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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 26, 2009 15:27:20 GMT
We had a very satisfactory Christmas Dinner at home yetsterday. We had 9 guests,plus two of us. The orginal menu was thus; strikeouts indicate what was omitted in the final reality, and next to it, what was substituted: Christmas Dinner 2009, as of December 20, 2009 Chipotle Apricot Cream Cheese Spread with crackers and tostadas. Crudites in Sweet Red and Green Pepper Cups. A couple unexpectedly brought Chipotle chicken wings and cacahuates. Assorted Fruit Platter, yogurt dressing(?) (Chocolate covered strawberries.) Ensalada Rosaura with vinaigreta y aderezo de aguacate. (From Mexico-The Beautiful Cookbook) Pierna de Cerdo Adobada con su jugo. That was a Serious Roast.) (concepts from various sources, including Mexico-The Beautiful Cookbook) Cheese Grits Souffle (Fruited Curried Rice Pilaf) Sweet Potato Bake (With apples and dried cranberries.) Green Beans with sweet red pepper. Dinner rolls and butter Chilled Sparkling Cider Sodas (No one drank any soda.) BYOB wine and beer. No one drank beer. Wines were abundant. I can't tell you what they were as it doesn't matter to me. (Well, there were reds, a white and a blush.) Pecan Pie Pumpkin Pie Whipped cream. (I added chopped candied ginger to the whipped cream.) Coffee, Brandy Much conversation, in both Spanish and English. Details later on my blog. mexkitchen.blogspot.com/ |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2009 15:36:11 GMT
I will certainly go to read all of the details of this feast. People do not often think to add interesting items to whipped cream.
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Post by spindrift on Dec 26, 2009 15:52:24 GMT
Six of us had a very tasty Christmas dinner yesterday. We had the usual Christmas meal of turkey, stuffing, roasted vegetables, sprouts (I love sprouts), red cabbage and apple, home-made bread sauce (these last two items cooked by myself), gravy and sausages wrapped in bacon. It was regrettable that having cooked a ham I forgot to pack it to bring to my friend's house. Never mind we'll eat it before a cocktail party in a couple of days' time.
For once I cleared my plate but then had no room for Christmas pudding.
~We pulled Christmas crackers, read jokes and wore silly paper hats. Half of us then went out on the muddy roads for a brisk walk and the other half flopped onto sofas and unashamedly dozed.
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Post by lola on Dec 26, 2009 16:36:41 GMT
Nice, Don C. and spindrift.
The four of us had our traditional Cratchit family dinner on Christmas Eve, since I had to work last evening:
Roast Goose (these days a duck, since a goose now costs ~$50, but we call it a goose)
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Brussels sprouts sauteed in garlic to represent the cabbage family
Apples stewed with red hots, to make a red and cinnamony applesauce, served cold
Rolls hot from oven
(cranberry compote, mushrooms sauteed in butter, pumpkin and pecan pies are the inauthentic dishes not mentioned in Dickens)
Two years ago I made a lovely quick Christmas pudding by Delia recipe, complete with flaming brandy. I liked the taste, but rest of the family didn't.
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Post by imec on Dec 26, 2009 16:44:24 GMT
Individual Beef Wellingtons with a Port Gravy, Roasted Yukon Golds, Haricots Vert, Brussels sprouts. Cheese selection and cake to follow.
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 26, 2009 21:18:18 GMT
We had seared scallops with salady bits, lime juice, fish sauce, chillis and garlic; guinea fowl stuffed with foie gras, game chips, a few brussels sprouts, roast parsnips; mini buche de Noel from a patisserie. We had champagne first, a cold white wine, then a robust Cahors 2000 vintage.
The guinea fowl I hesitated to buy because it came ready-stuffed from the supermarket. It turned out to be excellent. Unlike other stuffed birds, this was whole foie gras with some added bits of fig, not bulked out with sausage meat. Even better there was a special offer for people with a supermarket fidellity card so it was one third cheaper.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 26, 2009 21:39:25 GMT
What are "game chips"? Chips (as in frites) made of game?
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 26, 2009 21:54:41 GMT
Chips in France and USA (and Canada?) are thin slices of potato fried until crisp. In UK they are called crisps.
But if you make them yourself then they are game chips - served with roast game birds.
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Post by spindrift on Dec 26, 2009 22:00:04 GMT
Lola - what are 'red hots'?
