Kate Douglas Christmas post and contest!

Welcome Kate Douglas!

First, I'll get my promo out of the way—WOLF TALES 11 IS STARTING TO SHOW UP IN STORES! I know you're going to love this one! Now, on to my next favorite thing, after reading. Food!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, but probably not for the reason you'd imagine. It's not the gifts or the cheer or any of the trappings of the season. No, it's because it's my chance to cook—as in REALLY cook—for a crowd. I love doing that and used to think nothing of putting on dinners for twenty or more, but now that the kids are grown and gone and it's just my husband and me, I don't often have the opportunity to prepare big meals the way I used to.

For me, cooking is part of my creative process. I love all of it—planning the meal, shopping for the ingredients, hunting for recipes or, even better, creating my own. Christmas is my big chance every year to really strut my stuff, and I've done our big family dinner on Christmas Eve now for almost forty years.

It's morphed a bit over the years—our daughter and son-in-law have a larger house than we do, and it's more centrally located, so the dinner's location has changed. We all gather at Sarah and Tony's now, but I still cook the meal. We used to serve a whole prime rib, but that cut got so expensive and there's a lot of fat in it that NONE of us need, so now I do a whole top sirloin (Chateaubriand) along with half a salmon…plus various quiches and tortes, a roasted veggie & potato dish that's absolutely wonderful, rolls and something fancy for dessert. Last year I think we had around thirty for dinner—this year it's much smaller, so far. Eight or ten adults and under ten children, so there won't be as many bodies underfoot.

So, what's on the menu for 2010? So far, it looks like I'll be doing the roast, the salmon, a broccoli torte, maybe a spinach quiche, the roasted veggies and potatoes and, if I get really industrious, a "Yule log," which is a chocolate sponge cake rolled around a really rich cream filling. I thought that, if Lisa's got room, I'd add a couple of the recipes for those interested. I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season. Be safe, count your blessings, and then, when dinner's all over and the house is quiet, take time to curl up with a good book. That's what I plan to do…did I mention that my son-in-law handles the clean up after dinner? My but I do love that boy!

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Oven roasted Chateaubriand:

Have the butcher trim and tie a whole top sirloin like a "rolled roast." I always ask for a "cap" of fat, wrapped separately.

One day ahead: brush olive oil over entire roast. Pat with a mix of herbs, fresh or dried, and favorite seasonings. I mix fresh thyme, chopped fresh parsley, garlic salt, onion salt, seasoned meat tenderizer, and a seasoned pepper mix I get from a local shop, but any combination you like will work. Spoon them over the entire roast, patting to make the seasonings stick, then roll the entire roast in plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.

To cook:

Let the roast sit out at room temperature for half an hour before cooking. Preheat oven to 425° Remove the plastic and put the herbed roast on a rack in a deep enough pan to catch juices. Put the roast in the hot oven for 20 minutes to seal the meat. Remove and put the cap of fat over the top of the roast, (Use toothpicks to hold it in place) return it to the oven and reduce heat to 325°. Cook at 20 minutes per pound for rare. Remove the fat and discard during the last half hour of cooking and baste roast with the drippings. Remove from oven when internal temperature reaches 120° and allow roast to rest, covered loosely, for at least ten-fifteen minutes before carving. Remove fat from drippings and add enough water to scrape them from the bottom. You can either make gravy or use as an au jus to drizzle over the sliced meat.

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Roasted, marinated veggies



Red potatoes

Yukon gold potatoes

Yams

Carrots

Whole mushrooms

Onions (sliced red or yellow sweet and whole small ones)

Sliced red and green bell pepper (and yellow if you have them)

Brussels' Sprouts sliced in half

Peel the yams. Wash the potatoes. Cut all into about 1 inch chunks and steam about ten minutes, until almost done.

Wash and quarter mushrooms, slice peppers into strips, peel carrots and small onions, quarter if they're big enough or leave whole, slice big onions into half inch slices.

Marinade:

Juice of one lemon, three cloves minced garlic, ½ cup balsamic vinegar, ¼ cup soy sauce, 1 tsp. coarse ground pepper, ½ tsp salt, about ½ cup good olive oil (and any other seasonings that strike your fancy…I've added dried parsley, chopped green onions and even a bay leaf in the past for different tastes) Blend thoroughly.

Mix all the veggies, cooked and uncooked, in a plastic bag and pour the marinade over them. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight before cooking. (Turn the bag to soak everything.)

Use a large roasting pan—I usually spray it with cooking oil spray, but it's not necessary. Just makes clean up easier. Drain excess marinade off the veggies and spread them in the roasting pan. Roast at 400° for about 45 minutes, turning every ten minutes or so. You want them slightly browned but not burned. Or, stick them in the oven on the rack under the roast for at least an hour or even an hour and a half. They may not brown as much at the lower temps, but they're just as good.

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Broccoli torte:

1 bag frozen or 1 lb. fresh, steamed broccoli—chopped

2 cups cooked rice

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup cottage cheese (or more shredded cheese if you don't have it)

5 eggs

Salt/pepper to taste

Dash of nutmeg

Can add:

Mushrooms

Sliced ham

Other veggies

Feta cheese

Mix together. Spread in a 9×13 casserole dish and bake for at least an hour, until done. (knife goes in, comes out clean) If it's browning too fast, cover with aluminum foil. Cool just a bit before you cut it up.

All three of these are my own recipes, things I've come up with over the years, but they are great for a crowd and easy to fix. For some reason, little kids seem to love the broccoli thing. Go figure…now, what I want to know is, what's your favorite recipe for the holidays? I showed you mine, now you've gotta show me yours!

And, almost forgot—if you leave a comment, you'll enter the drawing for an Advance Reader Copy of StarFire. Good luck!