For our Christmas dinner I planned a menu with a focus on flavors reminiscent of my childhood. I also included a few ingredients that have become favorites over the years. Holiday dinners are for me and my family a time to celebrate with our favorite foods so we don't have a typical or traditional menu. We abstain from the traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas meals that include turkey, ham or cranberry sauce as we don't really like these things. Instead we plan meals full of ingredients and flavors that indulge our palates. And since I do most of the cooking I like to keep it simple.
This was the menu:
Avocado and Mango Salad with Passion Fruit Vinaigrette*
Feta Puffs
Bruschetta with White Beans and Walnuts
My Special Seafood Paella
Warm Brownies with Vosges Wattleseed** Ice Cream and fresh Raspberries
The recipes for the first three dishes can be found at Epicurious. The paella is a recipe I have developed. It's one of my favorite dishes for the holidays because it has such a beautiful presentation and the flavors are wonderful.
* The passion fruit concentrate in this recipe is very difficult to find, even in a diverse place like NYC. The best place to look for it is in ethnic markets or online. Latin markets tend to have it in stock. For a milder flavor you can also use fresh passion fruits which are becoming more available at gourmet markets. However nothing beats the passion fruit concentrate. You will become addicted to it.
** I could devote and entire post to the remarkable wattleseed. The flavor is sublime and must be tried in order to really appreciate it. It tastes like chocolate, vanilla, coffee and hazelnut, without the bitterness of chocolate and coffee. It is also highly nutritious. I hope this entices you to try it.
No comments:
Post a Comment