkers!!! It's almost painful. I can't help but worry that anyone outside of the South will judge
all southerners by her.
:/
Goomba

Goomba38 said:

Nancy Young said:

My dinner was excellent, at least to my taste. Standing rib roast with Paula Dean's house
seasoning (salt pepper and granulated garlic) rub, don't be shy, put on plenty ... and her
brandied mushrooms.

Ohmygosh I can't *stand* to listen to that lady!! Her inane chatter with that horrible voice (no,
not accent, I live with that accent. It's her voice added to the stupid giggling she does) drives
me bonkers!!! It's almost painful. I can't help but worry that anyone outside of the South will
judge all southerners by her. :/

(laugh!!!) I understand, but for whatever reason she amuses me. I know it's her tv persona, but
something about her seems genuine to me. Most of her food is really too sweet for my taste (doesn't
that sound self righteous? Really, not me), but she's okay in my book.

nancy

Snipped Tasty Sounding menu to save bandwidth.>

Quoted message said:

Best wishes to all for happiness, health and good cheer in the coming New

Quoted message said:

Year.

I second this motion. =o)

I've been lurking here and posting a little in recent weeks, and I can't resist popping up, here.
I'm a happy amateur cook, although I do not pretend to be a gourmet. I learned to cook from my
mother, who learned to cook through throwing all her over-achiever energy into cooking gourmet meals
for 1950's faculty dinners. I'm considerably more relaxed about cooking than she is, although she's
my encyclopedia of advice.

Christmas Eve, it was just my Mom and me, and we had cracked crab, a green salad and french bread.
She shared a bit of her homemade candied orange peel with me for dessert. Making candied citrus peel
requires a certain commitment from the cook, as it takes three days, and is quite an involved
process. But the result leaves the storebought stuff in the dust. Her candied orange peel melts on
your tongue and has an intriguing bitter-sweetness that is very tasty.

Anyway, after spending a wonderful two weeks in Italy in September, I was on a private campaign to
Italianize Christmas, and my plot worked brilliantly.=o) When I talked to my mother about the menu
on Monday, I casually suggested Tiramisu for dessert, and volunteered to make it which she was very
happy to let me do. For Christmas breakfast, I also supplied a store-bought Panettone to go with our
scrambled eggs and bacon. This came from a very chic Italian grocery store where I bought the
Tiramisu ingredients. (I threw caution to the winds and had a wonderful time buying expensive little
goodies there on Tuesday afternoon, although I went to Beverages and More to get the Marsala.)

Christmas Dinner was: Cornish Game hens roasted by me. They were not authentic Italian, or really
authentic anything, but they were extremely good, being moist and tender, and nicely flavored with
their own juices. I did use Italianate ingredients such as olive oil, fresh rosemary, a bit of
balsamic vinegar and marsala. I cooked them at 325 for about an hour and a half, with several whole,
peeled pearl onions tucked around them in the roasting pan. I basted them with their own juices
several times during the roasting.

My mother parboiled then oven roasted some new potatoes, and steamed some asparagus. For the
vegetarians of our family (Lacto-ovo-fisho, not vegans), my dad provided a truly weird casserole of
grains and vegetables, and my sister-in-law did a stir-fry of tofu and broccoli. In addition, she is
allergic to garlic and onions.

Dessert was Tiramisu from my Tuscan cookbook, which, even if I say so myself, was fabulous. I
thought we'd have at least two more people at Christmas dinner than we actually had, so I doubled
the recipe. But of those present, only four of the seven of us ate the tiramisu. I guess the triple
whammy of coffee, chocolate and alcohol all in one dessert was too much for my brother, sister-in-
law and nephew. I don't THINK I made Tiramisu out of submerged hostility, but Doctor Freud might
have other ideas about that. Between the three of them, they have enough hangups about food to fill
a textbok. The whole family has catered to their food whims for years, so I suppose there might have
been a bit of pent-up frustration at work, there. I do love them, but I don't particularly enjoy
feeding them. Anyway, there ended up being LOTS of leftover Tiramisu which was really rather nice,
as it was even better the second day...

Melissa

"Margaret Suran" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Sam D. said:

A couple years ago several friends and I decided that we would like to

do

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

something different for a Christmas eve dinner.

Here is our menu:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

<snipped for brevity>

Quoted message said:

Two great meals! I hope that you will post some more of the recipes, the stuffed baked potatoes,
for example. Thank you for sharing. Margaret

OK. I'll try to post the recipes for the stuffed baked potatoes and squash casserole soon in a new
thread. For the potatoes, I'll need to make at least a rough determination of the measurements
because I never wrote them down. I first learned to make these when I was in college in the early
60's and worked at Friar's Restaurants (there were 4) in Santa Monica. My daughter who prepared
them this time learned from me and I'm sure she never wrote it down either. The squash casserole
recipe was passed down from my grandmother who was a food writer and I do have that one written
down.. Stay tuned.

