Your Christmas/holiday menu?

[Jenise]

Here at Chez J, I'm cooking on Christmas Eve but not Christmas day.

Here's the slightly retro menu I'm planning at the moment:

Salad of chiogga beets and micro greens with fresh horseradish vinaigrette
Gorgonzola souffles
Beef Wellington made with prime filet mignon, parsnip puree and green beans almondine
Almond and Chestnut cake topped with pomegranite-soaked oranges (for red color) and basil

What's on at your house?

Christmas Eve: Shrimp Cocktail, Salmon Poke, Seafood Mac 'n' Cheese, Apple-Fennel-Jicama Salad, Ambrosia, Eggnog

Christmas Day: Chopped Salad, Baked Ham with Glazed Apricots, Butternut Squash with Maple and Ginger, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, English Christmas Pudding, Cinnamon Ice Cream

The pudding was made in the summer. The eggnog, ice cream, and cranberry can be made ahead. The Ham bakes a long time but is not hard to prep. The Squash is being brought by a guest. Most of the rest are quick; only the Mac requires some serious persistence.

One son is having a crab feed on Christmas Eve, we are supplying the Dungeness crab. Christmas day is at another sons and this year they are serving Lasagna. It is usually prime rib which dil's dad cooks to perfection. Due to some unforseen issues, it was decided to keep it simple this year. I am providing a salad and I think the hostess is also making meatballs, and bread. Next day, we are having a get together with my step-mom, brother and his wife where we will finish off the crab with some assorted condiments. All good, all fun with family.

This stuff all sounds good.

For some reason, in my family we get all worked up over Thanksgiving but then for Christmas everyone is too tired to put much effort into planning the meal. It's a lot simpler. Of course the chaos with the gifts and the complicated parceling out of the gifts is another story!

For a number of reasons, we're just kinda tapped out as far as energy for the holidays goes, so we've not planned a meal yet. I'm starting to think about it, but nothing's really grabbed me. The fallback will be dry aged ribeyes from the place around the corner. They age the meat there and get pretty high quality stuff, so that will certainly do if that's what we end up with.

Kind of different here this year. Out-of town folks are coming in after Christmas and I'm visiting others on Christmas Day. I'm doing a small Christmas Eve dinner - Cream of Broccoli Soup, Tortiere, herb roasted carrots, salad, bread and eggnog-panettone bread pudding. On Friday after Christmas I'm having a big party for about 30 - Pulled pork sandwiches, Sicilian pizza, salads, and assorted munchoids.

On Christmas Day, we're going next-door to the neighbors for a huge feast. So I am making just a light meal for the two of us on Christmas Eve. We'll start with smoked trout pate on crackers, with Ruinart champagne. The main will be roasted cod (husband's request) with a saffron cream sauce (inspired by discussions here -- I really wanted to try such a sauce), a rutabaga-potato gratin (with milk, butter, gruyere and mozzarella topping -- I tried rutabaga for the first time making a Gordon Ramsay winter minnestrone and got hooked, so wanted to try a rutabaga-based gratin), and a winter salad of greens, toasted walnuts, radishes and celery with a creamy dressing. The wine will probably be a rich white Burgundy -- 2007 Girardin Puligny-Montrachet (if any one has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them...not entirely sure what would work best with this main. Also considered a rich white Graves) We'll end with a trio of cheeses. Wishing everyone a great Christmas! cheers, Bonnie

Here at Chez J, I'm cooking on Christmas Eve but not Christmas day.

Here's the slightly retro menu I'm planning at the moment:

Salad of chiogga beets and micro greens with fresh horseradish vinaigrette
Gorgonzola souffles
Beef Wellington made with prime filet mignon, parsnip puree and green beans almondine
Almond and Chestnut cake topped with pomegranite-soaked oranges (for red color) and basil

What's on at your house?

Well I was planning a simpler meal around prime rib, but I think I'll just come up to your house. <Checks Travelocity for flights to SeaTac>.

Seriously, that's a nice lineup. I'd never heard of chiogga beets and will now have to try to find some around here. I rarely bake but the souffles sound intriguing as does the cake. I can probably manage the cake (found a few recipes online) but the souffle would probably exasperate me.

What seasonings do you use for the parsnip puree? I recently made purees from sweet potatoes seasoned with garlic and lemon and another from yams seasoned with ginger and cinnamon (butter and half and half in both of them).

