[Sca-cooks] Christmas Dinner

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Dec 23, 2008, at 3:58 PM, Michael Gunter wrote:

<sensibly-constructed invitees list snipped>

> Starting with homemade French Onion Soup.

You're doing the whole gratineed thing with the melted cheese, or  
putting the cheese on the crouton, which is generally what you get in  
France? I love onion soup in all forms, and rarely get to eat it at  
home, since of the other two unfortunate souls I live with (I didn't  
mean they're unfortunate for living with me, but if the shoe fits, I  
guess), one is made violently ill by onions, and the other simply  
dislikes them and is also lactose intolerant. <sigh>...

I've started to think other forms of onion soup are vastly underrated;  
there's a certain magic to being able to cook onions in white stock  
and perhaps milk or cream, without browning, and still concentrate  
their flavor.

> Main course will be a whole beef tenderloin herbed and roasted on
> a rack of root vegetables.
> A rack of lamb rib chops.
> Cornbread dressing with wine gravy.
> Homemade creamed corn.
>
> The guests are also insisting on bringing something over so there
> will be a couple more vegetable dishes.
>
> Elizabeth is wanting to make some homemade dinner yeast rolls.
>
> Baroness Alys will be bringing a bread pudding and I am going to try
> my hand at making a chocolate cake and frosting from scratch using
> the Hershey's dark cocoa recipe.
>
> There will be puff pastry appetizers and glogg before the meal and
> we'll probably be drinking a Coppola Black Label 2006 Claret and  
> Pascual
> Toso 2007 Malbec with dinner.

Sounds pretty sexy. I have no idea who's joining us for dinner on  
Thursday -- we're dealing with my relatives on Friday and Ceandra's on  
Saturday, and then a belated Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, at the  
home of the same people at whose home we spent Thanksgiving.

I was asked if there was any way I could put up some gravlax for  
Sunday [once again, a vacuum-sealer is a godsend for this job], so  
there's a whole 14-pound salmon's worth sitting in our vegetable bin,  
which cramps my style just a tiny bit; it means the rest of the meals  
this week are going to be just a touch on the simplistic side.

I'll probably do something for tomorrow evening involving the shrimp  
and bay scallops we've got in the freezer; I'm torn between a simple  
seasoned-flour-coating, frying, and marinara sauce, and something  
decadent, Spanish, and involving too much garlic, olive oil, and flat  
parsley.

For Christmas I've got half a prime rib roast (well, the four ribs  
from the skinny end), and when I went out to pick up the salmon today  
at the local Chinese grocery, I  picked up a duck at the meat counter,  
goose being more of a special-order item for an actual butcher shop  
around here, but good ducks are pretty commonly available. I have a  
nephew who is just getting to the point where he realizes it is  
possible to care about eating one type of food versus another, and he  
had expressed an interest in the whole roast-waterfowl meme (yes, we  
know, it's Christmas _goose_, not duck, but what the hey).

If my niece shows up with her kids on Thursday, I'll throw the duck in  
the oven, too. Otherwise, I'll make confit Friday evening.

For Christmas dinner, it looks like we've got lined up:

- Croutons and brandade de morue (salt-cod simmered in milk, pureed  
with garlic and olive oil), possibly a small mesclun salad if the  
supply boats get in again...
- Probably mushroom caps stuffed with the stems, minced with carrot,  
onion, celery, and just enough moist buttered bread crumbs to bind it  
all...

...

- Beef rib roast on a bed of roasted vegetables (looks like the usual  
mirepoix veg plus some little turnips and parsnips, and a few little  
Yukon Gold potatoes)
- Jus (pan juices reduced with red wine)
- If I bother with the duck, I'll figure out some sort of fruit-based  
accompaniment
- Yorkshire pudding
- Grilled asparagus (this is a bit of an experiment; I may make some  
Bearnaise sauce for those)
- Leek Gratin To Be Named Later, probably some sort of tian with  
cream, and/or possibly some Brie I've got kicking around

Shortbread is already baked, mincemeat is made up and ready to be put  
into a pie, and we may do the standard Lindy's cheesecake if there are  
enough customers.

On Friday we are attempting to establish an ancient and venerable  
tradition of Boxing Day dim sum, which is probably all the food we'll  
need anyway.

Adamantius