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Are you cooking Christmas Eve dinner? If so, what are you cooking?


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OK, Denise and Mariann, here it is:

 

1 1/2 c chicken stock or broth

1 c orzo

1/2 tsp saffron threads

3 tbs butter

1/4 lb shrimp

1/4 lb bay scallops or halved sea scallops

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 lb mushrooms, quartered

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 tsp pepper

 

In a medium saucepan, bring chicken stock and 1 1/2 c water to a boil over high heat. Add orzo, return to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook until almost tender, about 7 min. Measure out 1/4 c of pasta cooking liquid into a small bowl. Add saffron and set aside. Drain orzo into a sieve.

 

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 1 tbs butter over med-high heat. Add shrimp and cook, turning until curled and pink, about 2-3 min. Remove to a plate and cover to keep warm.

 

Melt another 1 tbs butter in skillet. Add scallops and cook, stirring and tossing, until firm and lightly browned, also in about 2-3 min. Remove to the shrimp plate and cover.

 

Melt the final 1 tbs butter in skillet. Add onion, mushrooms and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, about 4 min.

 

Return shrimp and scallops to skillet. Add orzo and saffron mixture. Combine and warm for about a minute or so until heated thoroughly, and serve immediately.

 

Serves about 4.

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I'm doing something different this year from my usual. We're having:

 

Baked artichoke/spinach/cheese dip with tortilla chips and crackers

Standing rib roast w/ roasted potatoes

Green salad with dried cranberries, toasted almonds, red onion, and orange balsamic vinagrette dressing

Nutty brussel sprouts

Sweet rolls

Pumpkin pie for dessert

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OK, Denise and Mariann, here it is:

 

1 1/2 c chicken stock or broth

1 c orzo

1/2 tsp saffron threads

3 tbs butter

1/4 lb shrimp

1/4 lb bay scallops or halved sea scallops

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 lb mushrooms, quartered

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 tsp pepper

 

In a medium saucepan, bring chicken stock and 1 1/2 c water to a boil over high heat. Add orzo, return to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook until almost tender, about 7 min. Measure out 1/4 c of pasta cooking liquid into a small bowl. Add saffron and set aside. Drain orzo into a sieve.

 

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 1 tbs butter over med-high heat. Add shrimp and cook, turning until curled and pink, about 2-3 min. Remove to a plate and cover to keep warm.

 

Melt another 1 tbs butter in skillet. Add scallops and cook, stirring and tossing, until firm and lightly browned, also in about 2-3 min. Remove to the shrimp plate and cover.

 

Melt the final 1 tbs butter in skillet. Add onion, mushrooms and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, about 4 min.

 

Return shrimp and scallops to skillet. Add orzo and saffron mixture. Combine and warm for about a minute or so until heated thoroughly, and serve immediately.

 

Serves about 4.

 

We'll need more butter. :lol::lol::lol: This looks fabulous -- I thiknk that I, too, however, will have to double the recipe. Thanks!:)

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We'll need more butter. :lol::lol::lol: This looks fabulous -- I thiknk that I, too, however, will have to double the recipe. Thanks!:)

 

A good cook never follows the recipe exactly!

 

And, since you would likely at least have ONE other fish (:tongue_smilie:), I figured I'd give you it as is. If it is unaccompanied, it can easily be doubled, or even just stretched with more seafood and mushrooms.

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We're doing raclette. It takes a while, but is loads of fun. For those of you not familiar with it here's a description:

 

A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, to heat slices of raclette cheese in. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables and charcuterie. These are then mixed with potatoes and topped with cheese in the small, wedge-shaped coupelles that are placed under the grill to melt and brown the cheese. Alternatively, slices of cheese may be melted and simply poured over food on the plate. The accent in raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours. French and other European supermarkets generally stock both the grill apparatus and ready-sliced cheese and charcuterie selections, especially around Christmas. Restaurants also provide raclette evenings for parties of diners.

 

We've done raclette several times and it's always fun. We first did it when we studied Switzerland early last year. A friend was leaving Germany and had given us their 220v grill. You can see photos of it here on my hs blog. Indy's so excited he can hardly stand it. Raclette is his favorite meal.

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I was planning to make a lasagna soup, but then we decided to go to MILs house so that she wouldn't have to come over here two days in a row. So soup is not good at her house eating on our laps. I think now the plan is to make late afternoon appetizers and watch a movie and then head to church at 6pm. My kids LOVE an appetizer dinner. Deviled eggs, salami and herb cheese, mini-egg rolls, jalepeno artichoke dip with chips, little smokies in BBQ sauce, maybe a mini pizza or two.

 

How is this prepared? the salami & herb cheese?

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Our tradition is to make a Chicago-style deep dish pizza. This came about from the first year we stayed home for Christmas, when our dd was 15 months old. It was just the three of us, one of whom was a toddler, so I didn't think we'd do anything fancy for Christmas dinner. Well, apparently dh had other ideas, and on Christmas morning, he asked me what I was making for Christmas dinner.

 

I was like, :confused:

 

And then I was all :willy_nilly: because of course, the grocery stores were all closed.

 

I found the fixins in the house to make a pizza, so that's what we had for our first family Christmas dinner at home. We decided to move it to Christmas Eve the following year, and do a more traditional Christmas dinner on Christmas Day, and so that's how our traditional Christmas Eve deep dish pizza came about.

 

:D

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