Christmas Dinner #3 – More Christmas/Holiday Ideas & Recipes

Christmas Dinner #3 – More Christmas/Holiday Ideas & Recipes

Don’t feel lost. I never had a blog post for Christmas Dinner #1 or #2. The first dinner was a Christmas banquet at The Radisson in Richmond, but now that I think I actually did blog about Christmas dinner #2! It was the Jazzed Up Christmas High Tea at Tracycakes Bakery Cafe followed by dinner at Giraffe Restaurant in White Rock. So now I’m at Christmas dinner #3 or would that be #4? Anyway this round was a potluck with some friends – an incredibly random one for that matter. Everyone took a category: appetizer, protein, starch, vegetable, and dessert. I was dessert… so fitting right?

I don’t “rate” anything friends make so this post is more for fun. I’m also going to give some ideas/recipes for what was on the table. The only recipe I have was for my own dessert, and again I never really use a recipe so it’s more of an idea, and then the rest is up to you! My recipes are probably for people comfortable in the kitchen, but I’m not a professional, so anyone can do them. Good luck! I’m sure you’ll manage.

On the table:

Croquetas! I LOVE croquetas. These ones had ham in them. I’ve actually made them for a Christmas appetizer a couple years ago too.

Authentic Spanish Croquetas

These are the ones I made! These are Spanish Croquetas and I got the recipe from my friend’s mom when I was in Spain for Christmas a few years ago. It’s hard to find good non-frozen croquetas in Spain, although there are some good frozen ones. My friend and I would go to town on these after coming home from a night out. It was better than $.99 pizza in Vancouver. Apples and oranges, but I prefer the apples.

Every Spaniard thinks their mom makes the best croquetas or tortilla patatas (Spanish potato omelette), so I had to ask my friend’s mom to teach me. The recipe and method was definitely authentic and I needed a translator to be able to get it. There was a lot of charades going on, but I got the idea. It’s a time consuming process, but it’s so worth it! I can’t give out her family recipe, or I’ll never be invited to Spain again… but here are the basics.

1. Make a bechamel sauce with flour, butter and cream or milk. Add salt and pepper.

2. Add some shredded chicken or ham. Mixture should be smooth and almost like creamy mashed potatoes.

3. Spread into a flat layer on a plate. Set aside to cool.

4. Roll into mini logs, dip into breadcrumbs, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs again.

5. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight. Pan fry until golden brown and serve.

Malaysian Sweet Sticky Rice with Kaya

Talk about random potluck right? So awesome! Love having friends from everywhere. This is a Malaysian appetizer that can also be eaten as a dessert. It’s a sweet sticky rice rolled into banana leaves and it’s steamed before serving. It’s topped with Kaya spread, which is a coconut jam made with coconut, egg yolks and sugar. You can find Kaya at T&T Supermarket.

Spinach & Feta Quiche – This was the “vegetable dish”. Yup, we’re a group of eaters. Although it was the same person who brought bacon wrapped shrimp as the “protein” last year… lol (I’m surprised we invited her again =p)

Mini Chicken Pot Pies! She used bacon in the recipe. Chicken + Bacon = job well done!

Chili! This is something new to the Christmas table! It was delicious. Ground beef, zucchini, yellow peppers, tomatoes, beans, onions, celery, carrots and spices. Secret ingredient: beer!

This is mine. Pumpkin Custard & Cake Ice Cream Sundae!

Pumpkin Custard & Cake Sundae with Walnuts, Figs, Chestnuts & Warm Spices. Served in a pool of Frothy Ice Milk, Butterscotch Popcorn & A Salted Chocolate Pretzel Ball.

Again, I have no recipe. I experiment and add things as I go. I can never write down recipes because I never know how much I use of each ingredient. I really should though because I’ll never be able to re-create them with consistency. Anyway, this is the idea. It takes a damn long time, so take short cuts where you see necessary.

Pumpkin Custard & Cake Ice Cream Sundae with Walnuts, Figs, Chestnuts & Warm Spices. Served in a pool of Frothy Ice Milk, Butterscotch Popcorn & A Salted Chocolate Pretzel Ball – Recipe/Idea

1. Start off by making a pumpkin custard. Add it to basic ice cream recipe.

2. Make a pumpkin cake. Crumble the cake into the ice cream custard mixture. Add pieces of dried figs, walnuts, roasted chestnuts, spices (ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, pumpkin spice etc.), and a pinch of salt.

3. Put into an ice cream maker. I don’t have one so I had to stir and refreeze and repeat, which takes ages.

4. Place ice and milk in a blender and blend until smooth and frothy.

5. Break salted pretzels and roll into rice crispies and roll into dark melted chocolate. Roll into balls and freeze.

6. Make popcorn and coat with butterscotch syrup. (Buy this if you have to)

Plating

1. Plate sticky granola on the bottom of the bowl. Place a scoop of pumpkin ice cream on top of granola. (Granola stops it from sliding).

2. Pour frothy milk into bowl until it creates a pool around ice cream.

3. Top with butterscotch popcorn.

4. Top with salted chocolate pretzel ball.

Tada! Enjoy!