Hi all.

This year I am going to make Christmas dinner for my family (first time ever). Basically just a way to say thanks to them all for being so awesome to me my whole life. It will be at my grandparents house, for them, my dad, my sister, and maybe my mom who lives out of town if she can make it. Might be a few others show up, so will allow for it.

Only plans so far is to make a turkey (big ass 20 lb min). Going to do the standard, Alton Brown.

Everything else I'm open for suggestions on. So looking for input, and will try things ahead of time, maybe a dish at a time to try and get it down so I am ready when the day comes.

Thanks for any help!

You can't go wrong with Alton Brown.

What are your family's favorites?

First step: Stuffing/Dressing
Second step: Mashed potatoes!
etc.

My family has ridiculously typical male driven eating habits. Basically tons of meat. With more meat, and maybe some meat gravy on top.

The main reason for me liking to cook for our family though (I started doing other things too) is to give my grandma a break. She is a strong matriarch who cooks all the meals x w/e times a day, doesn't enjoy it, is terribad at it and it's sort of a running joke that she is in on. She doesn't particularly even like meat. So anything really. Having one dish that might serve as a sub for the meat for her kinda thing would be cool and show special consideration. Which kind of is the point. .

you might want to think about a prime rib dinner? super easy..no brining, etc.

Turkey - Thanksgiving
Prime Rib/Seafood - Christmas

just my two cents

Yea thanks for input. But definitely sticking with turkey. Have kinda already got prime rib down, and turkey at Christmas is just how we roll.

I saw in the other thread (thanksgiving) in this section a sausage based stuffing that looked awesome. But than again I tend to go right to anything meat infused by default haha. But stuff like that, where I can maybe have an option for no meat also for my gram. Also pretty lost on desserts as have never made them, so might need some practice with it.

Here is pic from the OOT steak thread I made a while ago of a prime rib. Love me some prime.

ok cool, sounds like you know what you're doing

I would I guess mostly suggest thinking more for stuff for grandmother so it is more than just lip service if this is meant to be something nice for her. Make sure she can have a meal she will actually enjoy.

Get some good sausage or kielbasa(or grind your own). Maybe make a ham, or smoke some pork as well if your going for the full on meat sweats

gotta have some good homemade baked beans with all the meats too.

Could also do sort of raviloi/pasta if your gdma doesnt want the meat. Maybe a sweet potato or squash stuffed pasta with brown butter and sage to keep within the seasonal falvors. It wont take to long to make while the meat is resting for the ~30 mins too.

SommelierMSU, it was your sausage stuffing I saw in the other thread that looked so good. Any chance I could get that recipe?

ideas for rav?

Citanul,

Good thoughts, thanks. And I agree. Might take a bit of investigation by me to find out. I haven't specified my motives for making it other then offering, and want to surprise her. She is the only one needs consideration. All the rest of us could just drop our faces into any kind of whatever there is and prob be happy.

yea no prob man. It was pretty easy and i always just eyeball my spices and stuff to taste

Loaf of french bread, cubed and left out over night
1lb spicy pork sausage
~2cups of celery
~1cup onion
couple cloves of garlic
some flat leaf parsley
dried sage
few handfuls of cranberries
1 quart carton of beef or chicken stock. I used beef as thats all i had left

Brown the sausage in a pan and remove, leaving about 2 tbls of the fat in the pan. Sautee the onions garlic and celery in the pan until cooked (~10mins), add the fresh parsley and sage and season with salt and pepper.

Put the bread in a large mixing bowl (or the pan if its big enough). Add sausage, the onion and celery mixture, the cranberriers and the stock. Mix through, if it looks a little dry add some more stock or some melted butter to the mixture, (you dont want it to be super wet tho unless you like the soggy version of stuffing, i like a little crunch in mine) Put in a prepared casserole dish and bake for 40-50 mins at 350.

Pretty easy and can def play around with this base recipe. Could put apples or some nuts in the stuffing as well.

Thanks. I am going to make a few of the items for practice before next weekend, so will get what I need and make this stuffing. I also really like the idea of homemade ravioli. How hard is it to make? It can't be a marinara based sauce as of the few foods I do make well and for my grandparents, that sauce is one of them. So I'd like to try something else and not a meat obv for my gram. Thnk she'd really like that. But wondering, it is possible to make it a day ahead (the ravs), and then just put w/e sauce and stuff together the next day?

YB,

For Thanksgiving I had a stuffing that was pretty similar to the one that's being offered in this thread, with the addition of cubed (homemade) cornbread being folded in. It was exceptionally delicious; I believe that it also had toasted pecans. Highly recommend these 2 modifications.

In regards to pasta, ravioli are pretty far up the difficulty scale imo. It would be much more practical to make gnocchi or gnudi or orrechiette or something that doesn't require a pasta machine/roller. You can make these ahead and freeze them (no loss of quality), and they'll be fine for months. But hey, if you wanna make ravioli or agnolotti, good for you.

