Christmas Eve Menu

While the centerpiece of our Christmas Eve menu was the aforementioned sausage bread, that certainly wasn't the only trick up our sleeve.

After much debate, here was our Christmas Eve menu:

Camembert with sauteed mushrooms
Eggplant dip, tapenades, mixed olives, crackers
Sausage Bread
Shrimp with Garlic (in the Newark-style)
Cioppino
Truffled Garlic Bread
Lemon Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Figs, dates, honey and almonds wrapped in phyllo
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
(plenty of wine)

After a pleasant Christmas Eve day of visiting, we started our meal preparation. We realized in the process of preparing our feast that this was way too much food for three people and pushed the shrimp & garlic to Christmas Day.

NOTE: We are not total gluttons since the dips/tapenades/olives, sausage bread, and cookies were also being spread over our two day food extravaganza.

One of the two pleasant surprises of our meal was the sauteed mushrooms over camembert, a recipe I saw in an earlier issue of Food & Wine, courtesy of Daniel Boulud. You simply warm the camembert in the oven and once soft, smother with the sauteed mushrooms, cooked simply with shallots and thyme. Absolute perfection!

The cioppino became a hybrid of two recipes from the self-proclaimed god of Napa, Michael Chiarello and the large-headed Italian princess with the cheesy grin, Giada DeLaurentis. We created the base with garlic, onions tomatoes and fennel and our shellfish consisted of mussels, scallops, shrimp and monkfish.

Being our own worse critics, we did mull over some ways to improve the dish but I have to say it came out pretty damn good and the leftovers were even better since the flavors had a chance to meld. The crusty truffle parmesan bread we also made served as the perfect crouton and vehicle to sop up the broth!

The other big surprise was RRR's lemon cookies! After finding the recipe in a magazine, we decided, why not? Who knew we were in for a suprise? The ricotta and fresh lemon juice in the cookies added just enough air to make them light, fluffy and tart without being overpowering. The piece de resistance was the confectioners sugar and lemon juice icing that we ALMOST didn't use. Take my word for it; the photos do not do it justice.

Now, if you have even read one entry of this blog, you know I am a chocolate fanatic and do not go gaga over tart, especially when it comes to cookies.

Well, these were outrageously good and the perfect "gift"!

Merry Christmas to me!