Christmas Eve
December 24
My favorite day of the year! We celebrate
with a houseful of friends and relatives by serving a sit-down dinner complete
with crystal glasses, all the pretty dishes I’ve gathered over the years, and
what I call my “good” flatware. Each year I try to create a memorable meal such
as the one listed here.
This elegant dinner, with marvelous
flavors, is easy to prepare. On a tight schedule? Most of the meal can be
assembled in advanced. Look for the ** in the instructions for the
stopping point. Continue cooking on Christmas Eve. I suggest you make extras and
freeze them for future use. You’ll be glad you did.
MENU
Mock Chicken Legs
Roasted Potatoes
Snow Peas with Lettuce & Chives
Sautéed Mushrooms
White Wine – Chablis
Mock
Chicken Legs
Use equal amounts
of the three meats. If you are anti-veal, the beef and pork alone are still
great. Increase their amounts to 1½ pounds (750g) each.
1
lb. (500g) beef eye of round or other high-quality roast, cut into 2 in. (5cm)
cubes
1 lb. (500g) pork tenderloin, cut into 2 in. (5cm) cubes
1 lb. (500g) veal shoulder, cut into 2 in. (5cm) cubes
Skewers about 6 – 8 inches (15 – 20cm) long
3 eggs
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1½ cups (200g) seasoned bread crumbs, possibly more
Olive oil
Alternate
the meat types as you skewer them. Set aside on waxed paper.
** Stop here if you plan to cook the legs another day. If you made
extras, this is the time to freeze them.
Lay the skewers to cook on a cookie sheet. Cover with cling wrap and
refrigerate.
On the day of serving, cover a platter or cookie sheet with waxed paper. Combine
eggs and pepper in a flat bowl. Pour breadcrumbs into another dish. Dip
skewers, one at a time, into egg mixture. Roll in bread crumbs then set them
back onto the waxed paper. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set the
coating.
Preheat oven to 350° F (180°C).
Heat ½ inch
(1.25cm)
olive oil in a frying pan set over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers,
carefully lay in a few skewers and brown well on all sides. As they cook set
them into a baking dish, stacking the skewers is fine.
Cover the dish and bake for 1 – 1 ½ hours or until fork tender.
Do NOT
add any liquid to the meat. This dish produces its own fantastic sauce.
Roasted Potatoes
These
potatoes are definitely out of the norm, but they are great with any meat dish.
3 tbsp. (45ml) olive oil
3 tbsp. (45ml) cider vinegar
1 tbsp. (15ml) kosher salt
1 tsp. (5ml) dried thyme
1 red potato per person, quartered
but not peeled
Preheat oven to 425° F (220°C).
In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, vinegar, salt, and thyme.
Place potatoes in a large plastic bag. Pour mixture over them and gently shake
bag to coat evenly.
Spread potatoes in an even layer on
a baking sheet. Drizzle remaining mixture over them. Bake until potatoes are
toothpick tender and slightly browned, 50 minutes.
Snow Peas with Lettuce & Chives
This recipe from France that serves two is one
you will want to serve often. Simply increase the ingredient amounts
proportionally when you prepare this dish for more people.
4 oz. (125g) snow peas
2 tbsp. (25g) butter
Pinch of sugar
½ Boston lettuce, shredded
1 tbsp. (15ml) chives, chopped fine, or 1½
tsp. (7.5ml) dried
2 green onions, sliced fine be sure to include
the green stems
Trim ends off peas with a sharp knife. Melt
butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Be careful not to let this burn.
When the foam subsides stir in peas. Stir in
sugar. Cover and cook 5 minutes.
Add lettuce, chives, and onions. Gently toss
until lettuce has wilted.
Scoop into a bowl and serve.
Sautéed Mushrooms recipe found under Veggie
section in the Index.
Christmas Day
December 25
After we entertain Christmas Eve, we tear
through the house cleaning up before all the kids and grands come for brunch
Christmas Day. This meal is wonderful because so much can be prepared well in
advance.
