Dinner! 2003

[torakris]

dinner for Thursday

Just finished our Christmas dinner

Homemade pizzas!

plain cheese

ham and pineapple (my favorite! )

anchovy, onions and black olives with parmasean

3 cheese- mozarella, parmasean and gorgonzola topped with arugula (tossed with EVOO and red wine vinegar) after being pulled from the oven

In a little bit we will have the rest of the Christmas cookies.

[fresco]

Christmas morning, and not a speck of snow in Toronto. Last night we had a traditional Quebecois dinner--salad, tourtiere, baked beans, baked apples, with a rose "feral" cider from Waupoos Winery, east of here, and a 2001 Pierre Sparr gewurztraminer from Alsace.

[hjshorter]

Christmas eve dinner:

Big, big strip steaks, medium rare.

Asparagus with a dill & lemon sauce.

Fresh baguette, hot from the oven when I bought it, with salty butter.

I almost fell asleep at church.

After church: Eggnog with rum while doing Santa stuff.

[Suzanne F]

Since we ate out on Thanksgiving, tonight I made the traditional holiday Spaghetti Carbonara (fans of Calvin Trillin will understand).

Salad of leaves, red and green bell peppers, cucumber, and the last of the pickled artichoke hearts, with a vinaigrette of the artichoke oil plus oregano vinegar.

Alkoomi Frankland River Chardonnay 1999 (from Western Australia; a gift from our friend who owns The Little Bigger Place)

[Varmint]

I had to rush to DC yesterday on an urgent business matter so I ate sushi in the DC airport for Christmas Eve dinner. Not the way I had it planned. As a result, I didn't get the opportunity to shop for Christmas breakfast and dinner yesterday, but amazingly, based purely on stuff I had in my fridge and pantry, I managed to make out just fine. Biscuits, grits, red-eye gravy, bacon, fig preserves, scrambled eggs, and melted 3 year old Canadian Cheddar (my in-laws' tradition) were on the breakfast table. Dinner was a rib roast (I did buy that several days ago), roast chicken, buttermilk mashed potatoes, field peas, honey carrots, sesame roasted asparagus, deviled eggs (with some NOLA seasoned salt -- Tony Shackarey?? (can't spell)), and lots of wine. I couldn't be overly adventurous, as my parents -- both incredibly finnicky eaters -- are here. Dessert was coconut cake.

[SobaAddict70]

Dinner tonight was broiled steak, couscous and roasted cauliflower. Soy milk. Apple cider. Last of the tangerines.

Soba

[joiei]

The buffet I put out for the family I cook for was

Dilled Potato Salad

green apple and cabbage waldorf with currants

Turkey - cornbread dressing

gravy

cranberry orange relish

Ham - with a root beer glaze that I found on a New Orleans food bulletin site ( Incredibly good, I am doing it again for new years.)

Grilled whole tenderloin with horseradish cream

Onion pie (a family tradition that goes so well with the beef, onions baked in a shell with a mornay sauce)

garliky asparagus

broccoli and corn cassarole ( another family tradition, not my favorite)

Brussel sprouts with crispy proscuitto

mashed potatos (not whipped)

pecan glazed sweet potatos

pecan pie

key lime pie

pumpkin pie

Italian cream cake

Buche noel

Pumpkin cheesecake

cookies

truffles from Kokoa chocoliatier

Santa Sundaes for the children

[Nick]

Roasted duck, gravy, and good bread. I had too much for lunch (homemade pea soup and a homemade fishcake) so I just pigged out out on the duck, gravy, and bread for supper. People can say all they want about foie gras - just give me some crispy duck skin and fat.

[dumpling]

Finally a moment to record the Christmas dinner. I'd planned a ten course banquet. But wasn't sure it was going to pull together. My brother is still in the hospital with pneumonia and not getting better. Other family members weren't feeling well. But I held to the concept that we'd all feel better if we ate well for Christmas and so said, "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead"!

The first dish was Eight Treasure Melon Bowl Soup.

Was a nice suprise in that it was pleasantly sweeter than I anticipated. A chicken stock based soup, I added the eight treasures-chicken, scallops, shrimp, straw mushrooms, carrots, melon, peas, scallions(plus ginger and spices). Then steamed the soup in the melon bowl. Cooked it that way absorbed the sweetness of the melon. Served it with a red ribbon around it and "Merry Christmas!" written on the melon.

Was thrown somewhat off because some of the guests were late including the vegetarian sister and the nephew who can only eat chicken. So I switched up on the order of the dishes a bit.

Next was the assorted dumplings- pork and chive fried dumplings, and chive cake dumplings. The three year old niece really liked the pork ones(when she finally arrived with my sister).

Third was supposed to be Flower Drum Crab baked in shell from Martin Yan's Chinatowns book. But when I tried the sauce which relied heavily on coconut milk it was so milky I couldn't stand it. So I just used all the blue crab I had cleaned out, some extra backfin crab, packed it in the shell with salt, pepper,

a little beaten egg and panko crumbs over the top, broiled it for a couple of minutes and it was fine. Looked beautiful.

