Christmas Dinner [General]
2008 Dec 26
I came home to my parents house and cooked.
The meal plan for Christmas day was
Brunch
Eggs Benny with low fat hollandaise
fruit salad
oj
coffee
Dinner
rillettes de canard with ACE baguettes
caesar salad
baked Nova Scotia scallops
Crab cakes
marinated grilled langoustines
green beans in shallot vinaigrette
lemon rice pilaf
dessert was a piece of fruit cake
Today we have a boxing day brunch with my brother:
Creamy scrambled eggs
Baked apple pancake with maple syrup
maple glazed bacon
baked back bacon
fruit platter with dip
oj
coffee
We decided to skip the bird this year as there were no picky guests for dinner(aka my brother and co.).
The meal plan for Christmas day was
Brunch
Eggs Benny with low fat hollandaise
fruit salad
oj
coffee
Dinner
rillettes de canard with ACE baguettes
caesar salad
baked Nova Scotia scallops
Crab cakes
marinated grilled langoustines
green beans in shallot vinaigrette
lemon rice pilaf
dessert was a piece of fruit cake
Today we have a boxing day brunch with my brother:
Creamy scrambled eggs
Baked apple pancake with maple syrup
maple glazed bacon
baked back bacon
fruit platter with dip
oj
coffee
We decided to skip the bird this year as there were no picky guests for dinner(aka my brother and co.).
2008 Dec 26
I decided to do the big meal on Christmas Eve, so Christmas could be nice and quiet - with leftovers!
We had:
turkey with stuffing and gravy
a nice butternut squash/Granny Smith/maple syrup dish
veggie slaw - no mayo, and great for my vegan guest
a traditional string bean casserole demanded by the youth
three kinds of cranberry sauce
and big black olives (also for a few of the kids)
a great big veggie salad (to help fill the vegan)
poached seasonal and dried fruit with vanilla ice cream
and cookies - hazelnut chocolate chip, brownies with mini peanut butter cups, biscotti, and more
We had:
turkey with stuffing and gravy
a nice butternut squash/Granny Smith/maple syrup dish
veggie slaw - no mayo, and great for my vegan guest
a traditional string bean casserole demanded by the youth
three kinds of cranberry sauce
and big black olives (also for a few of the kids)
a great big veggie salad (to help fill the vegan)
poached seasonal and dried fruit with vanilla ice cream
and cookies - hazelnut chocolate chip, brownies with mini peanut butter cups, biscotti, and more
2008 Dec 26
My family is also in the "keep it simple on Christmas and have the big blowout dinner later" camp because as my mom always said "Who the heck wants to follow getting up at 7am, opening presents, cookies, candies, family phone calls etc. with cooking an entire turkey dinner"? So the tradition was born to have lasagna on Christmas (easy since the entire thing could be made the day before if desired and just popped in the oven). So, last night I made:
A big gooey homemade lasagna with vegetarian meatballs (my sister is a veggie)
Ceasar Salad
Garlic Bread
Various holiday cookies and squares for dessert.
Later in January when my parents can get away to come and visit, we'll have Christmas #2 and I'll do turkey with all the trimmings *slurp*.
A big gooey homemade lasagna with vegetarian meatballs (my sister is a veggie)
Ceasar Salad
Garlic Bread
Various holiday cookies and squares for dessert.
Later in January when my parents can get away to come and visit, we'll have Christmas #2 and I'll do turkey with all the trimmings *slurp*.
2008 Dec 26
- Turkey
- Stuffing (home made), and not cooked in the bird
- Mashed potatos
- mom peeled too many potatos so before we boiled them all we made a small scalloped potato dish too, with mushrooms and leftover bacon (made bits) from breakfast
- Mashed turnip and carrots with brown sugar
- made the gravy out of the turkey drippings and a roux, mixed with fried onions and garlic.
- Apple pie and ice cream
'eve was a bit more involved, and there was only 5 of us, loads of leftovers
- Stuffing (home made), and not cooked in the bird
- Mashed potatos
- mom peeled too many potatos so before we boiled them all we made a small scalloped potato dish too, with mushrooms and leftover bacon (made bits) from breakfast
- Mashed turnip and carrots with brown sugar
- made the gravy out of the turkey drippings and a roux, mixed with fried onions and garlic.
- Apple pie and ice cream
'eve was a bit more involved, and there was only 5 of us, loads of leftovers
2008 Dec 27
OK, here's what we had. All pretty typical stuff I guess.
