Need some help with my holiday menus!! Because there will be some kosher-keeping people and some finicky people at my table this year, I won't be able to serve any pork, shellfish, or fish. No scallop empanada, which I traditionally serve for Christmas Eve dinner. That's not so big a problem...I am planning to put smoked turkey and duck into the empanada instead. Problem fixed! Then, for Christmas dinner, I will have a standing rib roast, like Leslie serves. I haven't served beef for Christmas dinner in ages, but it seems to be the right thing to do this year with beef such a bargain. I take two large beef rib roasts, trim them, and stand them up in a circle in a pan and tie them. Drizzle them with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and other spices, and broil them till they're done. In the middle of the crown roast, I would like to pile brussels sprouts, but my mother recoiled at the very mention. So I've come up with a melange of portobello mushrooms, new potatoes, and pearl onions. Hope that will work. Side dishes will include some kind of yam souffle, whole wheat rolls (recipe in the Moosewood Classics cookbook), Paul's cranberry relish, Cumberland Sauce, and a salad with oranges, kiwis, and pomegranate seeds. Dessert will be chocolate silk pie with whipped cream, and grapes and cheeses. Let me know your suggestions for other things, particularly appetizers. I can't think of an appetizer that doesn't have ham, prosciutto, or shellfish in it!!