MENU
Breakfast Souffle
Hash Browns
Fresh Fruit Salad
Mini Croissants
Christmas Cookies
& Leftover Desserts
Mimosas
Breakfast
Soufflé
1 lb. (½kg) ham,
bacon, or breakfast sausage
9 eggs, lightly
beaten
3 cups (750ml)
milk
1 tsp. (5ml) dry
mustard
Diced green, red,
and/or yellow pepper to taste
½ lb. (57g) sharp
cheddar cheese, grated
½ lb. (57g) Swiss
or Gruyere cheese, or a combination of the two, grated
Diced onion to
taste
Freshly ground
black pepper to taste
4 – 1 in. (2.54cm)
slices Vienna or French bread, cubed
Preheat oven to
350°F (180°C).
Dice ham or bacon.
If you use ham, set aside in the bowl you use for the eggs. Fry bacon to the
crispness you prefer. Drain on paper towels. If you use breakfast sausage, fry
meat until no longer pink. Be sure to break up any clumps. Drain meat in a
colander while you continue to prepare the soufflé.
Add all
ingredients, except the bread, to eggs. Stir well. Gently stir in bread.
Pour mixture into
an ungreased 9 x 13-inch (33 x 22cm) glass baking dish. Bake 1 hour or until a
knife inserted in the center has no egg clinging to it.
This dish can be
assembled one or two days ahead of time. On serving day allow the soufflé to
sit on your counter 1 – 2 hours before you bake it.
Leftovers are
excellent from the microwave.
Hash
Browns
If you need to increase the hash browns recipe
for a larger group of people, it’s best to sparingly add more garlic powder. As
is this recipe serves 6. Leftovers reheat beautifully.
3 russet potatoes (about 1½ pounds), peeled
1½ tsp. (7.5ml) garlic powder, not salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
Shred potatoes on the large holes of a box grater
or use the coarse grater disk on a food processor. Transfer them to a bowl of
cold water. Allow them to soak for 2 minutes. Drain in a colander and then
rinse under cold water. You do this to remove the starch that makes hash browns
gummy.
Transfer shreds to a kitchen towel. Gather
together ends of towel and twist over sink, squeezing firmly to wring out as
much liquid as possible. This step creates crisp hash browns. Transfer potatoes
to a medium bowl and toss with garlic powder and pepper. Be sure to evenly
distribute the seasonings.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium
heat. Add potatoes, press down to form a thin layer and cook for a minute or
two. Stir and then press down again. Cook until a dark golden crust forms,
about 5 minutes.
Turn potatoes in sections. This is easier than
trying to turn the food as a whole. Continue to fry until hash browns are crisp
and browned all over, 5 minutes or so. Transfer to paper towels to absorb
excess oil.
Fresh Fruit Salad
1 banana, peeled
1 pear, cored
1 tbsp. (15ml) lemon juice
¼ pineapple, peeled, cored, and
diced
1 kiwi, peeled and sliced
10 seedless red grapes, halved
10 blueberries
10 raspberries,
optional
Slice banana into bitesize pieces.
Scoop into a medium-sized bowl. Dice pear and add to bowl. Sprinkle lemon juice
over fruit to stop it from turning brown and mix well.
Gently fold in remaining fruit.
Spoon into a glass bowl, cover with
cling wrap, and chill until time to serve. Leftovers are still good the next
day.
Mimosas
1
bottle sparking white wine or champagne, cold
1
carton orange juice, cold
Tall
slender glasses
Fill
glasses half full with wine. Tip the glass slightly as you pour to retain the
fizz. Top off with orange juice. Don’t stir. That will destroy the bubbles.
May you spend all the holidays of your life filled with friends, laughter, and seated around a well laden table ~ Sloane
Sloane Taylor is an Award-Winning romance author with a second passion in her life. She is an avid cook and posts new recipes on her
blog every Wednesday. The recipes are user friendly, meaning easy.
Taylor's first solo venture into non-fiction was a Couples Cookbook with eighty of her favorite recipes,
DATE NIGHT DINNERS, Meals to Make Together for a Romantic Evening.
ROMANTIC MEALS TO DINE AL FRESCO is Taylor’s latest cookbook and contains 104 exciting recipes.
Excerpts from her books and free reads can be found on her
website,
blog, and her
Amazon Author Page.
Sloane Taylor is an Award-Winning author with a second passion in her life. She is an avid cook and posts new recipes on her blog every Wednesday. The recipes are user friendly, meaning easy.
