Christmas Eve Meals for 2013?

[Kathleen]

I'm planning to do something in the theme of seven fishes again this year.

For an appetizer, I am making sardines baked with olive oil, lemon, pepper and sea salt. I'll place a sprig of rosemary across them while they bake and will serve them with a final squeeze of lemon and a smattering of chives.

For the main, I am making seafood paella. I'm also making the sofrita for the paella, but the tomatoes look a bit anemic. Six of the seafoods will be used: clams, mussels, crab claws, lobster, scallops and calamari rings with tentacles. Peas, three kinds of peppers, and assorted spices along with lemon will be used. I also will be using a seafood stock and found Calasparra rice to use.

For dessert, I am making a basic flan.

 

[Andy M.]

We don't do a special meal for Christmas Eve. This year we invited some neighbors over for drinks and light finger foods.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

I just took my shoes off and would like to put my feet up. No such luck.
We had to do "a little last minute" shopping today. 6 hours later, 2 malls, 2 grocers and a few honest little stops, I am indeed home. Just in time to do my part for Christmas eve. Wrap more packages. Make one key lime pie tonight and one banana cream pie. Bananas in the a.m. Cooked custard.

For dinner we are having a roast beef, picked up at Costco the other day, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, green beans, green salad, popovers.

Jr, his GF, her college age/ teenage boys will be here to celebrate the evening. I brought in wood for the fireplace, and there is cookies and candy and gifts after dinner.

 

[Macgyver1968]

Sweet!!! the Nigerian woman two doors down just showed up to get us Christmas cookies...and I had hot fresh Snickerdoodles coming out of the oven at the same time...so we got trade cookies...and her kids got to eat my cookies...Im happy as hell.

 

[Oldvine]

It's always potato soup, bratwurst and buns for Christmas eve dinner.

 

[Rocket_J_Dawg]

It's always potato soup, bratwurst and buns for Christmas eve dinner.

Pretty close to what we have. Bockwurst with hot potato salad, sautéed red cabbage and lebkuchen for desert. Oh, I almost forgot the Glühwein.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Kathleen, I'm glad you are keeping the tradition of La Vigilia!

I'm making a pizza and a nice pitcher of Manhattans for me and Santa!

 

[msmofet]

Homemade New England Clam chowder
Caesar Salad (with anchovies yum)
Baked Cod
Stuffed Clams
Mushrooms stuffed with clams
Linguini with white clam sauce
Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Apple Pie with fresh whipped cream and/or French vanilla ice cream

 

[Hoot]

A light dinner tonight here at Casa de Hoot....followed by generous helpings of Kentucky Bourbon!
I ain't gotta go nowhere till tomorrow eve. That will be another story.

 

[Kathleen]

Andy, are we related? It sounds very much like Christmas eve with my sister and her children (all grown.)

Whiskadoodle & MacGuyver, I had planned to bake today. Not sure how the day got away from me.

OldVine & Rocket_J_Dawg, I love bratwurst, and many foods that surround it! As for potato soup, I have it often. It cures everything here. Sickness, sadness, heart-break, etc.

Aunt Bea, it is nostalgia. While my grandmother did not do the Feast of the Seven Fishes, we fasted and did not eat meats on Christmas eve. As a child, we were often sent out to for the first star at night to end the fast and have dinner. Back then, dinner might have been oysters or fried shrimp. Potato soup, or even toasted cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. However, those years are long gone as are the people who embraced those traditions. My grandmother had the most fun traditions for all 12 days of Christmas. I so miss that.

YAY, MsM! You have a better grasp on the feast than I.

Hoot, Kentucky bourbon *does* make all of the difference, doesn't it?

 

[Aunt Bea]

Aunt Bea, it is nostalgia. While my grandmother did not do the Feast of the Seven Fishes, we fasted and did not eat meats on Christmas eve. As a child, we were often sent out to for the first star at night to end the fast and have dinner. Back then, dinner might have been oysters or fried shrimp. Potato soup, or even toasted cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. However, those years are long gone as are the people who embraced those traditions. My grandmother had the most fun traditions for all 12 days of Christmas. I so miss that.

Funny how we remember the traditions and the food more than we remember most of the presents that we received. Holidays should be all about making memories with those we love, Merry Christmas!

 

[Claire]

My childhood Christmas Eve meal was tourtiere after midnight mass. Since I've moved here, in the past half-dozen or more years, a friend's elderly father comes to visit, and is birthday is 24 December, we go out together. Small town, not always easy to find a place open. Last year we hit upon our local sushi bar/restaurant, and he was thrilled. My husband ordered for him and he scarffed it down. So we're repeating that tomorrow -- oops, I guess it is this afternoon! So, sushi, tempura, tonkatsu, here we come!

 

[Addie]

My daughter is going to one of her SILs for the typical Italian Christmas Eve feast of seven fishes. When my daughter does it she only does five at the most. It can be very expensive. My daughter makes a pasta sauce with all the fish in it or a fish chowder.

Feast of the Seven Fishes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Her in-laws go all out for this meal. For them it is more important than the meal the next day. They make seven different dishes. I am not Catholic, so I tend to think it is a bit to intense for me. I went to my daughter's one year only and all the rituals the sister's went through were rather different from what I was expecting.

 

[DaveSoMD]

I will be picking up some haddock for dinner tonight. We always have fish on Christmas Eve. I think I am going to make some potato and onion pierogi since DH is supposed to still be primarily on soft foods. I might try some beet soup also if I can find my recipe.

 

[Harry Cobean]

orkney isle scottish lobster,french fries,steamed asparagus & hollandaise sauce.ice cold héritier de la famille castel chablis.comté,murcia al vino pdo & 4 year old vintage canadian cheddar cheeses with west country crackers & warre's otima ten year old tawny port,chilled....bien sur!!

 

[cave76]

Assorted finger food. That's it. But I love 'grazing' so it's not a bad idea.

 

[pacanis]

I'm thinking tonight I might recreate the Italian hot dog and disco fries I made the other day. I need beer, so since I have to venture out anyway plans might change.

 

[CatPat]

We don't do a special meal for Christmas Eve. This year we invited some neighbors over for drinks and light finger foods.

Don't invite any zombies. They take that finger food thing VERY seriously.



We're going out to a Chinese buffet tonight. There will be quite enough cooking tomorrow!

With love,
~Cat

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

We're going out to a Chinese buffet tonight. There will be quite enough cooking tomorrow!

With love,
~Cat

Cat, have you ever seen this comedian's Chinese Buffet routine?

John Pinette "chinese buffet" - YouTube

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I usually make pizzas on Christmas eve, a tradition that dates back more than 60 years, on my Sicilian side. I'll make it on a cookie sheet, thick in the Sicilian style, and load it up with everything I can find in the refrigerator and pantry, such as pepperoni, salami, mushrooms, black olives, and anchovies. Oh, and lotza mozzarella.