Your Christmas menu

[Arwen]

Hi everybody,would you please describe your Christmas menu?
I'll make my home made ravioli/dumplings with asparagus filling ,then I'll prepare some appetizers with smoked salmon or ham paté, plus vegetables, I am about preparing Pandolce Pasquale for my parents..
another question.. will you have a Christmas Eve dinner or not? Here in Italy we use to celebrate Christmas Eve with parents also..
Ps: I'll give you my own translated Christmas recipes as soon as possible.
Thanks a lot in advance for your answers!
I wish you a lovely and relaxing week end!!

 

[justplainbill]

Christmas Eve is an important time for many families to get together. A variety of smoked fish like whitefish, sturgeon, sable, salmon as well as herring is often consumed.

 

[pdswife]

We'll have our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve also.

I'm bringing meatballs in a bbq sauce
and lemon cookies and mini lemon cup cakes with a cream cheese frosting.
There will be ham and lamb, potatoes, salads, fruit plates, Cheeses, meats, many Greek desserts, Greek Bean and tomatoes, feta, olives, veggie platters and different breads and spreads and dips to munch on. 30 or so people of all ages from 2 - 80.

 

[Arwen]

Thanks a lot dear friends! your dishes sound tasty!!!

 

[Katie H]

No plans here for Christmas so I'm not sure if I'll do anything special. Maybe share a Cornish hen with my kitties.

 

[jkath]

Arwen, I can't wait to see your ravioli recipe - it sounds VERY good!!

pds - have you posted your lemon cookie recipe?

 

[pdswife]

I
haven't jkath...but I'll send it to you.
It is not TNT though. Found it in a mag. the other day and it sounded good!

 

[Arwen]

Home-made egg pasta for ravioli with artichokes or asparagus filling

Ingredients:

500g plain flour
6 eggs

How to preoceed:

Pour the flour onto the bench so that it forms a mound, then make a large hollow in the centre and break in the eggs.

Using a fork, whisk the eggs until combined and then start drawing in some of the flour.

Use your hands to bring the mass together and begin kneading. Keep a little flour to the side so you can add it if the dough feels a little sticky. It is much easier to knead a little more flour into a slightly wet dough than the other way around. Continue to knead the dough until it feels smooth, then cover in plastic wrap and allow to relax at room temperature for 30 minutes.

You are now ready to roll out the pasta. Bring a large pot of water to the boil with plenty of salt. This is really important; first, because if you don't have enough water to cook the pasta it will result in gluggy pasta and second, the salt is necessary to flavour the pasta - I think there's nothing worse than pasta boiled in unsalted water.

You can roll out pasta dough using a rolling pin, but it's easier with a pasta machine. I recommend a small one with a handle - it is all you'll need; the bigger ones aren't necessarily very much better and are considerably more expensive. Divide your dough in half (this makes it easier to manage once the pasta is rolled out to a long thin sheet) and begin with the largest setting on the machine. Flatten the dough so it will fit through the rollers and begin to feed it through with one hand while turning the handle with the other. Fold the dough in half on itself and feed it through again a few times.


____________________________________________________________________________
Ravioli filling:
Ricotta 450 grams
Pinch of grated nutmeg
Pinch of turmeric
250 grams of chopped and stuffed artichokes or asparagus
Salt and pepper


Put all the ingredients in a bowl, Add to the drippings. Grind artichokes or asparagus fry about 5 minutes. Add eggs salt and pepper and turmeric,nutmeg to taste. Mix well.
____________________________________________________________________
Roll out the pasta dough one sheet at a time. On half of the pasta sheet place teaspoons of the mixture in two rows, evenly placed about 6cm apart. Brush between the rows with a little diluted egg wash. Now fold the other half of the sheet over the mounds of filling and carefully press down around each one.

Using either a biscuit cutter or ravioli cutter (or even a knife), cut into square or round shapes. Sprinkle with a little flour and place on tea towels while you finish the rest of the dough and filling.

When you are ready to eat, cook as above, in boiling salted water.


Ravioli dressing:

80 gr fried butter
some turmeric powder or curry powder
Salt and pepper
Whipped cream
Some ricotta
Some whipped cream

Combine the ricotta with fried butter, nutmeg, turmeric or curry,whipped cream, season to taste.

Enjoy it!!!!

I hope you'll try it as I am going to prepare this ravioli recipe for my family!
have a nice week end!!

 

[texasgirl]

Arwen, that sounds lovely!! I have copied and put in my cookbook, thank you!!

We will have fried turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and dressing for sure. Not sure what else I will make. It's only me, dh and oldest ds this year.

