Christmas
1676 recipes found
Endive Leaves With Crab Rillettes
Canned lump crabmeat is transformed in these light, slightly spicy rillettes. I have been pleased with the canned lump crabmeat I have been finding lately at Trader Joe’s. It is fresh and perfect for both crab cakes and for these light, slightly spicy rillettes, which I serve on endive leaves. You can also stuff cherry tomatoes with the rillettes, or mini bell peppers, or just serve them on croutons or crackers. You have a choice here of using a combination of Greek yogurt and crème fraîche, or all Greek yogurt. In the spirit of rillettes, which would be much fattier than these if they were more authentic, I vote for the yogurt/crème fraîche combo, but if you want to keep calories down use all yogurt.
Home-Cured Pork Tenderloin ‘Ham’
Ale-Braised Collards With Ham
This recipe came to The Times from Hayden Hall, the chef and an owner of Oxbow Restaurant in Clarksdale, Miss. Red pepper flakes and apple cider vinegar give the greens a sharp edge, and ham hock gives them even more succulence.
Clementine Peppercorn Glaze
Sherry Vinegar-Glazed Onions
Traditional creamed onions and buttery glazed onions are perfectly nice, but the sparky tang of vinegar makes this version of the classic much more appealing. The sweet-and-sour flavors are a great foil for the rich, starchy dishes on a Thanksgiving table. Any leftovers can be chopped up to make a lively addition to winter stews and chunky soups.
Smoked Sardines Rillettes
Canned smoked sardines are easy to come by, and if you eat fish (especially if you are trying to find ways to eat more fatty fish because of their high omega-3 values), they should be a staple in your pantry. Look for Pacific sardines, which are a Best Choice on the Monterey Aquarium Seafood Watch list. (Atlantic and Mediterranean are poor choices.) Like the other rillettes posted on this week’s Recipes for Health, you can use these as a spread for bread or crackers, or as a filling for peppers or endive leaves or cherry tomatoes. The rillettes also go well with lentils, like the smoked trout rillettes featured earlier this week. The crème fraîche is optional but recommended (you could substitute olive oil or yogurt); I like the way it loosens and enriches the mixture.
Sour-Cherry Thyme Glaze
Sicilian Involtini With Ham and Cheese
In Sicily, where I learned to make these savory bundles, cooks make them at home, or buy them in butcher shops, ready for the oven. Fillings vary, but this one with prosciutto cotto and cheese is a favorite. The rolls are threaded on skewers with bay leaves and bread slices, showered with bread crumbs and olive oil, then baked.
Moist Gingerbread Cake With Lemon Glaze
This dark, deeply moist, gingered beauty was created by Karen DeMasco, the pastry chef at Locanda Verde in New York. Beer and coffee add complexity, and the tangy lemon glaze counters the sweetness.
Gingerbread Bûche de Noël
In this festive recipe, Dorie Greenspan reinterprets the classic French bûche de Noël, a Christmas cake fashioned to look like a Yule log. Instead of the usual chocolate cake filled with ganache, she bakes a fragrant lightly spiced sponge cake and fills it with pecan cream cheese filling, while billowing marshmallow frosting evokes a snowdrift. It’s a project to make and can take the better part of a day. Or split it up and make the components over a few days. Either way it’s time well spent. There’s no holiday dessert more spectacular than this.
Garlic-Parsley Potato Cakes
These crisp and savory cakes, a longtime specialty of the Manhattan restaurant called Home, are best described as homemade Tater Tots in patty form. They are a nice change from mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving or Christmas (or any) dinner, make ideal carriers for fried or poached eggs at brunch, and can even double as latkes for Hanukkah. The power of the garlic is tamed in one easy step — by boiling it in the same water as the potatoes.
Thomas and Cheryl Etheredge's Beef Brisket
This recipe requires an oven with a top broiler.
Kubbeh Pie
One of the most recognized foods across the Arab world and the Mediterranean, kubbeh has countless variations, and different pronunciations depending on country or even region. Usually made of a bulgur-based shell with a meat, onion and nut filling, the Levantine croquettes are a staple in any feast or spread and a prominent feature on Arab holiday tables across the U.S. The pie form is a substantially easier version that captures all the delicious flavors in a main dish, without requiring shaping individual parcels or deep frying. A garlicky spread like tzatziki or tahini sauce (recipe below) provides the perfect fresh contrast to the kubbeh’s warm, earthy flavors.
Cinnamon Roasted Potatoes
A cinnamon stick broken into pieces gives these potatoes a bit of Middle Eastern flavor. Roasting them first at 325 degrees, and then turning the heat up to 450, gives them a perfect crispness.
Green Mashed Potatoes
These addictive mashed potatoes are equal parts potatoes and greens, lending texture and fresh flavor to the classic side dish. The amount of oil here is significant, but we all know that what makes mashed potatoes really good is fat. Use the best olive oil you have. (For everything you need to know to make perfect potatoes, visit our potato guide.)
Cranberry, Raspberry, Pecan Conserve
Modern Timpano
A timpano is a highly festive, drum-shaped, baked pasta torte filled with all kinds of delectable goodies — meatballs, cheeses, sausages or ragù, hard-boiled eggs and penne, all coated in a rich Sunday-gravy-type tomato sauce. This updated version is more streamlined, nixing the eggs and meatballs in flavor of roasted squash and sautéed garlicky broccoli rabe, and using purchased fresh pasta sheets instead of homemade. It’s lighter, a little easier and a lot more colorful, without sacrificing the cheesy, meaty essence of the dish. Making a timpano is undeniably a project, but you can do much of the work a few days ahead, including making the sauce and cooking the vegetables, which can be made up to 2 days ahead. Then set aside half an hour before baking to layer everything in the mold. Serve this at a dinner party when you’re looking to impress.
Choucroute Garnie With Pheasant
Bollito Misto (Italian Boiled Meats With Red and Green Sauces)
Bollito misto is the Italian version of a boiled dinner, somewhat similar to the French pot au feu, but more complex. (A New England boiled dinner pales in comparison.) The dish can be quite an extravagant affair, with many cuts of veal, beef, tongue, sausages and a fat capon. This is a simpler version, though it is still a project and easier to complete if the work is spread over two or three days. But it is a worthy adventure. Serve the broth as a traditional first-course soup garnished with tortellini or other small stuffed pasta shapes, or plain, in little cups, for sipping. Two bright sauces — one green, one red — round out the dish as condiments.
Cara Cara Citrus Liqueur
This homemade liqueur is the perfect addition to many a beachy cocktail, served in frosty glasses and sipped on a porch at sunset. The margarita, the Cosmopolitan and the ever-dangerous Lemon Drop are all made more refreshing by its bright citrus flavor. Given all the types of citrus available, and the simplicity of this recipe, it’s worth experimenting. The recipe here provides the essentials (ratios and techniques) with permission to make the infusion your own.
Pear Kuchen
Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen, sisters who run the Four & Twenty Blackbirds bakery in Brooklyn, hail from South Dakota, where their family ran a small restaurant. Kuchen, a German cake topped with fruit that is a staple of the state’s Thanksgiving tables, is central to their childhood memories of the holiday. Their recipe, topped with pears, “looks a little different than those traditionally found in local South Dakota church and community cookbooks,” Melissa Elsen wrote in an email, “but it tastes like it does in my memory (with the addition of cardamom).” That cardamom, it turns out, is key to the dish’s success, with citrus and savory notes that are as pleasant as they are unexpected.
Cherry-Cheese Strudel
Schwowebrettle or Petits Fours de Noel
The dough should be prepared 12 hours before it is to be baked.
