PrintHoliday Dinner - Hits and Misses
I've been away for a week so forgive me if this topic has already been done to death, but I was hoping people would share their holiday dinner successful dishes and failed dishes (if there were any). It's always good to have a few tricks up your sleeve when it comes to entertaining. I followed my own advice this year and did a lot of stuff that could be cooked ahead then reheated at the last minute. Our menu consisted of a roast whole beef tenderloin (rubbed in olive oil, sea salt, crushed pepper, garlic and rosemary), mixed green veg (snap peas, asparagus, and green beans blanched in the morning then sauteed with shallots while the meat rested), a cauliflower gratin (also blanched in the morning, assembled in the afternoon, then baked while the meat rested), and roasted new potatoes (also parboiled, then baked with the meat). It was the most successful holiday dinner I've done so far (I'm a 20something). What did you make? What worked well? What didn't?
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13 Comments:
Lex that sounds fabulous!!! It is amazing how the simple food still give you so much bang for your entertaining buck. I am always so proud when the 20 somethings do a great job of planning a menu and entertaining.
We did a bourbon coke glazed ham (fabulous)
Potato Gratin (scrumptious)
SE bacon brussels sprouts (a huge hit)
and Dorie Greenspans Devil's food white out cake (so fudgy good)
and a platter of the nearly famous Box O Love (my cookies)
I am doing the beef loin for NY's day.
JerzeeTomato at 11:02AM on 12/28/07
I wasn't allowed to cook for Christmas. My mother still reigns over all family and holiday dinners, which is fine with me. :)
We had venison steaks (freshly killed and cleaned by my father) with onion confit (onions, blue cheese, pine nuts & sultanas), potato and leek gratin and baby peas. The venison steaks were a new item this year -- we usually just have the deer meat processed into sausage, but my mother wanted to try something different. They were just slightly gamey (even after a long soak in milk), but still very good.
sheeats at 11:29AM on 12/28/07
I'm curious about the potato gratin and the potato leek gratin. I've had terrible luck with anything resembling "scalloped" potatoes.
lexophile at 12:38PM on 12/28/07
lex easy peasy. Nigella Lawson has a great recipe that is so hard to screw up and its a oven saver (meaning less oven time for rotation)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36628,00.html
my adaption is I used 4 cloves of roasted garlic and did not use the onions but used shallots. I would imagine that leeks would be very nice.
I also added to mine 1/2 cup of pecorino romano/reggiano parmigiano mix grated cheese. Lip smacking good. SO SO easy!!! Cannot go wrong here.
JerzeeTomato at 2:30PM on 12/28/07
I grew up and now live in "fly-over country", as the media call us. While I spent nearly 20 years away living in San Diego and Atlanta, we do holidays very traditional. While your menu sounds lovely, what a disappointment it would be in my family. For Christmas dinner "musts" on the table include: a ham from Heavenly Hams, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (using french style greene beans), Rhodes Texas-style rolls, devil eggs, cranberry jelly (from the can, sliced), cannied sweet potatoes/yams. I know this might not be a very sophisticated menu, but there's nothing like tradition. We have our dinner on Christmas Eve and then eat left overs on Christmas day. We love making sandwiches from the rolls and ham. We get the honey mustard from Heavenly Ham for the sandwiches. This year my hubby and I went to a Christmas dinner at a friends house. They had grilled tenderloin, champagne risotto, corn souffle and I brought the green bean casserole. Everything was yummy, but it sure didn't feel like a Christmas dinner. ;o)
Diana017 at 3:53PM on 12/28/07
Yes, that idea of cooking scalloped potatoes on top of the stove first is a real saver. I like green onions, myself. The goulash was okay, even though I forgot the sour cream with some unexpected last-minute arrivals, which also caused slight burning of the potato nik. Lentil salad with bacon (puy lentils from last trip to Paris; wonderful!) from one of this year's crop of bacon Cb's was a big hit, so was Margaret Fox's gingerbread from Cafe Beaujolais Cb (I double the fresh ginger) and the cranberry caramel tart from City Bakery Cb, although the caramel got evil on me. A great crust recipe, though. I think I'd probably up the cranberries, though, and cut back on the almonds if I get up the nerve to try it again.
lemons at 3:53PM on 12/28/07
@ JerzeeTomato - Thanks for the recipe, I'm looking forward to it.
