Simple yet indulgent Christmas Eve cheese plate served as dinner. We spent the afternoon clearing snow and ice at our place and as a favor to our next door neighbor, so we reasoned “Why not?”
These Massachusetts cheeses are: Great Hill Blue (wedge), Pinnacle (rectangle) and Ellie’s Cloudy Down (pyramid). We picked up the cheeses the previous day at the excellent Mill City Cheesemongers in Lowell. Limited days and hours, so check the website first if you want to go.
Christmas Eve dinner:
Apps: meat and cheese tray, shrimp cocktail, mini hot dogs, mini Rueben, spinach dip.
Entree: Turkey, Filet Mignon, Ham, sautéed broccoli, roasted fingerling potatoes, Home made perogies, sweet potato casserole.
Desert: various cookies, cakes etc.
A special guest visitor to end the evening!
Merry Christmas Happy Healthy New Year, Happy Holidays and God Bless us all. I wish you all healthy and prosperity!
Forgot Mac n cheese and scallops in white wine and cheese.
Your family celebration spread always looks fantastic! You sure have some good connections to get Santa to change his route and visit you first!
My cold/flu from October has come back around. Stopped to pickup hot and sour soup on my way home from work yesterday. So dinner today will be simple and easy and hopefully aid in breathing.
No coffee from the circus cat but he has been a good sport about having his schedule changed and dealing with all my hacking and sneezing.
Hope the weather works with your travel plans and your holiday is safe and delicious!
Lovely! Christmas travel! Love this!
Never really have jet lag, I always resist to sleep when landed, only with the local time. The first day is hell, but body adapts next day. I have tried sleeping European time in Asia the first day in the past, the jet lag dragged on for days.
Looking forward to hear your adventures. Are you going to ski in Korea?
Dinner was eating the leftover from the Christmas lunch, capon and vegetables heat upon microwave. Ate also some panettone, chocolate and candied lemon.
Will be leaving the in law’s home tomorrow, everybody is tired, even my cat, he was terrorized by my 2.5 yr old niece the whole afternoon.
As for the 24th meal, the meal was fine, we had a few aperitif, fois gras, chorizo olive cake, bacon and prune roll. Main was prawns with scallop in a creamy champagne sauce, with an orange bûche with white chocolate as dessert.
Here you go, @Ttrockwood. I’ve incorporated most of my changes into the original recipe, but kept my notes at the bottom to let you know how I got there.
Chicken Corn Chowder with Roasted Red Peppers
8 ears fresh corn – shucked, roasted and stripped from cob (I now use 1/2 bag of TJ’s roasted corn mixed with a can of TJ’s sweet corn, with the water the sweet corn is in)
4-5 slices bacon
1 large onion – finely chopped
3 stalks celery – finely chopped
1/2 cup flour
2 quarts chicken stock – I now use 2-4 cups of corn stock (see notes below) and the rest chicken stock
3 red bell peppers – roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped
3 medium potatoes – peeled and chopped
6-8 chicken tenders, chopped into small pieces (or 1 humongous b/s chicken breast)
1-1/2 cups whipping cream – (heavy cream) – I use WAY less - maybe a 1/2 cup
1/2 cup Southern Comfort liqueur – (I OMIT)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper – to taste
Grill the corn over medium-hot coals until slightly charred but not burned, turning occasionally. Remove the corn to a wire rack. Let stand until cool. Cut the tops of the corn kernels with a sharp knife into a bowl. Scrape the ears with a knife to remove the juice. (OR: Use Trader Joe’s frozen roasted corn - WAY easier!)
Fry the bacon in a large stock pot until crisp; crumble and set aside. Add the onions and
celery to the stock pot with the bacon drippings. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the flour.
Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly add the chicken and corn stock, stirring until mixed. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, skimming as necessary. Add the corn, chicken, red peppers and potatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cream, thyme, crumbled bacon, salt and pepper.
Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Ladle into soup bowls.
NOTES : Originally from “from True Grits…Tall Tales and Recipes from the New South”; copyright 1995, The Junior League of Atlanta, Inc. All rights reserved.
11/2/00: LLW Notes: Excellent! Omitted the celery and subbed fat-free half-and-half for the heavy cream. Didn’t have Southern Comfort, so tried Jack Daniels and a bit of Grand Marnier. Not bad, but I won’t make it with any liquor going forward.
10/20/02: LLW Notes: Made a half batch of soup; omitted the liquor, and added 6 sliced chicken tenders for a Chicken, Corn & Red Pepper Chowder. That’s the way I’ll make it from now on (two medium chicken breasts sliced up will also work for a full recipe.)
