Dinner 2021

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

Sorry to be boring, but favorite dinner.  Anova chicken thigh, baked potato, and thirty second green beans.  Cranberry sauce and sour cream not shown.  Liter of methode rotuts and spot of Whistlepig to maintain anerobic fitness.

 

[Honkman]

Manicotti with a filling of salsicce, carrots and tomatoes baked on a bed of spinach with bechamel (not the most photogenic food but very tasty)

 

[Kerala]

My two sisters and I take turns for  Christmas, so we are usually 15+ together for 4 to 7 days. Many of us cook so it's not a burden for the host. Last year should have been at ours but was cancelled. This year... two of my neices just tested positive for Covid. Both fine, thank goodness. Christmas cancelled again, so I have a 7kg turkey and a 4kg haunch of venison to get through with 6 of us.

I was working Christmas Eve, so the missus cooked the turkey. She's not a keen cook, so usually it's me cooking at home especially for special occasions. Anyway, the results are below. Absolutely perfectly cooked 7kg turkey.

[Shelby]

Been doing a bit more cooking.  I'm slowly getting better (hopefully) with the health issues.  Comfort food has been needed.  

 

Hot wings, Mac and cheese and spinach

 

 

For the first day of winter, ham and beans with cornbread

 

 

 

Roasted a pheasant and a quail that Ronnie got

 

 

 

Venison meatloaf with the last of the Caesar salad dressing

 

 

And Christmas Eve dinner--it really hit the spot.

 

Greek salad

 

 

And Cioppino!!

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday afternoon I made a loaf of ginger bread and some lemon sauce and whipped cream.  Made the whole house smell like Christmas.

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone!!!  

[Tropicalsenior]

Rather a quiet Christmas Eve because there were just two of us. I made a small tourtiére.

 

 

Served it with mashed sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, homemade rolls with lots of butter and a fruit salad. Had eggnog custard pie for dessert. I didn't get a picture of that. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

10 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Rather a quiet Christmas Eve because there were just two of us. I made a small tourtiére.

 

 

Everything stunning.   But this....wow!

[Tropicalsenior]

10 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Everything stunning.   But this....wow!

Thank you. First crust that I ever made with lard. I was out of shortening and low on butter so I gave it a try and boy, it turned out good. It was so flaky that it almost fell apart as I cut it.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Tropic, the most amazing fresh lard I can source comes from a tiny butcher shop in the deep Mission.    It is the by-product of carnitas.  

Might you have something similar?     ( In crust for apple pie....sigh.)

[Tropicalsenior]

2 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Might you have something similar?  

I can buy it here in the grocery stores but this particular batch is one that I rendered out myself. Sometimes the pork that they sell here has big caps of fat on them and I just trim them off and save them in the freezer until I have enough to make it worthwhile to render it.

The proportions for the pie crust are:

2 cups flour

2/3 cup lard (136g)

1 teaspoon salt

Just enough water to moisten it.

I mixed the flour, lard, and salt in the food processor until I had coarse crumbs and then put it in a plastic bag in the freezer for an hour before I took it out and added the water.

I'll never go back to shortening again.

[lindag]

21 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Thank you. First crust that I ever made with lard. I was out of shortening and low on butter so I gave it a try and boy, it turned out good. It was so flaky that it almost fell apart as I cut it.

I am definitely going to make this.  It reminds me a bit of Cornish Pasty, which I love!  I have some leaf lard in the freezer too.

 

[Tropicalsenior]

3 minutes ago, lindag said:

I have some leaf lard in the freezer too

Leaf lard is definitely the one to use because it is more solid. You just reminded me that I haven't made pasties in ages. Going to have to do that soon.

Edited December 25, 2021 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[weinoo]

Christmas Eve dinner was a fair amount of work. Like guess who got to open these?

 

 

Wellfleets. There were also PEIs.  Must've taken me a good 30 minutes to do 18 oysters; I'll never get hired in New Orleans.

