Christmas Cooking

Today I am making cinnamon rolls as big as cow turds.
rwj

Nanaimo bars and cranberry mustard here.

Getting ready to head to Tucson, where we'll be doing our holiday cooking in borrowed kitchens. Should be fun!

I mixed up a batch of cookie dough earlier this evening, based on Celia's just-posted recipe. Can't wait to bake and eat.

[Jenise]

On Monday we smoked a ten pound prime rib, prime rib is something we love at Christmas but we won't be cooking at home on Christmas Eve, so we splurged early in the week. It was just for the two of us: we love leftovers!

True love has pounds and pounds of unsalted butter softening all over the kitchen. Sounds like lots and lots of shortbread!

Chocolate chip shortbread and mediants today.

We're going down to our place in FL for the holidays. Don't have quite the kitchen I have here in MA, but I'll give it the old college try. For Christmas dinner, I'm going with entrecotes w/ marchand de vin and some French Tomato Soup.

Seafood extravaganza for Saturday (raw clams, shrimp cocktail, crab cakes, pasta with tarragon and lobster).

Roast duck, cheesey potatoes, green salad, orange-cranberry dressing for Sunday.

We don't have much cooking to do this year. Taking a cheese platter to my family's gathering on Christmas day; taking booze to the Francophile's family gathering on Boxing day. Other people are taking care of the big ticket items. Suits me.

However, the Francophile is about to launch into making his now famous chocolate cream liqueur. He has three bottles of whisky lined up, and a large amount of both milk and dark chocolate.

However, the Francophile is about to launch into making his now famous chocolate cream liqueur. He has three bottles of whisky lined up, and a large amount of both milk and dark chocolate.

Well we weren't planning on a holiday in Adelaide but!!!!!

Due to some unfortunate family stuff we are having a simpler family Christmas, basically cold buffet (it will be hot and humid with possible thunder storms, quoth the weather girl) My brother and wife are bringing seafood and we are "doing the meat" normally ham and turkey, but I am so over turkey! I think I will roast a pork loin, maybe stuffed, cool and slice serving the crackling as a side!! some very good ham, sliced (Or maybe if I can get some pickled pork I could smoke that in my new gas water smoker), or brine a pork loin) Hmmm. I am also tempted to cook some rare roast beef, but only I would eat it (now is there a problem with this picture, ? no) With the obvious condiments. Mother is doing salads and the trad. pud.
Hopefully Christmas cheer will prevail and then we will decamp to our country estate (HOho) for 2 weeks R and R

Hope everyone has a great festive season

[Jenise]

On Christmas day I'm baking a ham. Conventional but a personal favorite, and the leftovers are destined for Hungarian cabbage rolls which is an even better reason.

Tomorrow we're going to sis-in-law's, no one's Italian but doing the feast of 7 fishes. Betsy is making gravlax, I'm making a baccala soup, I think Cal is doing calamari, shrimp, crab, snapper (and some other fish). Unfortunately I can eat but not really drink, as I'm leading a load of volunteers into city for late night revelry with some folks on street.

I will however imbibe Christmas Day. We're having 10 for dinner, doing both a goose (Ming Tsai recipe, I picked up plum wine today) and a tenderloin (with orange sauce). Someone else is bringing appetizers, though I have white anchovies I'll do something wth. Assorted sides, someone is bringing a salad, couple desserts, and I have a very simple cheese plate.

Betsy has been making various fruitbreads and cookies for a week, given out to lots of friends and neighbors.

And we had latkes Tue night!

Hope everyone has a safe and blessed holiday

Tonight I'm making cookies as big as wolf turds.
rwj

No cooking for me over Christmas. I'm leaving it all up to my sister and her family.

I'm sure it will be fine....really.

Just decided on most of the menu tonight, based on what was available at the grocery store. OK, so I've been procrastinating going there all week.

Of course, Christmas Eve is always spaghetti in my family. My Dad is having his traditional huge bash with all family, friends, neighbors, strangers, etc invited to spend the evening and eat like crazy. I'll miss seeing everybody, again, but we will carry on with the spaghetti in Dad's honor. Liz will be with him, at least.

Christmas Day I'll bake some delicious and decadent pastry for breakfast, don't know what kind yet. We'll have to drink Bugey-Cerdon because we are out of the inexpensive house bubbly (Gruet Brut) for mimosas.

Dinner will be arugula salad, with burrata on garlic toasts, probably with tomatoes that are ripening on my counter that were harvested before the freeze a couple weeks ago (not summer perfect, but still pretty good!). Haricot verts sauteed in butter and garlic. Porcini risotto for the main. Pumpkin and lemon pies for adults, ice cream and Celia's Chocolate Chip Cookies for the non-pie-eating 11 year old. Wine will probably be something crisp and white with the salad and haricot verts, definitely something old and Northern Rhone with the risotto. I'll report back on what we drank!

