Menus for Christmas Dinner 2017

[Porthos]

11 hours ago, Darienne said:

OTOH, in Canada, Thanksgiving is not nearly as big as holiday as it is in the States.  And right, we eat turkey then too.

 

Canada's Thanksgiving is separated by almost 3  months, in the U.S. it's roughly a  month. that may factor into it. Cheers.

[FauxPas]

45 minutes ago, Darienne said:

The Canadian Thanksgiving is on the second Monday in October, giving us more than two months between servings of turkey.  Any closer and I'm not sure I could do it.

 

We are almost always in Canada for Canadian Thanksgiving and in the US for American Thanksgiving, both usually featuring turkey. So when we get to Christmas, we often don't want more turkey. 

[chileheadmike]

There was only three of us for this Christmas. My family lives in Kansas City, my oldest daughter just moved to Minneapolis. It was my wife, youngest daughter and I. 

I was pulling for prime rib, but my wife wanted pork loin.  I rubbed it with mustard and the sage and rosemary that are still growing on my patio. Roasted over high indirect heat on the Weber with some cherry wood. Served with Yukon gold potatoes baked in mornay and some really nice green beans and some home made rolls. Loin was served with a white wine, dijon mustard and lemon sauce. 

 

Leftovers may have been better. I was wanting subs, but the store was closed so I made KA's sub rolls using an over night starter. These came out great, I was worried they'd be too tough but that wasn't the case. I sauteed onions, green peppers and mushrooms, sliced the leftover loin thinly and grilled it, finished with some gruyere. I wrapped the sandwiches in foil and baked for about 15 minutes. 

[ChocoMom]

Starters:

Cranberry-Brie bites i(n mini phyllo cups)

Cheese cube-grape-thyme Christmas tree

Veggies Christmas tree/dip

Spinach-Artichoke dip/crackers

 

Dinner: 

Mixed green salad with strawberries

garlic mashies

*Smoked turkey and stuffing

Roast Beef w/ artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, pearl onions, and roasted red peppers. 

Cubed & roasted Hubbard squash

Green Bean casserole 

rolls/butter

 

Dessert:

Christmas cookies (my daughters and friends made)

Fudge (from SIL)

Springerle (from SIL)

White chocolate-raspberry cheesecake with layer of marscapone, decorated with sugared raspberries and mint leaves

Pistachio- Almond Cheesecake with layer of marscapone

Apple pie

 

*We endured another weasel massacre, and lost ALL of my turkeys. When I hit the store to buy one, the only whole turkey I found-within the correct size range was a smoked one. It seemed okay to me, but my FIL and BIL absolutely LOVED it!!!!  

I did a homemade stuffing to go with it. By the time I got around to thinking about it, I didn't really have much time ...so I went with a simple/basic one that turned out fantastic. Ive never seen my MIL eat so much stuffing! haha! 

 

 

 

 

[Allura]

Christmas Eve in the past would have been Italian pasta & fish and a huge multi-course feast provided by my aunt. I miss it, but they've moved and life changes and I'm not up to duplicating it. Last year we started going out for Christmas Eve, just my parents, sister & bf, and my family. Italian restaurant of course, so I had shrimp wrapped in proscioutto for app and halibut with risotto for main. Christmas day morning at home was just cheesy scrambled eggs and chocolate croissants fresh from the oven (courtesy of Trader Joe's). Early dinner was at my parents' house, and we started with nibbles of proscioutto bread, cheese, and spinach/artichoke dip. Despite the nibbles, we started with pasta bolognese, then prime rib with roasted potatoes, green beans and broccoli with cheese sauce. Dessert was too much: Italian pastries, yule log type cake, cookies, chocolates from See's, brownies.

 

And then we left the kiddo at my parents overnight and went to see Last Jedi yesterday.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Allura (log)

[Porthos]

I noticed something in some of your traditions and menus that is different from ours. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas we do not do nibbles beforehand. Everyone lives reasonably close by so timing can be controlled and we don't generally worry about weather conditions affecting travel here in So Cal.

[kayb]

1 minute ago, Porthos said:

I noticed something in some of your traditions and menus that is different from ours. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas we do not do nibbles beforehand. Everyone lives reasonably close by so timing can be controlled and we don't generally worry about weather conditions affecting travel here in So Cal.

 

I do because it works well with one set of kids/grandkids coming from some distance. Also, it gives us something to stave off hunger while the littles are opening Christmas gifts, which would NOT make for a pleasant dinner if we didn't do it first thing.

 

Also enables me to say, "Dinner will be at xx p.m.," and then no matter what time someone shows, there's something for them to munch on.

 

 

[Allura]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

I noticed something in some of your traditions and menus that is different from ours. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas we do not do nibbles beforehand. Everyone lives reasonably close by so timing can be controlled and we don't generally worry about weather conditions affecting travel here in So Cal.

