Christmas Dinner
This Christmas I had planned a grande dinner, but it slowly diminished in scale. The main feature was still a honeyed-ham, which was tasty. But the opening soup, a French curried cauliflower soup, thickened with hazelnuts, was served instead for luncheon. It was quite good.
Another side dish ended up being a pre-meal appetizer: Patrick O’Connell’s green beans that get a tempura treatment, and a dipping sauce. This was a disaster, because all the oil overflowed and I had a royal, fatty mess. Tasty, though.
The side dishes that went with the ham included a root-vegetable gratin, brussels sprouts with wild mushrooms and shallots, and biscuits.
The holidays are for sharing, and we all had a good time. For some reason, my timing/planning was off this season, and the chore of putting all the dishes together as one complete meal needed help in efficiency. Nonetheless, I learned a few things, and postponed the dessert for another day.
The recipes for the gratin (celery root, parsnip, sweet, and russett potatoes) and the brussels sprouts came from the November, 2006 edition of Gourmet magazine.
One Response to “Christmas Dinner”
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
x
Said this on December 27th, 2006 at 9:06pm:I will not recommend fish sauce as a dipping sauce. It is pungent.