What’s going to be on your Christmas dinner plate?
A couple of years ago I made a variation of this, without the turkey and substituting a small leg of lamb for the pork and some ribs for the beef. The roasted veg were amazing and there was plenty leftover to make shepherd’s pie the next day.
Not sure what to do this year – any suggestions? 
casa azahar 
Our traditional Christmas dinner is Beef Bourginon served with egg noodles. It is something that cooks slowly in the oven while you attend to all the festivities of the day. Very tasty, very easy, not too heavy.
LikeLike
In the past I have been a turkey fundamentalist, but this year there are less of us so we might just go for a roast goose. Same price as a turkey, but feeds less and tastes better. Also has the benefit that you can use the fat that drips off it to cook astoundingly good roast potatoes for a month afterwards.
One thing that always features is red cabbage cooked with onion, apple, cloves and cinnamon. Where’s that drool smiley gone? 😉
LikeLike
Roast duck with morello cherry sauce as main course and vegetables of choice.
Fried langoustines with extra garlic as a starter.
Plenty of good dry white champagne to accompany the starter. A good Merlot to go with the duck
LikeLike
When my mother announced that she’d be at my place for Christmas, she promised that we wouldn’t have to do anything especially festive. I’m looking forward to finding out if she’ll be happy with standard catering, or if she’s secretly hoping that I’ll relent and do something involving a turkey and all that stuff.
Let’s see who cracks first.
Anyway, it’ll be about 35C; the ‘traditional’ Christmas meal is an absurd concept on a day like that. Dolmades and salads might be a better idea.
LikeLike
Something warm and cozy if it’s cold and snowy outside. And some mulled wine to go along with it all.
–L
LikeLike
Hmmm, I’m always partial to turkey — but not necessarily roast bird. I once made some baked turkey slices, which topped some lovely stuffing made with dried veggies, dried fruit, nuts and wild rice. Don’t have the recipe anymore; it was great, though.
Maybe some pork tenderloin, or prime rib? Don’t know what I’m going to do, as I’m supposed to be on another improving program from the doc. I ususally spend Xmas by myself anyway, so I’m not sure it matters.
LikeLike
I don’t cook for Xmas, but I will be going to a couple of dinners with K’s family. Xmas eve will be at his parents’ house. There will, as in previous years, be nothing suitable for me to eat, and I will have to bring something along for myself. They usually have turkey, stuffing which has touched the turkey, and rice pudding which his mother refuses not to add almonds to. There may be some deviled eggs, at least.
Xmas day we will visit K’s aunt, and she will have at least veggie lasagna and/or mostaciolli with marinara sauce. And quite possibly some lovely mashed potatoes.
LikeLike
Hmmm…not very generous of your in-laws not to make any food you can eat, PC. 😕 Especially as it’s dead easy to put extra stuffing into a tin-foil pouch with a few dollops of butter and bake it separately.
SC, I’ve spent quite a few Christmasses on my own and always made a special effort to make myself a nice meal. If you like fresh salmon, email me and I’ll send you my recipe for salmon steaks with a ham & cava sauce – very easy to make for one person and soooooooo yum.
I also have a great recipe for fried chicken breasts breaded with finely chopped pecans and served with a dijon-sourcream sauce, but somehow I don’t think your doctor would approve of that one. 😉
LikeLike
What a nice hostess you must be, az. Sometimes I wonder if I’m being unreasonable, hoping that something might be prepared “specially” that I might eat. Like why not put something other than an almond in the rice pudding? Oh, well. K says he’s volunteered us to bring a big jar of lingonberries, some pickled herring, and some funky Colby cheese with caraway seeds in it- YUM!!
I’d like to see the salmon recipe, too. No idea what would make a ham substitute, but I’m interested in what else you put in your sauce. Of course, Dijon-cream sauce sounds to die for, too!
LikeLike
“What a nice hostess you must be, az. Sometimes I wonder if I’m being unreasonable, hoping that something might be prepared “specially” that I might eat.”
Nice? 😕
What I find totally unreasonable (not to mention incredibly rude)is inviting someone to your home for a meal and then only preparing food you know they can’t/won’t eat.
