Christmas Dinner

Hey! I hope everyone had a great holiday season! Mine was full of family and fun times. Graduating right before winter break was perfect. I didn’t have to worry about anything but spending quality time with the people I love. On Christmas day I made a great dinner for my whole family! I thought I’d share a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

This is the start of my 6-hour meat sauce. I take roughly a pound each of ground beef and sweet sausage and brown it with a couple of sweet onions and many cloves of garlic.

Army of herbs! Basil, thyme, oregano, and parsley. I also threw in a couple of whole sprigs of basil along with my chiffonade.

So many recipes call for diced or crushed tomatoes. I trust whole peeled plum tomatoes. Leave them whole! As the sauce cooks the tomatoes will break down some.

Lot’s of fennel seed required in this! I think I may also try fennel bulb next time.

I roasted some portobello mushrooms with olive oil, salt, and herbs. I like portobellos because you don’t have to wash the tops, you can just peel the skin off. They say that water is bad for mushrooms, which is why they tell you to wipe them with a damp towel. This skips that time-consuming step.

This was the beginning of the balsamic dressing I made for my caprese. I don’t measure anything, but combine the following ingredients to taste: balsamic vinegar (from Modena!), extra virgin olive oil, honey, sugar, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. My parents both said it was the best balsamic vinaigrette they have had!

I had some spent lemon halves, so I braised them in my tomato sauce for a little acidity. Worked wonders!

Heirloom tomatoes! These tasted great even though they were out of season. I knoooow! But I can’t get away from caprese.

Antipasti with three salamis, prosciutto di parma, parmigiano reggiano, my roasted red peppers (how-to on my last post!), and roasted herb mushrooms.

There’s my gorgeous pasta and sauce! I also made a meyer lemon rosemary bread. I combined room temperature unsalted butter with minced fresh rosemary, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Then I roasted it at 400F until it started turning golden around the edges. The meal was a bit hit! Very happy to impress my family.

I am back in New Jersey for now! Dan and I are going to see Phish at Madison Square Garden for New Year’s Eve! We both can’t wait to take this trip. Hope you all have a safe and happy New Year celebration!

Rachel