 

For us it was a combo of part of the family coming earlier to exchange gifts (we're the only one with a young child), and then more folks coming later. Partly, it allowed for some leeway in when dinner was ready. And in our case, my mom's Italian-American and thinks she's required to have SOMETHING available when people first get there, if only to absorb the prosecco, etc.

 

[chromedome]

I did a turkey for the benefit of my girlfriend and her family, who have that tradition. Nobody in my family is keen on turkey - I'll eat it but it's not a favorite, my parents just wouldn't eat it at all - so we always did something different at Christmas. This year, I did a leg of lamb as the second entree. 

 

For sides there was dressing for the turkey, mashed potatoes, whisky-glazed sweet potatoes, baked buttercup squash, carrots, steamed broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus (Sobey's had a great sale on the latter) and Brussels sprouts sauteed with bacon and caramelized onions. For dessert I had a spread of Christmas cookies, plus an apple pie with quick-and-dirty caramel sauce made by melting a bar of Macintosh toffee into a bit of hot cream. 

 

One of the cookies I made was meringues piped into rings with a star tip, so they'd resemble little wreaths, and then I topped them with green and red sprinkles to complete the resemblance. When my GF's little granddaughter saw them the next morning, she squealed "Sprinkle doughnuts!!!" and immediately wanted one for breakfast.

Edited December 28, 2017 by chromedome (log)

[lindag]

My family had turkey at Thanksgiving then ham at Christmas.  The reason being that turkey, which is so labor intensive, is best done at Thanksgiving.

[Tri2Cook]

12 hours ago, chromedome said:

turkey - I'll eat it but it's not a favorite

That's exactly where I stand on turkey. Nothing I actually dislike about it but don't love it enough to want to ask for it either. My late wife loved turkey so she'd do them for Thanksgiving, Christmas and sometimes Easter if I didn't complain. If I had complained, she would almost certainly have done something else because that's just the type of person she was... so I didn't complain. With all she did for us, eating turkey with a smile on my face a few times a year so she could enjoy it instead of feeling bad because I didn't really want it was easy.

[Darienne]

48 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

That's exactly where I stand on turkey. Nothing I actually dislike about it but don't love it enough to want to ask for it either. My late wife loved turkey so she'd do them for Thanksgiving, Christmas and sometimes Easter if I didn't complain. If I had complained, she would almost certainly have done something else because that's just the type of person she was... so I didn't complain. With all she did for us, eating turkey with a smile on my face a few times a year so she could enjoy it instead of feeling bad because I didn't really want it was easy.

A lovely post, Tri2Cook.  

[nickrey]

I did this dish for an (early) Xmas function for 60 people.

 

Wanted to do Xmas on a plate. It has three key components. The cylinder at the back is pulled pork enriched with apple puree and baked apple strips topped with crumbed black pudding and toasted panko breadcrumbs. The sausage is home-made turkey thigh with cranberry, pistachio, and herbs. The Croquetta contains thick bechamel with a mix of serrano and home cooked and smoked ham.

 

Served with simple chicken jus, triple cooked potato balls, and mirepoix of carrot and celery.

 

Someone called it constructed rather than deconstructed.

 

 

 

[suzilightning]

Well the turkey breast is thawed and will be removed from the frame to be dry brined for the next 24+ hours in the fridge.  Bones will go to make stock - especially as the outdoor freezer is working right now.

Thawing some sage sausage to go into the dressing.  Baked sweet potatoes, young multi colored carrots and peas.  Oh, yeah and that canned cranberry sauce.

[lindag]

6 minutes ago, suzilightning said:

Well the turkey breast is thawed and will be removed from the frame to be dry brined for the next 24+ hours in the fridge.  Bones will go to make stock - especially as the outdoor freezer is working right now.

Thawing some sage sausage to go into the dressing.  Baked sweet potatoes, young multi colored carrots and peas.  Oh, yeah and that canned cranberry sauce.

 

Outdoor freezer?  How does that work in NJ?

[suzilightning]

10 minutes ago, lindag said:

 

Outdoor freezer?  How does that work in NJ?

less than 32F out the kitchen door......

[gfweb]

4 hours ago, suzilightning said:

less than 32F out the kitchen door......

When its warmer, our PA outdoor freezer converts instantly into a wine chiller

[quiet1]

We had pork nachos for Christmas Eve, which is family tradition, but everyone was sick or getting sick on Christmas Day so we had a good breakfast and skipped the big dinner. Big dinner x2 happened since then.

 

For one we had rack of lamb with a mustard cream sauce, hasselback potatoes, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts.

 

For the second (the one i’d planned for Christmas Day) we had roast duck with Bourdain’s a l’orange sauce, mashed potatoes, more Brussels sprouts, green beans almandine, and an extra sauce for the duck I made up with tart dried cherries and a splash of brandy.

 

All meals were very successful. The duck was maybe a touch overdone (I was going for slow roasted but our oven is having temperature troubles again} but everyone really liked it and we’ve never had duck before, so we’re definitely going to do that again. Maybe with more of a Peking Duck approach next time.