Christmas Eve dinner's 'in the can'! Hallelujah!

[Stinky The Clown]

I've been preppin' and cookin' for the last two days. Tomorrow I just have two dishes to prep from scratch cuz there's no way to do them ahead.

Pizza fritte (fried dough) will get done tomorrow. I'll make the dough in the morning and my son will fry it in early afternoon. Thankfully it will be in the mid fifties tomorrow, so he can do it outside and plug the fryer in on the deck.

Someone else is bringing the antipasto.

Italian Wedding soup is done and just needs assembly. The soup gets the spinach added as it reheats. The orzo's been cooked (some people use rice, but I prefer the orzo or ditalini) and shocked and is in the fridge along with the meatballs I cooked yesterday.

The shrimp for the shrimp oreganato is cleaned and ready for the pan. The oreganato topping is done. Put it on the scrimps and pop in the oven for 20 minutes is all it needs.

Two dozen clams are all washed and nice and sleepy in the fridge. They get steamed open and oreganato topping tomorrow.

The cod in tomato sauce is done and just needs a reheat.

The whiting salad (kinda like seviche, but it starts with cooked fish) is done and is served cold.

The smelts just need to be dusted in flour and then fried. They'll get done by my son after he does the pizza fritte.

I was also gunna do a cold eel thing that's very traditional, but I couldn't find any eels. The Asian store had frozen 'swamp eel' but the very name put me off of them. I wanted live eels. Oh well ..... Sparkly always gets a little green when we do these.

The bracciolo is done. I cut two flank steaks in half thickness-wise. I used an old scimitar meat knife I hadn't touch in years. I sharpened it up and it went through the meat like a hot knife though butter. It looks like this and is about 14" long. That's one mean looking knife! The stuffing is a mix of breadcrumbs, reggiano, garlic, parsley, oregano, toasted pine nuts, and salt and pepper. It has been years since I tied a roll of beef. That was the hardest part .... tying the rolls. The sauce on this is the same tomato sauce I used for the cod, but with different final seasonings. The cod has fennel and white wine. This has balsamico and a nice Ravenswood zinfandel.

The veal for the marsala has been cut and pounded. Everything else is just a matter of dredging it in seasoned flour, cooking it, and making the sauce right in the cooking pan. The mise en place is done.

A huge pot of mixed mushrooms was sauteed today and just needs an hour or so in the oven with a cheese, herb, and breadcrumb topping (all made) on it.

Sparkly's doing some green beans and roasting some peppers on the grill tomorrow as the veggies. And a salad.

Someone else is bringing the dessert.

We have champagne for the appetizer course, a white Bordeaux (we still like the French!) and Chalone's Monterrey chardonnay (nice and crisp - almost no oak) for the fish course, and Gnarly Head zin for the meat course. I also have two bottles of nondescript cabernet for backup. I also have a bottle of auslese Reisling for the amateurs :)

I'm pooped!

[Lugnut]

1. We're in good shape too

All that's left for tomorrow are the smelts and the pasta dishes. DH decided he wants some baked cod in addition to everything else so he'll be out rounding some up in the AM. He never thinks we have enough food so we end up making too much.

Somebody gave him a nice bottle of homemade wine. It's the really good stuff that warms you right down to your toes. He's saving that for our nightcap after our guests leave. :)

[NashVegas]

2. I'm In Okay Shape

As a guest, all I have to do is deserts.

The cheesecake is in the fridge. This morning I'm going to cut up cranberries (cranberry steamed pudding), this afteroon or late evening I'll make lemon curd (tarts) and then I'll see how much time I have to play with chocolate.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

3. Ole Yeller and I

are set with a boatload of steamers - which I'll pick up later today - and lobster, which will be steamed just before I get there. Nothing but butter and champagne champagne with them. Yeller flies in this afternoon.

Tomorrow, we'll be subbing at a hospital in town for the folks who observe this holiday, and you can bet they'll be dragging body bags out of there at a record clip.

I hope I remember all my chest surgery stuff.

heh heh heh

After that, we're going to H2S's house for snacks ............

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Call for the map coordinates .....

Then c'mon over. It'll take ya maybe an hour.

[babylonsister]

4. Oh, my, my mouth is watering! That sounds

so delicious! Well...except for the eel. I'm with Sparkly on that.
And now that you mentioned it, I remember flying standby from Guam to Japan several years ago; we always were served whatever was left due to our (lack of) status, and that morning it happened to be eel. We asked for more (stale) rolls instead.
Enjoy your feast!

[Sparkly]

5. Just shopping for the eels was disgusting!!

(Warning: don't read this if your stomach is squeamish!)

We get our seafood from an Asian supermarket. The very words, "Do you have live eels?" grosses me out, but they didn't have any so I was spared the sight of them.

"Let's try the other Asian market!" said Husb... The "other" Asian market is smaller, dirtier, and stinkier than the first one. I should have stayed in the car. The smell when we first walked in was horrendous -- indescribable and not a smell encountered anywhere else -- and it grew worse as we walked to the back of the store where the fish is. The further we went, the slower my feet moved until Husb was a long length ahead of me. At the fish counter, the putrid smell mixed with strong fishy stench, becoming literally nauseating.

