Christmas Dinner

Ann wanted to have a small Christmas dinner on Christmas Day at our house, despite our being at Rob and Dyce's the evening before for a wonderful fondue, of which I took no photos. After a series of holiday parties with a big New Year's celebration to come within the week, it was almost too much. Next year we need to slow things down.

We thought about doing a Feast of the Seven Fishes, but consuming such a vast meal requires a small army that we are not prepared to serve in our home. Moreover, outside of the restaurant trade, finding decent seafood in this food desert is nigh on impossible.

Instead, Ann hit on the theme of three pastas, each in the color of the Italian flag: red, white, and green. In the weeks before Christmas, we set about throwing pasta dishes at the proverbial wall to see what would stick. For me, it was important that we have only one dish made at the last minute, so that I would not be chained to the stove all night. After a couple of days of kicking ideas around, we settled on three dishes.

Cookie Fairy Making Rosemary-Orange-Olive Oil Shortbreads

Ann had already decided she was making shortbreads with rosemary, orange, and olive oil for dessert. That left antipasti to figure out, one with meat and one without. The without came easily enough: a green olive olivada (tapenade less anchovies) served with crackers and a neutral double or triple cream cheese.

Olivada, Crackers, Triple Cream Cheese, Grissini

For meat, somehow we got fixated on vitello tonnato. I decided to keep the meat raw in the form of a tartare and use the tuna sauce for garnish. I thought it was a neat idea; I was alone in this thinking apparently, judging from the amount of leftovers that I turned into burgers the next day. The tonnato sauce was the best I have ever made. I think I scared people with raw meat.

Vitello Tonnato
Veal Tartare on Crostini with Tonnato Sauce and Capers

For the red pasta, I stuffed conchiglioni (large shells) with pulled short rib that I braised a couple of days before in a really intense beef stock. I mixed the short rib with ricotta to lighten it just a little and covered the whole in a quick marinara.

Here's a tip for the shells. I bought really excellent quality shells with a recommended 16- to 18-minute cook time. The day before, I boiled them for four minutes, then chilled them immediately in cold water. After tossing them in a little olive oil to keep them from sticking together, I put them in a seal top bag in the fridge overnight. The next day, they were perfect for stuffing, pliable but holding their shape rather than flopping around and closing up like fully cooked shells.

Baked Conchiglioni Stuffed with Short Rib and Ricotta
Topped with Marinara

Ann insisted on potato gnocchi which we made the day before. I rolled out and cut the gnocchi while Ann boiled them in small batches. Before people arrived, I made a speck and parmigiano cream. While the green pasta was cooking, I browned the refrigerated gnocchi and then poured the sauce over at dinner time. Everybody loved these; they were too rich for my taste.

Potato Gnocchi with Speck and Parmigiano Cream

The green pasta for me was a no-brainer, the word green sending me directly to basil for which Liguria is famous. The Ligurians serve their pesto on their traditional cut of pasta called trofie, hundreds and hundreds of pounds we rolled out at the restaurant. Not wanting to roll out trofie for this dinner, I screwed up and ordered in some dried trofie, which despite being imported from Italy, was crap. I am still kicking myself for not investing the half an hour it would have taken to make fresh trofie. Nobody but Ann and me seemed to notice; still I do not like using second rate ingredients.

Trofie al Pesto with Torn Basil and Toasted Pine Nuts

I think we were all pretty much partied out by the time Christmas Day rolled around. Unlike several prior nights, it was not a late night. I think we were all stuffed too, but fortunately, I was able to send home some of the copious leftovers.

Here's My Plate with All Three Pastas

Buon Natale!