Oysters on Half Shell
30 oysters
3 lemons cut into halves
parsley
crushed ice
Open oysters. Loosen. Serve on shell placed on a bed of ice, having the small ends of the shell point toward the center of the dish. Wash lemons, cut into halves, remove seeds and serve one half in the center of each plate. Garnish with parsley accompanied by a small glass dish of sauce.
Sauce:
6 teaspoons grated horse-radish
1/4 teaspoon salt
cayenne
6 Tablespoons vinegar
1 Tablespoon tomato catsup
Hungarian paprika
Mix horse-radish, salt, vinegar and tomato catsup in a dish and add cayenne and paprika.
Serves six.
Consomme
3 pounds beef, poorer part of round
1 pound marrow bones
3 pounds knuckle of veal
1 quart chicken stock
1/3 cup each of diced carrot, turnip, celery
1/3 cup sliced onion
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon peppercorns
4 cloves
3 sprigs thyme
1 sprig marjoram
2 sprigs parsley
1/2 bay leaf
Cut beef in one and one-half inch cubes and brown one-half in some of the marrow from the marrow-bones; put remaining half in kettle with cold water, add veal (cut in pieces), browned meat, and bones. Let stand one-half hour. Heat slowly to boiling point, and let simmer three hours, removing scum as it forms on top of kettle. Add one quart liquor in which a fowl was cooked and simmer 2 hours. Cook carrot, turnip, onion and celery in butter for five minutes; then add to soup, with remaining seasonings. Cook one and one-half hours, cool quickly, remove fat and clear.
Serve with thin slices of cucumber or lemon floating in each bowl.
Asparagus Shrimp Salad
4 pounds shrimp shelled and cleaned
6 pounds fresh asparagus
2 lemons sliced thinly
1 cup sliced green onion
Minced parsley
4 tomatoes diced
Bibb lettuce leaves
4 ounces grated Monterey jack cheese
Dressing:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash cayenne
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon fresh minced basil
1 Tablespoon minced fresh oregano
1 Tablespoon minced fresh chervil
Combine oil, vinegar, salt, cayenne, pepper, basil, chervil and oregano. Whisk until well blended.
Cook shrimp; drain and set aside. Cook asparagus until crisp-tender; drain well. Place shrimp, asparagus and lemon slices in mixing bowl. Pour herb dressing over all, cover and chill well, stirring once or twice. Combine onion, parsley and tomato. To serve, drain shrimp asparagus mixture and arrange on plate with lettuce
and cheese. Serve with tomato mixture.
Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding
Give the roast of beef a good rub all over with coarse salt and pepper. Place, bone side down, in a pan and roast in a medium oven for 20 minutes to the pound.
Pudding:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon or so of salt
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
To the flour and salt add the eggs in a well in the middle of the flour.
Combine until it is pasty, then add the milk, all the while stirring.
After the roast is done, remove it from the pan and drain all but a bit of the juices.
Pour the pudding into the pan and put in a hot oven for about half an hour.
Serve with the roast meat and the drippings from the pan.
Christmas Ham
1 bone-in smoked ham, pre-cooked (15-18 pounds
whole cloves
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 1/2 cups apple juice
2 cups tawny port
2 cups whole dates, pitted
2 cups dried figs
2 cups dried prunes
parsley
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Peel the skin from the ham and trim the fat. Using a sharp knife, score a pattern in the traditional diamond pattern in the remaining fat. Place the ham in a large, shallow baking pan. Insert a clove in the intersection of each of the diamonds and pat the mustard over the top and sides of the ham. Pat the brown sugar over the mustard and pour the 2 cups of apple juice in the pan. Bake for 1-1/2 hours.
While the ham is in the oven, combine the remaining apple juice, the port and the fruit in a bowl so it will plump.
At the end of the 1-1/2 hours, remove the ham and place it on a large platter decorated with parsley.
Stir the fruit mixture gently into the pan juices, warm slightly. Arrange the fruit around the ham, and, if you choose, use toothpicks to secure some fruit directly onto the ham. Drizzle a small amount of the pan juices over the ham and pour the rest into a sauce boat.
