What I cooked for Christmas – 2021

I had so much fun doing this post last year that I thought I would do it again! I have to say, this year I didn’t cook quite as much as last year, but what I did cook, I ended up loving, plus I tried some new things along the way. So read on to see what I cooked for Christmas this year.

Christmas Eve

Since Christmas Day is a more traditional meal, I wanted to do something a bit different for Christmas Eve. I asked Mitcher his opinion, and he recommended that I cook my mulligatawny soup. I make this soup all the time – have probably made it at least a dozen times so far – and it always turns out amazing.

Mulligatawny Soup with samosas and naan

Sometime last year, Mitcher and I were watching reruns of Seinfeld, and we got to the Soup Nazi episode. (a classic!). One of the soups that Kramer loves from the Soup Nazi is mulligatawny. I’d never had it before, so I googled it and learned it’s basically a chicken and rice soup with Indian flavors. What’s not to like? Starting from the first time I made it, I fell in love with it. The first recipe I found was an absolute winner, and so I loosely follow this recipe each time I make it.

Click here for the recipe: SoupAddict’s Mulligatawny Soup

To serve with the Mulligatawny soup, I bought 2 types of frozen samosas from the grocery store. One was a chickpea filling, and the other was a veggie filling, and both were delicious. I also bought naan at the grocery store. My father-in-law, who has never had naan or maybe even never had Indian food before, was pretty much obsessed with this “Indian flatbread”. I have to agree with him, it’s a solid bread. Especially when served with this thick soup, it makes for a great dipper.

I can’t express to you how good this mulligatawny soup is. Mitcher requests that I make it all the time. Also, since it’s just chicken and rice soup, it’s an approachable Indian food to serve guests who may not be that familiar with Indian flavors. The soup calls for cayenne pepper, but you can omit it altogether if anyone isn’t up on spices. I added about half the amount it called for, and it was perfect for my non-spicy guests.

Mulligatawny soup

Christmas Day

The main event! Today is all about gifts, family, and food. And we had an abundance of each.

Burrata, fig, and prosciutto appetizer

It’s always nice to have a little appetizer on Christmas Day. Rather than making a big huge appetizer, and then filling up before dinner, this time, I opted for a small cheese board — just enough to fill us up.

My cheese board’s main focus was the burrata: I had a gorgeous moist burrata that I purchased from my local gourmet grocery store. In a shallow rimmed plate, I spread a thick layer of fig jam, and then placed the burrata ball on top. When you cut into the burrata, you get some of the fig jam on the spoon, and it’s the perfect sweet-and-tangy addition to the smooth burrata.

To go with the fig and burrata, I needed a good salt element, so I chose prosciutto. Next to the burrata on the cheese board, I piled some delicious prosciutto slices.

I also had a couple of other small cheeses (left over from a cheese platter Mitcher and I had enjoyed on our own earlier in the week), so I also put out some crumbled aged gouda, truffle goat cheese, and a blue cheese. Of course, a cheese platter isn’t complete without accoutrements, so I also added crackers, fresh fruit, nuts, and some other meat options.

Fig and Prosciutto burrata cheese board

Blood orange aperol spritz

So for those of us in the northern hemisphere, an aperol spritz at Christmas might seem like a weird choice. But in fact, the temperatures got into the 80s on Christmas day, so I felt that a summery cocktail was just the ticket.

The below recipe makes 1 cocktail:

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz aperol
• 1.5 oz freshly squeezed blood orange juice
• Prosecco or other sparkling wine
• Wedges or half-moon slices of blood orange, for garnish

Directions

1. To a large wine glass (the roundest glass you can find), fill almost to the top with ice.
2. Add in the blood orange juice and the aperol, and gently stir with a spoon to combine.
3. Fill remaining glass with prosecco, and garnish with a blood orange wedge.

Blood orange aperol spritz

Duck breast, truffle mashed potatoes & cauliflower, haricot verts

Last year for Christmas dinner, I made lamb chops. They were absolutely incredible, and I loved the excuse to cook something that I don’t cook regularly. So as I was brainstorming for this year, one of my friends suggested duck. I’m a big fan of duck, but I’d never cooked it at home before, so I knew that’s what I wanted to do.

Duck breast and sauce

When we were at the grocery store, Mitcher’s mom and I met a guy at the meat counter who really encouraged us with our choice to cook duck, and gave us some tips for making the sauce. So with his tips, along with a couple of other inspiration recipes, I made duck breast and sauce.

