Christmas Festivities: Part 2

Christmas Day brought more feasting, although less pictures because I was too busy cooking everything to take them! 

This year I decided to take over things at my dad's house because that side of the family doesn't like to cook so much (there were instant potatoes and frozen green beans at Thanksgiving). The tradition on Xmas is for the family (mostly my grandma and uncle) to make homemade pasta, sauce, meatballs and sausage, which is definitely a step up from the instant potatoes but somewhat lacking in flavor at times for my taste. In addition, my grandma seemed stressed out about making everything this year, so I volunteered to do it all with a slightly different menu. I had planned on picking up fresh pasta, my dad still making the meatballs, sausage and sauce because he wanted to, and then adding a few more dishes of my own.

That almost happened. My dad made the meatballs, sausage and sauce, but my uncle and grandma indeed decided to make the pasta. That left everything else for me to make or delegate to others :-)

First, there were appetizers. My grandma brought fruit and veggies because they'd be kid friendly, whereas my other appetizers were not. I made up a nice plate of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil with salami and pepperoni and put out some store bought (yeah, I cheated) antipasto. Then, I made stuffed baby portabellas loosely based on this recipe. I ended up adding minced garlic, coarsely ground black pepper, and an egg to bind everything better because it was too crumbly. They were really yummy! I definitely overstuffed them since they were tiny, but they made the perfect little bite. 

For the rest of the meal (in addition to the pasta and such), I decided to make chicken marsala, eggplant parmesan, and asparagus with lemon butter. I was a little worried how things would come out because I'd never actually made eggplant parmesan or chicken marsala myself, but I think I had eaten them enough times to know what would be good. 

I followed my eggplant parmesan recipe somewhat closely at least for the eggplant part of it. I thought the panko was a nice touch, and thanks to my sous chef, Adrian, we had quite a nice assembly line going for breading, frying, and then layering the eggplant in the dish. I didn't actually make my own sauce but instead combined some canned diced tomatoes with tomato puree, chopped onions, and seasonings. My picture of it doesn't look that great, but it definitely tasted great.

For the chicken marsala I combined aspects of two different recipes and somewhat did my own thing too. I liked the technique of the first recipe in browning the chicken in butter and then making the sauce in the same pan afterwards with all the delicious brown bits. But I always think of chicken marsala as having mushrooms and a creamy sauce, which were included in a second recipe. So I began by dredging my chicken in flour with seasonings and browning it in some unsalted butter. I had to do this in several batches because I made about 12 chicken breasts. I also threw a few of my fresh sage leaves into the butter hoping it would add flavor that way. Since I had so much chicken to keep warm, and the oven was still hot from cooking the eggplant, I didn't cook it all the way through in the pan. After it seemed mostly done and had a crisp outside, I transferred the chicken to a foil lined baking sheet in the oven. I put some olive oil and the chicken stock over the chicken pieces to further ensure it would stay moist. After I was done with the chicken, I sauteed mushrooms and onions (instead of shallots) in the same pan until they were golden brown. Then I added the stock and marsala and let it reduce for a while. I brought the heat down and then added the cream and a bit of lemon juice and then brought it up to a higher temperature slowly so it would be nice and hot. And, voila! There was the sauce for the chicken. Mmm, delicious! 

A quick shot of the whole dinner before devouring it

Sadly, some of the chicken had to stay plain for the kids (lame!), but it all turned out well. I worried that I had overspiced some of the food for the kids and my family in general, but everyone, including my 10 year old cousin who's incredibly picky, loved the food! I'm glad it turned out well, and it was a lot of fun to make. Of course, I couldn't have done it without Adrian's help too. He's such a good sous chef, and he totally impressed my family with his mad cooking skillz :-)

Although we certainly didn't need more food, there was dessert too. This was mostly taken care of by others, but I did make an eggnog cheesecake. That goes with a forthcoming post, though. Stay tuned...