Your favorite Christmas Recipe

I am starting to plan for the annual dinner. Please share your favorite Xmas recipe, be it appetizer, entree, side or dessert. Thanks!

We always serve this cheeseball type recipe at some point over the holidays. Everyone likes it and it looks so pretty and festive.

Gorgonzola Fruit Torta

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Appetizers

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
16 ounces cream cheese -- softened
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese -- crumbled
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup green onion -- chopped
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 cup dried apricots -- chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds -- toasted

Cut up cream cheese and butter. Place in a food processor with Gorgonzola and salt and mix until smooth. Line an 8" by 4" loaf pan with foil. Grease with cooking spray. Layer the following ingredients in order:
Cranberries
1/3 cream cheese mixture
green onion and parsley
1/3 cream cheese mixture
apricots
1/3 cream cheese mixture
Use a small spatula greased with cooking spray to spread cream cheese mixture easily over other ingredients without mixing. Cover and chill until firm. Turn uncovered pan upside down on a serving plate and remove foil very gently. Top torta with slivered almonds. Serve with crackers.

Oh, and this one, served the traditional way, with one green relish and one red. I add lots of pepper, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and use beef stock instead of water. Always served on Christmas Eve.

Tourtiere

Recipe By : The Canadiana Cookbook/Mme Jehane Benoit
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Pies & Pastry Pork & Ham
Sent To Tnt

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 lb pork -- minced
1 sm onion -- chopped
1 sm garlic clove -- minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 c water
1/4 c bread crumbs -- up to 1/2 cup
Pastry dough of your choice

Place all the ingredients except the bread crumbs and pastry in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook uncovered for 20 minutes over medium heat. Remove
from heat and add a few spoonfuls of bread crumbs. Let stand for 10
minutes. If the fat is sufficiently absorbed by the bread crumbs, do not
add more. If not, continue in the same manner.

Cool and pour into a pastry-lined pie pan. Cover with crust. Bake at 400
degrees until golden brown. Serve hot. A cooked tourtiere can be frozen 4-5
months. It does not have to be thawed out before reheating.

[Jenise]

I am starting to plan for the annual dinner. Please share your favorite Xmas recipe, be it appetizer, entree, side or dessert. Thanks!

I suddenly feel bankrupt of tradition and exposed for the orphan I've become at having to admit, upon reading your request, that we have no favorite Christmas recipes. Oh, many years I'll make a corned beef to turn, with potatoes, green bell peppers, parsley and chives, into a rather elegant green and red hash for Christmas day breakfast, but other than that there is no dish that gets trotted out for this holiday and this holiday alone that we spend all year waiting for. Unless I make prime rib and creamed spinach for dinner, and even then, those are the only two parts of the meal that repeat.

I don't even bake cookies.

Looking back, I'm trying to remember if my family did a better job of it, and I think the answer is no. Christmas dinner was just a repeat of Thanksgiving. Same turkey, same bad gravy, same canned yams with marshmallow, same canned cranberry sauce pushed out of the can and sliced into wobbling discs that only Grandma and Dad ate. And that was before Mom became a Jehovahs Witness and Christmas cruelly ended at our house altogether.

I'll look forward to reading everyone else's replies to your question, as I've already enjoyed Leslie's (I'll have a slice of that pork pie for breakfast, thank you), to find out what I've missed all these years.

Tourtiere....

My mother used to make these. I believe she learned to make them from her father (Grandpa Lemay, who also handed down recipes for baked beans and flapjacks/crepes), however, they were never served at Christmas, but it does seem like a good idea. Bakeries across the river in Niagara Falls, Ont. make these on a regular basis. I did copy your recipe and I'll see how it compares to my mother's when I get a chance.

Hey Jenise,

I have done the same menu for the last 10 yrs now. Christmas Eve is the Italian tradition of the 7 Fishes...which my parents host. On Christmas morning, we always have bagels, lox, and cream cheese and Mimosas. I serve it with all the fixin's and usually caviar as well if we have guests. During the day we continue to eat bagels and lox...and I put out appetizers like sausage rolls and bacon wrapped dates.

For Christmas day dinner, it's always a standing prime rib roast, mashed potatoes, herbed corn, and Brussels Sprout hash. Last yr, I made a port reduction for the beef, which was nice. I also served a small spiral ham, since my Father-in-law was here and he is allergic to beef. We usually have Lobster bisque to start, but have done escargot in the past. We end with a cheese plate and a traditional English chocolate pudding (store bought).

Do you usually have guests over for Christmas?

