Gourmet Food on a Budget — Ever Forward, Ever Flavorful
Rosemary Garlic Chicken Purses make a great lunch or appetizer. The chicken is infused with rosemary and mixed with cream cheese, all wrapped in eggroll wrappers and deep-fried. Of course, to lower calories, they can also be baked.
Dulce de Leche Lemon Meringue Pie is a slightly different take on the traditional lemon meringue pie. First, it does not use a cornstarch filling – it uses caramelized milk for filling.
Quiche with goose fat crust is very rich and tasty. It’s also a great way to use up some of that goose fat you might have when roasting a goose. It does not taste like a goose but I might hesitate to use goose fat for a fruit pie.
Veal Marsala Meatballs are light and flavorful with their Tomato Basil Cream sauce over pasta. Serve this with white wine and crusty bread to sop up all that lovely sauce.
Almost every year, I bake a ham for Christmas so that I can have the bone for New Year’s Day. Of course, this year I roasted a goose, so I had no ham bone. Luckily, my good friend Stevie Lewis saved me the bone from his family’s Christmas ham. From this bone, I make Hoppin John, an old Southern dish of black-eyed peas, ham, and rice. With it, I serve steamed Kale and cornbread.
There is quite a long tradition with this meal. The black-eyed peas are said to represent coins, the kale is green like money, and the cornbread is golden to represent gold. Eating this for New Year’s Day is supposed to bring good fortune for the New Year.
Well, it might not bring any more money into your purse, but it is very economical. It’s a break for all the heavy holiday foods. It’s also very good for you. Black-eyed peas are high in protein, iron, zinc, and potassium. Kale has anti-cancer properties. Cornbread, if you don’t put tons of butter on it, is also good for you.
Well, December 25 is over, and now all we have to wait for is the New Year celebrations. I thought I would make a list of some recipes that have been popular this year, or you might want to make for your New Year’s Eve event.
Every year, I make a special New Year’s Day dish, but I’m going to hold that one for another post, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I think that you might find yourself making some of 2011’s most popular recipes for your own festivities.
Roast goose is a welcome change from the usual holiday fare. Goose is a good choice for a smaller gathering. The fat can be saved and used in a variety of dishes. This recipe is part of my Dicken’s Christmas Dinner Menu.
Fruit Chestnut Stuffing and Christmas Salad go very well with a roast goose for a Dicken’s Christmas dinner
Christmas Plum Pudding with Hard Sauce is a traditional holiday dessert that originated in England. It is very rich and a show stopper when it comes flaming to the table. This recipe is part of my Dicken’s Christmas Dinner Menu.
Pasta a la Carbonara is a favorite in our family because it’s very simple and quick to make for dinner with salad and a glass of wine. I add shallots in oil to enhance the mushrooms.