LikeLike
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks it’s rude. When we had them for dinner, guess who cooked meat? Thought I was being overly touchy.
Sometimes, holidays bring out the worst in people… but I don’t want to get off on THAT tangent.
Wonder what would happen if I made Christmas dinner at our place? I should try it sometime, and conveniently “forget” that everyone else eats turkey. 😉
LikeLike
No,No, PC, you are NOT overly touchy. If you invite someone to your place to eat dinner, it behooves you to provide your guest with something they can eat. However, if you cook dinner that is to your taste and the invitees “can” eat it, that is not rude.
You making Christmas dinner at your place and not making turkey is not rude. Your inlaws are rude.
LikeLike
Blimey most of the fun of inviting people is making something they’ll love. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a ****
LikeLike
I have to agree that most of the fun- for me anyway- is making stuff the people I’m hostessing for will love. If I also happen to like it, that’s just a bonus. 😉
I’m going to enjoy Christmas dinner, anyway. I hope everyone else will, too!
Dan mentioned some droolworthy cabbage… sounds divine!
I sometimes get all nostaglic about Christmas dinners with my family, while my sister and I were little and it was still nice. My mom used to bake awesome cookies, and she made great hors d’ouvres.
LikeLike
Salmon a la Ribereña
4 salmon steaks
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
250 gr. diced cooked ham
1/2 cup cava (or thereabout)
Salt the salmon steaks and let them sit for 30 minutes, then dredge with flour. Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan and put in the fish, moderating the heat so that the fish cooks through and browns nicely. Remove to a platter and keep warm.
In the same butter/oil mixture sauté the diced ham. Stir in 1 tbsp flour and then add the cava and a bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Simmer, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Use a bit more cava, if needed, to thin the sauce. Pour over salmon and serve with sprigs of parsley.
I love this with steamed asparagus and either wildrice or boiled new potatoes.
LikeLike
I can vouch for that. Lovely.
Don’t go much on turkey. And why oh why do people eat brussels sprouts at Christmas? (Or any other time, actually.)
LikeLike
I’ve never seen brussels sprouts served on Christmas in my life. In fact, the first I’d ever heard of it was in the Christmas episode of “Bottom”.
Although I actually like brussels sprouts.
I’m going to share that recipe with someone at work who loves both salmon and ham. I don’t think I could get away with substitutions using that recipe- not even if I used soy ham. 😉
LikeLike
Mmmmm. I like brussels sprouts, if they’re fresh and small.
That salmon recipe looks great; I’ll try it soon! Cava, I assume, is one of those wonderful Spanish sparkling wines. 😉
LikeLike
I use Cava when I make make risotto, and have used it in other recipes that called for white wine. I’m not a big fan of white wines, but Cava (or that lovely Vinho Verde the Trader Joe’s carries) tastes good enough for me to finish the bottle off before it goes flat. It makes nice mimosas, too.
LikeLike
Brussels sprouts are a very traditional Christmas veg in the UK, though when I had them there at family Christmas dinners they were waayyy overcooked and quite disgusting. I’ve promised Nog that I will make him some perfectly-cooked sprouts some day – he looked a bit dubious.
Meanwhile, you can’t find parsnips in Spain (or at least, not in Seville) which is a shame as they are so fabulous with a roast dinner.
I’m kinda liking the sound of that Beef Bourginon, hmh – can you post a recipe for it?
LikeLike
No parsnips? In the US, they’re not all that mainstream, and yet I can still see bags of them (packaged like carrots) during the holidays, at some stores.
I had to laugh over the vegetable comment! I once had a boyfriend who paid me the highest compliment he knew, that until he dated me, he didn’t realize that cooked vegetables came in any color other than gray…! 😉
LikeLike
The local whole foods sells parsnips year round, but during autumn and winter they have tons and tons… I wish I could share some. Brussels sprouts seem to turn out much nicer cooked in a steamer basket than boiled directly in water, but I can eat them either way as long as they’re not overcooked and mushy. I agree with az that overcooked sprouts are disgusting.
LikeLike
I don’t boil my brussels sprouts, or steam them either, sort of…
I put the trimmed spouts in a saute pan, with about 1 tablespoon water (or broth or wine…) ber 10 sprouts, then I partially cover them. When the pan is almost dry, I add pepper, a spritz of lemon juice and then when done, I top them with just a couple of shavings of the GOOD parmesan, Reggiano Parmigano. YUM.
