Chritmas Dinner In August

Not too long ago at work we had an entire Christmas dinner in August. We had a feast with all the fixings and afterwards felt happy and stuffed. Our Christmas dinner consisted of Challah bread and butter, different pickles, chutneys, and preserves, honey thyme carrots, peas, creamy mashed potatoes, stuffing, a brined turkey breast with gravy, pumpkin pie, and homemade vanilla ice cream.

fresh Challah bread

mustard pickles, cranberry sauce, red pepper jelly, and pickled peppers

brined turkey breast

gravy

honey and thyme glazed carrots

creamy mashed potatoes

the entire feast

stuffing

Sweet and Sour Stuffed Dates

There is hardly a recipe for these - just something tasty I recently came up with. Dates can be stuffed with a variety of yummy fillings, the most common being nuts and soft cheeses. Wrapping sweet dates in salty cured meats is also popular. I decided to stuff my dates with a little sweet relish, bound together with a bit of tahini paste. I blended these together using a handheld immersion blender, then thickened the mixture on the stovetop with a small amount of cornstarch. Then I added a good amount of ground black pepper. Theses flavors give an acidic bite to contrast with the sweet date. I like the bright green color from the relish as well, and the consistency of the filling was perfect. 
I then sprinkled the dates with a few crushed red pepper flakes to add some color and extra heat.

The best dates to use for stuffed dates are those big, fresh, soft and sweet Medjool dates if you are able to get your hands on them. They usually have to be pitted, opening up a large cavity for a good amount of filling. These dates can even be cut in half for an open-faced stuffed date, or if you'd you would like smaller bites. I didn't have the Medjool dates, and I wanted tiny dates, so I used the common dates found at grocery stores.To prep in advance, these stuffed dates may even be frozen in a single layer. 

Turkey Stuffing

This post may be coming a little late, considering turkey dinners with stuffing and all the trimmings tend to be most popular during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. But here is the stuffing I made for our New Year's turkey feast. Stuffing is a good, basic dish to know how to make, and can be used in a wide variety of dishes - chicken, turkey, goose, duck, even pork and fish. It can also take on a range of flavors - add some cranberries, nuts, or other vegetables. Stuffing is an incredibly easy dish to make, almost as easy as those box mixes, which seem to be popular, but just cannot beat the flavor of homemade. Some homemade recipes just don't seem to turn out great, so it is important to find a really good one. This is a really good one, in my opinion anyway. I'm not really a stuffing fan, I never eat the boxed mixes and have tasted and not really cared for some homemade versions, but this one I love. It's definitely got the typical stuffing seasons, along with a few vegetables and plenty of bread - and it is a bit on the wetter side, just the way I like it!

Turkey Stuffing
1/2 cup clarified butter
1 medium white onion, small dice
2 stalks celery, small dice
one pound stale white bread, in small cubes (use baguette, French, Italian, sandwich, rolls, or a combination)
1 egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups turkey or chicken stock (use less if you like a drier stuffing)

Heat the butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and sauté, without browning, until onion is translucent and vegetables are quite soft.
Meanwhile, toss together the bread, egg, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and seasonings together in a large bowl. Stir in the vegetables and butter from the pan. Pour the stock over top and mix in.
Place mixture in a buttered 9x13 inch rectangular dish or casserole dish of similar size and cover with foil. The stuffing can then be refrigerated if prepared in advance. 
Bake covered at 350◦F for 45-60 minutes until hot. Stuffing is pretty forgiving if you put it in a little late or need to keep it in longer while the main course is still being prepared. It also reheats well. Makes approximately eight servings. 

Turkey Roll With Stuffing

This is a little something different, a recipe I came across in a low-fat cookbook that looked yummy and intriguing. The outside is just like a meatloaf, but made with ground turkey instead. The inside is just like stuffing, and together they are like a savory jelly-roll. You could use white wine in place of the water in both the pan juice and to make the sauce if you prefer.

Turkey Roll With Stuffing
1 teaspoon oil or margarine
1 cup chopped white onion
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 chicken bouillon cube
3/4 cup boiling water
herbs and spices, as desired, if breads crumbs are not seasoned
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 large egg
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
salt, pepper, and garlic to taste
1 cup water

In a large frying pan over medium heat sauté the onion and carrot in the oil for about ten minutes until softened. Remove from heat and stir in bread crumbs. Dissolve the bouillon in the water and add along with seasoning. 

In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients except water. Spread out this mixture evenly onto a large sheet of waxed paper to a rectangle 10x14 inches, with no gaps. Cover this meat with the stuffing mixture. Roll up tightly from a short side, removing the waxed paper as it is rolled. Place roll in a greased roasting pan. 

Cover and bake at 350◦F for an hour. Pour the water into the pan and bake for an additional 30 minutes, basting twice with juices. Remove to a platter and let stand briefly, tented with foil.

To make a sauce or gravy: use the pan drippings, extra chicken broth, and cornstarch to whisk together to form a gravy while the loaf is resting. 

Christmas Dinner

Here is a picture of one of the plates of the amazing Christmas dinner my family and I had the great privilege of enjoying yesterday. My grandmother prepared most of this delicious food. She did have some help, as it would be nearly impossible to prepare such an excellent meal alone, but she did a lot of the work herself, and always made sure everyone's plate was full and everyone was satisfied. Our Christmas dinner included: peas, carrots, coleslaw, sweet potato, mashed potato, pickles, cranberry sauce, rolls, stuffing, gravy, and of course, turkey. This dinner was prepared for nearly twenty people. That's no small feat! The coleslaw, the gravy, and the cranberry sauce were all homemade from scratch by my grandmother. The vegetables were freshly prepared, cooked, and seasoned. And the turkey was freshly roasted.  We certainly indulged in a divine Christmas dinner, and I haven't even said a word about the delicious desserts...