This has me thinking not only about using parsnips but rutabaga and turnips as well.

We're fitting in with other people's plans on Christmas day. Our riding instructions are: bring champagne. Other people are doing the cooking.

Boxing Day, we're having the young folks around for dinner. The Francophile and I have been combing the vegetarian cookbooks for inspiration. One of our diners is vegetarian and we plan to build the meal around several tasty vegetarian dishes, with chicken, ham, smoked salmon and prawns offered as side dishes for those who like meat and seafood on their plates. Still haven't quite decided what to make.

Mine's much more retro - and indeed it's just a roast of the type we do every week. Friends are coming to us so there will be four at table.

Champagne aperitif - Taittinger NV

Joint of beef with horseradish and mustard crumb crust, roasted potatoes and roasted parsnips, steamed brussels sprouts, green beens and cauliflower florets.

Wine - maybe Chateau Batailley 1994 and 2006
or Delheim Grand Reserve 1999 and Beyerskloof Field Blend 2003 ('cos we're trying to get them to commit to holidaying in South Africa with us)

Plum tart with vanilla ice cream

Wine - maybe Badischer Winzerkeller Münzinger Kapellenberg Gewürztraminer Eiswein Cuvée Antiqua 2007 (from a holiday on the Rhine we all took earlier this year)
or Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 1999

Afterwards some board games and Dr Who and Downton Abbey Christmas speciasl on TV with nibbles including samosas, onion bhajies, mincepies, Christmas cake, coffee and Niepoort Port Late Bottled Vintage 2001

Yum, everyone's menus sound terrific!

My good friend of mine in the neighborhood and I are preparing Christmas Eve dinner together for a group of mutual friends. There will be ten of us. Can't wait--we did the shopping together yesterday and had a ball. Doing most of the prep together tomorrow.

-Traditional Cheese Ball served with Red Pepper Jelly and assorted crackers and apple slices
-Ina Garten's Pan Fried Onion Dip with potato chips
-Vera Bradley's salad - Boston and Red Leaf lettuces with pears and candied walnuts and a lemon vinagrette
-William's Sonoma Croissants (these are the best)
-Roast Bone-in Prime Rib of Beef with a Dijon, Garlic, Rosemary and Pepper crust.
-Ina's Potato and Fennel Gratin (can you tell we are both Ina fans?)
-Roasted Brussels Sprouts
-White chocolate bread pudding with fresh Raspberry sauce (festive looking with the red and white)
-See's candies

[Jenise]

Here at Chez J, I'm cooking on Christmas Eve but not Christmas day.

Here's the slightly retro menu I'm planning at the moment:

Salad of chiogga beets and micro greens with fresh horseradish vinaigrette
Gorgonzola souffles
Beef Wellington made with prime filet mignon, parsnip puree and green beans almondine
Almond and Chestnut cake topped with pomegranite-soaked oranges (for red color) and basil

What's on at your house?

Well I was planning a simpler meal around prime rib, but I think I'll just come up to your house. <Checks Travelocity for flights to SeaTac>.

Seriously, that's a nice lineup. I'd never heard of chiogga beets and will now have to try to find some around here. I rarely bake but the souffles sound intriguing as does the cake. I can probably manage the cake (found a few recipes online) but the souffle would probably exasperate me.

What seasonings do you use for the parsnip puree? I recently made purees from sweet potatoes seasoned with garlic and lemon and another from yams seasoned with ginger and cinnamon (butter and half and half in both of them).

Doug, how sweet. You'd be welcome at my table any time!

Go do a Google Images and you'll see what chiogga beets look like. Cooked, the red and white colors are more brilliant than raw, but they still retain a stripe that reminds a bit of candy cane. Obviously, that makes them a perfect Christmas beet, and particularly lovely in a salad if you can find small ones to cut in vertical wedges. Tastewise, they're a tad less sweet than a purple beet with an earthier flavor, which I prefer to their darker cousins so the color's just a bonus but oh what a bonus it is!

Soufffles are probably easier than you think. And for a dinner party, as long as you have control of the schedule and be sure that diners are ready to eat this course exactly 15 minutes after you put them in the oven, you can prep the parts separately well in advance and then just whip the egg whites and combine at the last minute for baking.

Hadn't thought about how I'll season the parsnip puree yet, but probably nutmeg and chives. Nutmeg is Christmas-y and chives are great color, and in combination they enhance/magnify each other's flavor.

