Need fresh ideas for tradtional Christmas Eve Dinner
Over the last 20 years, Christmas Eve has traditionally been just me, my parents, my aunt and two family friends. In an effort to make it a special meal, my mother began the tradition of steak and lobster for that evening. We've usually had a simple salad and twice baked potatoes to accompany.
I will be cooking the meal this year, and would like to jazz up our rather boring side dishes. I'm open to most ideas, but please keep in mind that my other guests are in their mid 70's, solid midwesterner's and are only just so adventurous. Thank you!
AnnyM
Nov 06, 2002 02:13PM
In my family, Christmas isn't Christmas without garlic potato gratin. Another thought is a spinach souffle.
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On the spinach idea, spinach madeline sounds like it would be good -- it's one of my very favorite things. I've linked to the website of the Baton Rouge Junior League, the publisher of the cookbook.
The recipe used to call for a jalapeno roll, but Velveeta stopped making it several years ago. The version I've linked to calls for regular Velveeta plus diced jalapenos, but I've always used the garlic roll. As the original recipe says, "So different!"
I can't seem to provide a direct link, but if you go to the website, go to River Road recipes, then Spinach Madeline for the recipe.
Blue skies...
Link: http://www.jlbtr.org/
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Thanks for the link. I love the River Road Recipes book. My sister in law is from Mississippi, and she gave it to me as a gift when I was a kid in the 70's. Not with your lobster and steak, but try their corn bread and rice stuffing. It is still the one stuffing I use every year (though I dress it up a bit with maple sausage, dried cranberries and spiced pecans for variety). For Christmas Eve, we always make shrimp scampi on angel hair pasta, and a huge antipasto with italian tuna, oil cured olives, artichoke hearts, marinated mushrooms and my mother still rolls prosciutto around good imported provolone cheese to go around the edges of the platter. We use the oil and vinegar from the artichokes and mushrooms as part of the dressing, with more good olive oil and some garlic. Enjoy!
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I'm a Mississippi girl myself (though a New Orleans native). I have River Road III (the light and healthy version, or at least lightER and healthIER), and borrow my mother's spare copies of the original and second books, and they are fabulous. Copies of both RR and RRII are on my Christmas list, along with Plantation Cookbook, another standard down here.
The antipasto sounds wonderful -- I'm such a sucker for food like that. As for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, we do oysters in a very simple meal. For several years, it was oyster stew, but about 10 years back, we switched to Oysters Rockefeller soup. Very tasty.
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Oh my gosh, Louisiana Junior League-type cookbooks are the best. I'm a Mississippi Delta native and I inherited beaucoup 1960's-70's era Louisiana cookbooks from an aunt (my uncle was an LSU alumnus and I think she bought a new cookbook every time they went down for a football game). Besides the River Road Recipes books, check out Pirate's Pantry (Lake Charles)and Talk About Good! (Lafayette) Wonderful chicken and jambalaya recipes.
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I have a killer sweet potato praline "souffle." People love it to death. Simple, make-ahead, dessert-like deliciousness. It has sided nicely with standing rib, goose, turkey, pork loin and ham. Not certain if it would suit you with steak/lobster, but send up a flag if you want it.
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Please post the sweet potato souffle recipe--that sounds great!
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Will find it when I get home, but need some guidance from the Hounds That Be re/ copyright, etc. of posting this recipe. It is my handwriting on the card (you can dust it for prints) but I can't for the life of me remember from whence it came and can't give credit where credit is due.
Failing all else, I will e-mail it to anyone who would like it. It is awfully good.
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Hi Deb, Just post the ingredients as they are listed in the recipe and for the instructions, put them in your own words, and say that you've paraphrased so we know that's the case. Thanks very much for asking.
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Okay, I lied when I called it Sweet Potato Souffle.
Orange Praline Yams
2 - 2 lb 5oz cans yams, drained (or 5 lbs fresh sweet potatoes or yams cooked until soft
2/3 cups orange juice
1 Tbs grated orange rind
5 Tbs brandy
2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 tsp ground ginger
4 Tbs melted butter
1/3 cup light or golden brown sugar
3 egg yolks
[Praline topping: 2/3 cup brown sugar, ¼-lb butter, melted, 1 cup (~4 oz.) chopped pecans, 1 tsp cinnamon]
Beat yams in mixer until smooth. Mix in remaining ingredients until smooth, light and fluffy. Butter a 12-inch quiche dish or a shallow 2-quart casserole. Pour in yams, smooth top, sprinkle with praline topping. Bake 350 degrees 45-50 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. This can be made a day ahead and kept covered, refrigerated.
Serves: As many people as like yams. But there is never any left.
