Christmas Dinner

Currently: breathing in the aroma of turkey stock

General consensus: Best looking and tasting holiday meal I've put on the table, excepting the rather overwhelming quantity of food. I guess practice does make closer to perfect! However, I learned a Valuable Lesson about not counting children under 5 as "people" when calculating expected numbers of servings. I also learned that starting the food prep the night before is an invaluable step towards preserving sanity, "cool," and the required quantity of clean dishes to get through the cooking on The Big Day. In addition, I need to get me some nice serving dishes. A laden table looks rather wonderful when food is beautifully and thoughtfully arranged on decorative dishware of complementary and contrasting colors. Finally, I learned that care for small children takes precedence over food prep (??!!) and that the little ones are good at and smug about robbing me of my kitchen slaves. Argh! So, food synopsis:

Everything was served HOT without being rewarmed! I am so proud! It is really hard to do that!!

Turkey, 13.5-pounder, rubbed with scallions, onions, and a ruddy buttload of Chinese 5-spice, which includes MSG, 1.5 sticks of butter under the skin, sprinkled with salt and pepper, 3ish hours @ 325 degrees, finished with the last half hour at 400 degrees, 1st few hours with foil on. Verdict: Extremely flavorful, juicy meat, nicely browned skin, lots of butter juice. (Folks rather liked the "more Chinese-tasting" turkey. 5-spice was a hit, but folks were strangely thirsty for hours and days following...)

Tomato and roasted red pepper soup, served with a dollop of cream and a sprinkling of parsley. Thanks TJ's! I offered to make a homemade soup, but TJ's soup was requested. Verdict: Enjoyed by all, though T prefers the straight tomato soup. Great presentation, looked "all fancy." (DO NOT SPRINKLE WITH A LOT OF PARSLEY. A little goes a loooooong way...)

Sweet potatoes, roasted in foil for ~ 1.5 hours on a baking sheet, super-soft and very well done. Verdict: Who knows? They looked good, but there was too much food and no one even tried these. Next time, only making 1!!!

Butternut squash risotto, half baked and mashed, half sauteed (in olive oil, onion, garlic, salt and pepper), swirled in last minute to a standard risotto (onion, garlic, olive oil, chicken stock, cream, butter, parmesan, and romano) base. Stir, stir, stir. Verdict: My first risotto kicked booty!!!!! Perfectly al dente, rich and creamy with very little cream, subtly sweet yet savory squashy flavor, gorgeous fall-winter orangey color, fantastically dense yet smooth mouthfeel. Excellent recipe, great execution, PITA-amount of work, but completely worth it! Only flaw - does not keep At All. Must eat while fresh, do NOT make extra. (This is how white people eat rice? Strange-looking but - Hey it's good! It's great! Can I have some more??!!)

Mashed potatoes, one bag of Yukons, butter, cream, chicken stock, salt and pepper, boiled then mashed. Verdict: MUCH better than T-day; Yukons made all the difference -fluffier, tastier, more-potatoe-y, while holding the creamy mashed texture without becoming grainy. Very nice, people ate quite a bit, and quite worthwhile keeping the HALF GALLON in leftovers.

Mushrooms, steakhouse style, sauteed in olive oil with onions, garlic, sherry (well, rice wine), and finished with butter, salt, and pepper. Verdict: Good. Made about twice as many as T-day, so we wouldn't run out. However, the greater quantity was more difficult to cook down to "dry," when all the flavors are packed in the mushrooms themselves, and not in the juice. Still a welcome addition to the meal and folks enjoyed them. Likely will become a staple, but make slightly less.

"Au jus," turkey drippings and butter, plus added ~ 2 cups of chicken stock. Still hard to capture, but worth every drop! Verdict: Now considered a staple and absolutely essential by all. Per usual, barely enough to go around, especially when people starting pouring it over their food like gravy. (AU JUS, FOLKS! NEARLY PURE BUTTER! FOR THE DIPPING!)

Green beans, sauteed with garlic in olive oil and "au jus," finished with toasted almonds slices and salt and pepper. Verdict: Crisp, almost underdone. Again, made too much, since afraid of running out a la T-day. Sauteeing up smaller batches is easier and tastier, though people enjoyed them.

Spinach and mushroom quiche, with um, spinach and sauteed mushrooms, swiss and gruyere, eggs, cream, salt and pepper, in a store pie shell. Verdict: I though it was underseasoned but otherwise quite good. Great for breakfast the next day, but especially when there weren't 3 other quiches to eat. Simple and tasty, but I didn't really think it went well with the other dinner food. Looked good on the table, but did not need it, food-volume wise, though a few people tried it at dinner.

Antipasti - Artichokes, olives, mozzarella, and red peppers. Thanks, A&S! Verdict: Again, barely touched, but looked very nice on the table. Perhaps next time get charcuterie for the appetizer plate? A&S is The Pork Place, after all...

Tiny toasts, with brie and sun-dried tomato spread. Thanks, TJ's! Verdict: (Why do I keep serving cheese to Chinese people? I like it, but they really don't.) Delicious and a rather excellent market find for appetizers to serve to a different crowd.

By request, apple upside-down cake, with vanilla ice cream, with sauteed apples, toasted almonds, and yellow cake "bottom." Verdict: (Very nice as long as you don't use SALT instead of SUGAR!!!!! Gah, I can still taste that awful concoction!!! But I am very glad that I tasted it before baking it and calling it done...) Good but sweet, with crumbly cake (a texture I don't particularly care for, but everyone else seems to love it) bottom. Thank GOD! I made it the night before, but it turned out that we didn't even get to dessert on Christmas Day...

Assortment of hulled berries and fresh whipped cream. Prepped but didn't get to eat. Verdict: Too much d*mned food!

Biscotti, cookies, and fruits for chocolate fondue. Prepped but didn't get to eat. Verdict: Seriously, too much food!!!

Best part about a "kids Christmas" is cooking and eating in pajamas!!!