Hadn't thought about how I'll season the parsnip puree yet, but probably nutmeg and chives. Nutmeg is Christmas-y and chives are great color, and in combination they enhance/magnify each other's flavor.

That's the kind I season my parsnip puree. Mace, chives and a little lemon juice. Your retro menu sounds very good !

Yum, everyone's menus sound terrific!

My good friend of mine in the neighborhood and I are preparing Christmas Eve dinner together for a group of mutual friends. There will be ten of us. Can't wait--we did the shopping together yesterday and had a ball. Doing most of the prep together tomorrow.

-Traditional Cheese Ball served with Red Pepper Jelly and assorted crackers and apple slices
-Ina Garten's Pan Fried Onion Dip with potato chips
-Vera Bradley's salad - Boston and Red Leaf lettuces with pears and candied walnuts and a lemon vinaigrette
-William's Sonoma Croissants (these are the best)
-Roast Bone-in Prime Rib of Beef with a Dijon, Garlic, Rosemary and Pepper crust.
-Ina's Potato and Fennel Gratin (can you tell we are both Ina fans?)
-Roasted Brussels Sprouts
-White chocolate bread pudding with fresh Raspberry sauce (festive looking with the red and white)
-See's candies

Carrie, your menu sounds so yummy. I am an Ina fan too,,,love her style of entertaining. I have her cookbooks and just recently bought Full Proof. I am loving the recipes and last week made the truffle butter mashed potatoes. It is addictive. Also, since we have lemons from our tree right now, I have been making her lemon bars, which IMHO are the best out there. The only tweak I make is to put lemon zest in the crust. I made the mistake last year of making them for my hair colorist, mani and pedi lady, and a few others. This year, they asked me for them!!! Of course, I was happy to oblige.

[Jenise]

Yum, everyone's menus sound terrific!

My good friend of mine in the neighborhood and I are preparing Christmas Eve dinner together for a group of mutual friends. There will be ten of us. Can't wait--we did the shopping together yesterday and had a ball. Doing most of the prep together tomorrow.

-Traditional Cheese Ball served with Red Pepper Jelly and assorted crackers and apple slices

Great idea!

Lit on fire by your idea, today I made some pistachio crusted cheese balls to take as gifts to Christmas dinner in Vancouver on Xmas day. From what I understand, it's a fairly American tradition and somewhat foreign to their ways. So I'm sure the recipients will all roll up their ideas at the thought, but then they'll LOVE what they've been given because they're so darn good.

We will be visiting my in-laws in Maryland so I am not sure of all the menu details but the 3 nights in general have some interesting variety

Tonight (Sunday) southern food. I cooked up a mess of collards and we'll be taking that down. I also have pulled about 20 bottles of wine, I know we'll be bringing some of it back, but I want to be able to choose in real time. And that's for all 3 nights. My b.i.l. has said he has some high quality "locavore" pork belly for that meal and he has a smoker that he's very fond of so I suppose there will be something bacon-y.

Tomorrow night -- a "fancy" meal centered around a beef tenderloin -- this is marinated and turns out interesting (despite my prejudice that tenderloin is under-flavored, I've had the dish before). I have some good Bordeaux for that -- a couple of bottles of Leoville Barton. For that meal -- right now I am making up some blini batter which I think will "keep" in a cool place, and we are taking the last of the good caviar I bought, some lox, chives and creme fraiche. That will be the first course, with Champagne. And I'm taking a few ounces of Spanish "bellota" ham, probably also an appetizer. Louise made a chocolate chestnut cake, not sure which night that will be.

Christmas night -- supper at a fish restaurant in DC (McCormick and Schmick's) and entertainment at the Kennedy Center. The restaurant, I think, is BYOB, and I've got it covered if it is. (PS It's not.)

SOME year it would be interesting to cook the Italian Christmas Eve meal, of "Sette Pesce" or seven fishes. Or even better -- find a restaurant that serves that meal, I know there are a couple around here.

Roast Guinea-fowl with roast spuds & veggies to be decided.
Might try and make a pud, but as it's just the two of us, something nice and relaxed is the way we tend to go

[Jenise]

SOME year it would be interesting to cook the Italian Christmas Eve meal, of "Sette Pesce" or seven fishes. Or even better -- find a restaurant that serves that meal, I know there are a couple around here.