I have also added 1/4 tsp each vanilla, coconut and almond extracts for the heck of it and have loved the result, lily-gilding-wise
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Deb, thanks so much for this recipe. My aunt makes something similar which I love, but I've hesitated to ask for the recipe as she is a little protective about these things.
R
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This is so good. A very similar recipe I got from the same source as my green beans, and at the same time, is the only way I fix yams. If you have family members who despise yams, they will eat this right up!
My mom used to put this in hollowed-out orange halves.
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I don't know about sides, but, if your guests have any room left for dessert, we always finish with English trifle (We like it a bit boozy; my mom tried rum last year, but I think the traditional sherry is better).
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I add homemade cherry liqueur to my trifle -- it looks good and tastes even better!
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That sounds really good. What's your recipe, and what else do you use it in?
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This trifle recipe is an adaptation of the New Basics Cookbook recipe (However, it is very different and they do not use cherry liqueur). Use a deep see-through serving dish so you can see the trifle.
Ingredients:
*one cooled buttery yellow cake
*two cups of cooled custard
*half a cup of cherry liqueur (or to taste)
*one quart strawberries (divided into 2 pints)
*one pint of blueberries, washed
*one small box of raspberries
*one cup of heavy cream
*2 T confectioner's sugar
*1/2 t vanilla
1.Wash and hull a pint of strawberries, cut each strawberry in half, add three tablespoons of sugar (more or less depending on how sweet the strawberries are). Put in the fridge, covered, while you bake the cake.
2. Bake a nice buttery yellow cake (I put lots of lemon or orange rind in the cake), let it cool.
3. Also make about 2 cups of vanilla custard while the cake's in the oven (any recipe will do). Let it cool.
3. Cut the cake into one-inch cubes and line the bottom of the dish with these cubes. Sprinkle these cubes with some cherry liqueur (orange liqueur works too). Let them sit for 20 min or so.
4. Puree the strawberries you had put in the blender (you can add sugar to the puree if it's not sweet enough). Strain the puree if you wish.
5. Wash and hull another pint of strawberries. Cut each strawberry in half. Wash the blueberries & raspberries.
6. Add the pureed strawberries on the cake cubes lining the bottom of the cake. Add half of the strawberries, half of the blueberries & half of the raspberries. Add another layer of cake cubes, and proceed as above (more fruit). Finish with the two cups of custard.
7. Chill for 3-4 hours. When ready to serve, whip the cream with some confectioners sugar and a little bit of vanilla. Serve in bowls with a dollop of cream. Delicious!
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I usually fix lobster on New Year's Eve for our geriatric crowd, although only one of us is from the midwest. In that case, I do not do simple steamed lobster, which is what I guess you plan to do. Rather, I fix lobster in some more complicated setting -- ravioli, newburg, stirfried, ....
With steamed lobster, simplest is best. I often make the pepper slaw from James Beard's "American Cookery." OR i will do picked beets. I find that vinegary things help to cut the butter and complement the richness of the lobster. Maybe a bunch of vegetable a La Greque?
Pat G.
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I have a "different" green bean casserole that involves French cut green beans, white shoepeg corn, sauteed onions, and sour cream. Elderly relatives (including the one I got it from) love it, and actually it really does taste good. (Although my husband was disappointed that he would NOT get the usual mushroom soup/canned onion rings concoction...food tradition being the amazing thing that it is...)If that interests you, I can post it.
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Please post your recipe for green bean dish. It sounds delicious. I'm willing to try something new for the holidays. Thanks! D.
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**WARNING** If you are offended by the use of canned foods, hit your "back" browser button now! ;-)
Green Bean and Shoe Peg Corn Casserole
1 can Green Giant shoe peg corn, drained
1 16-oz can French style green beans, drained
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
1 roll (4 oz.)Ritz crackers, crushed
Briefly saute onion and celery. Combine all ingredients except crackers. Toss crackers in melted butter and top casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
I've had this recipe since Christmas 1989,and I'm sure it was very old then. The lady who gave it to my (now) 84-year-old aunt was named Sallie, and she died several years ago. I hope you enjoy it.
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Pasta salad with a nice vinaigrette would be good; to cut the richness of butter/lobster. Or maybe Baked Garlic Potatoes, slice, squeeze roasted garlic into slits, drizzle with olive oil, s-n-p, wrap in foil and bake. For best results, roast and use the whole head of garlic. My family really like this dish, it has a vary pleasant mellow flavor, but very good !
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It's not for everyone, but brussels sprouts sauteed with mustard seeds and dijon is hearty and will set off the lobster well.
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The Italian tradition I grew up with was 7 kinds of fishes for Christmas Eve, and though we hardly ever had enough people to justify that, my godparents all did for the crowd.
