For the Bresse chicken for the Christmas Day, we voted among ourselves between the 2 following recipes:
The Bresse chicken like “G7” by Georges Blanc (video here)
with cream, mushroom, garlic, champagne and foie gras
Bresse chicken with lemon butter and rosemary by Mathieu Pacaud (video here)
With a touch of tarragon in the lemon zest butter under the skin and served with celery.
The second recipe wins, we would like a crispy skin and a lighter dish.
I’ve found another recipe uses coffee as spice, which I worry that it will be too overwhelming and masks the taste of chicken. Thanks @Harters for the menu of Claude Bosi. Mr. n can eat truffle, but not a very big fan.
Mrs. P went all out for Christmas eve! I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas present
We started out with an outstanding kabocha squash salad inspired by Bloom in Verona, NJ. Mrs. P pureed kabocha squash, roasted Fuji apples, maple syrup, heavy cream, and butter in the blender. It was topped with homemade candied pecans and laid on top of endives and radicchio, which was the perfect vehicle for scooping up the squash. Next was BBQ shrimp inspired by Mr. B’s in New Orleans. The delicious sauce was scooped up with a crispy 3 seeded baguette. The piece de resistance was lobster thermidor😋 We had some excellent wine and port. For dessert (not pictured) Mrs. P made a brownie stuffed with peanut butter ganache and topped with chocolate ganache, as well as homemade coffee ice cream with chocolate covered espresso beans.
So, I didn’t have time to make a Ukrainian Xmas Eve dinner.
I made a simplified Oysters Rockefeller, bastardized Moqueca, sautéed mushrooms, green beans , salad and rice. Friulian Gubana for dessert. Very basic photos. No time for plating.
Oysters
Gravlax on cucumber with crème fraîche and dill, hot smoked salmon with spicy remoulade (from Fish Without A Doubt), salmon roe and cream cheese on endive. Crémant de Bourgogne to go with.
Phyllo, cream cheese, pepper jelly and toasted pecan pinwheels for appetizers with drinks. Tender and flavorful prime rib of beef, cooked to a perfect rare side of medium rare, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, white sweet potato, red onion, herbes de Provence olive oil & S& P. King Crab legs with butter and lemon, rolls with butter, horseradish and horseradish sauce, au jus with the beef. Lemon olive oil cake with raspberries and whipped cream. Decaf coffee. A nice merlot, (can’t remember the label) Prosecco and sparkling rose, before dinner. All delicious!
Looks sooo much better! I still wrapped last year, and I have lots of rolls of paper, bows, ribbon, etc, all in wrapping paper boxes! Maybe next year. Husband gets his gifts wrapped by someone ( not me!).
Beautiful! Is the first porchetta? What cut(s) of pork? Is that a “typical” home in Spain in the background?
1 Like
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
60
Not in my experience. That’s a much more modern, spacious and pleasant looking place than my sister in law and her husband lived in. Or that of his parents. Both of them basically shitholes. But what you going to do if you have very low incomes?
