What should I make for Christmas Eve dinner?

[Drama Llama]

The last two years I have hosted Christmas Eve dinner for a small group.  Two years ago, I made Polish style Wigilia in honor of my new Polish sister in law.  Then last year I did the Italian 7 fishes.  
 

Now, I need a theme for this year.  
 

I will note that the goal is to be complicated, and challenging, and distracting at a challenging time of the year, and also for me to spend the day cooking with two of my favorite cooks.  
 

We will have a six month old, and an almost three year old, but other than that only teens adults with adventuresome palates and no food restrictions whatsoever.

So, what cuisine should we explore?  Who has good holiday traditions?

[Amira]

Tamales are a perfect Christmas food.  You can add in champurrado, buñuelos, or look up other ideas for Las Posadas in Mexico.  

[Emba]

Tamales are amazing!  I think that’sa great idea.

 

 In my family we do chili, but it’s not the sort of cooking experience you want, it’s meant to be something easy on the cook that can simmer until everyone gets there.

[PeterPan]

With teens do chinese. You can spend all kinds of time wrapping, steaming, baking, frying adorable appetizers, and everything has to be served pronto to have the wok hay. Breath of the Wok by Grace Young for recipes to get you started.

Teens also like indian food much more than you'd expect, but the chinese will be more fun to make together.

I wish you were inviting me. 😁

Edited December 16, 2023 by PeterPan

[aug17girl]

Have a French Canadian theme and make tourtiere (meat pie) and a buche de Noel (yule log cake) for dessert.

[PeterPan]

In England we ate this Chinese/Himalayan (Nepalese) fusion food that was unbelievably good. Here's a link to their menu page. https://www.the29029restaurant.co.uk/indian-dishes-dorset-our-menu/

They did this thing called Samosa Chat that was like samosas gone nacho, oh my. Chopped up, piled up with deliciousness. If you can figure it out, I'm coming to your house. 😂

Btw, british curries are very easy to eat, sort of mild and homey even when they say they're spicy. When I've been to indian restaurants in the US they were very amped in comparison. I need to learn how to make them.

Edited December 16, 2023 by PeterPan

[busymama7]

We do swedish meatballs. They take some time but mostly in the morning. Then mashed potatoes and gravy and ham and cheese potatoes and rolls etc 

[regentrude]

Fyi, German traditional Christmas dinner is roast goose. 

[Chris in VA]

Since I live in Jerusalem I'll add my two cents and recommend Palestinian food. You could do maqlouba with various salads. 

Back in the States we make a killer beef tenderloin. You could go British/Am and do a beef tenderloin with popovers or Yorkshire pudding and lovely sides. 

[Drama Llama]

43 minutes ago, Chris in VA said:

Since I live in Jerusalem I'll add my two cents and recommend Palestinian food. You could do maqlouba with various salads. 

Back in the States we make a killer beef tenderloin. You could go British/Am and do a beef tenderloin with popovers or Yorkshire pudding and lovely sides. 

I will look into all the options.

We will do a big American style meat centered feast the next day.  We'll have ham for lunch with all the kids, and then my DH is flying into town and we'll have steaks with a smaller group.  

So, whatever we do the night before should probably not be meat centered (like a tenderloin).  Wigilia, which is vegetarian, and the seven fishes were both good for that. 

I kind of want something that is connected to Christmas, but if I dropped that idea, I am wondering about Asian food.  

[Carol in Cal.]

There is a big Christmas Eve feast in Ukraine that is pretty much vegetarian and sounds pretty labor intensive.  Honestly, the descriptions of it don’t appeal to me as cuisine all that much, but the idea of it is lovely.  I did make the Ukrainian cake with three fillings last year.  What a job!  It lasted for weeks.  There was a yeasted sweet dough, and a poppy seed filling, an apricot jam filling, and one other one—I think walnuts were involved.  It was really beautiful but I will never make it again.  If you want a lot of work, you might try it.  (Personally I’m planning on using one of the fillings for thumbprint cookies this year.)

[mominco]

22 hours ago, PeterPan said:

In England we ate this Chinese/Himalayan (Nepalese) fusion food that was unbelievably good. Here's a link to their menu page. https://www.the29029restaurant.co.uk/indian-dishes-dorset-our-menu/

They did this thing called Samosa Chat that was like samosas gone nacho, oh my. Chopped up, piled up with deliciousness. If you can figure it out, I'm coming to your house. 😂

Btw, british curries are very easy to eat, sort of mild and homey even when they say they're spicy. When I've been to indian restaurants in the US they were very amped in comparison. I need to learn how to make them.

