Your Christmas/holiday menu?

[Dale Williams]

9 people each meal.
Tonight: zuppa di pesce (lobster, monkfish, mussels, scallops- they ran out of razor clams!), eels livornese, calamari, brandade, shrimp, gravalAX, linguine with clams, broccoli, broccoli rabe
Christmas Day: tenderloin, capon, smoked trout and salmon canapes, Brussels sprouts, roasted vegetables

[Frank Deis]

9 people each meal.
Tonight: zuppa di pesce (lobster, monkfish, mussels, scallops- they ran out of razor clams!), eels livornese, calamari, brandade, shrimp, gravalAX, linguine with clams, broccoli, broccoli rabe
Christmas Day: tenderloin, capon, smoked trout and salmon canapes, Brussels sprouts, roasted vegetables

OK, Dale, that sounds like Sette Pesce -- is "Williams" really "Guglielmi"?!?!?

[Dale Williams]

9 people each meal.
Tonight: zuppa di pesce (lobster, monkfish, mussels, scallops- they ran out of razor clams!), eels livornese, calamari, brandade, shrimp, gravalAX, linguine with clams, broccoli, broccoli rabe
Christmas Day: tenderloin, capon, smoked trout and salmon canapes, Brussels sprouts, roasted vegetables

OK, Dale, that sounds like Sette Pesce -- is "Williams" really "Guglielmi"?!?!?

I'm a real mongrel -Dutch (read German-Americans who changed history when WWI rolled around), Cherokee (read what poor white Southerners said after some black genes introduced), English, Scots, Irish, etc. But no Italian that I know of. But yes, we did Feast of Seven Fishes- am I a Soprano-wannabe? I've been to one before, but usually on Christmas Eve I spend midnight and after on streets (and can't have wine etc before driving). So when there was a full experienced crew for tonight, I thought my turn to do 7 Fishes (and 7+ wines).

Mark brought the shrimp and gravlax, I did rest (with lots of help from Betsy). Shrimp and gravlax outstanding. Batali said the eels were essential. Followed his recipe (baked in a sauce with caperberries, olives, etc.), great flavors but the backbones made a tough sale. Non-traditional calamari- Chinese style with Sichuan pepper-big hit. Salt cod was good, soup a hit, linguine good though I burnt the garlic a bit.

[Frank Deis]

Hmm -- if I were doing that I might also stray toward Asian with the eels. Any good Asian food market will probably have the kind of fileted and BBQ flavored eel that is used in making sushi. It's generally sold frozen. Just FWIW I bet you could do a "fusion" version of more or less the entire meal -- certainly the fish markets of good Asian supermarkets are things of beauty, generally with live fish tanks.

[Mike Filigenzi]

We ended up going with dry aged ribeyes from the market around the corner, along with leftover chard risotto (we hadn't really eaten much of it from a couple nights ago) and a salad made with roasted peppers, raisins, almonds, chili flakes, and garlic on buffalo mozzarella. The steaks were fantastic, as good as any I've ever had. The salad was very interesting - I'll post the RCP shortly.

[Carrie L.]

Anyone else take photos? If so, please share!
Here's our dinner....

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[Paul Winalski]

I spent Christmas with my mother at her retirement home and cooked Coq au Vin for the two of us, accompanied by crusty bread and a salad, with locally made Massachusetts truffles for dessert. We had Krug Grand Cuvee Champagne before the meal, and 1990 Roumier Bonnes Mares with the main course.

Celestial!

-Paul W.

[Mike Filigenzi]

Wow, Paul - I will love it if my kids come do that for me when I'm in a retirement home.

[Rahsaan]

I spent Christmas with my mother at her retirement home and cooked Coq au Vin for the two of us, accompanied by crusty bread and a salad, with locally made Massachusetts truffles for dessert. We had Krug Grand Cuvee Champagne before the meal, and 1990 Roumier Bonnes Mares with the main course.

Celestial!

-Paul W.

Nice work indeed. I'm guessing other people in the home were jealous.

[Dale Williams]

Wow, Paul - I will love it if my kids come do that for me when I'm in a retirement home.

I'm thinking of moving into a home right now (and adopting Paul)

[Dale Williams]

Hmm -- if I were doing that I might also stray toward Asian with the eels. Any good Asian food market will probably have the kind of fileted and BBQ flavored eel that is used in making sushi. It's generally sold frozen. Just FWIW I bet you could do a "fusion" version of more or less the entire meal -- certainly the fish markets of good Asian supermarkets are things of beauty, generally with live fish tanks.

Actually, the majority of my fish shopping was at HMart (and the rest at a Chinese run fishmonger). I looked to see if they have the frozen bbq unagi (didn't see, but I always buy at Kam Sen, the Chinese market in White Plains), but really wanted to try the Batali eel recipe.HMart did have live lobsters for $5/lb, which helped budget. The big disappointment was the razor clams, another Batali recipe called for them and I knew HMart had them, but when I poked, they didn't draw in. Called manager and he agreed they were dead. So substituted scallops.

Yes, one could easily do 7 fishes as an Asian fusion meal. Though then you'd probably leave out the salt cod. But we already did Asian twist on calamari, could do a Cantonese fish stew rather than zuppa, unagi rather than eels in tomato sauce, etc.

[Jenise]

Wow, Paul - I will love it if my kids come do that for me when I'm in a retirement home.

+1!!!



And Carrie, the color of your prime rib is my idea of ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!

Alas, no pictures here, was just busy getting it all on the table.

[Carrie L.]

And Carrie, the color of your prime rib is my idea of ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!

"Warm red center." It seemed everyone at our table liked it that way, minus one, who requested an end cut.
Remember we posted about methods a few years back, tweaking the Cook's Illustrated version? This is based on that. Tried and true!

[Lou Kessler]

My kids said they would cook the same dinner for me as Paul received but they wanted to put me into a retirement home when I was 48 years of age. I was wise to their ruse and refused.

[Matilda L]

Boxing Day dinner was fun. Six people - all of whom contributed something to the food. There was the usual Australian Christmas mash-up of seafood, cold meat, hot dishes, and the inevitable Christmas Pudding with brandy cream. We all ate too much, and the leftovers kept the fridge - and us - stuffed for three days after.

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Great wine, too - including a bottle of Kellermeister Wild Witch shiraz (Barossa Valley) 2008, which was elegant and silky, bursting with anise and blackcurrant and - for those who kept it in their glass long enough for the flavour to develop to this point - red roses.

[Carrie L.]

Wow, Matilda. Great job. Is that the Christmas pudding in the white bowl? I don't think too many people in the states make that, but I'm always intriqued by it. Does it have dried fruits?
What's in the photo left of that one? Corn? Tomato?

[Frank Deis]

Matilda your blue willow plate is exactly like the set my Grandmother had.

It makes me think there are many other things than Language that bind together many of the countries in the old British Empire.

[Matilda L]

Carrie, that is the Christmas pudding in the white basin. One of the guests brought that along, and it bubbled away in a covered pot on the stovetop, reheating, while we worked our way through pre-dinner drinks and the long main course. It was delicious. I think this is the recipe that was used: http://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/rich ... ustard.htm

That's a spicy chick-pea dish bubbling away in the steel pot. I took a shortcut by using two 440g tins of chickpeas, rather than going down the soak-and-simmer route. They were cooked up with chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, a few dried tomatoes, some onions and garlic, ground cumin and coriander seed, garam masala and turmeric. Don't ask for a recipe - I did it by smell and taste. It was great, even though I say it myself.

Frank, I love blue willow crockery. I've had the same set for years ... I think every piece has been replaced two or three times over by now, but I can claim I've had it for years all the same.