 

 

Three types of caviar. My favorite was the payusnaya...pressed caviar, which wasn't really pressed, but so delicious. I also did those tiny potatoes, which meant cooking them, cutting them in half, and then hollowing them out - talk about a pain in the ass.

 

 

Whole roasted red snapper; simple with herbs, lemon and olive oil.  There was also a pasta with clams. Brandade and razor clam conservas were additional starters, with the oysters. 

Edited December 25, 2021 by weinoo (log)

[heidih]

@weinoo I'm  in for all your dishes. That roasted snapper! I like simple with a beautiful whole fish like that. I've only roasted one once - stupidly  scaled it in the living room as windy rain on balcony. We were finding those clear tiddly-winks in carpet until day we moved out.

[mgaretz]

My two kids, one fiancé and my 95-year-old dad for dinner last night.  Made beef stew in the IP with carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, corn and peas.

 

 

 

[shain]

Happy Christmas everyone, beautiful dishes all around  

 

Nothing eventful here, though we did go to see the decorations at the city.

 

Dinner was a kimchi jjigae, making a small dimple in the huge stash of homemade slightly too salty kimchi.

Clean the fridge veggies - carrot, pumpkin, sunchokes, onion, peppers, mushrooms, lots of tofu, chili paste, untraditional addition of sesame paste.

Rice thingies made of rice mixed with eggs and starch and baked briefly.

 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2021 by shain (log)

[Norm Matthews]

At Charlie's request (again) we had a repeat of Thanksgiving turkey dinner for Christmas.  These are friends who are staying with us for a while. They are Kalven  and Ariyana.  Ari requested tamales for Christmas and we had some for breakfast this morning along with some Mexican style rice that I made.  Through one of Charlies car club members we were able to find a place that has some good tamales. It was a small mom & pop store that also sold food, but they only sold tamales on Friday this week.  We  pre-ordered got two dozen. They were very good and we still have some for later.

 

I cooked the turkey yesterday. cut the breasts and dark meat off in whole pieces, vacuum packed them and reheated it in the sous vide.  The back of the turkey was cooked in some homemade chicken stock I had frozen and that gave me enough stock for all the other dishes that used stock.  It made some very good gravy. I made a paste with butter and flour and added enough to stock to make the gravy, then added salt and pepper and a little cream, rosemary, sage and chives.  Charlie said it was the best gravy he'd ever had.

 

I had enough time to make some bread. It was the same bread I most often make but without any sourdough flavoring.  It is just water, salt, sugar, yeast and enough flour to make a soft but not sticky dough.

 

Dressing was Pepperidge Farm country style with some turkey bits mixed in with the broth.  There were some bits in the gravy too.

 

Not pictured (besides the tamales) is an apple crisp like I made for Thanksgiving and a store bought pecan pie.

 

Merry Christmas.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Norm Matthews (log)

[KennethT]

On this evening, Jews around the world partake in a sacred Christmas tradition: going out for Chinese food.  Unfortunately, due to omicron going crazy in NYC, my wife and I wouldn't dream of stepping foot into a restaurant, and it's way too cold to enjoy eating outdoors - and the last time we went to Woo's Wonton King in Chinatown for peking duck, their outdoor seating area was a bit too enclosed for my tastes.

 

So, we had to make due with my cooking....  Yunnan style elk with herbs and maitake mushrooms.  7 different herbs, 5 of which from my garden.

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Beautiful food, good looking group!   

2 hours ago, Norm Matthews said:

At Charlie's request (again) we had a repeat of Thanksgiving turkey dinner for Christmas.  These are friends who are staying with us for a while. They are Kalven  and Ariyana.  Ari requested tamales for Christmas and we had some for breakfast this morning along with some Mexican style rice that I made.  Through one of Charlies car club members we were able to find a place that has some good tamales. It was a small mom & pop store that also sold food, but they only sold tamales on Friday this week.  We  pre-ordered got two dozen. They were very good and we still have some for later.