Samosa chaat is Indian in origin. Chaat is considered street food and is available though out the subcontinent.

There are a ton of recipes and you can make it semi home made(buy pre made samosas and the chutneys that go with it).Here is a link that has a few chaat recipes

https://pipingpotcurry.com/indian-chaat-recipes/

[PeterPan]

41 minutes ago, mominco said:

Samosa chaat is Indian in origin. Chaat is considered street food and is available though out the subcontinent.

There are a ton of recipes and you can make it semi home made(buy pre made samosas and the chutneys that go with it).Here is a link that has a few chaat recipes

https://pipingpotcurry.com/indian-chaat-recipes/

I'm a goober. I wrote Chinese but yes it was indian. I was just surprised at the Nepalese component as we were sort of out in the sticks in England, not in a big city.  I think I may have found that site when I was googling to confirm the name of what we ate. The samosas were chopped and piled up like nachos. I probably have a picture somewhere. I think I found it. Insanely good. I want to go back to England and take cooking classes someday for their indian food, because it was so good, so easy to eat. 

[mominco]

That is an attractive looking samosa chaat!I see the yogurt and tamarind chutney,It does like a fusion but de;ish.I hope you can go and ;earn one day.

[gardenmom5]

Paella? - do a Spanish theme

Feijoada? - do a Brazilian theme.

[Innisfree]

Maybe some of these Korean dishes would work for you. There shouldn’t be a paywall for the article; not sure if the site will let you get to the recipes, but if there are any you can’t find with a search online, let me know and I’ll try to link them.

Quote

Korean American churches pull out the big stops for Christmas, cooking more elaborate meals of banquet dishes like fried mandu and jeon, the various pan-fried fritters, patties and pancakes that line the buffet trays at Korean parties; japchae, janchi guksu and other party noodles; barbecued favorites like galbi, bulgogiand the spicy pork variant, dwaeji bulgogi; fancy braises like galbi jjim and dak bokkeumtang, otherwise known as dakdori tang; and all manner of soups and stews, but predominately miyeok guk, which is, in Korean cultures, traditionally eaten on one’s birthday.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/dining/christmas-lunch-korean-american-church.html?mwgrp=a-mbar&unlocked_article_code=1.G00.GI8K.J4Q5s8mqYv3q&smid=url-share

[KungFuPanda]

We always did fondue. We skipped the broth course and just did cheese for dinner and chocolate for dessert, but you can make it harder if you want. 🤣 

[Tree Frog]

3 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

We always did fondue. We skipped the broth course and just did cheese for dinner and chocolate for dessert, but you can make it harder if you want. 🤣 

Do you use a specific recipe for the cheese and chocolate? I have a fondue pot that I'm thinking of using when the kids are home.

[KungFuPanda]

I can’t find my recipe!  It was some website called the beeroness. I liked the recipe because you blended the ingredients in the blender before heating and it made a foolproof beer-cheddar fondue. If you lean more towards the wine and melty cheeses that I can’t spell (ementhaller, racquelette, gruyere, swiss) it’s easier to pull off. Those cheeses just melt nicer and are less prone to clumping.
 

Melting Pot does put their recipes online and they’re pretty good. I would advise you to melt the cheese on the stovetop then transfer to the fondue pot to keep warm. If you cook it in the fondue pot it takes forever. 
 

Trader Joe’s has a La Fondue that you just microwave and it’s ridiculously good. Some years I would buy that for the swiss variation and make the cheddar from scratch. We did veggies, a couple breads (usually a dark one and a sourdough . . . sometimes soft pretzel) and cocktail weenies, ham chunks, or shrimp. We never bothered with the broth course.

Dessert was always chocolate fondue. We did pound cake, strawberries, bananas, and something else that’s escaping my memory. 

[pinball]

On 12/16/2023 at 4:36 PM, Drama Llama said:

The last two years I have hosted Christmas Eve dinner for a small group.  Two years ago, I made Polish style Wigilia in honor of my new Polish sister in law.  Then last year I did the Italian 7 fishes.  
 

Now, I need a theme for this year.  
 

I will note that the goal is to be complicated, and challenging, and distracting at a challenging time of the year, and also for me to spend the day cooking with two of my favorite cooks.  
 

We will have a six month old, and an almost three year old, but other than that only teens adults with adventuresome palates and no food restrictions whatsoever.

So, what cuisine should we explore?  Who has good holiday traditions?

What was served for the meal you were asking for input?

[Drama Llama]

5 minutes ago, pinball said:

What was served for the meal you were asking for input?

We did Thai food.  It was really good.