Tourtiere it will be this year as well. Thanks Leslie.
In our family it's not just one thing or menu but a tradition of preparations that start the weekend after Thanksgiving. This includes making a variety of sweets to put in tins - the specific type changes year to year with a few ethnic staples; at least one type of holiday bread -panettone,pandoro,stollen etc;a trio of pates - again the specifics change; the 24th fish dinner - we long ago realized that it was impossible to do 7 unless you started at brunch so we do 3; ebelskiver for breakfast on the 25th ; usually soup, some type of homemade ravioli and a roasted veal shank on the 25th [ nearly impossible to find now]. We have many family birthdays from the 29th to the 4th so our celebrations are quite extended. Mince pie and a trifle usually make an appearance at some point as well.
Not possible to do unless you are very organized. You are correct to start planning now !
We had a large extended family growing up so I worry that those holiday feelings will be lost unless I try to maintain some sense of tradition.

Hope you like the Tourtieres as much as I do. Jenise, pie has to be the best breakfast!! Any kind.

Howie, if this recipe is different from your mother's, it may be the bread crumbs or the cloves. There seem to be two big differences in thickening and seasoning, either you love the cloves or not, and you swear by bread crumbs as "the" thickener, or you use potato to thicken. I'm not sure if the potato group uses mashed or grated in the pork mixture.

Tourtieres filling is also tasty to fill small tart shells, trim with a maple leaf cutout on top, and serve as hors d'oeuvres.

My favorite Christmas recipe:

3 oz dark rum combined with ice and 6 oz of coca cola.

I'm feeling a little like Jenise. Don't really have any "traditional" Christmas recipes, beyond the expectation that I will make standing rib roast for a small group of friends, many of whom happen to ironically be Jewish. Growing up, our only real Christmas tradition was my Mom's green Jello mold (with pineapples and cream cheese), which no one ever touched and the inside joke of that became sort of a tradition in itself. I miss my family like crazy at the holidays since they are all the way across the country, but holiday travel is too horrendous for us to ponder. Plus mine are in the southeast and Lens are in the northeast and it's always impossible to choose. (Plus selfishly--we REALLY like being home for the holidays.) I do always make a point of seeing them in October and then again soon after the holidays. Jeez, I sound guilty don't I??! (If the shoe fits...)

The only recipe I repeat every year at the insistance of friends and family to whom I mail it, along with their gifts is Pine Bark. The recipe was given to me by a woman I used to work with. It truly is delicious, travels and freezes very well.

Pine Bark
1 cup butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
Partial box of Saltine crackers
14 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup chopped toasted nuts of your choice (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Line jelly roll pan with tin foil.
Line up one layer of saltines to cover the entire bottom of the pan.

In a small saucepan, melt butter with sugar and boil for 4 minutes.
Pour mixture over saltines, making sure each one gets complete coated.
Bake in 450 degree oven for 4 minutes.
Take out of oven, sprinkle with good quality chocolate chips.
Return to oven for 1 minute 30 seconds.
Take out of oven and spread chocolate in an even layer. Sprinkle with nuts if you desire.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or longer.
When cool, turn pan upside-down. Peel off foil and plastic. Break "bark" into pieces of varying shapes and sizes.
Serve.

Great on a cookie platter, especially for people who just want a little taste of something sweet.

My favorite Christmas recipe:

3 oz dark rum combined with ice and 6 oz of coca cola.

Trade the dark rum for the Captain and the cola for Egg Nog (not homemade) and you have mine.

... and bacon wrapped dates.

Try stuffing those dates with marcona almonds and stilton. Then wrap them with bacon.

rwj

My favorite Christmas recipe:

3 oz dark rum combined with ice and 6 oz of coca cola.

Trade the dark rum for the Captain and the cola for Egg Nog (not homemade) and you have mine.

I'll have dark rum, ginger beer, ice and a twist of lime.

As a general rule, I don’t care for pumpkin anything. But Dina makes a Pumpkin Roll stuffed with a cream cheese filling…Argh…my diet downfall. The pumpkin cake portion is so moist and chewy added to the filling which is flavored with mexican vanilla and amaretto.

I don’t even eat many sweets..but I can founder on this stuff. So…we just don’t make it very often.

On the non-dessert side, we also make a ciabatta bread stuffing with mushroom and asiago cheese that’s a Holiday staple

Richard

ROAST GOOSE WITH POTATO STUFFING:

1 Oven ready goose
1 c Tawny Port

Remove innards from goose, removable fat, and two outer wing joints. Wash and dry thoroughly. Stuff with potato stuffing.* Place breast up on rack in shallow roasting pan. Do not season in any way. Roast at 325º as follows: 8 lbs - 4 hours, 10 lbs - 4½ hours, 12 lbs - 5 hours, and 14 lbs - 6 hours. One hour before done, i.e. at 4 hours for 12 lb bird, drain out/pour off fat. Place back in oven and baste with ¼ cup Tawny Port every 15 minutes for next hour. Allow to rest for a least a half hour. Carve and serve.

