Wanted: Christmas Dinner Experts. Are there any out there?!
Wanted: Christmas Dinner Experts. Are there any out there?
Calling all experts!
Okay. So I'm cooking my 1st Christmas dinner ever. And it's the 1st with my boyfriend & his family. Gulp. I need help!
1. Suggestions for really good dishes or treats to impress! Recipes welcome!
2. How much does it cost (roughly) to make a Christmas dinner? We're having ham & turkey for sure. Some side dishes, making cookies & fudge, pies, drinks...
3. How do I manage to make everything so that it all is done at about the same time? So nothing sits & gets cold or whatever...
Freaking out here people. Help, please. I need to not blow this in front of my boyfriend's family. I'm not the best cook - I don't do it much & I've never taken on anything like this. So my only remaining question is should I heavily medicate before or after dinner? (: Or both?
By the way, I need food and a beautifully-prepared meal for SEVENTEEN people who, did I mention, are all related to my boyfriend! Yikes. Thank you for any words of wisdom you can share...
Happy Holidays
Answers:
You can cook your ham and turkey the day before. The ham can be served cold - it is very good this way. Slice your turkey after cooled and store in plastic bag or container in the fridge. About an hour before you eat you can put sliced turkey in a pan and pour plenty of chicken or turkey broth (seasoned with some sage, salt, pepper - whatever you like) over the turkey cover with aluminum foil and heat up in the oven. Believe me it will be very moist and tasty after doing this.
Make your mashed potatoes ahead of time using this recipe:
INGREDIENTS
* 5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
* 2 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese
* 8 ounces sour cream
* 1/2 cup milk
* 2 teaspoons onion salt
* ground black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Place potatoes in a large pot of lightly salted water. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, and mash.
3. In a large bowl, mix mashed potatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, onion salt, and pepper. Transfer to a large casserole dish.
4. Cover, and bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven.
Hint: remove potatoes from fridge about thirty mins. before you start to bake. Also you will need to double this recipe for 17 people.
A simple green vegetable steamed such as broccoli or make a green bean casserole. It can be made ahead of time and bake while you are reheating turkey and cooking the mashed potato casserole.
Serve some rolls, maybe some type of congealed salad, and a relish tray of pickles and olives.
Also have a few of your boyfriends family members bring a dessert. This will be very helpful - and I am sure they will be happy to do so.
Turkeys and hams are on sale this time of year. Search your local groceries for the the best deal. The potatoes, green bean casserole, congealed salad and relish tray will be relatively inexpensive to make.
DO NOT HEAVILY MEDICATE - YOU WILL MOST CERTAINLY MAKE A BAD IMPRESSION DOING THIS!:)
I wish you the very best of luck!!!!!!:)
If you want to impress, stay away from the turkey and ham. It is never good, and definitely not impressive. If they are impressed, then they really like you. Go for a beef tenderloin or roast for the points.
So you want us to get out of the weeds OK it's Christmas so here goes.
The secret to staying out of the weeds is not getting into the weeds in the first place and that whole process begins with a reality check of your abilities .
The next step is menu selection based upon your ability and cost of product.
The next step is knowing and cooking for your audience . I know this is going to sound snobby But it's a waste of time and effort making spectacular food for individuals who neither care about it nor appreciate it. Do you have to scratch make all you vegetables or would frozen work as well ? There is obviousley a huge difference in prep time.
Real whipped cream or the other stuff ?
Select "Christian "foods. Foods that will forgive you if you mess them up a bit
Select a menu that you can actually successfully execute.
Make a flow chart that starts at the end [service ] and works it's way back .
The flow chart will list all the major events and how long they take to do.
case in point: I am serving my roast beef entree at 3: 00 pm . I know for a fact that the roast requires at least 30 minutes of rest time before I can carve it.This knowledge allows me to put in the roast at the proper time and gives me 30 minuters to make a sauce or a gravy.The reason of course being that I can't make the sauce until I have my pan drippings.
What you discover when you make the chart is a lot of time spaces that occur while things are baking or roasting.Those spaces are filled with other tasks
As far as item number 3 goes it's a fallacy and one that gets more home cooks in trouble than anything else. Pro's don't use that method. Pro's prep as much as possible before they actually cook anything. This includes making sauces as needed, having garnishes readily available , pre-cooking or blanching as much as possible, lining up prepped ingredients on the stove in the order you will cook them. all of these tools save time and ultimatley keep the inherent chaos from getting too far out of hand.
So you are about to start a 3 day process
Day one is hardware day- make sure you have all the tools needed to do the job
make sure your oven works and is calibrated correctly
Make sure your knives are sharp
The usual hardware stuff
Day 2 is a baking day and the beginning of day 3's prep
Day 3 is putting it all together. I will no doubt amend this later.
Do you have the Food Network where you live? A couple of hours watching this channel close to the holidays can provide you with multiple menus, and even tips for getting it all done in time. Rachael Ray and Michael Chiarello do fast easy meals. Here's a link to their website page with several choices for meal ideas.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/et_hd_ch...
These menus were made to impress a million viewers, so they'll probably work for your boyfriend's family!
Good luck with your dinner. Don't sweat it too much, and if anyone offers to help, let them. Happy Holidays!
I used a new method for mashed potatoes this year and they were great. For your crowd you'll need about 15lbs and you can use the regular brown russet type potatoes. Clean them and put in a pot of cold water, leave the peels on. (I used two pots to account for the small and large size potatoes they put in the bags or you can hand pick your potatoes.) Bring the water to a boil and cook till fork tender. Drain and peel. Put potatoes back in a dry pot and turn on medium heat for a couple of minutes or till no steam is coming off the pot. Now you can add butter (2 sticks or to taste) and milk (a little at a time till desired consistency) salt & pepper to taste and mash. You can make these early in the day and reheat in your microwave.
