Since I didn't get to cook at all for Thanksgiving, I was happy to cook for Christmas. I had planned my menus, some new things, some old things, all good.
Christmas Eve I like to have seafood. A chef friend Lia has posted a recipe she developed and it looked good. I decided that Lobster Ravioli with Shrimp Sauce was dinner for Christmas Eve. We went to church to volunteer at the early service. My husband had parking lot duty and I had nursery. I was assigned to infants which are my favorite. I love holding sweet babies.
But that wasn't happening this Christmas Eve. My sweet baby was really angry. She wasn't crying, she was screaming and nothing could distract her. No treat, bottle, walking, riding, holding, rocking, nothing. She was a great screamer. After that we went home to start dinner.
Make ravioli dough, clean lobster tails and shrimp, make filling, make ravioli, make salad, cook and enjoy. It was a very good dinner. It was pretty time consuming and I was a little tired after the screamer, but it was tasty.
Christmas morning I made a delicious breakfast. It was one we had had before but we like Southwestern flavors and this was good. Also pretty easy.
Southwestern Hash from Ellie Krieger
serves 4
- 1 pound small red potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 green pepper, diced (about 1 cup)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder or other chili powder
- 3 medium tomatoes, diced (about 2 1/2 cups)
- 1 can no-salt-added black beans, drained and rinsed
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 4 eggs
- Hot pepper sauce, for serving
Place the potatoes in a large non-stick skillet. Cover with water, bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and set potatoes aside.
Dry the skillet with a paper towel. Add the oil and heat over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and peppers and cook until vegetables have softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the potatoes, garlic, cumin, oregano, and chili powder. Add the tomatoes and beans and simmer for 5 minutes or until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in cilantro.
Transfer the hash onto serving plates. With the heat off, wipe out the pan again. Spray it with cooking spray, turn heat on to medium-low and cook the eggs, sunny-side up, or over-easy. Put an egg on top of each mound of hash. Serve with hot sauce.
I topped ours with a little salsa verde.
Christmas dinner was easier than Christmas Eve. We had roasted beef tenderloin with gorgonzola sauce, fingerling potatoes and spinach gratin. All the recipes came from The Barefoot Contessa, all were recipes I had made before, all are delicious. For dessert we had Pecan Bars, also from The Barefoot Contessa, also delicious, also not light.
Luckily my husband has an office to go to and I sent many of the bars to the office with him. They are ridiculously rich and delicious.
Dinner Sunday was the easiest of all - leftovers. Or really planned overs. We only needed to heat and eat whenever we were ready. All cooking done, all ready and waiting.
So now it's time for New Year's cooking. I have a new recipe to try for New Year's Eve. I have to start it today, it doesn't seem difficult, it just takes time. I'm marinating a fresh ham and baking it tomorrow, with planned leftovers for Saturday if we need a snack.
We're invited to an open house on Saturday at a chef friend's home so it's doubtful we'll need much for snacking.
Now it's back to vacation. I've been knitting, reading, cooking, relaxing. It's great. I did have a meeting yesterday and will cook for a new client in January. For now I need to get dinner from the freezer. Tonight I'm thinking light - salmon and salad.
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