LikeLike
That sounds fabulous, SC. I’ll definitely make that for myself sometime. I think it might be the actual taste of sprouts that Nog doesn’t like, as he says he also doesn’t like cauliflower. Mind you, he also said he didn’t like avocados before he tasted my guacamole.
LikeLike
I found this over on the food pornographer’s blog … looks like it would make a fab Christmas dinner.
Perhaps if I ask real nice she’ll give me instructions for roasting the pork…
LikeLike
Mmmmm . . . a friend of mine went to London last week and brought me back some mince pies, which I picked up last night. They won’t last until Christmas dinner but that’s alright – I’m not one for dessert anyhow.
What I do enjoy, however, is having a mince pie for brekky during the Christmas season – so I’ve just had my first one. And it’s another thing that Nog says he doesn’t like – too bad! 😉
Also, just in time for the 12 days of Christmas. 🙂
LikeLike
What precisely are mincepies, anyway? I’ve always thought they were made from dried fruit or something like that. But I was reading a blog a couple of days ago that seemed to imply otherwise, and I was too lazy to join that site just to ask…
LikeLike
Yes, they’re fruit. Dried fruit, soaked in who-knows-what, and encased in some of the world’s best shortcrust pastry. Delicious things, they are. I can’t be doing with Christmas in general, but I’m always ready to grab a mince pie…
LikeLike
SC, a mince pie is what we’d call a tart in North America. And here is some info about the filling.
Ivan is right that normally they are made with wonderful shortcrust pastry. And mostly these days they aren’t made with any meat products, just dried fruit, nuts, spices … *drool*
LikeLike
Noo, a pie has a pastry top, a tart is open – shurely?
LikeLike
Most tarts I’ve known have been pretty open, yes.
Mince pies can be open or closed – it’s the mince that matters, not the pieness.
LikeLike
Only in the UK (I think), Dan.
In Canada a pie is a big pastry shell (approx 9″ diameter)which could have either a pastry top or not.
The smaller version in Canada is called a tart.
In any case, my Selfridges mince pies came with a pastry top on them. And they are damn fine but I still think I prefer the M&S ones.
LikeLike
“Most tarts I’ve known have been pretty open, yes.”
🙄
I actually like lattice-top mince pies myself.
LikeLike
Well who would’ve thunk it?
You learn a new thing every day… 😉
LikeLike
We have a family story about the time my Grandma and Pop were eating in a restaurant with friends. She asked the waitress,
“Two coffees, please, and a couple of tarts for the gentlemen.”
For our vegetarian Xmas lunch we’re having…trimmings. Who needs turkey? The trimmings are the best part.
The joke that got Chris Evans fired from Radio 1:
Why are Brussels Sprouts like pubic hair?
You push them both aside and carry on eating.
I like sprouts! (;-)) – especially fried as bubble-n-squeak on Boxing Day.
LikeLike
btw..’trimmings’ = ….
Roast Potatoes (in butter)
Parsnips
Carrot and Swede
Stuffing
Bread sauce (my special recipe)
Gravy
…and sprouts.
And maybe more (as Poop calls them “Shrebtabubbles”)
LikeLike
Agree that the trimmings are the best part – even said so earlier in my original post when I linked to that Jamie Oliver dinner. Really, the roasted veg were to die for.
Bread sauce? Recipe please?
LikeLike
>
Two questions: Isn’t gravy kinda not vegetarian? What are “shrebtaubbles”? and Bread sauce recipe, please.
Okay that’s sorta three, but still… 😉
LikeLike
You know, I kinda am getting to loathe this, WordPress says you have to use HTML stuff…
In case no one read Edward’s earlier post, which I was commenting on, “Edward the Bonobo Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 6:34 pm
btw..’trimmings’ = ….
Roast Potatoes (in butter)
Parsnips
Carrot and Swede
Stuffing
Bread sauce (my special recipe)
Gravy
…and sprouts.
And maybe more (as Poop calls them “Shrebtabubbles”) ”
Hrruuuummmpppphhh. Almost a bah humbug to WP.