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Post by cristina on Dec 26, 2009 22:19:41 GMT
What are "game chips"? Chips (as in frites) made of game? I wondered the same. Actually, my first thought was "gaming chips," as in poker chips.  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2009 22:38:19 GMT
Lola - what are 'red hots'?  |
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 26, 2009 23:33:22 GMT
Red Hots: my Mom used to make an apple pie with those. Fortunately, she moved on from that recipe.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 26, 2009 23:36:17 GMT
We had a very satisfactory Christmas Dinner at home yetsterday. We had 9 guests,plus two of us. The orginal menu was thus; strikeouts indicate what was omitted in the final reality, and next to it, what was substituted: Christmas Dinner 2009, as of December 20, 2009 Chipotle Apricot Cream Cheese Spread with crackers and tostadas. Crudites in Sweet Red and Green Pepper Cups. A couple unexpectedly brought Chipotle chicken wings and cacahuates. Assorted Fruit Platter, yogurt dressing(?) (Chocolate covered strawberries.) Ensalada Rosaura with vinaigreta y aderezo de aguacate. (From Mexico-The Beautiful Cookbook) Pierna de Cerdo Adobada con su jugo. That was a Serious Roast.) (concepts from various sources, including Mexico-The Beautiful Cookbook) Cheese Grits Souffle (Fruited Curried Rice Pilaf) Sweet Potato Bake (With apples and dried cranberries.) Green Beans with sweet red pepper. Dinner rolls and butter Chilled Sparkling Cider Sodas (No one drank any soda.) BYOB wine and beer. No one drank beer. Wines were abundant. I can't tell you what they were as it doesn't matter to me. (Well, there were reds, a white and a blush.) Pecan Pie Pumpkin Pie Whipped cream. (I added chopped candied ginger to the whipped cream.) Coffee, Brandy Much conversation, in both Spanish and English. Details later on my blog. mexkitchen.blogspot.com/Edit: I forgot to mention gravy, made from a (ha-ha) powdered demi-glace by Knorr-Suiza.  It wasn't at all bad, but amost no one ate any. Now I have a liter of the stuff to use up or pitch out. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2009 23:40:07 GMT
Goodness,so many fine dishes being served up here.(mine is in last night's what's for dinner,sedate meal although, lovely) The menu Don C. brilliant,hope the Louisiana grits story had nothing to do with canceling the souffle. Love stewed apples Lola,and love the red hots idea. Am wondering how Imec made a sandwich of his Beef Wellington  Spindrift's home meal with traditional dishes,also up my alley And if hear one more mention of scallops in the next 24 hours am going out tomorrow to find. The guinea fowl stuffed with the foie gras,teeny bits of fig,that was the crowning touch for me. :A visit to the chocolate shop,done for. |
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 27, 2009 2:38:31 GMT
All of your dinners sound just absolutely wonderful!!!! I am in awe of the menus.
Since we ran away for the Christmas we had our dinner at a lovely restaurant called Veneto Trattoria. We had read several reviews from customers and they all said it was just wonderful and it is. !!! We started with Grey Goose martinis. We then decided
that we would just do a main course and of course dessert. So, Mr. T63 had Scaloppine de Vitello de Funghi Porcini in a white wine sauce, and I had Ossobuco de Mileanese on saffron risotto. We had Vin Santo with biscotti followed by the chocolate torte. The wine was Zenato Repasso and we had two espresso. It was all wonderful and we will be back!!!!!!
so, on Christmas Day, we snacked on crab cakes and bacon wrapped scallops on a bed of lettuce with a little champagne to savor.
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Post by lola on Dec 27, 2009 2:41:12 GMT
Thanks for the red hots photo, k. I couldn't have managed it. I like the way they tell you it's fat free, as if good for you.
Yes, casimira and spindrift. The red hots add a retro touch and make the apples beautiful and yummy (if potentially carcinogenic perhaps). A few years ago I was mulling over dishes my grandmother would serve along with the venison roast and platter piled high with quail, and the idea of red hots came to me. Mrs. D. Draper, season 1, might have fixed this. You throw a handful of red hots into the half inch of water at the bottom of the apple saucepan.