"Bob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My Christmas Eve dinner was:

Quoted message said:

< description of two delightful dinners snipped for brevity >

Quoted message said:

Bob

These were no doubt two fabulous meals. WoW!! And thanks for sharing enough details so that some of
the recipes can probably be obtained from a google search.or other sources that you mention.

"Melissa Houle" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Snipped Tasty Sounding menu to save bandwidth.>

Quoted message said:

Best wishes to all for happiness, health and good cheer in the coming New

Quoted message said:

Year.

I second this motion. =o)

I've been lurking here and posting a little in recent weeks, and I can't resist popping up, here.
I'm a happy amateur cook, although I do not pretend to be a gourmet. I learned to cook from my
mother, who learned to cook through throwing all her over-achiever energy into cooking gourmet
meals for 1950's faculty dinners. I'm considerably more relaxed about cooking than she is,
although she's my encyclopedia of advice.

Christmas Eve, it was just my Mom and me, and we had cracked crab, a green salad and french bread.
She shared a bit of her homemade candied orange peel with me for dessert. Making candied citrus
peel requires a certain commitment from the cook, as it takes three days, and is quite an involved
process. But the result leaves the storebought stuff in the dust. Her candied orange peel melts on
your tongue and has an intriguing bitter-sweetness that is very tasty.

Anyway, after spending a wonderful two weeks in Italy in September, I was on a private campaign to
Italianize Christmas, and my plot worked brilliantly.=o) When I talked to my mother about the menu
on Monday, I casually suggested Tiramisu for dessert, and volunteered to make it which she was
very happy to let me do. For Christmas breakfast, I also supplied a store-bought Panettone to go
with our scrambled eggs and bacon. This came from a very chic Italian grocery store where I bought
the Tiramisu ingredients. (I threw caution to the winds and had a wonderful time buying expensive
little goodies there on Tuesday afternoon, although I went to Beverages and More to get the
Marsala.)

Christmas Dinner was: Cornish Game hens roasted by me. They were not authentic Italian, or really
authentic anything, but they were extremely good, being moist and tender, and nicely flavored with
their own juices. I did use Italianate ingredients such as olive oil, fresh rosemary, a bit of
balsamic vinegar and marsala. I cooked them at 325 for about an hour and a half, with several
whole, peeled pearl onions tucked around them in the roasting pan. I basted them with their own
juices several times during the roasting.

My mother parboiled then oven roasted some new potatoes, and steamed some asparagus. For the
vegetarians of our family (Lacto-ovo-fisho, not vegans), my dad provided a truly weird casserole
of grains and vegetables, and my sister-in-law did a stir-fry of tofu and broccoli. In addition,
she is allergic to garlic and onions.

Dessert was Tiramisu from my Tuscan cookbook, which, even if I say so myself, was fabulous. I
thought we'd have at least two more people at Christmas dinner than we actually had, so I doubled
the recipe. But of those present, only four of the seven of us ate the tiramisu. I guess the
triple whammy of coffee, chocolate and alcohol all in one dessert was too much for my brother, sister-in-
law and nephew. I don't THINK I made Tiramisu out of submerged hostility, but Doctor Freud might
have other ideas about that. Between the three of them, they have enough hangups about food to
fill a textbok. The whole family has catered to their food whims for years, so I suppose there
might have been a bit of pent-up frustration at work, there. I do love them, but I don't
particularly enjoy feeding them. Anyway, there ended up being LOTS of leftover Tiramisu which was
really rather nice, as it was even better the second day...

Your Chistmas dinner sounds very satisfying. I can understand your distress over dealing with
individual quirks over food. That can make holiday meal planning really difficult.

On 26 Dec 2003 16:45:08 -0600, "Bob" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Scampi Rockefeller (like Oysters Rockefeller, but with shrimp: The shrimp are peeled and put into
a single layer in a baking pan, then they're covered with a topping of spinach, basil, Romano
cheese, Tabasco, garlic, scallions, and Pernod. The pan is put into a very hot oven for just a
few minutes, to cook the shrimp.) -- I got this one off rfc, too

Hmmm. Sounds good enought to make for dinner tonight! I'd substitute sherry for the pernod though...
don't like that stuff.

Practice safe eating - always use condiments

"Sam D." <[email hidden]> wrote in message SNIP>

Quoted message said:

Your Chistmas dinner sounds very satisfying. I can understand your distress over dealing with
individual quirks over food. That can make holiday meal planning really difficult.

Oh yeah, it was. <G> Everyone was in a good mood this year, which helped a lot. As my mother
observed "Christmas is much mellower now that the children are in their forties." I count it as one
of the better Christmases we've had in the past decade, and I don't just mean because the dinner
turned out well. I was not exactly distressed over the dessert, as I'm used to my family's quirks.
If they can't or won't enjoy something a little richer than normal that contains ingredients not
found in their day to day diet, it's their loss. Granted, Tiramisu isn't something that should be
eaten every day, anyway. It was made in the spirit of "Christmas comes but once a year." In January,
it'll be back to lean and mean and climbing stairs.

Happy New Year, All.

Melissa