Christmas Dinner

[countryguy]

A perogie is also a Ukrainian dish - one of the 12 meatless dishes served at Christmas time.  My mom and grandmother made them filled with potatoes (mashed with cheddar cheese) but they could also be filled with saur kraut .   The perogies were then boiled until they floated to the surface of the water, drained and then mixed with bacon bits and onion.  They could be topped with sour cream.   They are a lot of work to make but they are delicious.  It is quite an art to fill them with the potato and then pinch the dough without having them split open when they are boiled.

 

Gary

 

[perc-o-prince]

We decided on a pork roast (rib end) with roasted veggies and applesauce for Christmas Eve dinner. The veggies will be potato, sweet potato, onion, carrot, mushroom and grape tomatoes. I'll probably make a rosemary/roasted garlic focaccia to go with it. Made sponge candy and a stollen yesterday.

Chuck

p.s.- Steve- I think the only exception would be the gnocci as they're almost more of a dumpling made with potato mixed with the flour unlike 'regular' pasta. They're still sauced in any of the tradional ways though.

 

[petek]

We had our dinner yesterday on account it was the only day that everyone could make it together. 

 

Here's the start of the trifle I made.  Below the custard is a layer of angel food cake soaked in Sherry. The ladyfingers arranged around the side of the bowl are drizzled in Sherry.. Ladyfingers are much like biscotti only  lighter, great for dipping in coffee and cocoa. 

 

 

[petek]

From the side 

 

 

[petek]

On top of the custard another layer of angel food cake soaked in jello, then some whipped cream and another thin layer of angel food cake soaked and topped with a can of mixed fruit salad and more sherry if desired.. That's all topped of with a mountain of whipped cream and maraschino cherries.  There's no hard and fast rules and you can layer anything how you like or add or omit things etc. 

The finished product decorated by my niece. 

 

 

 

[petek]

My nephew digging in first . 

 

 

 

[petek]

Most everyone round the table 

 

 

 

[petek]

Most everyone around the table 

 

 

 

[petek]

Out to visit the horses after dinner . That's my nephew on the right and my great niece who's fascinated with the horses especially Donut. 

 

 

 

[petek]

Niece hammin up 

 

 

[mixfinder]

Trifle with me

Trifling affections are fun and you can whip my cream anytime you like.  I love the idea of the angel cake and J-ello in the middle more than all pound cake and jam.  Next party is trifle time.

 

[petek]

I made two 9" cakes in regular pans instead of a bundt pan and the bottom of the bowl was only about 7" I cut out the center 7" and put it in the bottom and the remaining ring on top.. You know how it's sort of difficult to slice thru angel food cake without squishing it.. I figured I'd try the electric knife.. it worked great.. made it really simple to slice the other one horizontally as well into two thinner layers...  like they say, live better electrically.   LOL 

 

[xraytech]

Here are my Pierogi I made.
The sour cream dough was a dream to work with, and the filling is potatoes mashed with parsley and cheddar cheese.

I've found a martini glass cuts the perfect size pierogi, and for the filling I rolled tablespoons of filling into little potato balls to make filling them a breeze

 

[mattl]

I too made Pierogi, I use the dough rrecipe an old family friend and my godmother made for decades.  She used to make hundreds and freeze them to give to her kids.  Too bad she is lost to this world with Alzheimers.  It's a very tender and easy to work with dough.

 

Anyway I make a cheese filling, cottage cheese well drained - used to be farmer's cheese, but that is no longer available around here.  I also make fried cabbage, I used to do some prune, but skipped it this year and tried mushroom.  I have to have a few poppyseed - just for me, no one else likes them.

 

We've adapted the old Polish ways, used to do 12 meatless dishes when I was very little, but now we just make what we like.  We start with a dried Mushroom soup, follow that with Herring and onions, pierogi, then sausage and sauerkraut and ham.  We've added scalloped potatoes and a relish dish over the years, but for us it's not the holidays without what we consider traditional food.