So, the cornbread was a sub for the french bread or just an addition? I was already considering pecans. When I try my practice run I could easily just make both and see how it goes.

As for the ravs, I really do want to try and make them. Again, it will be practice first, and if I fail miserably (which is likely) can decide then whether to keep trying or move to some other plan. I like the challenge.

The cornbread was in addition to some crunchy croutons. Now that I'm thinking about it, there was diced, roasted apple, too. The cornbread and pecans were really the highlights, though.

As for the pasta, good luck. Ravioli is difficult, lots of balls in the air. What's your pasta recipe? And what's your filling?

lol I have no idea. Plan to google and youtube tomorrow then decide. Filling, anything but meat. So if you have any ideas or recipes feel free to drop em in. I will be practice cooking this weekend.

My favorite Christmas turkey stuffing is traditional cornbread with roasted pine nuts and bleu cheese.

Fresh pasta is a simple recipe. 100g flour to each egg and a bit of salt.

This shows you how to make it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgxOLiUaaWA

Thanks. Yea was checking out a vid earlier. The very first thing I ever learned to cook from scratch was bread, and this is right in that wheelhouse. Will just need a few tools I suppose.

Struggling a bit with what to have for filling and especially sauces. Sommelier suggested " a sweet potato or squash stuffed pasta with brown butter and sage", and that sounds good for seasonal. Didn't at first because I was considering those items separately and ravs without meat or cheese sounds so foreign to me, it's like, why don't we just eat a pile of daisies. haha

What would be the sauce I wonder for his ravs, or is the brown butter and sage the sauce?

edit for google (looks good): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/m...ipe/index.html

and another:

http://frenchfood.about.com/od/dress...uce-Recipe.htm

Pretty sure he's suggesting the filling be sweet potato/squash and the sauce would be brown butter/sage etc. Brown butter, sage, and sweet potato is a very classic flavor combination.

You could roast/boil the sweet potatoes, make them into a smooth puree (cream, butter, salt), and then use that product to fill your raviolis.

If for some reason you decide to get away from the ravioli idea, I've made sweet potato gnocchi before (with brown butter, lemon juice, sage too) and they've come out great. Just an idea to get those same flavors, but in another way.

Do you have a pasta roller? That's an important tool for ravioli..

Pumpkin is also a good ravioli filling.

Last time I made Thanksgiving or maybe Christmas dinner, I made a salad of endives that had two dressings, including one with pomegranate seeds. Apparently, this was FPS, as two adults at the table did not touch the dish. ****ing philistines. So make sure not to stray too far away from the traditions, unless your guests are flexible.

Thanks for input guys. Going to do a practice cook on Sunday, the stuffing and sweet potato ravs w/brown butter and sage.

Not sure about potatoes yet. Have to do them, but other then just standard mashed (all I know), anyone have any other ideas? Have seen some nice pics of what looked like possible stove top done crusty something somethings? Will only have one stove to use that a big turkey will be taking all of the space with all day. So limited oven cooking time to mostly during bird rest, when planning to cook stuffing.

Pommes Lyonnaise is something you could do on the stove-top. Confit some fingerlings in duckfat or canola oil, then saute with minced rosemary, caramelized onions, and bacon lardons (my favorite combo). If you decide to pursue this and want some more details, let me know.

You could also make a gratin ahead of time and reheat it when the stuffing is cooking (if there's enough room).

Sure, that'd be great. Thanks.

What I'm suggesting is somewhere between pommes Lyonnaise and pommes Sarladaise. I like to use fingerling potatoes because they're a little bit more durable. Quarter the potatoes into chunky coins, and cook for 2-3 hours in duck fat (preferably) or vegetable/canola oil at a low temperature. The oil should be between 200-225F. If you keep low heat on the pot, without the oil sizzling or frying, it should be fine. Just to be clear, you want the potatoes to be completely submerged in the oil/fat. If you're feeling saucy, add a sachet of black peppercorn, bay, and thyme to the oil.

While the potatoes are confit-ing away, julienne red onion and caramelize. Also, render some bacon lardons until crispy. If you buy bacon from the butcher, ask for thick thick cut, so you can dice it evenly yourself. Finally, pick some rosemary and/or thyme and chop it up nice and fine.

The potatoes should be done in 2 or 2.5 hours, and at that point they'll be ready for dinner. To finish, strain the potatoes from the fat and warm a large pan/pot. Add some of the fat used for cooking the potatoes to the hot pan, and add the potatoes. You want them to get crispy, so make sure your pan is plenty hot. As they start to get crispy, add your caramelized onions, lardons, and herbs to the pan. A necessary amount of salt is also delicious. Stir to incorporate evenly (making sure everything is warm) and boom, beautiful potatoes.

Enjoy!

Those potatoes sound incredible.