Christmas Dinner Post Mortem

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I'll go first. I made boeuf bourguinion. I've done various versions of it over the years (hey, beef stew with wine in it) but it is the first time I actually paid attention to recipes. Mostly I followed Jacques and Julia. The gravy (sauce, whatever you want to call it) was SO GOOD that we could have easily just had sliced bread and gravy. I invited next door neighbors and my freindly librarian. Husband went out shopping for just the perfect red wine (Jadot). The meal was great. The only 'negative', if you want to call is that, was that we were planning fruit and cheese for desert, but my guests couldn't stand the thought of dinner without sweets. Their deserts were great (I still prever port and blue!!). The entie meal went off without a hitch.

By the way, I picked up Gourmet magazine and started laughing. I'd asked hubby if he wanted the leftovers served over egg noodles (I served it with potatoes yesterday). He agreed, then I held up the magazine. "Dinner tonight!"
 
We had honey glazed ham and it was great. Tons of leftovers and I have a quiche in the oven with some of it as I type. We'll have more left-overs during the week and the bone will be used in the Hoppin' John I'll make on New Year's Eve. Claire, have you posted that recipe somewhere? It sounds like something I would love to make for New Year's Eve as well.
 
We had turkey, brined and stuffed. We also had brussel sprouts, broccoli wild rice casserole, potatoes Anna, oven roasted potatoes, coleslaw, green salad, lefse, and carrots a la Alix. Dessert was cheesecake, and white chocolate raspberry tart. Couple of wines on the table, a merlot and a sauvignon blanc, and some non alcoholic bubbly stuff for the kids.

The main meal was amazing. All worked out well and we made pigs of ourselves. The dessert was another story. My cheesecake was perfect. Not a crack to be seen, and the raspberry and cherry toppings were wonderful. The white chocolate raspberry tart SUCKED. Taste wise it was fine, but the dang thing just wouldn't set. I even tossed it in the freezer thinking that might salvage things, no luck. Stupid thing. I have NO IDEA what I did wrong, I followed the recipe meticulously as it was a new one for me. Fortunately, my family didn't care. They ate what was set and the gooshy stuff got poured into krumkaga later. Yum.
 
Turkey, but unbrined! Stuffing, mashed potato, carrots, peas, pickles, champagne...nobody wanted dessert!

The carrots got oversteamed...

I was trying a new technique for making stuffing, and it got a bit too wet, but once I figure out how not to do that, I'll post the correct amounts, because the taste was to die for...

Lifter
 
Christmas breakfast I made crepes for the family, had a variety of fillings for them, including:

Stewed cherries spiced with cinnamon and allspice
Strawberries
Raspberries
Mango
Blueberries
Bacon
Cottage Cheese
Mushrooms in butter
Sour cream
Greek yoghurt

People just mixed and matched for their own preferences.

For the main meal:

Fig, Prosciutto, Mozarella and Basil salad (with honey, ev-oo and lemon juice dressing). This was absolutely amazing, far exceeded my expectations and that of my family and girlfriend. We all could of had just the dressing with fresh, hot turkish bread.

Chicken, Grapefruit and Pistachio salad with ev-oo and lemon juice yoghurt dressing. Different, and very refreshing. The combination of grapefruit, mint, parsley and the yoghurt dressing went well.

Pancetta, Croutons and Poached Egg salad. Reminiscent of a Caesar salad without the dressing. The inclusion of rocket adds something as it is more than just filler, it adds a certain taste of its own.

For dessert was Strawberry Jelly and Vanilla Bavarois. Unfourtunately I didn't have a big enough mould to hold it all so I resorted to creating individual desserts in largish wine goblets. Perhaps a bit more vanilla was needed in the bavarois, but otherwise very nice.

For Boxing Day (26th december, Australian holiday) for lunch I made Barbecued Garlic prawns and Honey prawns and a simple green salad. Then for dinner I made the family Pancetta, Rosemary and Borlotti Bean Rissotto with Siciliana Cannoli with a raspberry sauce for dessert.

All in all it was a gigantic success, very pleased with the results as was the rest of the family and my girlfriend.
 
we had a pork loin roast, mashed taters, green beans almondine, corn, crescent rolls, and a bottle of merlot.
 
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