Since Christmas Eve was always the more important dinner, compared to Christmas day, and since fish is required (don't know if that's Italian or Catholic dictate) mom usually made linguine with red crab sauce (or sometimes lobster fra diavolo) and shrimp scampi or butterflied and broiled with some breadcrumb and olive oil.
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My co-worker's family does this, and I've always been fascinated by it. No one I know has ever heard of it.
Her family is *very* Italian and *very* Catholic, so I don't know the origin either, but she says they do 12 fish, one for each of the apostles. Her mom also does a couple of seafood pasta dishes, like linguine w/ clams, to get up to 12.
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Yes, my godparents tend to combine fishes to get up to 7 as well (like stuffing flounder with crabmeat to get 2 fishes in one dish). Since we're Italian (or at least, half of us are) Christmas is mostly about food. I love our traditional Christmas dinner lasagne because my mom makes the best lasagne imaginable, but since Christmas Eve is the more social dinner and the one with more cultural, rather than just family tradition, I've always really looked forward to it.
A few years ago I went to my new in-laws for Christmas Eve and was surprised that they served meat for the dinner--a no-no all day for us Catholics, and didn't actually do a special dinner--it was just soups and bread, not really a feast. Their big feast-y dinner was on the Christmas Day itself. For us, by the time we get around to that meal, we've been eating solid for over 24 hours, so we just have the lasagne and then sprawl on the floor hoping that any clothes we got that morning will still fit the next day.
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Meat's a "no-no" on Christmas for us Catholics? That's interesting...I grew up in an Irish-Belgian Catholic household where we fixed a prime rib dinner every Christmas day with side fixings from the old world.
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That's what I was always taught. No meat on Christmas Eve or on Fridays during lent or on Ash Wednesday. Since Vatican 2, I guess meat is ok the rest of the year on Fridays, just not during lent.
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Yes - this is my co-worker's family's policy as well. No meat on Christmas Eve, hence all that fish. However, at midnight they "break the fast" and eat meat, usually pork. Also they're Sicilian, if that adds anything to the explainations/origins.
And I've also decided that I'm going to try to get myself invited over there for Christmas this year - my mouth is watering already!
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My sister-in-law, who is Sicilian and who usually has Christmas Eve dinner with us, is always talking about the tradtional 7 fishes. So last year I decided to do a version of it, but based on recipes from Nobu's cookbook. She still hasn't stopped talking about it.
Pat G.
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Perhaps it's a Sicilian thing, then. That's what we are as well. Definitely get your invite over. I may be biased, but I don't think anyone knows their way around a mountain of seafood like a hungry Sicilian.
I think I remember that the French have a similar tradition of 7 kinds of nuts or fruits or something for Christmas Eve.
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Salt potatoes
small potatoes boiled in brine. when they are cooked you remove them and the salt encrusts them...yum. you don't need butter, but of course...it is good.
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My family also makes a non-traditional green bean casserole, like Zorra. The recipe was passed down by grandma and modified by mom, which means no canned vegetables. It's easy to sub fresh, blanched green beans.
Also, we add sauteed mushrooms and instead of canned soup we make a roux with flour and butter then add the sour cream. Though this year my mom plans to leave out the roux and cook some heavy cream way down and add the sour cream to that.
Mix everything up and cover with lots of jack cheese.
We also make this dish with broccoli and cauliflower.
It's a family favorite.
For Thanksgiving last year though we tried a new green bean recipe, with a shallot balsamic vinegar butter. It was excellent and very easy, the butter can be made a few days ahead and then just tossed with the green beans. I think it was from bon appetit so the recipe is probably on epicurious.
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i'd make potatoes anna -- easy to prepare ahead and just set it in the oven an hour or so before dinner. buttery and an equal to the lobster and the steak as far as richness is concerned. You could substitute sweet potatoes for all or part of the potatoes, for extra flavor and vitamins. or you could make sweet potato "chips" -- slicing thin (with a mandoline or food processor or a hand held grater with a thin slot) and roasting till crisp and brown in a 425 oven. The crisp texture would be a good counterpoint to the tender beef and lobster.
to balance it out I'd serve sauteed greens -- a mix of baby spinach and arugula with lots and lots of sliced garlic (toasted till just brown first). The bitterness will offset all the richness of the rest of the meal.
To thrill the family with your fabulousness, make a very simple sauce for the steak out of eaqual parts balsamic vinegar and port or red wine, sizzled in the pan after the steaks come out (deglazing) until it is reduced and a little bit thick. swirl in a lump of sweet butter and serve it up.
You might also want to make a special dessert -- a grand marnier souffle is surprisingly easy and you can make much of it ahead of time. Throw it in the oven when you sit down to dinner, or later...eat by the fire. rich, decadent, but light too. check out epicurious.com for recipes for all of the above.
happy holidays! pam
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