*Potato Stuffing:

4 c Mashed potatoes
2 c Fresh breadcrumbs
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
2 tsp rubbed Sage
2 oz Bottle Onion juice
1 Stick butter melted

Mix all ingredients together in mixer.

Richard...that pumpkin roll sounds really delicious...is there any way Dina let us have the recipe?

[Jenise]

My favorite Christmas recipe:

3 oz dark rum combined with ice and 6 oz of coca cola.

Funny, you don't look Cuban.

[Jenise]

Hey Jenise,

I have done the same menu for the last 10 yrs now. Christmas Eve is the Italian tradition of the 7 Fishes...which my parents host. On Christmas morning, we always have bagels, lox, and cream cheese and Mimosas. I serve it with all the fixin's and usually caviar as well if we have guests. During the day we continue to eat bagels and lox...and I put out appetizers like sausage rolls and bacon wrapped dates.

Gosh, will you adopt me?

We usually do Christmas with friends, though we don't have a fixed set of friends with whom we do the same thing every year largely because we've moved approximately every five years. Every time we've gotten a tradition going, it seems we leave.

Hey Jenise,

I have done the same menu for the last 10 yrs now. Christmas Eve is the Italian tradition of the 7 Fishes...which my parents host. On Christmas morning, we always have bagels, lox, and cream cheese and Mimosas. I serve it with all the fixin's and usually caviar as well if we have guests. During the day we continue to eat bagels and lox...and I put out appetizers like sausage rolls and bacon wrapped dates.

Gosh, will you adopt me?

We usually do Christmas with friends, though we don't have a fixed set of friends with whom we do the same thing every year largely because we've moved approximately every five years. Every time we've gotten a tradition going, it seems we leave.

Oh Jenise...I would love it if we I lived closer...you are my food idol! I don't know if I could cook for you though...LOL!

How about your husband? Most of our traditions are based on his "traditions". The 7 fishes is from my family, but the smoked salmon and mimosas are definitely from my husband. (We always had chocolate chip pancakes on Christmas morning....YUCK...just not my kind of thing, ya know?).

[Jenise]

Oh Jenise...I would love it if we I lived closer...you are my food idol! I don't know if I could cook for you though...LOL!

Oh cut it out; I'd be proud to dine at your table.

But no traditions on my husband's side except those he wanted to lose: all the food prejudices he came into our marriage with were based on his mother's bad cooking. Even children of pretty bad cooks usually remember at least one thing fondly, but not Bob.

Hope you like the Tourtieres as much as I do. Jenise, pie has to be the best breakfast!! Any kind.

Howie, if this recipe is different from your mother's, it may be the bread crumbs or the cloves. There seem to be two big differences in thickening and seasoning, either you love the cloves or not, and you swear by bread crumbs as "the" thickener, or you use potato to thicken. I'm not sure if the potato group uses mashed or grated in the pork mixture.

Tourtieres filling is also tasty to fill small tart shells, trim with a maple leaf cutout on top, and serve as hors d'oeuvres.

I looked around the house for the index card file my Mom had a lot of her recipes in, but it seems to be temporarily misplaced (I wonder if I gave it to my sister?), however, Im pretty sure she used potatoes in it.
EDIT: I just got off the phone with my sister in Maine and she has the recipe file and will email me Mom's version. My sister informed me that Mom did indeed make these quite frequently on Christmas Eve, she used coarse mashed potatoes and a full top crust that was cut with slits to look like a Christmas tree. They were small, single serving pies.

Maria wrote:

Richard...that pumpkin roll sounds really delicious...is there any way Dina let us have the recipe?

Maria,

I'll post the recipe tomorrow. It takes 2 days to make the darn things. Involving baking the cake in a thin layer on a cookie pan then up-ending it onto powdered sugar coated kitchen towel...then carefully rolling the cake and towel into a tube and refrigerating overnighy..then unrolling the and stuffing.

I've tried to help on this project a few times, but have ended up splitting a roll a couple of times. Just don't have the touch for it...So Dina usually does the unroll / roll up phase...

Richard

Thanks Richard and thank Dina too!

I just received the following email from my sister regarding Tortiere:

Hi Howie,

Here's Mom's recipe for Tortiere:

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut up
#1 ground pork
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup beef broth
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves

(can also use 3/4 tsp sage in place of ginger/cloves)

Boil potatoes. Drain and mash. Brown pork. Drain off fat. Add remaining ingredients, except potatoes, plus 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Cover and simmer 20 ,minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaf. Add potatoes and cool this mixture.

When cool, place in a pie shell, imbedded with thyme leaves. Imbed thyme leaves into top crust and cover pie, being sure to vent the top crust (Mom used to do this by making a stick type of Christmas tree).

Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. To prevent crust edges from browning too fast, cover edges with aluminum foil and then remove half way through cooking.

Best served with herbed, roasted carrots, a green salad and gherkin pickles.