06/27/09: Made a “corn stock” earlier in the week - I did a quick par-boil on 8 ears of corn (3
minutes), stripped the kernels from the cob, and then, after sauteing some onions, added the
cobs and water and brought it to a boil, simmering until reduced. Removed the cobs, strained the stock. Used about 2 cups of corn stock and 4 cups of chicken stock. Omitted the liquor
completely; used leftover chicken from earlier in the week. Corn stock adds a depth of flavor that wasn’t there in earlier incarnations of this recipe - VERY good!
There was about 3" when I woke up - shoveled it. Showered and changed - annnnnnnd a long snow squall (the last of the storm) dropped another 3 more inches. Luckily it was so cold, the snow was light and fluffy, and easily shoveled. Roads were mostly clear when I got going up to Mom’s. No picture of my Christmas dinner, but a beautiful pic taken mid-afternoon out Mom’s kitchen window.
Posting post-cocktails. Christmas Eve was a nibbles kind of meal so some things that should have been eaten hot were a bit chilly before I got to them. In fact, the family devoured some items before I was able to photograph.
Stuffed mushrooms and a goat cheese spread with homemade crackers. The crackers were a it over baked.
Spinach-Artichoke Dip that was more casserole than dip. [I will reheat with some cream or sour cream to loosen.]
Welcome to 1962! Deviled eggs after the grand-onion and Dad had her way with them. [who knew a 19-month old could eat 5 deviled eggs?]
Some potatoes Dauphinoise:
Next up, broccolini. Blanched and then sautéed with garlic and Calabrian chiles:
Squishy white bread rolls, because my daughter love them:
And the rack of lamb, cut into double chops:
Then this morning, they ate most of the brunch before the camera could come out, but I did get a picture of the Sticky Buns before the vultures descended. [Sorry. Didn’t clean the “goo”-splatter before taking the photo.
Tonight, Mr. SMT was not feeling well, so I made a potato-leek soup with chicken stock. Added the Aleppo peppers again and some fresh dill.
No food for me until about 1:00 PM. “Routine” scans in the morning.
Ooohhh!!! I have had such limited time on my visits to Seoul and tragically wasn’t able to see much of the city because we were working so much. Every meal i have had there was fantastic- including in the airport! I’m sure you will have the best time!! It’s a 12hr difference from nyc and the jet lag seemed the worse on the third day, most of the time i would just be awake crazy early.
And for those that are still here, this is the grand-scallion in her Christmas dress which I made just for her.
She ate a bit of everything on the table! her enthusiasm for food is amazing.
Thanks!! There’s a nearby TJs i’ll pick up the frozen roasted corn and i’ll get dad to make the bacon outside and help with the chicken, this totally sounds like something they will love.
Don’t forget their sweet corn (in a yellow-labeled can). Seriously the BEST canned corn I’ve ever had! And the corn water will partially substitute for the corn stock.
Good to know - thanks!
How is this for canned corn!?!?! (I was so fascinated by canned corn on the cob while on vacation in Aruba I had to buy a can! It now sits with my prized possessions in my office! Lol)
Slightly expired!!
Gorgeous! I’m not a snow girl but love snow when I don’t have to go out in it and can gaze from the window.
IWell, it’s been another unpredictable Christmas. Christmas dinner never left the fridge as I woke up yesterday with GI revolt and spent the day in bed and night at urgent care.
I had a very delicious omelet yesterday morning with smoked turkey and cheddar for breakfast before all turned south but couldn’t stomach anything else. Browned with extra pepper just like I love it. I mostly only eat omelets at home because I like brown eggs and most places cook them “properly.”
I’m still not feeling great but stomached a soothing bowl of oats this morning. I’ve had some oat cravings recently so bought a bag a few weeks ago I never opened and in a house with few starchy foods it was the best option. Plus I got to use the pressure cooker because I didn’t want to wait forever to cook steel cut oats. Using the pressure cooker more is on my cooking resolution list for next year so I got a head start. I plopped in some sweet potatoes when the oats were done in case I can’t stomach meatballs. The oats were sooooo good, splash of vanilla, cashew milk, and apple spice.
Unfortunately, I then called to update my dad that I’m feeling ok and found out that my grandpa died this morning. He’s been sick for a while but sounded great when I talked to him yesterday so it was a surprise. I’ll be in bed today with the cats (as soon as I can get the little one to stop cuddling the heating vents-I guess she’s cold…), Hallmark channel, and comfort food to nurse my belly and mind to health - fingers crossed for meatballs. If not, dinner will be sweet potato in some form.
I have a pile of cooked sweet potatoes, any favorite topping ideas?
It doesn’t specify “canned corn on the cob” though, just canned corn!