Fourth was supposed to be Chicken and Asparagus a la Luis(my nephew), But he was late and other people were there and hungry and clamoring for food

so I served my Sweet and Sour Squirrel Fish with pine nuts. The squirrel fish was actually a red snapper but it is called a squirrel fish because you deep fry it in such a way as the tail comes straight up a little, like a squirrel's tail.

That actually was the simplest thing. Just score, deep fry quickly and do sauce. Had prepped it earlier so just had to pour the sauce over it and serve.

Next was the Crispy Aromatic Duck served with the Chinese slightly sweet fluffy white bread bun, hoisin, scallions and cucumbers. Again a recipe from Yan. Came out wonderfully aromatic from a bouquet garni of many spices including star anise, cinnamon and cardamon. However the last step which was supposed to crisp the skin didn't really make it crispy at all. But the meat was really nice in the sandwich.

Of course as I was pouring the hot oil over the duck, that was the moment when my sister and the little kids, Luis and Ana show up and start immediately clamoring for the chicken. So I basically have to do that up while my mother and others were still clamoring for the duck.

I had it planned such that everything was prepped and ready in a few minutes but was to be finished off just before it was to be served.

I gave my sister, the veggie, some Thai coconut ginger soup. Then finished off my Vegetarian "faux" Fish. That had been the one I was most concerned about and it came out nicely and my sister liked it very much. Tofu mixture stuffed in seaweed and then a beancurd sheet. Wrapped and formed in the shape of a fish.

Fried then covered with oyster flavored sauce and assortment of vegetables including snow peas, black mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

The eighth dish was Two Flavered Shrimp. One was shrimp cooked tempura style then served with an orange sauce. The other was something my dad likes - a stir fried garlic shrimp with a few red pepper flakes.

The ninth dish was to be a Pad Thai but everyone was full and I was beginning to lose it so we passed on that and went out to open presents.

After the ripping and tearing and the kids wanting more than the toy store they already got, we came back in and had dessert.

We had some cookies and candy that different people brought. We had the ninth dish- Tiramisu Eggnog Trifle from the December Bon Appetit which I had made the day before. All the flavors and liquor gelled very well. I momentarily took a vacation from low carboing it to indulge and it was goood.

I'm going to sleep now because I am tired. Merry Cristmas to all and to all a good night!

Edited December 26, 2003 by dumpling (log)

[jcsaucey]

Slow-roasted organic pork loin and backribs with potatoes and peas, fennel brothy goodness. Dr. Loosen reisling. Chocolate-pear-caramel-hazelnut gateux via wifey.97 Taylor-Fladgate LBV.

MMMMMMMMMMMMM!

[hjshorter]

Christmas dinner was just Scott & I, his mom, and the kids.

Bouillabaise, croutons, rouille.

Salad with butter lettuce, toasted pecans, dried cranberries, and Cypress Grove "Purple Haze" chevre. The lavender and fennel pollen on the cheese complimented the flavors of the bouillabaise nicely.

I found a 98 Puligny-Montrachet, 1st Cru, and we drank that with dinner.

Cassis cream cake for dessert, with coffee.

[cibatta mondatta]

A heritage Christmas:

- Country ham

- Cheese grits (recipie from Bill Neal's Crooks Corner)

- Collards

- Biscuits

- Sweet potato casserole

- Greenbean casserole complete with Campbell's mushroom soup and fried onions on top

- These great little apple-cinnamon rolls my Aunt Willie used to make at her restaurant

Gawd, I'm still trying to get up off the floor.

[Susan in FL]

We stayed in the local Hilton in a room overlooking the ocean on Christmas eve. The weather cooperated with our plans for a gorgeous sunrise to watch from the balcony and then a run/walk on the beach. Brunch was the lavish buffet at the hotel and it was really good, but we always eat too much at those things. So we did away with our planned first course for dinner, duck foie gras that I ordered from Marky's in Miami (anybody else discovered that awesome place, either online or in person?) and we'll do something with that this weekend. It was nice having just a 10 minute drive home, to open presents and later enjoy a dinner of boneless prime rib roast, horseradish mashed potatoes, mushrooms, baby carrots, Caesar salad, Beringer Merlot, Pineapples Foster with vanilla icecream, and Dow's Port. I forgot to make the Yorkshire pudding, but it wasn't missed.

[NeroW]

Christmas Eve:

Smoked salmon (caught and smoked by uncle and cousin)

Cracked-pepper crackers

Pesto/walnut/cheese spread

Spanakopita

Chicken "pillows"

Spinach salad with hot bacon dressing

My aunt's delicious fish chowder with salt pork

Baguette

We were supposed to eat cream cheese tartlets with whipped cream and blackberries that my sister made, but everyone was too buzzed from the champagne punch, so we forgot them.

