This is not so much a recipe as an assemblage – a Christmas Eve dinner for my Swedo-Germanic family. Some of it is probably directly from one or the other; some of it is probably just my family’s tradition. I’ve never worked out the combination. (Christmas Eve is, of course, properly Christmas. 25th December is for latecomers.)
Anyway, start with ham. Cold or hot, whatever. It’s just the excuse for the sides. Creamy mashed potato with plenty of nutmeg. Carrots braised slowly and finished with butter, sugar and dill. Chestnuts and mushrooms, braised in the same dish, finished with a tiny bit of cream. Red cabbage – we don’t have a family recipe for this, so any of your slow-cooked stovetop ones will do, bit of apple, maybe some raisins, plenty of spice, a little vinegar. Small pearl onions, peeled whole, and cooked in butter and a bit of water till they are soft. If feeling adventurous, add a spoonful of sugar to caramelise, but don’t let them burn. Celeriac au gratin, in a simple cheesy bechamel. With extra cheese. No, more than that. Optionally, as it has snuck in over the years, some homemade chutney or cranberry sauce may be added to the table. But nothing green. (Apart from the dill, that's northern enough.)
You will need five stovetop burners to make this. You do not have five stovetop burners. The ham, if hot, needs a fairly low oven, while the celeriac needs a very high. You require more serving dishes than any one human can stand.
You will, nonetheless, overcome. Then put it alllll on the table. Assemble many hungry people. Sigh heavily at how impossible it is that this enormous spread will ever be finished. You will be eating leftovers at New Year.
After twenty minutes, you will have half a spoonful of spare celeriac and a wee bit of mash left. And red cabbage. There is always more red cabbage. (You will still be eating that at New Year.)
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carisma_sensei
Northeuropeish Christmas fest
Date: 2019-12-23 11:41 pm (UTC)Anyway, start with ham. Cold or hot, whatever. It’s just the excuse for the sides.
Creamy mashed potato with plenty of nutmeg.
Carrots braised slowly and finished with butter, sugar and dill.
Chestnuts and mushrooms, braised in the same dish, finished with a tiny bit of cream.
Red cabbage – we don’t have a family recipe for this, so any of your slow-cooked stovetop ones will do, bit of apple, maybe some raisins, plenty of spice, a little vinegar.
Small pearl onions, peeled whole, and cooked in butter and a bit of water till they are soft. If feeling adventurous, add a spoonful of sugar to caramelise, but don’t let them burn.
Celeriac au gratin, in a simple cheesy bechamel. With extra cheese. No, more than that.
Optionally, as it has snuck in over the years, some homemade chutney or cranberry sauce may be added to the table. But nothing green. (Apart from the dill, that's northern enough.)
You will need five stovetop burners to make this. You do not have five stovetop burners. The ham, if hot, needs a fairly low oven, while the celeriac needs a very high. You require more serving dishes than any one human can stand.
You will, nonetheless, overcome. Then put it alllll on the table. Assemble many hungry people. Sigh heavily at how impossible it is that this enormous spread will ever be finished. You will be eating leftovers at New Year.
After twenty minutes, you will have half a spoonful of spare celeriac and a wee bit of mash left. And red cabbage. There is always more red cabbage. (You will still be eating that at New Year.)
Merry Christmas!