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 27, 2009 2:52:09 GMT
Mr. T63's mother always did a molded salad using red hots. I have the recipe at home and can't remember offhand, so I will take a look at it and give more details when I get home.  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2009 6:44:02 GMT
"Recipes with red hots" -- now there's an idea for a thread. Of course you would have to set up a delivery service for red hots to people who live in the deprived areas of the world. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2009 8:01:33 GMT
Reply # 14,T63,mentions scallops. So,per my word ,am going out this morning to find scallops . While the rest of the city of NOLA is watching their beloved football team,the football widow,will be scouting the city for scallops.No one else save crazed women such as myself will be out. T 63,you have pushed me over the edge and I thank you. |
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Post by lagatta on Dec 27, 2009 14:43:19 GMT
Scallops and Saints. Would make a worthy story title - should it be a graphic novel? There is a crazed woman out on her bicycle scouting for scallops and a backstory about a Local Hero football star, whose grandmother is a master Creole cook.
What sinners are afoot amidst the Saints and scallops?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2009 15:04:56 GMT
Scallops and Saints. Would make a worthy story title - should it be a graphic novel? There is a crazed woman out on her bicycle scouting for scallops and a backstory about a Local Hero football star, whose grandmother is a master Creole cook. What sinners are afoot amidst the Saints and scallops? Funny,funny and brilliant.!! Great image indeed. I feel a poem stirring around perhaps. But,Lagatta,you are the writer. Anyway,again brilliant theme. |
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 27, 2009 15:07:14 GMT
This is another form of red hot:  I find it more appealing. |
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 27, 2009 15:12:51 GMT
The Cheese Grits Souffle was abandoned for two reasons:
1. We already had a lot of food, and there was doubt about when it could go into the oven, after the pork roast came out.
2. The recipe called for 5 cups of milk, 1 cup of quick cooking (not instant) grits, 1/2 cup shredded Dry Jack or Provolone, some chopped scallions, and (get this!) SIX eggs!
I could sense an eggy-cheesey gritty disaster in the making, so in a passing moment of mental clarity, I X'd the dish from the menu.
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Post by tillystar on Dec 27, 2009 23:09:19 GMT
Starter was beetroot and goats cheese salad. Then a traditional dinner - roast turkey, roast potatoes, sprouts with lemony breadcrumbs, roast parsnips and carrots, baked red onions with a chestnut stuffing, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, chipolatas wrapped in bacon and of course my ham whichlike writeon I left at home, but we live close enough to pop back for it. Trifle and Christmas pud then much later on we went back for the cheese... A late Boxing Day breakfast is my favorite meal of the year. Christmas leftovers, with ham and mashed roast potatoes headlining and fried eggs, washed down wth a beer. I love it:  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2009 6:39:43 GMT
One piece of advice that I have read from "expert chefs" regarding major holiday dinners is to make a list of what you want to serve and then eliminate at least half of it.
Particularly for the traditional New Year's feast in France, many people have learned to abandon the main course, since there is much drinking and gobbling of the so-called starters: oysters, foie gras, etc. Nobody is really hungry after that, so it is silly to bring out a leg of lamb or a stuffed goose. After the "starters," it is recommended to have at most a green salad and some cheese and then move on to the extravagant desserts.
This seems like wise advice to me.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 28, 2009 8:08:33 GMT
One piece of advice that I have read from "expert chefs" regarding major holiday dinners is to make a list of what you want to serve and then eliminate at least half of it. Particularly for the traditional New Year's feast in France, many people have learned to abandon the main course, since there is much drinking and gobbling of the so-called starters: oysters, foie gras, etc. Nobody is really hungry after that, so it is silly to bring out a leg of lamb or a stuffed goose. After the "starters," it is recommended to have at most a green salad and some cheese and then move on to the extravagant desserts. This seems like wise advice to me. Kerouac, that is a lucid and brilliant concept, and I should adopt it. If I could only master my obsession to add more items to the menu. |
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Post by imec on Dec 31, 2009 17:53:04 GMT
Forgot to post the Christmas eve oysters (along with Bar Clams and Maple Smoked Atlantic Salmon) - Champagne was the accompaniment - The kids had their requested chicken wings.  |
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Post by imec on Dec 31, 2009 18:14:36 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2009 19:17:01 GMT
Your meals always look great, imec.
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It wasn't at all bad, but amost no one ate any. Now I have a liter of the stuff to use up or pitch out.