 

[anni]

I came in here specifically looking for a thread on Christmas dinner. Lucky me! Mine is still a work in progress, but I want to do something a bit different this year other.

So far, I think we will have this:

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail & Cocktail Sauce
Antipasto Tray
Ground Veal or Chicken Cannelloni (depending if someone has an aversion to the veal) with a Bechamel
5 Minute Italian Salad
Steamed Broccoli and Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes
Crusty Rosemary/Olive Oil Bread
Butterscotch Pound Cake

I keep switching things around as I think of things.

 

[licia]

We usually have a rib roast, beef tenderloin, or baked ham. I suppose we will have one or the other this year also. I don't know what veggies yet, but we will have fruitcake bars for dessert for dh, derby pie for the rest of us.

 

[Arwen]

Thanks a lot for your answers and menus,I'd like to cook something more.. what is a derby pie?
Will you also have a dinner Christmas meal or not?
In Italy we have a dinner meal also...so we put on a lot of weight...:-((((
I think I'll have ravioli with broth and finish the appetizers (I adore them!)

 

[BreezyCooking]

We've been having the same traditional Christmas Day meal for as long as I can remember: Roast Goose with Port Wine Gravy, Czech Bread Dumplings with Sauerkraut, Butter-Braised Brussels Sprouts, a gratineed potato dish (I try a different one each year), & buttered dinner rolls.

 

[babetoo]

No plans here for Christmas so I'm not sure if I'll do anything special. Maybe share a Cornish hen with my kitties.

the holidays are tough without our loved ones. i am not very joyful in dec. since my husband died. it is better but still in my mind. he died in jan. 96. be kind to your self katie

 

[VeraBlue]

My daughter and I are still tweaking it...but so far, this is what we have for the feast of the seven fishes, christmas eve.

Stuffed clams, anchovy and pignoli crostini, seared scallops, lobster ravioli with shrimp in sherry creme sauce, eggplant stuffed with crabmeat and toasted breadcrumbs, salmon wellington.

Traditionally, we have tiramisu for dessert. I also make strufoli and there are about 15 different types of christmas cookies to choose from.

At this point, the guest count is 9 for christmas eve.

 

[Arwen]

the holidays are tough without our loved ones. i am not very joyful in dec. since my husband died. it is better but still in my mind. he died in jan. 96. be kind to your self katie

Ohh I am deeply sorry about that ,I perceive how you feel,a big hug wth LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Arwen]

My daughter and I are still tweaking it...but so far, this is what we have for the feast of the seven fishes, christmas eve.

Stuffed clams, anchovy and pignoli crostini, seared scallops, lobster ravioli with shrimp in sherry creme sauce, eggplant stuffed with crabmeat and toasted breadcrumbs, salmon wellington.

Traditionally, we have tiramisu for dessert. I also make strufoli and there are about 15 different types of christmas cookies to choose from.

At this point, the guest count is 9 for christmas eve.

Lovely!!!! My grandmother made strufoli because she was napolitan,I remember this cake that is not very easy to prepare... as it was nice to sit and chat all together during the Christmas dinner and taste strufoli....

 

[jabbur]

Not sure what Christmas will bring here. The extended family will be at my home the day after for our celebration. That will be home made pizza. We just fill out the day munching on all the Christmas goodies everyone has made or received. I'll make spiced cider as well. Usually we go to my son's restaurant for a meal Christmas Eve but may change that to Christmas Day this year since it will just be the immediate family.

 

[LPBeier]

My Dad is in his eighties and due to poor eyesight and general health does not travel any more. My sister and I are both about an hour away from him in different directions. So for the past few years we have been "catering" the meal and taking it to Dad's. My sister does the turkey, stuffing and gravy and I do veggies, appies and dessert. Dad buys a little ham which we cook there and a bag of salad. This year I am doing
- baked mashed potatoes (you bake the potatoes, mash them with hot cream and butter andpipe them into shapes and then broil just before serving),
- mixed spaghetti vegetables (carrots, zucchini, celery and peppers frenched on the mandolin),
- brussel sprouts with onion and bacon
- dessert and appetizers to be determined soon (I hope)

We officially celebrate Christmas with DH's family this coming Sunday because there are so many coming from out of town (20 people in total) and I always have to bring my mustard carrots (mentioned in another thread). However, we do go to DH's parents Christmas Eve. We go to thier church and then have an evening dinner of rouladen and all the fixings.

So, I get three Christmas dinners!

 

[Lisar]

Where do I begin

2 hams
2 turkeys
green beans
corn
mashed potatoes
gravy
homemade rolls
2 pecan pies
2 pumpkin pies
cheese cake
stuffing
baby lima beans
and there is more that I cant remember off the top of my head right now.