Recipes Sure to Make the Holidays Fun

This year is the year to not go crazy worrying about holiday dinners and parties. This year, make the foods you love, that make you happy, and forget about being new, elegant, showy or impressive.

I have taken the oath myself: I promise that this year’s holiday celebrations will be as much fun for myself as for my guests.

Of course, we make food that we like to eat and that we like to make. If you enjoy experimenting and making something that sounds exciting, then pick your dishes and try them out on friends and family. If you prefer the tried and true, think of it as making your traditional foods. Then, invite your guests to participate in building your traditions.

And let people help. If it’s a dinner, ask for a category of dishes. If you hate to fix vegetables, create a list of vegetables that will go well with what you are serving. Assign the helpers a vegetable, and you can forget about them for the dinner party.

If it is a cocktail party, a wonderful assortment of dips can be had if everyone brings one. There can be tapenade, hummus, salsas of various kinds, artichoke and oyster dip or whatever your guest’s specialty dip might be. You can supply a platter of vegetables — fresh or grilled    — and people will have a grand and healthy selection. Don’t forget to ask for some sweet dips for fruit.

If you serve cheese, put together notes on your cheese board. I have been experimenting with a cheese course for grand meals. Holiday meals do qualify as grand meals, so having a nice variety of cheeses served at room temperature can be a simple addition to any buffet.

If your holiday parties and meals include children, they need to be included in the preparation too. I like to give children who can write a list of guests so that they can make place cards on small tents of paper. It eases that hesitation that people feel when they arrive at the table and have to figure out where to sit. If there are older children, let them copy the menu and then roll and tie them with a ribbon. It can become a keepsake of the dinner for everyone to take home.

Holidays should be fun. They should be a time to cherish our families and friends, not worry about things that don’t matter. Raise a glass together, laugh together and remember the people that you love.

Cheese for Dessert

Serve as a course before a selection of fine chocolates or in place of pie or cake. Duplicate the portions for every additional four guests. For groups larger than eight, include a wider variety by adding different cheeses from each category.

1. Soft Cheese You should have one creamy cheese like a Camembert or a Brie. Select one that is already soft and take it out of the refrigerator at least four hours before serving. Have a butter knife on the board for cutting.

2. Firm Cheese There should be a firm cheese — an Emmentaler, cheddar or an Edam. A small sharp knife should be placed next to this cheese. It should also be at room temperature.

3. Blue Cheese Select your favorite, like a Gorgonzola or a Roquefort at room temperature. This knife doesn’t need to be too sharp. If you really don’t like a blue cheese, select a goat cheese instead. Either a blue or a chevre will offer a nice contrast to the creamy and firm cheeses.

4. To Serve Buy 5 ounces of each cheese for the platter. Use either thin slices from a baguette or unsalted water crackers in a small basket for people to spread the cheese as they wish to. Serve Bosc pears, already sliced, or dates or figs with the cheese.
Serves 4

Composed Salad

This is an easy salad to expand as your dinner party grows. It looks nice on your buffet table. Unfortunately, nothing continues to look terrific after we start taking servings out, but this salad holds up pretty well.

2 cups baby arugula
2 avocados, sliced
2 mangos, sliced
1 large tomato, sliced thinly
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
5 radishes, sliced thinly
2 red and/or yellow bell peppers, seeded and sliced thinly
1 cup white mushrooms, quartered
1 recipe of dressing

Dressing

1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup sesame oil
¼ cup mirin
¼ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic mashed through a garlic press
1 tablespoon dried ground ginger

1. For the dressing Place all of the ingredients in a jar, replace the lid. Shake well. Let the flavors meld for at least two hours before using.

2. For the Salad Place the arugula into a bowl. Toss with 1/8 cup of the dressing. Then place the arugula over the platter. Arrange the various vegetables in an attractive manner on top of the arugula.

3. To Serve Place ½ cup of the dressing in a bottle with a nozzle and squirt in zig zags over the vegetables. Place a pair of tongs for people to use to serve themselves.
Serves 4

Roasted Chicken

With all of the fancy food we eat during the holidays, it is nice to have a meal which gets plenty of attention, but is still simple and familiar. What could be more homey than roasted chicken?

1 4-pound chicken
6 lemons
1 bunch Italian parsley, leaves only
Tops from a bunch of green onions, cut to 3-inch lengths
½ cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup white wine

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Make sure the chicken is fully defrosted and the cavity is empty.

2. Zest the lemons on waxed paper or parchment paper.

3. Use your hand to gently loosen the skin over the breast without tearing it. Rub half the zest underneath, then layer about 20 parsley leaves evenly. Slide in as many green onion tops as will fit under the skin.

4. Mix mayonnaise with the juice of 1½ lemons. Stir well.

5. Salt and pepper the cavity. Rub remaining zest inside and over the chicken. Place on a rack in a roasting pan. Halve the remaining lemons, squeezing juice inside and over the chicken. Fill the cavity with lemon halves, parsley and green onions. Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the chicken.

6. Roast 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F. Continue cooking 30–40 minutes, until juices run clear.

7. Remove the chicken without piercing the skin and place on a platter. Mix pan juices with wine and cook for 15 minutes while the chicken is resting. Pour the sauce into a pitcher and serve on the table with the chicken.
Serves 4