 

I cooked the turkey yesterday. cut the breasts and dark meat off in whole pieces, vacuum packed them and reheated it in the sous vide.  The back of the turkey was cooked in some homemade chicken stock I had frozen and that gave me enough stock for all the other dishes that used stock.  It made some very good gravy. I made a paste with butter and flour and added enough to stock to make the gravy, then added salt and pepper and a little cream, rosemary, sage and chives.  Charlie said it was the best gravy he'd ever had.

 

I had enough time to make some bread. It was the same bread I most often make but without any sourdough flavoring.  It is just water, salt, sugar, yeast and enough flour to make a soft but not sticky dough.

 

Dressing was Pepperidge Farm country style with some turkey bits mixed in with the broth.  There were some bits in the gravy too.

 

Not pictured (besides the tamales) is an apple crisp like I made for Thanksgiving and a store bought pecan pie.

 

Merry Christmas.

Beautiful table, good looking group!   Happy holidays!

[Honkman]

Mediterranean inspired meat loaf (with roasted red peppers, capers, pine nuts, oregano, lemon zest, garlic) wrapped in bacon with braised red cabbage and mashed potatoes

 

[Steve Irby]

For Christmas Eve we had a few dishes that have been favorites at restaurants that we have eaten at.  Obviously pre-covid.  First up Shrimp Henican as served at Commanders Palace.

 

 

Galatorie's  Shrimp Remoulade Blanc

 

Madison's Salmon Rockefeller.  Madison's closed quite a few years ago but this dish was my favorite.  My rendition includes gruyere cheese grits, wilted spinach and roasted salmon topped with hollandaise and fried oysters.  I shucked the oysters just prior to company arriving and they fried up great.

 

 

Dessert on Christmas Eve was a beautiful pear tart that my wife's daughter in-law made. She is originally from Nice France and said it was just like her mother made.  It was delicious!

 

The starter for Christmas Dinner was raw oysters.  I bought a 50# box and have shucked on an as need basis. My needs have been frequent trips during the day to monitor QA/QC purposes.

 

Our dinner salad with repurposed white remoulade sauce.  I should have stopped with salad!

 

 

 

Christmas Dinner was a little anti-climatic after the preceding food orgy.  The main course was beef standing rib roast, wilted spinach, roasted carrots and garlic mashed potatoes.  

 

 

Edited December 26, 2021 by Steve Irby (log)

[gfweb]

 

Christmas lunch...SV smoked turkey breast with grapes, pickled onions and candied pecans

 

 

 

Dinner

Roasted cauliflower soup.  If I had had my glasses on I have seen the slop on the cups

 

Cornbread madelaines with and without jalapeno

 

Au gratin pots

 

 

Warm sprout, cranzin and onion slaw

 

Not shown tenderloin, sticky toffee pudding

 

 

[Kerala]

Turkey soup. Kids very happy with it so I'm happy too!

[Shelby]

Excellent looking meals, everyone.  Love seeing the table set-ups.  Beautiful!

 

Christmas morning brunch--way too much for the two of us.  Leftovers abound

 

 

Yummy mimosas

 

 

Christmas dinner

 

Mushroom salad

 

 

Creamed cipollini onions

 

 

Lobster truffle Mac and cheese

 

 

stuffing and prime rib

 

 

little pastries for dessert

 

[Dante]

Christmas dinner: Ham slow-cooked with collards, side of cream-cheesy grits.

[Dante]

On 12/21/2021 at 5:07 PM, heidih said:

Mushroom asada may need explanation. I did loot up. Did you use portabellos or another larger meaty shroom like King Oyster? The other elements don't trend Mexican though I like them. Perhaps I am thinking falsely of  only carne asada and such. I'm there at your table though  

 

I used criminis, cooked enough to release most of the liquid, and then slightly browned before adding the other ingredients.  

 

I am nothing if not eclectic in my cooking, I like to mix and match- the potatoes and sauce side is German, a recipe given to me by a friend who grew up in the Black Forest area.