December 24

Christmas Eve

Menu

• Crackers & Brie
• Crudité (Assorted Fresh Vegetables) & Dip
• Roasted Hazelnuts
• Pistachio Nuts
• Cheesies
• Old Bay Shrimp
• Crab Balls
• Cocktail Sauce
• Chicken Wings
• Seafood Salad [View Recipe]

  Quick View

  Ingredients

  • 2.5 pounds squid
  • salt & pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup celery (minced)
  • 1 cup carrots (sliced thin)
  • .5 cup olives (sliced into rings and halved since large)
  • 1.5 tablespoons capers
  • red pepper flakes
  • .5 cup lemon juice
  • .5 cup oil
  • .75 pound shrimp
  • .5 cup olives (sliced into rings)
  • .25 cup parsley (cleaned)

  Instructions

  We start preparing this salad the night before we want to serve. We put two pots of water to boil on the stove, one large and one medium. While the waters are coming to a boil, we defrost the squid in a large colander in the sink under cold running water. As the bodysacs are defrosted, we cut them into rings with scissors. For our batch of squid, this means that most of the pieces just need to be cut in thirds.

  The waters are boiling as we finish cutting the rings. To the large pot of boiling water, we add the squid rings and a pinch of salt. We simmer, uncovered, until very tender - about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, we gather our defrosted tentacles. We add the tentacles to the other pot of boiling water, along with a pinch of salt, and cook for about 35 minutes until very tender. We wash our hands well.

  While the squid is cooking, we prepare the vegetables. We smash our garlic, discard the peels, and mince. This yields ½ tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon. We also get ready our celery, carrots, and green olives.

  As each pot of squid is done, we drain into a clean colander and top with ice for a few minutes to stop the cooking. We place the cooled rings and the cooled tentacles into a large serving bowl. We have 2 cups of rings and 1 cup of tentacles when they are cooked.

  Into the serving bowl, we combine the cooked squid, celery, carrots, green olives, salt, pepper, ½ tablespoon of garlic, capers and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

  We mix the lemon juice and olive oil in a measuring cup. We pour ¾ of the dressing into the salad bowl and toss well. To the remaining dressing, we add the rest of the garlic and some red pepper flakes. We reserve this dressing for the shrimp when it is time to serve.

  We cover the squid salad and dressing with plastic wrap and store them in the refrigerator. We start defrosting the frozen already cooked shrimp in a colander in the fridge over a large bowl, covered with foil, as indicated on the back of the bag of shrimp.

  The next day, we stir the salad a few times (as Nanny always did). Before serving, we add the black olives and parsley, more seasoning, the defrosted shrimp and the rest of the dressing.

• Beef Fondue [View Recipe]

  Quick View

  Ingredients

  • 6 cups oil (divided)
  • 2 pounds beef
  • salt & pepper
  • mustard
  • [object Object]

  Instructions

  We start the preparation by heating 3 cups of oil in a stove-safe fondue pot and the rest of the oil in a medium sized pan (our other fondue pot cannot be placed on the burner) over medium heats. We want the oils to reach <temp val="365"/>.

  Meanwhile, we prepare the meat. We trim and cut the tenderloin tip into cubes and cut our prepackaged sirloin cubes into smaller cubes for the fondue forks.

  We wash up well, put the meats in two separate bowls for each fondue pot, wash again, and get the table ready for the fondue. We have bowls of mustard and <a day="24" label="sauce">horseradish sauce</a> beside the meat bowls and salt and pepper shakers handy. When the oils are almost ready, we light the fondue pot burners. We pour the oil from the medium sized pot into the fondue pot that is not stove-top safe. We set both fondue pots onto their stands.

  Using color coded fondue forks for each person, we stick a fork into a piece of meat and cook in the hot oil until the desired doneness. We top with salt and pepper and a choice of sauces. We are careful to regulate the temperatures under the fondue pots so the oils stay hot enough but not above <temp val="375"/> or so. We definitely do not want a fire to ruin our fun!

• Easy Cheese Fondue [View Recipe]

  Quick View

  Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • 1 large shallot
  • 1 cup cream
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • .5 cup cheese (grated, packed)
  • 1 cup cheese (freshly grated)
  • nutmeg
  • salt &amp; pepper
  • oil
  • flour
  • potatoes (par-boiled, peeled, and roasted)
  • [object Object] (roasted)
  • bread (cubed)
  • hot giardiniera

  Instructions

  We start by heating the oil in a medium pot over low heat. We halve and peel our shallot and mince half of it, yielding about a tablespoon. We thinly slice the rest of the shallot.

  We add the minced shallot to the oil and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the shallot is softened. We add the cream, cream cheese, and the grated cheeses and whisk. We continue to whisk and heat until the mixture is smooth and hot. We grate in a little nutmeg using our microplane, thin with a tablespoon more of the cream, and season with salt and pepper. We keep the cheese fondue over low heat while we ready the garnish.

  We heat two inches of canola oil in our Dutch oven until it reaches <temp val="360"/>. We lightly sprinkle the sliced shallot with flour and fry for a minute in the hot oil until golden brown and crispy. We drain with our spider and place on a paper-towel lined plate and sprinkle with salt.

  We serve the cheese fondue in a large chafing dish with roasted asparagus, roasted potatoes, bread cubes, and hot giardiniera.

• Horseradish Sauce [View Recipe]

  Quick View

  Ingredients

  • .5 cup sour cream
  • .25 cup horseradish (drained)
  • .5 tablespoon lemon juice
  • salt &amp; pepper
  • 4 long chives (cleaned)

  Instructions

  We put the sour cream in a medium bowl. When we measure the horseradish, we also drain the excess liquid by pressing the back of a spoon onto it as we tilt the measuring cup over the horseradish jar. We add the drained horseradish to the sour cream along with the lemon juice, and some salt and pepper. We stir well and taste for seasoning. We refrigerate until time to serve.

  When it is time to serve, we give it another quick stir, divide the mixture into 4 prep bowls and, using kitchen scissors, we snip the cleaned chives on top of each portion.

• Nonpareils
• Chocolate Covered Pretzels
• Kristen's Cookie Assortment
• Holiday M&M's
• Holiday Popcorn Balls
• Ginger Shortbread Cookies
• {"amazon":{"#text":"Harry & David Dessert Squares","@_asin":"B0000DH8V1"},"isRecipe":false}