I don't usually get around to planning for the weekend until Friday, but hey, we're talking Christmas here. My plans are still a bit in the formative stage, but here's what they're looking like.
Christmas Eve will be an easy festival of shellfish, centered around the lobster tails that Whole Foods has for $7.99 each (yes, you can get tails for less elsewhere, but these are from Maine), and Whole Foods' own fresh crabcakes. I tried the crabcakes when they were on sale a couple of weeks ago, and they are definitely worth the $12.99/lb that I last saw. They're also making them in cute cocktail sizes, in addition to full sized cakes, and the smaller size might work better with the lobster tails. For a side, we'll do Lundberg's fabulous wild rice blend, which I picked up for a steal at the Vitamin Cottage sale that recently ended. The veggie has yet to be determined, and I'm hoping tomorrow's new sales might provide some inspiration.
For Christmas dinner itself, we'll have an array of appetizers to get ourselves and our guests through a few hours before dinner. Easy ones will include hummus with lots of veggies (don't forget organic baby carrots for just 99 cents a one pound bag at Sunflower through tomorrow) and a few crackers, shrimp cocktail (lots of beautiful cooked shrimp made it to my freezer during that spectacular one day sale a while ago at Whole Foods), and endive spears topped with herbed cheese and smoked trout or salmon. You can go with a formal recipe for this, something like endive spears with smoked salmon, horseradish cream, and dill, but I've been making it for years just using a prepared herb cheese like Boursin or Rondele (the latter on sale at Sprouts through tomorrow for the excellent price of $3.99 for an 8 oz container), topped with the trout or salmon, and maybe a bit of fresh dill.
The centerpiece of Christmas dinner will be a standing rib roast, and no, I won't reveal where I decided to get it. I've yet to look up recipes, but it will probably be very simple, with some embedded garlic slivers, and an au jus finessed with some red wine from a good bottle (but not as good as the Corison cabernet that we'll open to go with the roast). The roast will be accompanied by our favorite, simple horseradish sauce from Bon Appetit published nearly a decade ago. The current issue of Bon Appetit will provide inspiration for the sides, including potato gratin with gruyere and rainbow chard and radicchio saute (check out the Christmas colors!). As for dessert, that will be a surprise to us, as friends will be bringing it. What a feast.
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