LikeLike
Found this article this morning that includes interesting ways to cook sprouts, a bread sauce recipe and also a fine sounding vegetarian gravy…
Top Chefs’ Tips For Christmas Dinner
“WordPress says you have to use HTML stuff…”
It does? Where? 😕
LikeLike
We finally decided on our Christmas menu. Today – Christmas Eve – we’re having salmon with cava sauce (the recipe in comment 15) with asparagus and steamed potatoes. And for tomorrow we have a pork roast … though I’m not sure if we bought the right thing. 😕 Anyhow, we’ll be having that with a medley of roasted veg and more cava.
What is everyone else having?
LikeLike
Tonight K and I are bringing some Swedish stuff for that side of his family- a jar of creamed pickled herring filets, a huge lump of caraway cheddar cheese, potato sausage (yuck- contains pork and veal), salami, limpa rye bread, and some fresh lingonberries. They’ll have rice pudding, a ham, and lots of breads and cheeses.
Tomorrow, I believe we will be served turkey and stuffing, and some broccoli with melted cheese. I’m not sure what else is on the menu, but I’m told there will be sufficient veggie-friendly and nut-free fare at each meal. Yay!
Your roasted veg medley, asparagus and steamed potatoes sound lovely!! So does the salmon- I love salmon! What kind of pork roast did you buy?
LikeLike
Geek and I just had dinner – we Swedes celebrate xmas today.
None of us are much for the traditional food so we skipped it. I had oven grated sandwiches with scallops, swedish caviar, chopped red onion and creme fraiche.
I made the two dishes Geek wanted. A casserole made of mashed turnips and carrots and a sweet pudding made of milk, eggs, cinnamon, sugar and rennet. The latter is something very typical for the north.
He had those with some smoked italian ham.
Of course we had rice porridge for breakfast. That is one of the few xmas foods I like, and I eat it occasionally as dinner. It takes an hour to cook, which makes it less frequent than it should be otherwise.
This year I also managed to find a drinkable non alcoholic mulled wine. We had that with cookies during the Disney hour.
The Disney hour – Xmas Eve 15 -16, is holier than almost anything in Sweden :happy: It started around 1960 in the then only TV channel that broadcasted old Disney cartoons as Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Cinderella feturing xmas themes mostly. Since cartoons on TV were rare in those days, and there only was one channel virtually everyone that had a TV watched the Disney hour.
Even nowadays, with a gazillion of TV channels and cartoons around the clock, some 5 million Swedes (out of 9 millions) watch that TV show. Don’t ever try to call someone between 15 and 16 xmas Eve. You’ll end up a life long enemy!
LikeLike
We’ve just had christmas eve dinner – salmon steaks in ham and cava sauce, with creamed potatoes and steamed asparagus.
Fabulous. To the point where description fails. Possibly the best meal I’ve had in my entire life.
LikeLike
He’s actually had that meal before but even I have to admit that it came out extra special last night … also made creamy puréed potatoes instead of steamed (mmmm – extra calories! 😉 )
Still not sure how to cook this pork thingy today. What we bought looks like a big slab of pork loin with skin on top. The other options were rolled pork loin thingys (no skin) and what looked like a ‘proper’ hunk of pork to roast, with some bone in it, but it also didn’t have any skin and we wanted crackling.
Wish us luck!
LikeLike
Good luck! I think if you score the skin a bit the roast will cook itself- my dad says the skin keeps it nice and moist. Enjoy!
We’re heading out for lunch with K’s mom’s side of the family at his parents’ house. I think they’re having a turkey, but we left all of the leftover stuff yesterday so I’ll still have all the cheese and herring I can muster.
I’ll check and see if anyone is online when we get back… I had no idea we were expected so darn early today!!
LikeLike
Well, it turns out this pork loin thingy is quite a bit different from a pork roast … also looks like we’re going to be eating really late as it’s now 7pm and I’ve just finished peeling the veg. Eep!
LikeLike
It was fabulous! But the roasted potatoes could have been crispier (I did them in olive oil in a separate pan as the roasting pan with the meat in it was full of other veg – red onion, garlic, carrots, turnip, celery, leeks).
Quite a bit leftover …
LikeLike