Turkey. I brined it for about 40 hours before putting it into the oven. Right from frozen it went into the brining bucket, and I put the bucket into a cool corner of the basement (7C at floor level). I monitored the temperature of the water at a couple of points, and it was always refridgerator temp (40F or below). For the brine I used brown sugar, salt, oregano and thyme. I was surprised that a 7.7kg (17lb) bird was cooked in exactly 4 hours at 325F. I think brining makes it cook faster or something. So the bird came out, and covered in foil then in a fleece blanket where it rested for just over an hour while we finished up the prep for everything else. And after resting it was still very hot thanks to the foil and blanket.
My wife made her great grandmother's dressing, which is very similar to my mom's stuffing except she does not use the organs in it. She made a crapload of it so we'd have lots of leftovers. A good 4 or 5 litres.
Then there was squash, peas, and cranberry sauce. Much to my surprise my wife bought the cranberry sauce - she hasn't done that in years and I haven't asked her yet why she decided to do that. And I forgot to remind her that we had some leftover home made stuff canned up from Thanksgiving ;-) I'm pretty lukewarm on the canned cranberry sauce. Home made rocks though!
And that was it. Last night after supper I picked the carcass and put the meat in the fridge, and the carcass into the pressure cooker to cook it down. A few years ago I started using the pressure cooker for this and don't know why I never thought of it before because you can cook down the carcass in 30 minutes at 15 psi.
Oh and since I mentioned Piller's liverwurst above, I just want to mention as well that Brandt's is really good too. I looked them both up on teh internets and they both appear to still be independently owned and operated. Both were formed in the 50s by German immigrants.
Turkey. I brined it for about 40 hours before putting it into the oven. Right from frozen it went into the brining bucket, and I put the bucket into a cool corner of the basement (7C at floor level). I monitored the temperature of the water at a couple of points, and it was always refridgerator temp (40F or below). For the brine I used brown sugar, salt, oregano and thyme. I was surprised that a 7.7kg (17lb) bird was cooked in exactly 4 hours at 325F. I think brining makes it cook faster or something. So the bird came out, and covered in foil then in a fleece blanket where it rested for just over an hour while we finished up the prep for everything else. And after resting it was still very hot thanks to the foil and blanket.
My wife made her great grandmother's dressing, which is very similar to my mom's stuffing except she does not use the organs in it. She made a crapload of it so we'd have lots of leftovers. A good 4 or 5 litres.
Then there was squash, peas, and cranberry sauce. Much to my surprise my wife bought the cranberry sauce - she hasn't done that in years and I haven't asked her yet why she decided to do that. And I forgot to remind her that we had some leftover home made stuff canned up from Thanksgiving ;-) I'm pretty lukewarm on the canned cranberry sauce. Home made rocks though!
And that was it. Last night after supper I picked the carcass and put the meat in the fridge, and the carcass into the pressure cooker to cook it down. A few years ago I started using the pressure cooker for this and don't know why I never thought of it before because you can cook down the carcass in 30 minutes at 15 psi.
Oh and since I mentioned Piller's liverwurst above, I just want to mention as well that Brandt's is really good too. I looked them both up on teh internets and they both appear to still be independently owned and operated. Both were formed in the 50s by German immigrants.
2008 Dec 27
Brandt's is my personal fav, they also make weisswurst if you can find it (try Warsaw deli on Richmond).
We had a standard roasted turkey, 2 dressings (one sausage, one standard), squash, mashed potatoes, corn, homemade cranberry sauce and LOTS of baked goods for dessert. Everything turned out good, was delicious! One thing that was missing - mashed rutabaga!
We had a standard roasted turkey, 2 dressings (one sausage, one standard), squash, mashed potatoes, corn, homemade cranberry sauce and LOTS of baked goods for dessert. Everything turned out good, was delicious! One thing that was missing - mashed rutabaga!
2008 Dec 29
OK, I asked my wife why she suddenly switched to canned cranberry sauce after years of making her own, and she said she simply wanted to see if she could get the boys eating the stuff so she bought the canned stuff with no lumps in it.
Ironically the boys have been keenly drinking up cranberry juice the last couple of weeks, but didn't want to have anything to do with cranberry sauce!
Ironically the boys have been keenly drinking up cranberry juice the last couple of weeks, but didn't want to have anything to do with cranberry sauce!
2008 Dec 29
Certainly prefer Brandt's over Piller's (a question of what you "grew up" with perhaps??)
Turkey dinner for four is decidely not much fun, so we had our turkey back in November at a huge family gathering. On the 25th, we had...
- Rack of Lamb, roasted with macadamian nuts and brown sugar
- Four potato puree (puree because I added too much liquid!)
- Greens (of some kind, admittedly I do not remember) with blue cheese, cranberries and walnuts
- Green beans with buttered almonds
- Yule log (made from scratch, by my SO and I, while my parents were at mass).
We did Christmas part deux with my SO's family on the 27th--his father treated to dinner at The Works.
Turkey dinner for four is decidely not much fun, so we had our turkey back in November at a huge family gathering. On the 25th, we had...
