A Not So After-Christmas Christmas

"I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes.
Christmas is all around me, and so the feeling grows."

(Billy Mack)

Merry 6th day of Christmas! I hope everyone was able to spend quality time with loved ones over the holiday weekend. In the Christian tradition, Christmas is a mini season -- preceded by Advent -- that continues after the first day on December 25. I love not feeling like Christmas is over immediately after Christmas Day. This year, my family celebrated my mother's birthday on Christmas Eve, and most of us got together again on Christmas Day, but we didn't have our surf and turf Christmas dinner until Monday, December 26.

Christmas Dinner Menu

Manchego Cheese, Olive Oil Torta, Marcona Almonds,
Grapes, Fig Spread, and Salami

Shrimp Cocktail

 

Steamed Lobster

Roast Prime Rib with Dijon and Peppercorn Crust

Creamed Spinach Gratin

Roasted Baby Red Potatoes with Oregano

Biscuits

Brussels Sprout Hash

Sautéed Mushrooms

Corn on the Cob

 

Bûche de Noël

Iced Ginger Spice Spritz Cookies

Peppermint Candy Cane Fudge

Rainbow and Sugar Cookies

 

Italian Prosecco

Sparkling Cider

Coffee and Green Tea

 

Manchego Cheese, Olive Oil Torta, Marcona Almonds,
Grapes, Fig Spread, and Salami

  This appetizing Spanish spread consisted of Manchego cheese, Ines Rosales Torta de Aceite -- sweet olive oil torta with sugar, salt, and anise -- broken into small pieces, Marcona almonds, red grapes, Dalmatia fig spread, and salami. I could definitely make a meal of this (minus the salami).

Shrimp Cocktail

Always a crowd-pleaser, shrimp cocktail is pretty standard fare so there isn't much else to say about this appetizer.

Steamed Lobster

I bought fresh lobsters at Stew Leonard's that morning, along with a cut of bone-in prime rib to serve 8 adults and one toddler. If you plan on preparing a large surf and turf dinner with lobster and prime rib, note that it will be quite expensive; but this was a special occasion.
 

Roast Prime Rib with Dijon and Peppercorn Crust

I don't have the recipe for this, but it's becoming my sister's specialty. She first served this prime rib last Christmas at her place, when it got rave reviews, so she wanted to make it again this year. Again, everyone loved it. It is crusted with dijon, peppercorns, and garlic, and served with au jus and horseradish cream sauce.

 

Creamed Spinach Gratin

For one of the side dishes, we made Ina Garten's Spinach Gratin (pictured in the photo above and in the first photo). Even after I felt completely full, I wanted to somehow eat more of this. Add butter, heavy cream, and Parmesan and Gruyère cheeses to something green and you can't go wrong in my book.

Roasted Baby Red Potatoes with Oregano

We thought about making mashed potatoes or another gratin, but I had my mind set on roasting potatoes -- I love the ease and flavor of roasted vegetables, as I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post -- and found an easy Tyler Florence Roasted New Potatoes recipe. Simply roast on a baking sheet after coating with olive oil and sprinkling with oregano, salt, and pepper.

Biscuits

I love biscuits. Most of the time, I roll out the dough and cut it with round biscuit cutters, but I wanted to skip a couple of steps so I used the Allrecipes.com Easy Baking Powder Drop Biscuits recipe, which turned out really tasty. Sam helped by spooning the batter onto the baking sheet, and this was one of my father's favorite things to eat that night, along with the prime rib. I can imagine a lot of additions and variations to this recipe, which I will surely try in the future.

Brussels Sprout Hash, Sautéed Mushrooms, and Corn on the Cob

 

My sister made the Brussels sprout hash -- it was really good so I'll have to get the recipe -- and the sautéed mushrooms. I forgot about the corn on the cob until right before dinner so it didn't turn out very well; plus I had purchased them 2 days earlier but should have gotten them the same day at Stew Leonard's. (There are photos of these sides in the plated pictures above.)
 

Bûche de Noël

On the day of our Christmas dinner, I began to think that my desire to create a Bûche de Noël for dessert -- a traditional French Christmas cake shaped like a yule log -- was overly ambitious and not going to happen, since I had never tried it before and would have people other than myself tasting it. I decided to go for it, since I had a well-reviewed Allrecipes.com Bûche de Noël recipe and all the necessary ingredients for this flourless chocolate version. I'm so glad I did, because it turned out really well -- rich and chocolatey, but light and fluffy -- and was completely finished that night! I picked berries and leaves off of the bush right outside our front door, and dusted the cake with powdered sugar "snow."

 

Iced Ginger Spice Spritz Cookies, Peppermint Candy Cane Fudge,
and Rainbow and Sugar Cookies

Last but not least are the cookies that we snacked on throughout the day and night. I repeated recipes I've used in Christmases past, such as the Ginger Spice Cookies I made with my cookie press and iced with drizzles of red and green, and Peppermint Fudge from an old Martha Stewart Kids magazine issue. (The recipe is available online, although the magazine is no longer published.) Finally, we enjoyed rainbow cookies from Stew Leonard's -- so much better than the ones from Zaro's Bakery in Grand Central Terminal -- and sugar cookies made by my brother's girlfriend Tina.

 

 

Tomorrow is already New Year's Eve! I'm going to see The Rockettes' Magical Journey at Radio City Music Hall in the afternoon -- and hopefully squeeze in a viewing of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree -- have a casual pizza dinner, and then cross the East River to Roosevelt Island for a low-key party hosted by my friend Christine. Does anyone else have exciting plans? Be safe, and have a happy and healthy new year!