taxi4ballet Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Any good recipes out there? What are you having for Christmas dinner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 It is traditional for Hispanic familes in this part of the world to make homemade tamalés. I am not Hispanic, but I am told they are very time consuming and labor intensive. They are also given as a food gift. They can be made with beef, chicken or turkey (and perhaps other items I'm not aware of). The meat mix is wrapped in a cornmeal maize and then wrapped in dried corn stalk leaves and (I believe) steamed. Degree of spice depends upon one's heritage - for me its about zero. They are served either with a salsa roja (red sauce), salsa fresca (green sauce) or molé - a non-sweet chocolate based sauce. South of the border is where chocolate originally comes from so they use it in many ways. For dessert - bunuelo - a big freshly made flour tortilla, lightly fried/crisped - sprinkled with honey, cinnamon, nutmeg with ice cream on the side. This is delicious. I no longer cook/bake - but i used to adore it. Very picky about the turkey stuffing - I like it with puffed (steamed) golden raisins, diced apples and tiny pearl onions. I like sweet potatoes baked in half with orange marmelade spread on each half and broiled. As for turkey - skinless white meat only with large gobs of cranberry sauce (used to make my own - it's not hard to do). Mashed potatoes with gobs of unsalted butter (a once a year treat). Lots of baby spinach with ginger dressing and plum tomatoes. Big fluffy biscuits (American meaning of the word) - I have a great recipe for it. Favorite for dessert is my own apple pie - but since I don't bake anymore - I seldom find one I like -usually too sweet and/or mushy apples. There's always got to be ice cream somewhere on the dessert tray. And fruit - love pears. These days we usually go out to eat with our family and friends. People who work full time just don't want to spend their day in the kitchen cooking and then cleaning up. There are lots of good restaurant choices. Leftovers are boxed up to take home. Also lots of restaurants and food stores will send home a fully cooked ready to eat turkey/ham/beef dinner with all the trimmings (you are given a choice) for however many people are to be served. The cost ends up about the same. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MargaretN7 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 I make my own bread sauce - easy. Put skinned and halved onion in milk, warm and leave to stand an hour or more. Add breadcrumbs (and any other spice to taste if you want), rewarm. (Note to self, buy some white bread) And the turkey remains stay hidden on the 26th. When I reached the age of 40 I declared I would never again have left over turkey on my birthday! So put all Christmas cards away for that day, hide the turkey, and get out the lobster and champagne. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Mr Kipling mince pies!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 I usually make the mince pies, but I'm going to have to buy some this year. Knowing what a lot of shop-bought pies are like, the prospect doesn't fill me with delight (I don't actually eat them myself, you understand!). Can anyone recommend any which aren't too expensive but are good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 I like Mr Kipling (currently on offer in Tesco) and my niece likes the ones from Greggs. I got some from Waitrose to try and most unusually was very disappointed with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Thanks, Janet - and congratulations. I see you've just clocked up over 1000 posts! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 Morrisons own brand mince pies are pretty good and only £1 at the moment. Aldi ones are nice too. If you are making your own mince pies (or a mincemeat tart) and are running short of mincemeat, you can chop up some tinned pears and add them to the mix. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Oooo that sounds nice taxi. Pears are one of the few fruits I'm not keen on raw but I do like them cooked (especially poached in wine!). My favourite restaurant in Birmingham currently has pears poached in mulled wine and they are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 With mince pies, you could always do what my mum used to do - prise the lids off bought ones and drip some sherry inside, and put the lids back on! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 With mince pies, you could always do what my mum used to do - prise the lids off bought ones and drip some sherry inside, and put the lids back on! With enough sherry it won't matter what the pie tastes like. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 if left to my own devices, it would be red wine and chocolate.... with an aperitif of a fine real ale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 These days we usually go out to eat with our family and friends. People who work full time just don't want to spend their day in the kitchen cooking and then cleaning up. There are lots of good restaurant choices. I'd feel too sorry for the people having to work on Christmas day.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 I'd feel too sorry for the people having to work on Christmas day.... There are some who choose to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted December 22, 2012 Author Share Posted December 22, 2012 Talking of food and working on Christmas Day, many moons ago (before we met) my husband was on duty at the Ambulance Station, and his parents took a turkey dinner with all the trimmings on a plate into the station and sat with him while he ate it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Does anyone here love twice baked potatoes as much as I do? Do you call them something differently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Sorry Anjuli, what is a twice-baked potato? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 The potatoes are baked in an oven (no microwave) so the throughly scrubbed skin is crispy. Slice each baked potato in half and scoop out the insides into a bowl. Mash with some warm milk, gobs of sweet butter (or butter substitute), salt, pepper to taste ( some garlic if you like). Scoop back into the potato skin halves (not smooth but mounded) and sprinkle on some paprika and some grated cheesee (if you l ike). Place potato halves on a baking tray and either put back into the oven or under a broiler till tops are browned. They freeze well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 My sister used to do them like that but we just have ordinary baked potatoes with the topping piled on. We went to a cafe at lunchtime and I had one piled with prawns in marie rose sauce - scrumptuous! Some years ago in Thessaloniki I had a baked potato where some of the potato had been scooped out and the space filled with feta cheese - yummy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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