Christmas cooking thread

raised Jewish..now a jewbo (4.00 / 5)

with a XMAS tree in my living room.

Daughter home from college.Barely have seen here as she's been working on finishing her last paper since Mon. Its been emailed to her prof. She got up for 5 min. went back to sleep. I have been invited to my friends who have a big XMAS day dinner early afternoon.

Right now cooked and waiting for my daughter..is a socca I just cooked
1 cup chick pea flour ( Bobs redmill)
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

mix together and let rest in fridge for 1/2 hr. meanwhile heat cast iron skillet coated w/ 1 table spoon olive oil in 450oven for 20 minutes.

then pour in batter( it will sizzle thats good) and cook at 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
While this was in oven I carmelized onion and added one tomato some fresh spinach and added some pesto I had frozen.

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by: LeeN @ Fri Dec 25, 2009 at 15:38:05 PM UTC

where to begin (4.00 / 5)

We had an amazing pot luck with our closest friends. I don't know if I could do justice to the amazing foods that everybody brought.
We brought Lou Lou's (its like a Hawaiian tamale) with wild pig, and Hummus made with jak fruit seeds instead of garbanzo beans. There were a few loafs of sourdough bread, Ulu chips, Taro, some local homemade raw cheese spread (sweet and savory). Breadfruit salad with garden greens. Cheote (tropical squash) salad with avocado. Pumpkin soup. Coconut cream breadfruit pudding. Mashed breadfruit. Avocado/cocao ice cream. some fudge with mint, and chia seeds. Cheote 'apple' crisp (without the apple). There were many homemade wines, Banana (which was really good), Jaboticaba, Pineapple, Starfruit. I'm sure there is a bunch im forgetting.

OOOOH, and raw lettuce greens!!!!! (In fear of the rat lung parasite spread by slugs, we have not had raw greens in over a year. But the host has a really nice aquaponic garden free from slugs and with all those amazing greens that I have had to get use to eating cooked.)

Before diner, we all painted for an hour or two on a gourd, the intentions we have/had for next year. Then after the meal, we gathered around a fire and some musical instruments, and burned them.

Hands down, best "christmas" ever.

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by: arthurw @ Fri Dec 25, 2009 at 17:24:15 PM UTC

wow (4.00 / 4)

what a feast.

the painting on the gourd, I've never heard of that.  

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by: LeeN @ Fri Dec 25, 2009 at 18:03:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm with LeeN (4.00 / 4)

Wow!

I never thought about making wine with banannas. Do you wait until they're turning brown so the sugar's higher? Got a recipe?

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Dec 25, 2009 at 18:35:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Where are you? (4.00 / 3)

Are you in Hawaii, or perhaps somewhere Caribbean?

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by: count @ Fri Dec 25, 2009 at 18:44:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hawaii (4.00 / 4)

We live on the Big Island of Hawaii (Hawaii). I've tried making banana wine myself without much luck (I think because I was catching wild yeast, and not using a recipe). The said wine was brought by our friend down the road who is a biologist and very good at her ferments. We did not use overripe bananas, but that sounds like a better idea. It would be good with some spices.  

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by: arthurw @ Sat Dec 26, 2009 at 17:29:00 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

brownies with cocoa (4.00 / 2)

I responded to your comment about beans in brownies.

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by: count @ Fri Dec 25, 2009 at 18:56:15 PM UTC

CHOCOLATE POTS DE CRÈME (4.00 / 4)

CHOCOLATE POTS DE CRÈME

8 or 9 ounces 70% chocolate, coarsely chopped

6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar

3 cups light cream (table cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300°F.

In the top of a double boiler, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks. Add the cream, vanilla, and chopped chocolate. Heat on the double boiler and whisk or stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

(Mixing and heating can be done in a medium saucepan if you're careful.)

Divide the mixture into 6 to 8 ramekins (custard cups.) Bake the ramekins in a covered water bath 90 minutes at 300°F, beginning with cold water in the bain-marie.

(My water bath is a covered roaster pan. If you use a pan or dish that doesn't have a lid, cover it tightly with foil. You may cover the ramekins if you wish to do that for some reason, but it isn't necessary.)

Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

This is the version I made for Thanksgiving. It's my favorite, but others in my family think it is too intense. For today, I used 4.5 ounces of 72% chocolate plus 4.5 ounces of milk chocolate, and it was applauded by the assembled multitude. It's a nice aspect of the recipe - you can easily vary to taste merely by using anything from milk chocolate to chocolate as strong as you wish.

