There were so many dishes I wanted to try for Christmas Eve dinner. But I marked one of two of my list because I didn't want to offer too many starches, though in the end, I did. Didn't want sweet potato souffle AND mustard-roasted red potatoes. Also wanted to offer a plethora of colors instead of going with a dominant white/yellow/brown palette.
Ian deep fried a ham. It was a pre-cooked spiral sliced ham that he immersed in peanut oil for 5-7 minutes. This was well-away from the house, out back in our driveway. Every time we tell people that we deep fried a turkey at Thanksgiving and a ham at Christmas they mention statistics about how many people burn down their homes by using deep fryers. But Ian is careful, just not mindful enough with the ham. He kept it in the oil a minute or so too long. Parts of it were black, but once you got past that, the innards were tasty. He wasn't so thrilled with it. We're always our own worst critic, no?
There was no recipe about it, although I found scant information online somewhere that told how long to cook it.
My macaroni and cheese recipe came from the James Villas cookbook, The Glory of Southern Cooking (2007) I've scoured for months. It was great. My stepmother asked for the recipe and doled out huge helpings, seconds, and thirds, on the mac n cheese.
Peas with goat cheese and bacon came from Cook's Country, the December issue, I think. It's my new favorite cooking magazine, then again, I've paid closer attention to Gourmet and Bon Appetit of late than I have in the past. . Haven't subscribed to it, yet. My postal carrier creases every magazine arriving at my mailbox down the middle and CC is oversized. But back to peas: Easy, quick, and delicious. Made with a bag of frozen peas, bacon grease drippings, and either half and half or heavy whipping cream. A few scallions, and the goat cheese. Maybe salt and pepper to taste. Yum. As someone who never liked peas, I must say that it was lovely and a dish I'll repeat again and again.
Sweet potato souffle is the standard I make for every holiday and I got its recipe from Consuming Passions: A Food-Obsessed Life (1999) by Michael Lee West. I've made the topping incorrectly for several years and when I tried to make it the "correct" way once, it just wouldn't do. I cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave add the butter, evaporated milk, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and then add the topping and pop it into my oven.
Also tried Alabama Biscuit Muffins from the Villas cookbook. It's just a wealth of recipes, many that I'm aching to try. These biscuits came out well. Crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. When Ian's Dad stopped by later, he snacked on a cold one and raved.
Tried the Vidalia onion and goat cheese pie from Villas' cookbook. It was fine and I got several requests for its recipe. I whipped it up Christmas morning so we could bring it to Ian's brother's home for our Stokes family gathering. They weren't vidalia onions, but they were still, slightly sweet, and tasty.
Finally made the Sandra Lee bark. It was okay. I never ate a bite of it though. Strange, but true. I hold a grudge.
We had Christmas Day lunch at my sister-in-law's house. She sets a pretty table. The menu was atypical, but much appreciated: Prime Rib, green beans with mushrooms, mashed potatoes, my onion pie, and bread.
Then that evening we went to my mom's house for slightly lighter fare. She cooked her ham in a mixture of pineapple juice and something else. Can't quite recall what exactly she did, now. But I think her table, her whole dining room, in fact, personifies the idea of a Southern dining room table; food and decor.
And then another recipe I tried of Villas' was for bleu cheese straws. A few nights prior to Christmas I doubled the recipe and combined the ingredients in my mixer. I moaned about not having a food processor. Later, after opening gifts Christmas morning, Ian admitted that he almost caved, almost gave me my food processor early so I wouldn't struggle with that cheese straw dough. The recipe was simple. I rolled out the dough and used a fondant embosser to cut my dough into appropriate-sized pieces. We took them along to Aleda's for Christmas lunch and everyone loved them. And hated me because they were so addictive. Then later, Josie stopped by on her way back home to Atlanta. She said they looked professionally done and couldn't believe I made them. I bagged up a batch for her to take to her mother. Seems like each time Josie comes to town I end up sending something home with her to her mother to apologize for the scant thirty minutes or an hour that Josie visits with me. At least Peggy gets cake, or bleu cheese straws, as the case was, this time.
I've never even heard of deep fried ham - this is just one of the many reasons I love you - you are so educational. Also, you "get" our family motto over here: If it's fried it must be tried...
I loved the photo of your list in the last picture - and I think that I fall between you and I on the pound cake scale - I'm open to new versions, but don't gunk it up with stuff on the top. I, too, have eaten all but the glaze/icing on a pound cake, only to chuck that part away.
Over Christmas, my mother-in-law made a really good pound cake. She called it a Baptist pound cake - and it would seem that the "secret ingredient" was McCormick* vanilla, butter and nut artificial flavoring. Personally, I've always been a bit of a flavoring snob - if it's not real vanilla then I am not using it. I've not even looked at the artificial flavors (well, maybe a quick scan of then, just for scoffing purposes....) I'd never even heard of v/b/n flavor (they had to explain to me that it was just 1 flavor, not 3 different ones.) Sure enough, I looked and they have it at Publix, so I may have to relax my thinking on this... Who knew????
The rest of your menus sound amazing. Particularly description of the pea dish. You make that sound so good, I think I could eat a bath tub full of 'em!
As long as I am just rambling on now - you've got me all anxious to read the Jean Anderson cookbook. I gave it as a backup hint to CousinMichael (formerly of Gourmet & Co. - NYE was his last night), since he drew my name in the CrazyFamily gift exchange. Funnily enough, he got all excited about it too, but he had a hard time finding it. So I got my "first hint" present - which I was wildly excited about. CM makes THE most amazing muffins - so he gave me a big muffin pan and a half dozen of his recipes. I've been waiting for about 10 years for him to draw my name so I could ask for these.
In a cruel twist of irony though - I got on the scale for the first time in months, and (sigh) I got *fat* in the last 8 weeks. (Which I knew... which is why I avoided the scale for all that time. I would have said that it was medically impossible to gain this much weight in such a short amount of time, but I did it.) So - long whiny story longer - no giant muffins for me. At least, not right now... :(
For now - I'll just have to live vicariously through your menus, photos and glorious descriptions!
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*and it was explained to me that it HAS to be McCormick. That other brands make v/b/n flavoring, but it is just plain inferior. Again, who knew???
Posted by: lla | Friday, 04 January 2008 at 08:37 AM