- Rack of Lamb, roasted with macadamian nuts and brown sugar
- Four potato puree (puree because I added too much liquid!)
- Greens (of some kind, admittedly I do not remember) with blue cheese, cranberries and walnuts
- Green beans with buttered almonds
- Yule log (made from scratch, by my SO and I, while my parents were at mass).
We did Christmas part deux with my SO's family on the 27th--his father treated to dinner at The Works.
2009 Jan 1
This year we cooked most of the traditional Christmas day meal (turkey and all the fixings the day of Christmas eve). I was skeptical that everything would hold up through a reheat, but you couldn't tell the difference. You definitely want to make sure the bird starts out moist so brining is a must.
Anyway, it made for a very relaxing Christmas day (with no pots to wash!)
Oh... I enjoy'd my Christmas morning Caesars a lot!
Anyway, it made for a very relaxing Christmas day (with no pots to wash!)
Oh... I enjoy'd my Christmas morning Caesars a lot!
2009 Jan 6
As much as food & wine is a passion for us, so is travel. So this year with the kids grown, and everyone with plans of their own, we decided to get away and enjoy some southern sunshine instead of the traditional Ottawa Christmas & New Years.
Our Christmas celebration began on Christmas Eve when after watching a glorious Florida Keys sunset from a rooftop deck, we went on to have a glass of wine at a local Wine Bar while sitting on a huge southern veranda. From there it was on to our dinner reservations at another huge southern house which had been converted into a seaside restaurant. From the back side the entire home opened up, with a balcony up top, and French doors leading onto multi-tiered decks below. The restaurant’s bar was on the lowest level, next to the ocean. Although it was dark, one could see (and hear) the ink black water in the moonlight as it crashed onto the shore and against the sea wall. Our dining table gave us a better view, as we watched a lighthouse off in the distance, and noticed the many stars above us... a perfectly balmy night, we didn't even need a sweater or jacket. It was a fantastic meal and the service was excellent.
Christmas Day we enjoyed our holiday location doing some touristy things, and finished up with dinner at the Hotel’s Restaurant on the Beach. Not nearly as romantic as the night before, and this was far more casual… the restaurant is literally on the beach, and shoes are not necessary, infact they get in the way of making one’s way thru the sand to the front door. We both opted for the traditional Turkey Dinner… which was surprisingly tasty... real turkey slices, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies and cranberry sauce. All very good, although the Pinot Noir we chose to accompany it was a huge disappointment. However, all was not lost, the food was decent, the location wonderful, and Hector our waiter a former professional dancer from Cuba (he had gained his leave from Cuba as a a dancer with Gregory Hines on tour) was a complete joy. All in all a memorable Christmas.
Our Christmas celebration began on Christmas Eve when after watching a glorious Florida Keys sunset from a rooftop deck, we went on to have a glass of wine at a local Wine Bar while sitting on a huge southern veranda. From there it was on to our dinner reservations at another huge southern house which had been converted into a seaside restaurant. From the back side the entire home opened up, with a balcony up top, and French doors leading onto multi-tiered decks below. The restaurant’s bar was on the lowest level, next to the ocean. Although it was dark, one could see (and hear) the ink black water in the moonlight as it crashed onto the shore and against the sea wall. Our dining table gave us a better view, as we watched a lighthouse off in the distance, and noticed the many stars above us... a perfectly balmy night, we didn't even need a sweater or jacket. It was a fantastic meal and the service was excellent.
Christmas Day we enjoyed our holiday location doing some touristy things, and finished up with dinner at the Hotel’s Restaurant on the Beach. Not nearly as romantic as the night before, and this was far more casual… the restaurant is literally on the beach, and shoes are not necessary, infact they get in the way of making one’s way thru the sand to the front door. We both opted for the traditional Turkey Dinner… which was surprisingly tasty... real turkey slices, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies and cranberry sauce. All very good, although the Pinot Noir we chose to accompany it was a huge disappointment. However, all was not lost, the food was decent, the location wonderful, and Hector our waiter a former professional dancer from Cuba (he had gained his leave from Cuba as a a dancer with Gregory Hines on tour) was a complete joy. All in all a memorable Christmas.
zymurgist
A few years ago my wife decided to have the big dinner on Boxing Day, so I'll report back tomorrow when it's all said and done, and give you details. I liked the idea so much that we do it every year now - basically we go "low key" on Christmas Day and just make it a day for the kids to open their gifts and play with them. For food today we just did buffet style with good bread, whole grain crackers, cheeses, good cold cuts, liverwurst, and so on.
I've got a 7.7kg turkey brining for tomorrow. I always do the bird and my wife does the other stuff - so I don't yet know what else we're having with it.
Oh, Piller's liverwurst is REALLY good!