Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Christmas Dinner 2011

Before we get too much more into 2012, I better post the menu and pix from Christmas dinner 2011.

We were definitely in the mood for a warm, cozy meal with loads seasonal veggies but not a lot of fussy dishes or overly rich ingredients. In the interest of keeping things simple, I elected to pass on doing a meat entree for me as I normally do for the big holiday meals. I also didn't bother much with presentation (not that I ever do a lot in this area), only making a token use of "the good china."  It worked. We had a delicious meal and didn't spend all day in the kitchen. Here's what we had:

Arugula Salad with Jerusalem Artichokes and Shaved Parmesan
Wild Mushroom Shepherds' Pie with Mushroom/Pinot Sauce
Roasted Onion Gratin (made with seven different types of onions)
Fennel Gratin
Honey Yeast Rolls
Mincemeat Pie

And here's the pictorial proof:

Jerusalem artichokes for the salad dug from our yard on Christmas Eve:


The salad (with requisite Christmas cracker and a glass of Sokol-Blosser Meditrina)

The onions in all their roasted glory (and they were glorious--truly):


All together now (sorry, seem to have neglected a photo of the entree on its own):

And the finale:


This meal seems like it was a million years ago already but I'm glad to be thinking of it again. It's a good reminder that I need to dig out the recipe for that onion dish again and not just save it for holidays. Maybe if I have it two or three more times I'll be able to put into words just how phenomenal it was.

3 comments:

  1. Maybe if you dig out the onion dish recipe...you would share it those of us whose mouths are watering?

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    1. Yes! It's the Roasted Onions with Gruyere Croutons recipe from Bon Appetit. Here's the link: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2009/12/roasted_onions_with_gruyere_crouton
      The only modification I would make is to use fewer croutons--let the onions be the stars of the show.

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