5 Tips for Preparing Food for the Holidays

My father continues to be the one cooking our Thanksgiving meal & we visit other relatives for Christmas. So my holiday cooking is usually limited to an appetizer or two; therefore I'm happy to feature a guest post from Cindy Cullen that provides tips for tomorrow or the other holidays ahead.

It’s here again, that time of the year when friends and family gather around and when food is plentiful. There’s a certain pleasure in cooking for the holidays because the food is so delicious and you enjoy the time spent with the people closest to you. However, just to ensure that you don’t mess up or run into unexpected troubles when preparing food during the holidays, here’s what you need to do:

• Plan ahead: Don’t go out on Thanksgiving Day or a few days before to buy your turkey and all the other ingredients you need for dinner. Rather, plan ahead, make a list of all that you’ll need, and stock up much earlier. This way, you avoid last minute glitches and frenzied trips to the store to buy what you’ve forgotten.
• Don’t go all out on the rich food: Holidays are a time when people think it’s ok to indulge their taste buds; however, make a conscious choice this year to avoid gorging on rich food that does nothing whatsoever for your health and brings about a host of problems. Even if your family demands the food and you cannot keep temptation at bay, limit them to smaller portions (try smaller plates). Also, clean all your food thoroughly to prevent food-related infections.
• Include healthier alternatives to traditional food: Cook all the traditional dishes, but try to include healthier ingredients in them – for example, you could avoid using turkey drippings for your gravy and switch to a vegetable or mushroom base instead. It doesn’t make much of a difference and it’s a much healthier option. Experiment with other ingredients that don’t detract from the holiday spirit, yet add a boost to your health. The holidays are a time when you want your family to be healthy and safe, not making trips to the emergency room because they’ve over-indulged and risked flaring up their health problems.
• Ask friends and family to pitch in: If you’re playing the host and feeling overwhelmed by all the work that holiday food involves, ask your friends and family to pitch in and lend you a hand with the dishes. They can each bring one item, and you can be in charge of the main dish and the entertainment for the day. Make separate plans for the children in the party and ask their parents about their food preferences beforehand (or ask them to bring these dishes). Don’t take on more than you can do just because it’s the holidays.
• Come up with a plan for the leftovers: And finally, unless you’re an expert at figuring out the exact amount of food for all your guests, you must have a plan for the leftovers. Send food home with your guests, wrap up some turkey and put it aside in your refrigerator for a few sandwiches later in the week, or give the food to the homeless if you’re so inclined. Whatever you plan to do with the leftovers, ensure that you have the necessary containers and storage materials on hand.

The holidays are a joyous occasion – so cook your way to a fabulous and fun-filled time with the people who mean the most to you.

Guest Contributor By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Cindy Cullen, she writes on the topic of culinary art colleges . She welcomes your comments at her email id: cindycullen84 <@>gmail<.>com.

Quick Garlicky Meat Sauce

There are some dishes that I make frequently, and vary the ingredients based on what's around. These aren't so much write'em down/blog them meals, they are just simply a quick dinner. Pasta often falls into this category, especially toward the end of the week. But the other night I seemed to hit the combination of ingredients just right for meat sauce, and it seemed worth sharing...so here it is!

1 large garlic & herb sausage, casings removed and meat broken into small pieces

1/2 lb. 85% lean ground beef (I used grass-fed)

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

28 oz can tomatoes

pinch oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1/4 cup red wine

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese plus more for serving

1 lb of pasta, I used spaghetti

Heat olive oil a medium saucepan over moderate heat. Add the onions and garlic, saute until the onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Add the beef and sausage meat, cook until browned on the outside, about 5 minutes. Add the red wine, cook until its mostly absorbed into the meat. Then add the tomatoes and their juice along with the basil & oregano (finally had to resort to dried this time, the plants outside didn't survive the frost!). Break the tomatoes up against the sides of the pan. Simmer uncovered for at least 15-20 minutes--longer is better...a full hour if you have time is great. Stir in 2 tbsp of cheese toward the end of cooking.

If you start water boiling for the pasta just after putting the tomatoes into the sauce, the sauce will be ready when the pasta is done--but as noted if you can let the sauce simmer for closer to an hour is even better. Cook pasta according to package instructions, and reserve a half cup of the pasta cooking water before straining it. Strain the pasta, put it back in the pan and combine with the sauce. Add a bit of the cooking water, and more if it seems needed to mix the sauce in nicely. Serve with extra grated cheese at the table. A green salad goes nicely with this pasta dish.

Wine Pairing: Now, an Italian red like Chianti or Barbera would seem to be the obvious choice here, and is often what I'd go to. But occasionally I don't have such a bottle around, and need to try something else. Instead, I served this with the 2009 Bouchard Aine & Fils Pinot Noir which at under $10 has become a great go-to wine around here. It's a vin de pays d'oc from Southern France, from these producers who also make much more expensive pinot in Burgundy. It has enough structure and acidity to stand up to the tomato based meat sauce, and worked quite well.

A Good Taste of Portugal at Trackside Bar & Grill

During a number of chats about our mutual interest in learning more about different cuisines, Fel Medeiros had sprinkled in tidbits about the food from his native Portugal. My curiosity was definitely piqued, so I eagerly accepted Fel's invitation to join him for lunch at one of his favorite local Portuguese restaurants.