"Do you have live eels?" Husb asked the men behind the counter, who looked at each other. "Eels?" Husb repeated. They didn't understand English. "They don't have them, let's go," I tried. But Husb started pantomiming "eel," making a circle with his thumb and index finger and moving it in a long snaky line. They shook their heads and pointed to another man filling a freezer case with something (I never want to look too closely at things in these stores -- you're likely to see turtle esophagus or pig toenails or God knows what).

"Do you have live eels?" Husb asked this man, repeating his pantomime. The man pointed to the freezer isle. "Live ones?" Husb pursued, unaware of how close my stomach was to malfunctioning. "They don't have them, let's go!!" I tried again. "No live eels?" he continued.

"I'll be outside, I have to get out of here." He said we could leave anyway. BUT, halfway down the freezer aisle, he stopped. "Oh look at this!" Why did I look? I shouldn't have looked. He held up a package with a black snake-like eel, coiled up in a circle, tightly covered with clear plastic suctioned to show the thing's horrible outline...

The sight of that, along with the stench, was too much -- I felt a gag coming on in my throat and practically RAN out of there. (And he thinks zucchini is disgusting?!? I think we're two different species.)

[babylonsister]

6. I know exactly what you mean, Sparkly.

We have a big Hong Kong market a few blocks away. The smell does take some getting used to, but reminds me of crowded Asian markets in tropical vacation climates, so for me, it's a good/bad smack to the senses.
Your husband is a persistent guy, isn't he. Your shopping account was hilarious and I'm very happy for you that no lives eels were to be had. :hi:

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Nobody understands me .......

Eels are good eatin'. Really. They're just a funny shaped fish. No relation whatever to a snake. None.

Eel - anguilla - anguila - anguille - enguia - de paling - aal .... etc:

[Shakespeare]

18. Next time ask for unagi.

I knew years of eating sushi would eventually come in handy...

Eels used to gross me out until I started eating sushi regularly, and realized it's just another kind of fish (no matter how reptilian it may appear).

[Stinky The Clown]

19. Everybody knew what I was asking for ......

.... in fact, one guy showed me unagi. But that's amoked. What I wanted was live eel.

[SW FL Dem]

9. SO - How did it go? n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Overall or in detail?

Overall ... pretty well, actually.

In detail ... not so much. The young 'uns pooped out after the antipasta and soup. They nibbled on the fish course, is about all.

The meat course ... everyone was stuffed. I didn't even bother to make the veal.

But the biggest disaster of the evening ...... I thought the bracciole was in the warmer and it was in the oven ... for about an hour too long. The gravy on top was cinderized. The meat beneath, however, was very good and actually got rave reviews.

Sparkly Jr was so tired she damn near fell asleep at the table. Poor kid. She was the only one who had to work today. Lots of wine got consumed, though. Three bottles of bubbly, four bottles of white, three bottles of zin, one cabernet and one reisling.

The kitchen looks as if it had been vandalized.

But all in all, the night was a success. Its the company of friends and family that really matters ... and we were blessed with that in spades. You all know that ours in a blended family. The kids are really bonded and although my sons and Sparkly Jr are not related, they treat each other as if they are. I am so blessed to be a part of the family God has given me.

I love them all.

And to all here, may your holiday be as warm and wonderful as mine has been.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

11. It sounds to me, sir,

that you've gotten precisely what you deserved.

Not the braciole, of course - that was obviously the work of a Republican devil.

But, from what I've seen of you here, Mr. H2S, you deserve all that is good.

Merry Christmas to all ................

[SW FL Dem]

12. It sounds like your day was a success

I'm glad your family has blended so well. Someone (or more) had to do something right for that to happen

[eleny]

13. Oy!

You had enough for an army! I'm glad everyone had a good time and ate to their own heart's content.

I'm almost ashamed to say what we had. I did fry some fresh cod. Opened a bag of Spring Mix salad and made boxed potatoes au gratin. Oh, and heated up some dinner rolls. Not very imaginative but it tasted good and we enjoyed it along with being grateful for bounty. Merry Christmas!

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Yanno ... its funny ..... I do this stuff on Christmas Eve because of ....

.... the tradition it represents. One of our guests tonight was my cousin. His father and my mother were brother and sister. We both recall so fondly the Christmas Eves at Gramma's house and our parents carrying that forward when we lost Gramma (about 40 years ago, actually). So far as I know, I am the only one of Gramma's seven grandchildren who so faithfully adheres to the old traditions.

Its hard to give it up ...... yanno?

[The empressof all]

17. This is the first year I didn't go all out

Normally I would do quite a spread...but it seems folks just can't eat like they use to. I remember the 4 hour meals on Christmas Eve too H2S... Good for you to try to keep it up.

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Wow! What an ambitious and fantastic meal!

It sounded wonderful, and very sumptuous, even minus the bracciole gravy. Your family is sure fortunate to have you! Just reading your menu filled me up and wore me out!:D

Thank you so much for the ham heating advice!:D And thank you for sharing your holiday with us!:toast:

Rhiannon:hi:

[anitar1]

16. It all sounds wonderful. I'll bet the feet are a bit tired though.

As usual, I baked too much. Tried a lot of new things this year. Our dinner is tomorrow and am looking forward to it. Not sure the grandkids will eat much as they have been heavy on the sweets the last couple of days. I baked Giada's Almond Marscapone Cheesecake today and it smells terrific. Saw her make it and copied the recipe.We'll see. I also copied OLL's favorite cheesecake and will try that next. I want to wish all of you a wonderful day tomorrow. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year--or should I say Merry Fitzmas?