What’s Cookin’, Holidays 2019 Edition

I hosted my brother's family for a pre-holiday dinner last week. Since my nephew's bride is vegetarian (but will eat fish), my main course was comprised of two 2.5 lb salmon fillets. I took them out of the refrigerator about half an hour before cooking, salted and peppered them, then just before putting them into a 450 degree oven, brushed them with a dijon mustard/maple syrup sauce. I gave them 15-20 minutes in the oven, tested them with a twist of a fork (if they flake easily and the flesh inside has turned opaque, it's time to take them out), and then gave them another brush of the sauce before serving with lemon wedges. Side dishes were roasted new potatoes, steamed green beans tossed with lemon and butter and some toasted pecans, and an Asian cabbage slaw with peanuts (I wasn't crazy about the latter). For dessert I served an array of home-baked cookies and a platter of sliced panettone and paluani, with a small pitcher of Swedish vanilla sauce to pour over it.

The rest of the holidays it'll just be me and the husband. We'll have veal parmesan on the 24th, with a green salad, a traditional turkey dinner on the 25th with a Bailey's Irish Cream cake for dessert, and a prime rib roast with tart cherry pie on New Year's Day.

And then the diet begins.

Christmas day dinner: Wild venison tenderloin with a blackberry, thyme and balsamic reduction; pan-fried potatoes with rosemary; steamed green beans, zucchini and asparagus; corn on the cob. Dessert: pavlova with berries and whipped cream. This makes me happy because the venison was shot/gifted to me by a friend; the potatoes, herbs, vegetables and berries are all from my garden.

Plus, we took the dogs today to the river for a swim, and everyone is happily worn out, so I get a peaceful afternoon!

Unimportant said:

Christmas day dinner: Wild venison tenderloin with a blackberry, thyme and balsamic reduction; pan-fried potatoes with rosemary; steamed green beans, zucchini and asparagus; corn on the cob. Dessert: pavlova with berries and whipped cream. This makes me happy because the venison was shot/gifted to me by a friend; the potatoes, herbs, vegetables and berries are all from my garden.

Plus, we took the dogs today to the river for a swim, and everyone is happily worn out, so I get a peaceful afternoon!

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This sounds splendid!

Venison dinner turned out amazingly well, other than I overcooked the berry sauce a bit. Each of the dogs also got their own mini pavlova, with heaps of whipped cream and a giant berry on top. The young setter didn't quite know what to do with the pav itself, but the Dane hoovered up the whole thing in one bite

Tonight (Boxing Day) will be my attempt at Ethiopian, though I confess I can't do proper injera and I can't find teff flour to ferment anyways, so I fake it using regular flour, club soda, vinegar and baking powder. A mix of dishes, and since I'm faking it I'm using what I've got in the garden rather than the proper ingredients: lentils; spinach (I'm using silverbeet and pumpkin stems) and onion (I'm using leek); carrot and cabbage (I'm using silverbeet stems); chicken and tomato; and fresh salad.

Leftover pav might be too weird after that, so it'll be what's left of the Xmas cookies I baked for gifting/sharing using great-great-granny's recipes.