This cooking method keeps the taters from absorbing water during cooking and also took a lot less time to peel.
If you can splurge, get a great ham. The Honey Baked Ham is wonderful and can be ordered on-line.
Whatever you're cooking, strive to use the freshest ingredients possible. Fresh vs. frozen or canned vegetables.
Depending on what time you're eating you only need to serve one or two appetizers. Shrimp cocktail in a martini glass or a scooped out whole tomato. Some crackers & a hard cheese & coppa or dry salami. Don't let guests fill up, but don't leave them starve.
Preparation is key, do as much as you can ahead of time. Epicurious and Food Network have great websites.
Enjoy and, for sure, enlist some help.
If you can afford it, you might want to buy a roaster, they are about $40. That way, you can cook your ham or turkey, while leaving your oven open for side dishes, etc.
Doing ham and turkey seem like overkill, if you pick one or the other, it will greatly simplify things. Or pick one of the meats and a pasta dish like lasagna to spice it up.
If you want to do mashed potatoes, here is a little secret...Do twice baked mashed potatoes. Then you don't really have to worry about them getting cold. Mash them like normal, then spray a casserole dish with Pam and pour the potatoes in, and put them in the oven at about 200. If they are going to be in there awhile, cover them with foil. To mix things up a bit, I like to throw things in with my twice baked mashed pototoes. Here are a couple things I have done:
-Carmelized onions, garlic, and gorgonzola
-Ranch dressing with chives
-Garlic and brie
-Bacon, chives, and grated parmesan
Here is a great side dish also, it's one of my favorite holiday side dishes:
Gorgonzola Broccoli Casserole
You can prepare the casserole through step 3 up to 1 day ahead; cover and chill. Uncover and continue with step 4.
3 pounds broccoli
1/4 cup (1/8 lb.) butter, plus 1 tablespoon melted
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 packages (3 oz. each) cream cheese, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola or other blue cheese
2 cups 1/2-inch cubes French or other firm white bread (3 oz.)
1. In a 5- to 6-quart pan over high heat, bring about 3 quarts water to a boil. Rinse broccoli and trim off and discard tough stem ends; if skin on stalks is tough, peel stalks. Cut broccoli into 1-inch pieces. Add to boiling water and cook just until barely tender when pierced, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain.
2. Rinse and dry pan. Add 1/4 cup butter to pan and melt over medium heat. Stir in flour until smoothly blended; cook until bubbly, about 1 minute. Add milk and stir over medium-high heat until mixture is boiling and thickened, about 3 minutes. Add cream cheese and gorgonzola; whisk until smoothly blended. Stir in broccoli. Pour into a shallow 2 1/2- to 3-quart casserole.
3. In a blender or food processor, whirl bread cubes into coarse crumbs; you should have about 1 1/3 cups. In a small bowl, mix crumbs with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over broccoli mixture.
4. Bake in a 350° regular or convection oven until casserole is hot in the center and crumbs are golden, 20 to 30 minutes.
Yield: Makes 12 to 14 servings
NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 150(60% from fat); FAT 10g (sat 6.4g); PROTEIN 5.5g; CHOLESTEROL 31mg; SODIUM 197mg; FIBER 1.9g; CARBOHYDRATE 9.9g
I get a lot of my recipes from those little cookbooks you find at the checkstands at your grocery store. They always have seasonal ones with great appetizer and holiday meal recipes.
My favorite website for recipes is recipezaar.com. You can look recipes up by name or ingredient, and they are rated so you know if people have tried and liked them.
Good luck.
Christmas dinner is great as we know it. But some families are 'tired' of the same ole same ole, and have found that breaking from tradition once in awhile is enjoyable. By adding an array of non-traditional side dishes to your menu, people's palettes can be more satisfied and excited!
For 17 guests, I think you'd need at least 2 meats and many sides! Here are some traditional-with-a-twist dishes and treat ideas:
MEAT:
Turkey with Cranberry Chestnut Stuffing served with Gravy & Brandied Cranberries
Ham served with Brandied Pineapples
Roast Beef served with Mushroom Gravy
Roasted Goose w/Cranberry Sauce
Roasted Pork Loin stuffed w/ cranberry, pinenut and blue cheese.
Roast Duck w/Fig and Cranberry Sauce
BREAD/STARCH:
Yorkshire Pudding (w/Beef)
Cheddar Cheese Biscuits
Flaky Butter Buns
Rice Pilaf
Plum Pudding/Bread Pudding (dessert)
SIDES:
Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet Potato Mash
Roasted Garlic S'mashed Potatoes
Roasted parsnips, carrots and onion
Roasted Potatoes w/ Oregano & Thyme
Cucumber Salad
Mashed Potatos with Bacon Bits & Green Onion
Boiled Cabbage
Peas
Candied Carrots
Corn on the Cob with Lemon & Feta Cheese
DESSERT:
Cookies!
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Strawberries & Cream
***
Your dinner shouldn't cost any more than $200. Haha i dunno, good luck!
This page answers most of your questions:
http://www.gourmet-food-revolution.com/t...
You will also find great recipes on this site for Baked Ham & Roast Turkey.
Ummm...lots of great advice on here so I need not answer. I am just writing to request a copy of the video tape of your preparations since I have already seen all the I LOVE LUCY episodes ;) good luck!