Christmas Day:

Boneless prime rib roast with a spicy/sweet rub and "au jus"

Cheese grits

The ubiquitous green bean casserole

EDIT: and the night before Christmas Eve, I did a quick curry of chicken thighs with ginger/garlic/cilantro/jalapeno/peas in a light yogurt sauce, served over Basmati rice. It were good. Especially cold the next morning.

Edited December 26, 2003 by NeroW (log)

[torakris]

Friday dinner:

chicken fajitas

chicken seasoned with EVOO, lemon juice, galic, chili powder, salt and pepper and sauteed with pepper and onions

wrapped in flour tortillas

with

salsa

cheddar cheese

black olives

habanero hot sauce

[AzRaeL]

i had really crappy gifts for Christmas and I think the holiday should be cancelled on account of the fact that the gifts get crappier every year.

I ate overcooked leg of Lamb

bangers in maple syrup with caramelized onions and fuji apples

several unindentifiable chicen dishes

a dinner roll that I could probably sharpen my knives on

oh... that was Christmas Eve.

On Christmas day i had

Spaghetti Eww

Cheese Fondue Yummy

Apple baked ham

Turkey

roasted pork loins

Christmas Sucks i tell ya.

[Modern Day Hermit]

We had some of the best tamales yesterday, made by my best-friend's aunt. I am still dreaming about them.

The other items were pretty ordinary -- turkey, corn, 7-layer salad...but those tamales. Yum!

[SethG]

Tonight's dinner (Friday) should have been perfect. I was going to make this rustic ham and cheese tart (courtesy James Villas) and serve it with a mesclun salad and vinaigrette. But then I saw this big bin of chestnuts and remembered that Villas has a recipe for chestnut soup. And I'd never worked with chestnuts and it seemed seasonal, so I said why not.

NEVER again. Chestnuts are a major league pain in the ass, big time. Peeling them took forever, and several of my fingers are still in pain from the jabbing they endured while trying to get the shells off those stupid nuts. And I'd forgotten how creamy this particular soup is. The cream/milk watered down the flavor too much (in my opinion), and it was just too much richness when paired with the tart.

The tart was wonderful, but it would have been better without the soup, and earlier too! Bummer. It could have been a light, easy meal.

[dumpling]

Recovered sufficiently from yesterday. Stuck with a lot of shrimp that didn't use yesterday. So redid the shrimp with orange sauce from Christmas dinner and brought it to alanz's family. Made some more for my family tonight, but with a lemon sauce.

Still had more and some scallops so in addition to the shrimp with lemon, we had a stir fry of shrimp and scallops with ginger, garlic and a melange of chopped veggies didn't use yesterday-sliced carrots, asparagus, peas.

Some boxed pad thai that was completely uninteresting. Thai Kitchen I think the name was.

Some leftover trifle.

[laurel]

Camera fixed

Dinner for two:

Joe made spinach crowns with peanut sauce, which we had as a kind of working appetizer while preparing:

Sauteed Spinach with Feta Cheese:

Braised Chard with Smoked Salmon:

Yellow and Red Make Orange:

[torakris]

Saturday night:

lasagne

sugar snap pea salad with lemon zest and juice and EVOO

[bloviatrix]

Friday night/Shabbat dinner

Mushroom Barley (I think I'm done with all the soup in my freezer.)

Baked Veal Cutlels

Broccolli

POTATO LATKES!!!

Applesauce (store bought, I ran out of time to make it from scratch. The apples I bought are mocking me.)

Clementines and Grapes

Over years I have figured out how to fry food before shabbat and serve it hours later in a crispy state. The key is placing the food on parchment paper and cover the dish with a cloth towel to absorb the the steam. The latkes were very crispy, and although they taste best right out of the frying pan, they were still damn good.

[Mayhaw Man]

Left at home to my own devices

Spaghetti Carbonara with a little tasso, bacon, and andouille

Pistolettes (Leidenheimers Bakery in New Orleans)

Spinach Salad w/toasted pecans

All the coffee I want because no one is here to tell me stop

[tommy]

filet mignon

spinach

roasted potatoes

i'm not sure why we wanted filet mignon tonite, as opposed to ribeye or some other cut, but it was pretty tasty.

i'm going to try to eat as much beef as possible until the mad cow scare here in the states blows over.

[Suzanne F]

Fish Cakes (NOT because I saw them on Jackal10's blog!) made from the last of Belmont3's brandade (from the July potluck) plus some more recent leftover potatoes and grilled halibut.

Garnished with out-of-the-shell mussels and sauced with the tomato/wine/garlic mussel cooking juice, buzzed with the immersion blender and reduced.

Also some mayo/wasabi/chili sauce mixture that I made before I remember that I had to use the mussels.

Roasted beets chunked up and mixed with pickled onion slices.

Salad (the usual suspects), made by HWOE, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Paumanok Festival Chardonnay.

For tomorrow, I'm thinking duck confit and potatoes cooked in duck fat. and the greens from the beets.