Erin's Favorite Holiday Potatoes
8 large Idaho bakers
1/2 cup butter, unsalted and at slightly softened
12 ounces cream cheese, slightly softened
3/4 cup sour cream
freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Peel and roughly dice potatoes, place in saucepan and cover with water.
Bring potatoes to a boil, cover and simmer until tender. Drain and place potatoes in large mixing bowl. Cut small pieces of the butter and cream cheese into the potatoes. Beat with and electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the sour cream. Grate the nutmeg into the potatoes ( about 1/2 teaspoon) and add salt and pepper. Serve immediately or keep warm, covered, over boiling water.
Serves eight.
Maple Glazed Carrots
3 pounds baby carrots or regular carrots, peeled and cut into 3" by 1/2" sticks
4 Tablespoons margarine or butter (1/2 stick)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
In 12" skillet over high heat, heat 1" water to boiling. Add carrots; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 8 to 10 minutes until carrots are tender- crisp. Drain.
Return carrots to skillet; add margarine or butter and salt. Over medium-high heat, cook, gently stirring carrots occasionally until they are glazed and golden, about 10 to 15 minutes. Pour maple syrup over carrot mixture; heat to boiling. Boil 2 minutes, stirring frequently until carrots are lightly coated with glaze. Remove carrot mixture to platter.
Green Bean Casserole
2 cans (1 pound each) cut green beans, or 2 9-ounce packages of frozen green beans
3/4 cup milk
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 can Durkee french-fried onions
Non-stick cooking spray
Combine green beans, milk, soup, pepper and 1/2 can of french-fried onions.
Spray 1-1/2 quart casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray, and pour in bean mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with remaining french-fried onions, and bake 5 minutes longer.
Makes at least 6 servings.
Ginni's Corn Souffle
1 can whole corn
1 can creamed corn
1 small onion
1 stick butter (or margarine)
6 eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup milk
4 slices of bread crumbs (or 1 cup Italian bread crumbs)
Saute onion in butter.
Mix all ingredients together and bake in a covered casserole dish at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (or about 15 minutes on HIGH in the microwave).
Check to make sure souffle is set through to the middle.
Asparagus Casserole
6 Tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter (or margarine)
1 pound asparagus (cut in 1-1/2" pieces)
1 small jar pimentoes
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Several crushed crackers
Dash paprika
To make the white sauce for the asparagus, blend flour and milk. Heat in microwave to boiling. Add melted butter (or margarine). Microwave as needed to thicken, stirring intermittently.
Steam asparagus on stove or in microwave (usually about 3 - 5 minutes), until done.
Combine with white sauce, pimentoes, eggs, salt and pepper. Pour into 1-1/2 quart casserole. Top with crushed crackers and sprinkle with paprika.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (or in microwave for 10 to 15 minutes), until edges bubble.
Serves four to six people.
Stuffed Cinnamon Apples
6 firm Jonathan apples
1/2 cup red cinnamon candies
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups water
Pare and core apples.
Cook candy and sugar in water until dissolved. Add whole apples and cook slowy until transparent, but not soft. Then remove from liquid and chill.
Stuff center of each apple with stuffing:
2 tablespoons broken nuts
1/2 cup diced pineapple or orange
10 dates, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup salad dressing or whipped cream
Combine to make stuffing for apples.
Angel Biscuits
1 package dry yeast
5 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup shortening (all vegetable is best)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over 1/4 cup warm water and let stand five minutes.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl and stir with a fork to mix. Add the shortening and cut into the flour, using either your fingertips or a fork until the mixture looks like coarse meal.
Add the baking soda to the buttermilk. Stir the buttermilk into the flour mixture. Add the yeast mixture. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least eight hours.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead a dozen times. Roll dough to about 1/2 inch thickness and cut biscuits out with a two inch biscuit cutter. Place about one inch apart on a greased baking sheet and let rise for about one hour.
Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
Christmas Plum Pudding With Hard Sauce
Pudding:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup pitted prunes, chopped
1 cup pitted dates, chopped
3/4 cup dark seedless raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 medium tart apple, peeled, cored, and coarsely shredded
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 cup margarine or butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
1/3 cup
Hard Sauce:
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened (do not use margarine)
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 cups brandy
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
Heavily grease two 1-quart heat-safe bowls. Cut 2 pieces of foil, 1 to cover top of each bowl, allowing 1-inch overhang. Grease 1 side of each piece of foil; set aside.
Prepare Plum Pudding:
In large bowl, combine first 7 ingredients. Add prunes, dates, raisins, walnuts, apple, and lemon peel to flour mixture. With hands, thoroughly toss mixture until fruits are well coated and
separate. Set aside.
In another large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat margarine with brown sugar. Increase speed to high; beat until creamy, about 1 minute. At medium speed, add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in buttermilk, molasses, and brandy (mixture will look curdled). With spoon, stir margarine mixture into flour mixture until blended.
Spoon batter into prepared bowls; cover with foil, greased side down. Tie foil tightly in place with string around outside of bowls so pudding surface does not get wet from steam.
Place a metal cookie cutter into each of two 5- or 6-quart saucepans. (The cookie cutters are used as trivets so bowls remain elevated during steaming.)
Pour in water to measure 1 1/2 inches. Set bowls on top of cookie cutters. Cover saucepans and heat water to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer puddings about 2 hours or until toothpick inserted through foil into center comes out clean.
When puddings are done, cool in bowls on wire racks 5 minutes. Remove foil; loosen puddings with small spatula or knife and invert onto serving dishes. Serve hot with Hard Sauce. If making ahead for gifts, cool puddings in bowls completely, then wrap well and refrigerate up to 1 month or freeze up to 3 months. To serve, re-steam pudding (thawed, if frozen), covered, as directed previously , for one hour
Hard Sauce:
In small bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter until smooth. At low speed, gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until creamy. Beat in brandy with vanilla. Spoon into 1 or 2 decorative crocks or bowls; cover tightly and refrigerate up to 1 month. To serve, let stand at room temperature 30 minutes or until soft enough to spread.
Prune Cake
Cream 2/3 cup butter
Gradually beat in 1 cup sugar
Add 1 cup chopped cooked prunes
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
3 well beaten eggs
Dissolve 1 tsp soda in 1 cup prune juice and add mixture alternately with 2 cups of flour mixed and sifted with 2/3 tsp of baking powder
Turn into 2 layer cake pans lined with wax paper and bake about 35 minutes in a moderate oven. Maple icing blends well with this cake.
English Trifle
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (16-oz.) pound cake
1/2 cup cream sherry
8 ounces seedless raspberry preserves
3/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
1 cup crumbled amaretti
1 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
A few whole fresh or quick frozen raspberries
In a large bowl, beat egg yolks gently with an electric mixer. Gradually blend in sugar and salt. Scald milk and add slowly, with mixer on low speed. Place custard in top of double boiler and cook over simmering water, stirring constantly with a whisk until slightly thickened. It should never boil, as it will be thin. Strain into bowl and cool. Add vanilla. Set aside.
Cut pound cake into 15 or 16 thin slices. Trim crust. Arrange slices neatly around sides and on bottom of glass or crystal bowl. Spoon half of sherry on cake slices including those on sides. Pour half of custard over cake.
Drizzle 1/2 raspberry preserves evenly over custard. Sprinkle 1/4 cup amaretti and 1/4 of the toasted, sliced almonds over preserves.
Place remaining cake slices on top, sprinkle with remaining sherry. Repeat layering process as directed above, saving 1/4 cup amaretti and almonds for garnish.
Whip the cream, sweetening with sugar and flavoring with vanilla. Cover top of trifle. Decorate with almonds and a few fresh raspberries. Refrigerate.
The flavor improves if made the day before serving.
Mince Pie
Filling:
3 pounds lean beef, finely chopped
2 pounds suet, chopped
3 quart apples, finely chopped
3 pounds raisins, seeded and chopped
2 pounds currants
3 pounds citron, finely chopped
1/2 cup candied orange peel
1/2 cup lemon peel
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons salt
4 cups sugar
1 cup coffee
2 cups cider
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups brandy
1 cup sherry
1 cup currant jelly
Mix all ingredients, except brandy and sherry, and cook two hours. Add liquor and let stand for a week before using.