Boxing Day, Traci Michaleson and Tony Velebil will be joining us for dinner, so we're thinking many pizzas and wine.

I have Apple-pecan cinnamon rolls rising as I type this, destined to be breakfast on Christmas morning, but one or three may well be tasted after baking.

Following Cindy's Polish traditions, tonight was shrimp cocktail with an 05 Latour Chablis, crab cakes with an 08 Tahbilk Marsanne, then sauteed green beans, grilled Chilean Coho salmon, and an 02 Lange Three Hills Cuvee pinot noir. Living the dream!

Tomorrow morning we'll have Bellinis along with a Servatii's cheese pocket while opening gifts. Dinner will feature roast prime rib and 89 Lynch-Bages. Other wines and food items will be included, let you know then.

89 Lynch-Bages.

We had that a couple weeks ago with the best fondue I've ever made. Phenomenal.

I have Apple-pecan cinnamon rolls rising as I type this, destined to be breakfast on Christmas morning, but one or three may well be tasted after baking.

When will they be coming out of the oven, RR? I'll drive up!

Following Cindy's Polish traditions, tonight was shrimp cocktail with an 05 Latour Chablis, crab cakes with an 08 Tahbilk Marsanne, then sauteed green beans, grilled Chilean Coho salmon, and an 02 Lange Three Hills Cuvee pinot noir. Living the dream!

Tomorrow morning we'll have Bellinis along with a Servatii's cheese pocket while opening gifts. Dinner will feature roast prime rib and 89 Lynch-Bages. Other wines and food items will be included, let you know then.

How was the Tahbilk? I don't recall whether I have had the 08 or not, or even if I have any. I do have 10 or 11 bottles of the 09 though and it is the best young Tahbilk I have ever had. Not sure what that means for aging though. For the Christmas pork roast I have decanted a 1998 Musar white, This is the best bottle of the 98 I have had...at least straight from the bottle. I decanted it about 4PM yesterday, and we expect to eat around 2PM today. So, that will be 22 hours decanted and kept in the unheated garage.

On Monday we smoked a ten pound prime rib, prime rib is something we love at Christmas but we won't be cooking at home on Christmas Eve, so we splurged early in the week. It was just for the two of us: we love leftovers!

Nothing better. We always reserve the bones for leftovers. I sprinkle the cut side with kosher salt and black pepper and stick them under the broiler until they get a little crisp. Then we gnosh away! I need to make one this week! We went to friends last night for dinner and I wasn't sure what was on the menu, so got us lamb chops for tonight. She served beef tenderloin with gorgonzola sauce--delicious--but now we are craving Prime Rib!

Yesterday was our big meal as some of us had to leave this morning. My brother-in-law grilled about 20 pounds of New York steaks and ribs for the 8 adults and 7 kids attending. The meat was excellent last night and made for some delicious steak sandwiches for lunch today. My wife and I contributed roasted brussels sprouts (just simply oiled and S&P'd) and a very decadent version of potatoes au gratin. The potatoes were simmered in heavy cream with thyme and garlic, and then baked a while with some added horseradish and parmesan cheese to top. My wife made a caramel-pine nut-rosemary tart for dessert. We also had bagna cauda, a broccoli dish, and ice cream for the kids. Lots of various wines to go with.

I had a meat hangover this morning, but it was all worth it.

Christmas Eve was dinner for 14 at my house with all my sons assembled for the first time in 2-1/2 years. I served:
Soup (red & green pepper consommé)
Rolled, stuffed pork loin w/apple gravy (from a suggestion, not a recipe by Jenise - thanks, Jenise it was great)
Bread
Brown Rice Risotto w/mushrooms
Salad
Dessert - Christmas cookies, apple pies and coffee

Christmas Day was an open house, buffet type spread, consisting of:
Pulled pork (my son, Dan did the pork) on home made rolls
Fruit salad
Shrimp cocktail
Mac & cheese
Baked beans
veggie platter
cheese platter
Nachos
cookies

Tonight will be leftovers.
Regarding Christmas Eve, we have made lasagna every year for years and years. Two of my boys looked at me with one raised eyebrow when I told them I was doing the pork loin. And said "If you're not making lasagna, then whatever you make, you'd better pull out all the stops." He loved it. The stuffing was dried, leftover Parker house rolls processed in the food processor, chopped mushrooms (portabella) minced onion, butter and 2 parts chicken stock to 1 part beef stock. This was spread on the butterflied pork loin, then topped with a layer of cooked, chopped spinach, then rolled and tied. I seared the outside on a griddle with bacon grease and cooked it in a a convection over to 145 degF.