@ Diana - It's funny, we do both Thanksgiving and Christmas twice (because my partner's family is in the US and we are in Canada). My family is more about good eats than tradition these days but his family is all about tradition, so we have the best of both.
@ lemons - Cranberry caramel tart sounds incredible.
lexophile at 4:45PM on 12/28/07
Wow, I just found this site - it looks great~!!
We love these potatoes from Flemings Steak House here in Sarasota - i've made the recipe but was not brave enough to put the plastic wrap in the oven?!!
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse Potatoes
1-1/2 C. heavy cream
1 C. half-and-half
2 t. salt
2 t. black pepper, finely ground
1 small jalapeño
3 oz. leeks
3 C. cheddar cheese, grated
4 lbs. russet potatoes
Heat cream and half-and-half in large sauce pot on medium high heat to simmer. Add salt and black pepper.
Finely dice the jalapeño. Cut off ends of leeks, clean them and dice only the bottom 3
inches of leek into 1/2-inch dice. Place jalapeños and leeks in a large mixing bowl. When cream is hot, remove from heat, add cheddar cheese and blend in thoroughly.
Peel potatoes and slice into 1/4-inch-thick circles on a mandoline slicer, by hand or with the slicing blade of a food processor. Combine potatoes and cream mixture in mixing bowl with leeks and jalapeño and mix well.
Spray sides and bottom of a 9 x 12-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place potato mixture in pan and evenly distribute the potatoes.
Cover with plastic wrap and then with aluminum foil. Bake in 350°F. oven for 35 to 45 minutes. Remove wrap and foil and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes to brown top.
6 to 8 servings.
floridayaya at 5:49PM on 12/28/07
This is my first post on the site and well timed as I am at home with the fam and terribly bored.
Usually we have a feast for about 20 and there are just four of us. We scaled back this year. What is great too is that everyone wants to contribute thier own dish which keeps things interesting. The saving grace is that we are all decent cooks by nature.
Mom was in charge of all the sides and the turkey. The sides consisted of collard greens which she flavrs with neck bones, crushed red peppers and garlic. There was also a vegetable lasagna made with spaghetti squash instead of pasta, soy cheese and some reggiano for flavor. Needless to say this was the dish that I was least excited to try but turned out to be the only dish that my mother has made where I have asked for the reciepie. (she threw it together, of course, all those years of experience "recipies. we don't need no stinkin recipies") The lasagna was a replacement for the four cheese, mushroom risotto that she usually makes. The turkey was smoked and amazing.
The old man also has a staple of making lamb with traditional Indian spices. Always amazing.
I made a cheese cake with a brandy snap cookie crust that has become one of my specialties this year.
britnlind at 6:31PM on 12/28/07
Cheesecake with brandy snap crust.....recipe? Come on share the wealth. That sounds sooooo good.
JerzeeTomato at 6:47AM on 12/29/07
My turkey tenderloin (seasoned with lemon, garlic, and fresh herbs) managed to come out way too salty. *sigh* I didn't even use very much salt at all.
But my chocolate chess pie (found on Gourmet) came out lovely! I added walnuts and did a cinnamon whipped cream on top. Delicious!
SparklingDiamond at 12:54PM on 12/29/07
Diana - your 'traditional' dinner sounds very much like ours! I love to cook new things, but the family only wants the food we grew up with on Christmas... the few times I tried to throw in my own touches (home made cranberry sauce instead of the canned stuff) it was met with 'this is good, but it's not the same'. sigh...
jeepgirl42 at 4:19PM on 12/29/07
The suprise hit of my Christmas Eve (other than the lobsters of course) were Twin Shrimp. Two jumbo shrimp, curled around each other yin/yang style - add a little chopped garlic, chopped tomatoes, S&P and bread crumbs, drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 15-20 minutes in a hot oven. The shrimp turned out succulent with just the right tooth. The secret is the round shape - they cook evenly.
chiff0nade at 9:11AM on 12/30/07