Crust:
Plain paste (bottom crust of pie)
1 1/2 cups flour
4 Tablespoons lard
4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
cold water
Sift flour. Chop lard into sifted flour. When thoroughly mixed add salt and water to form a dough. Chill. Roll into rectangular piece, place butter, which has been shaped, flattened and chilled, on middle of one side of paste; fold over with other side, press edges together and fold one end under and one end over butter, making six layers. Roll again into a rectangle and fold the same way. Repeat three more times. If butter begins to soften, place paste in cheese cloth and on ice until hard enough to roll easily.
Puff paste (top crust of pie)
1 pound butter
1 pound flour
water
Shape and flatten butter into a round cake. Chill. Sift flour several times; add cold water to form a dough a little stiffer than for a baking powder biscuit. Chill. Place butter in same way as directed in Plain Paste and roll paste seven times. Chill if necessary between each rolling.
Assemble pie:
Place plain paste dough in the bottom of pie plate.
Fill with mince meat. Cover with puff pastry crust.
Bake until golden brown (about 45 minutes).
Cream Of Coconut Cake
1 box white cake mix
6-ouce jar or can of cream of coconut
1/2 can condensed milk
1/4 cup shredded coconut
Prepare mix according to directions, using a 9x13x2-inch pan and baking as directed on box.
While hot, punch holes in top with fork. Mix the cream of coconut, condensed milk, and 1/4 cup coconut. Pour over cake and cool completely.
Frosting:
1 large container non-dairy whipped topping
1 cup shredded coconut
Mix whipped topping and coconut, and spread over cake.
Holiday Eggnog
12 large eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 quarts milk
1 cup dark rum
2 Tablespoons vanilla
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg plus extra for sprinkling
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
In heavy 4-quart saucepan with wire whisk, beat eggs, sugar, and salt until blended. Gradually stir in 1 quart milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly or until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon well, about 25 minutes (mixture should be about 160 degrees F., but do not boil or it will curdle).
Pour custard into large bowl; stir in rum, vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and remaining milk. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours.
To serve, in small bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat heavy or whipping cream until soft peaks form. With wire whisk, gently fold whipped cream into custard mixture.
Pour eggnog into chilled 5-quart punch bowl; sprinkle with nutmeg for garnish.
Sugar Cookies
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk (reserve white)
2 1/4 cups flour
Combine sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond extract, vanilla extract and egg yolk. Stir in flour until well-blended; chill for two hours.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a third at a time, to a 1/8-inch thickness.
Cut into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Leave plain, or brush with egg white and sprinkle with colored sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees for seven to ten minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool completely, then frost or decorate as desired.
The above recipes were contributed by Susan Chaffin, Jean Pritchard (Green Bean Casserole, Ginni's Corn Souffle, Asparagus Casserole, Cinnamon Stuffed Apples, Cream of Coconut Cake, Sugar Cookies), and Margaret Young Stafford (Prune Cake). Chef Susan Chaffin comments:
"You can sure tell the difference between modern recipes and those of the past, can't you? I think all of mine, except the potatoes which are, truly, MY potatoes, and the salad, which is a friend's ... hale from the late 1800's. The use of liquor in sweets, for example. And the number of complex spices ... helped disguise the not-so-marvelous refrigeration techniques and kill the bacteria. And, the alcohol cooks away leaving just that wonderful flavor. (Not that anyone worried about that type of thing then.) The Angel Biscuits recipe... which can be found in various forms in almost every modern cookbook... is from about 1880 ... and was considered 'NEW and DARING' because commercial yeast was only available in 1868 or 1869. The trifle is also my adaptation ... it accomodates my love of amaretti. And the mince pie is a favorite."
For myself, my holiday memories are inextricably entwined with Green Bean Casserole, and the Prune Cake is something my Grandmother Stafford made -- sounds very strange, but it tastes wonderful! We hope that you found some of your favorites here too, and perhaps some new ones. Wishing you the happiest of holidays!-- Susan Stafford.
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