Click here for the recipe: Tasty’s Crispy-skin duck breast (I used this for inspiration on cooking the duck itself)

Click here for the recipe: GoodFood’s Roasted duck (I used this for inspiration on the sauce)

Above were my inspiration recipes, but here is what I actually did:

• For the duck breast, I scored the skin with a sharp knife as suggested in the recipe and seasoned it with kosher salt. I heated a cast iron skillet up high and cooked it, skin-side down for a few minutes until it got a good color. Then I flipped it and cooked on the other side, and finally, finished it off in the oven. I use a Meater bluetooth thermometer to cook my meat, so I took it out right at the right moment such that it was cooked medium. I let it rest on the counter for about 8 minutes before serving.
• For the sauce, I took the pan that the duck cooked in, removed most of the duck fat (saved for later, of course!), but left a little bit in the pan. I sauteed a diced shallot in the duck fat for a minute or so, then deglazed the hot pan with a little bit of red wine. Once that had cooked down a bit, I stirred in some berry jam and a sprig of fresh thyme, and again, cooked it down until it was thickened. Though I didn’t do this, you could puree the sauce if you wanted it fully smooth, but I didn’t mind the chunks of shallot in the sauce.

The sauce is very concentrated in flavor, so a little goes a long way. Just spoon a bit of the thickened sauce over the crispy-skin duck and dig in.

Parmesan Truffle Cauliflower mashed potatoes

To go with the duck, I wanted to make a really finely whipped cauliflower, in the style of one of my favorite side dishes at a restaurant in Kansas City. In my mind, making something with truffle oil is a way to instantly bump up the “fanciness” level. I found a recipe for truffle cauliflower that also had potatoes and parmesan in it, and used it for inspiration.

Click here for the recipe: Urban Foodie Kitchen’s parmesan truffle cauliflower mashed potatoes

I wouldn’t say I followed the recipe – rather, I just made mashed potatoes like I normally would and then added the extra ingredients: So I boiled the potatoes (and in this case, cauliflower too) until soft, and mashed it up with some butter, greek yogurt, and a little bit of heavy cream until it was the right consistency. Then I seasoned with salt (not too much) and pepper and added grated parmesan to taste. Next, I added the truffle oil to taste. Last (and certainly not least in my book), I stirred in a good amount of chives and topped the serving dish with an absolute dump of them – chives are one of the best herbs out there in my book.

I didn’t completely whip the mashed potatoes & cauliflower, so they still had a little bit of chunk to them. My mom taught me that a bit of chunk in mashed potatoes is the way to go, and she is totally right! All-in-all, this was a deliciously decadent side dish and a nice change of pace from traditional mashed potatoes.

Haricot verts with pancetta

I’m a huuuuge green bean fan. But when you add bacon to green beans? Oh man, it’s so delicious. But since it’s Christmas, I spruced it up and used pancetta instead of bacon. Here’s how I make my green beans:

Ingredients:

• Green beans (however much you want to make)
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced (depending on how many green beans you’re making)
• 2-3 T butter (depending on how many green beans you’re making)
• Cubed pancetta (I used 4 oz)

Directions

1. Trim the green beans. To do this, I just pinch the prickly ends off, which I find works better and is easier than using a knife.
2. Bring a big pot of water to a boil; salt the water moderately (less salt than you would use for pasta water), and boil the green beans for a couple of minutes (maybe 2-4 minutes). You’ll know they are ready when they turn bright green. If you aren’t sure, pluck one out of the water and take a bite – it should be cooked, but still have body and a nice snap to it.
3. While the green beans are boiling, prepare a large bowl of ice water.
4. Drain the green beans and immediately plunge them into the ice water. This will stop them from continuing to cook and will keep them nice and crispy.
5. Meanwhile, cook the pancetta in a pan until crispy, then drain on a paper towel.
6. Before serving, in the same pan that the pancetta cooked in, remove any excess fat such that only about a tablespoon remains. Put pan on the stove over medium heat, and add your butter. Heat the pancetta fat and the butter until melted and starting to bubble. Then, add minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add in the green beans, season with a little bit of salt (not too much, because the pancetta is salty), and saute for approximately 2 minutes, just until the green beans are warmed through.
7. Remove green beans to serving dish and top with the reserved pancetta.

Crispy duck, truffle mashed cauliflower and potatoes, and haricots verts with pancetta

Christmas dinner

---

My philosophy this year was to have fun with Christmas cooking, but to not do so much that I stress myself out or don’t enjoy the day. So while our family was in town, we went out to eat a couple of nights so I wouldn’t have to cook each day.

You may have noticed that I also didn’t make a dessert this year. I had planned in my mind to make a decadent chocolate cake with a rich raspberry sauce (that’s what I was craving), but work kept me busier than anticipated before the holidays, so I decided not to go through the effort of making it. And luckily, I found the exact cake I wanted to make in the cake display at our local gourmet grocery store. And oh boy, that cake was better than anything I could have made anyway, so it was a win-win.

My mother-in-law also prescribes to this philosophy to make things easier on ourselves during the holidays, so she had some delicious gourmet english muffins shipped to our house, which meant that breakfast during their stay was easy-peasy.

I think the combination of the meals I did cook, along with choosing easy breakfasts and meals out. It was the perfect balance of good food and fun, and we all got to enjoy ourselves. And that’s what the holidays are about!