The name Trackside Bar & Grill doesn't suggest authentic Portuguese food, but once you come into this Peabody, MA, restaurant you get a sense its the real deal. Fel was warmly greeted as we arrived, and chatted with the chef about what was fresh. He mentioned lobsters, and I saw the evidence of one poking out of a pan along with an interesting concoction of other ingredients. Combining seafood and other items seems to be popular in Portuguese cuisine from what I can tell.

As we settled into our table and perused the menu, our server presented us with a flaming linguiça. Definitely a dramatic start! The traditional sausage is doused with grain alcohol, then ignited. The flame burned for a couple minutes, making the outside of the linguiça nice and crispy. The sausage was nicely spiced with just enough kick.

I definitely wanted to go with one of the classic Portuguese dishes Fel had described on our way to the restaurant, and the Carne Alentejana sounded like a good one to try. In this dish (photo above), pieces of pork are simmered along with potatoes and little neck clams. The broth was flavored with cumin (the chef confirmed my guess was correct) and black olives. The dish gets its name from the Alentejo region of south central Portugal,

Fel ordered another traditional dish, Bife com molho a casa (photo below). He gave me a sample of this tasty steak, served in a creamy mustard sauce and topped with a fried egg. The meat itself was tender and nicely enhanced by the flavorful sauce.

I was pretty satisfied after the entree, but was "convinced" to top things off with a "little piece" of flan.

We had a chance to sample some Portuguese wine as well. We tried the 2008 Adega de Borba, a light bodied red from the Alentejo region, a blend of traditional grapes. I didn't realize when choosing this that the wine was from the same region as the dish I ordered--pairing a wine and cuisine that hail from the same region is almost always a winning combination! I tasted blackberry fruit and a bit of white pepper. The body and touch of spice made it a nice food wine.

After this meal, the thought crossed my mind that it would be interesting to visit Portugal some time. But for now, I know there is a good taste of Portugal in nearby Peabody!

Gourmet Potluck--C'est Possible!

The term potluck conjures up images of a table set with 4 bowls of pasta salad, each with minor tweaks on the concept. So I don't think of "gourmet" and potluck going together, but the union of terms is the best way to describe the great meal we had on a recent weekend night.

Coordinating family dinner with the 3 of us at home is tricky enough, never mind trying to get together a half dozen or so busy professionals. When we finally pinned down a date for a little dinner party, I'd casually tossed around a few ideas for the main course when John chimed in. He was eager to cook Roast Lamb with Ricotta Gnocchi recipe he'd come across. Didn't sound like something to argue with. Then I thought perhaps I'd make a soup, but Doug & Pam were eager to put their extra potatoes to use, and I was left with only appetizers and salad to make.

Well, if I wasn't making the entree or soup, I could least try some new things for apps. So I madeBroccoli Rabe Pesto Bruschetta and it was pretty tasty. It was quite different from traditional pesto, with a bit of bitterness from the rabe. But it worked pretty well with the toasted bread, and we had good wine to go with it (more on that to come). I also dusted the virtual cobwebs off the Goat Cheese-Edamame Dip with Spicy Pepitas recipe, which I'd say was the biggest hit of the preliminary nibbles. The dip is pretty healthy with edamame as the primary ingredient, and it gets a nice kick from chipotle peppers in adobo as well as the spicy pepitas (pumpkin seeds).

Doug made potato leek soup, which he has definitely mastered. Nice and hearty, and he punches it up with black pepper and other spices.

Now, this lamb dish was really something special. John roasted a leg of lamb and prepared a red wine sauce with fall root vegetables that gave great flavor to the meat. For the piece de resistance, he made the ricotta gnocchi that came out beautifully. John has really perfected the gnocchi making process, with a few tips from Barbara Lynch. But to translate that into a gnocchi made with ricotta instead of potato was pretty impressive!

There was certainly plenty of good wine to go with the tasty food. We started with a bottle ofVeuve Clicquot (thanks Liz!). Other places can certainly do bubblies pretty well, but there's nothing like some real Champagne to make things festive! We followed with the best Pedro Ximenez that I've tried...well, OK it's the only one. In case your not familiar, Pedro Ximenez is a white grape varietal orignially from Spain. The crisp white we had with the spicy dip and broccoli rabe pesto crostini was from Chile, the Cucao PX.

There was some debate about which red wine to start with. John, who brought the 2006 Bell Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon, suggested that this would be good to enjoy on its own, so we opened it next. The Clone 6 had very expansive fruit flavor, and was indeed enjoyable on its own...though we were starting to dig into the lamb as we were finishing off the bottle. Doug, a relentless champion of French wines over California, stimulated lively discussion by disparaging the Clone 6...but I think he even came around to enjoying it a bit!

We did move on to French wines after the Clone 6. First, the tried but true Paralelle 45 Cotes Du Rhone--Doug's favorite. It's definitely a great value at around $10, though it was quite a contrast to have it falling the big fruity Clone 6. We followed with a 2007 Domaine Du Vieux Lazaret Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which I believe is the third and final bottle of this that I'd picked up last year. It really has come along nicely--I recall being a bit disappointed with the first bottle, but it has softened nicely and shows good fruit and balance. A great wine to top off a tasty evening! Well, that was the final wine, and then there was the famous Franson chocolate cake too, not many notes on this other than "Yum"! And I'm starting to see potlucks in a whole new light...