This is very rich. I need to get some smaller dishes, perhaps two-to-three-ounce shot glasses. Most people would be satisfied with a small serving after a meal.

This actually can be two separate kinds of dessert. It is densely heavy after refrigeration. However, if you finish it a couple of hours before dinner and serve it warm, it is very light and gives a completely different impression.

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by: count @ Fri Dec 25, 2009 at 19:32:40 PM UTC

whole eggs (4.00 / 4)

I am going to make this with three whole eggs istead of 6 egg yolks next time. By analogy with my CRÈME BRULÈE recipe, whole eggs should work fine.

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by: count @ Fri Dec 25, 2009 at 19:44:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

yummy treats (4.00 / 1)

this is great,..love chocolate foods, would definitely try it for new years eve..my niece would definitely enjoy this one...

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by: eduardeast01 @ Sat Dec 26, 2009 at 08:52:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Popcorn... (4.00 / 4)

I just found like a half-pound of kernels in the fridge last night.  No clue how long they've been there or how they managed to hide so long, but they're getting popped sometime this weekend!

Stovetop popcorn, melted butter, nothing better.  I've also just discovered The Truth (shredded parmesan w/ popcorn).  Yum.

And I still can't get over how absolutely wretched and vile microwave popcorn smells.  That wicked stench gives dirty feet a bad name.  I bust outta the damned break room like Barry Sanders when someone starts up one of those things at work...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Sat Dec 26, 2009 at 13:03:07 PM UTC

I never get fancy (4.00 / 4)

with popcorn. Melted butter and a little salt will do fine, thank you.

I agree, microwave popcorn smells gross.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Sat Dec 26, 2009 at 22:42:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Try it with some (4.00 / 2)

freshly grated parmesan instead of salt sometime (the butter will help the parmesan stick to the popcorn for buttery, cheesy goodness).

Microwave popcorn sucks, though:  we agree on that one!

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Sun Dec 27, 2009 at 07:16:31 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

do you use (4.00 / 3)

brewers yeast? (aka nutritional yeast)
it's full of vitamins but more importantly....
it's fantastic on popcorn with shredded parmesan!!
we don't even do butter anymore- just parm & yeast

come firefly-dreaming with me....

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by: RiaD @ Sun Dec 27, 2009 at 03:18:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Never tried that... (4.00 / 3)

I think you mentioned it before, though.  I'll put it on the list!

:)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Sun Dec 27, 2009 at 04:16:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh, Ria... (4.00 / 3)

brewers yeast to me is what parsnips are to Jay:

evil incarnate.

How could you?  The vile yeast will just destroy the delicacy of the freshly-grated Parmesan. (^.^)

OTOH, I used to have a recipe for "pizza popcorn" that was published in the Philly Inquirer when I was an undergraduate.  Don't remember amounts, but any popcorn aficionado can figure it out:

Pop popcorn.  Melt butter with garlic in it (I would use minced, or garlic-pressed, cloves); add paprika and oregano.  Toss herbed butter with popcorn; add parmesan and toss until corn is even coated.  Serve immediately.

Oh -- and don't make the mistake I once did and confuse your paprika with your cayenne pepper.  Ouch!

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Sun Dec 27, 2009 at 07:26:34 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Bets popcorn is with brewers yeast, (4.00 / 3)

cayenne and tamari. No need for salt if using tamari. I love this stuff. And it's kinda healthy.

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by: caseyOR @ Sun Dec 27, 2009 at 08:22:05 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Garlic! (4.00 / 2)

Now, why didn't I think of that before?!

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Sun Dec 27, 2009 at 13:43:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I love popcorn (4.00 / 1)

but my teeth can't handle the hulls and old maids anymore. I have some popcorn I'm going to plant this year, but the stuff I'm really excited about is Popping Sorghum! It's similar in flavor to popcorn, but hulless and I've heard people say that it has more of a roast grain flavor than popcorn. Also, if you happen to bite into an old maid, you won't crack a molar as the unpopped sorgum grains are just crunchy, not hard as a rock.

Here's a blog entry from The Baltimore Snacker on adventures in popping sorghum - Kitchen Experiments: Popping Sorghum.

I have a package of popping sorghum seed that I bought to plant last year, and then never did. It's definately going in the ground this spring. I have a regular little grain garden that's getting planted come spring with wheat, barley, oats, and dent corn, rice and popping sorghum.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Sun Dec 27, 2009 at 14:53:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]