You're definitely going to be dining in style! And I so agree with your last statement; it would be a great meal to make as a collaborative effort with a group of like-minded friends, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, one would need a better variety of seafood than we get here in the pitifully under-supplied PNW.

[Jenise]

Roast Guinea-fowl with roast spuds & veggies to be decided.
Might try and make a pud, but as it's just the two of us, something nice and relaxed is the way we tend to go

Oh yum. Guinea fowl is the best poultry on the planet. Lucky you!

On christmas eve we'll have :
Appetizer: graved lax with mustard sauce,
main dish: roasted gilthead fillet in potato slices on fennel sauce,
dessert: Tiramisu my style.
On the 25th of december:
Appetizer: roasted Quail on parsley root puree with pear chutney,
main dish: rack of deer cooked at low temperature with bavarian dumplings, brussels sprouts leaves on coffee-cinnamon-pepper sauce,
dessert: strawberry-mascarpone-mousse on sourcream-amaretto-sauce with puff pastry stick.

Merry christmas to you all

Yum, everyone's menus sound terrific!

My good friend of mine in the neighborhood and I are preparing Christmas Eve dinner together for a group of mutual friends. There will be ten of us. Can't wait--we did the shopping together yesterday and had a ball. Doing most of the prep together tomorrow.

-Traditional Cheese Ball served with Red Pepper Jelly and assorted crackers and apple slices

Great idea!

Lit on fire by your idea, today I made some pistachio crusted cheese balls to take as gifts to Christmas dinner in Vancouver on Xmas day. From what I understand, it's a fairly American tradition and somewhat foreign to their ways. So I'm sure the recipients will all roll up their ideas at the thought, but then they'll LOVE what they've been given because they're so darn good.

That's a great idea Jenise! What a nice gift, who wouldn't like that? Cheese ball turned out great. We really enjoyed "cleaning" the bowl with a finger after it was done.

Yum, everyone's menus sound terrific!

My good friend of mine in the neighborhood and I are preparing Christmas Eve dinner together for a group of mutual friends. There will be ten of us. Can't wait--we did the shopping together yesterday and had a ball. Doing most of the prep together tomorrow.

-Traditional Cheese Ball served with Red Pepper Jelly and assorted crackers and apple slices
-Ina Garten's Pan Fried Onion Dip with potato chips
-Vera Bradley's salad - Boston and Red Leaf lettuces with pears and candied walnuts and a lemon vinaigrette
-William's Sonoma Croissants (these are the best)
-Roast Bone-in Prime Rib of Beef with a Dijon, Garlic, Rosemary and Pepper crust.
-Ina's Potato and Fennel Gratin (can you tell we are both Ina fans?)
-Roasted Brussels Sprouts
-White chocolate bread pudding with fresh Raspberry sauce (festive looking with the red and white)
-See's candies

Carrie, your menu sounds so yummy. I am an Ina fan too,,,love her style of entertaining. I have her cookbooks and just recently bought Full Proof. I am loving the recipes and last week made the truffle butter mashed potatoes. It is addictive. Also, since we have lemons from our tree right now, I have been making her lemon bars, which IMHO are the best out there. The only tweak I make is to put lemon zest in the crust. I made the mistake last year of making them for my hair colorist, mani and pedi lady, and a few others. This year, they asked me for them!!! Of course, I was happy to oblige.

You are a nice client! Thanks for the tip about the lemon bars. I usually make the ones from Joy of Cooking, but will try Ina's next time. Merry Christmas Karen!

Today for nine or ten we are having beef tenderloin en croute, steamed asparagus with Hollandaise, glazed carrots, and orange rolls. Tomorrow for the same number, it will be glazed ham, candied sweet potatoes, green beans almandine, and braided potato bread. Pinot today and Merlot tomorrow.

[Jenise]

On christmas eve we'll have :
Appetizer: graved lax with mustard sauce,
main dish: roasted gilthead fillet in potato slices on fennel sauce,
dessert: Tiramisu my style.
On the 25th of december:
Appetizer: roasted Quail on parsley root puree with pear chutney,
main dish: rack of deer cooked at low temperature with bavarian dumplings, brussels sprouts leaves on coffee-cinnamon-pepper sauce,
dessert: strawberry-mascarpone-mousse on sourcream-amaretto-sauce with puff pastry stick.

Merry christmas to you all

It all sounds fantastic, Heinz. No problem getting fresh salmon over there this time of year?