Christmas Foodfest

As I think I've mentioned in a previous post, our Christmas traditions have undergone quite a transformation over the years. Now Kathie and I spend Christmas Day in the kitchen cooking for friends and family who drop by for various meals. We didn't have as big a turnout as last year primarily because Nate and Ashley were in Georgia this year and Franny and Ken were in Santa Rosa. Not as many people, but the food was just as good.

We spent the day before Christmas making tortellini en brodo from the Babbo cookbook. Kathie made the brown chicken stock (just like regular chicken stock only you cut up the chicken and brown it before adding the liquid) and I spent most of my time making the pasta. Tortellini is perhaps my favorite thing in the world. The stuffing is a combination of browned chicken breast, mortadella, pancetta, parmesan reggiano, and egg. The pasta is just the normal well-method home made kind (five eggs plus 3 and a half cups of flour). Drop a teaspoon of filling into a two inch square of pasta, fold it to look like Venus de Milo's navel, drop it in the boiling broth, then enjoy one of the culinary wonders of the world. We put the broth in the icebox, the tortellini in the freezer and then went out to a Christmas Eve party.

Breakfast Menu Christmas Day
1 - Bloody Marys
2 - Biscuits and Veal Sausage Gravy
The biscuits come from the Mizuna cookbook and are basically made entirely of butter. The gravy comes from a homemade veal sausage we found in the freezer. This was a winning combination. We get up at 6 in the morning, so rarely do we have company for our breakfasts and since none of the kids were home, today was no exception.

Lunch Menu Christmas Day
1 - Gorditas
These come from Rick Bayless' "Mexico One Plate At A Time." Just add some baking powder and flour to a regular corn tortilla masa and deep fry them until they pop up and form little pockets. Fill the pockets with a stewed tri-tip roast mixture and serve to order piping hot (I love being a short order cook with family and friends all gathered in the kitchen).
2 - Fresh Vegetable Quesadilla
This comes from Bobby Flay and is a traditional quesadilla filled with jack and cheddar cheese, fresh corn kernels, peppers, and anything else that sounds yummy. We had about eight or nine folks for this menu and they all kept coming back for more.

Dinner Menu Christmas Day
1 - Tortellini en Brodo
Enough said. Our neighbors came over so did our lifelong friend Barbara. The brodo was a hit and so was the conviviality. We ended the day by cleaning up the disaster in the kitchen and then headed over to cousin Roger's house for a traditional (at least in our family) Christmas night bowl of chili and plenty to drink.

We are going to recover from this day by heading to Puerto Vallarta with Bud and Janet. We can't wait.