I'd asked the nieces input for Thanksgiving dinner, and that went pretty well, actually.

[conuly]

(Well, other than the fact that we all were down with something.)

Their input for Christmas is less inspiring. Apparently, I should make ravioli. With green beans. AND NOTHING ELSE.

I'd been thinking of a ham, actually, or maybe I could try something with duck if I can snag one. I mean, I can do ravioli (I can even make my own, I think), but... for Christmas dinner? Maybe Christmas lunch.

So anyway, since the nieces are useless, what should I make for Christmas dinner? I'm open to any sort of suggestions! Unless they involve mushrooms. Fungus, ick.

Comments

[redbird]

Do something with a duck, maybe just roast it simply, and if all the nieces want is ravioli and green beans, you can have duck for dinner and leftover duck for lunch later.

(Christmas dinner isn't part of my tradition, so my suggestions end here.)

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

Any pie is good... of course, maybe I'm just saying that because I'm in a pie making mood.

Which is strange, because the number of pies I've mad in my life is... one.

[conuly]

I ought to make a sugar pie. Of course, Jenn's on this gluten-free kick, so I don't know how that'll work out. Or ravioli, come to think.

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

Sugar pie? I didn't know that that was a thing...

[conuly]

A delicious thing.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Seconded. *boggles*

[conuly]

IT IZ DEELISHUS.

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

homemade duck and asiago ravioli with spinach? :P

[conuly]

I assure you, I'm drooling just thinking about it.

(I really want to make butternut ravioli, but the nieces would justifiably have a fit.)

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Not too justifiably. Fits are almost never in order.

That said, serve butternut pasta (puree the squish and put it in the pasta, makes a gorgeous color and flavor) stuffed with leftover duck the next day.

Roast duck with pommes anna in duck fat, the infamous green beans, some nice sharp cranberry sauce or other tart fruits to cut the richness of the duck and taters, green salad with nippy dressing ditto, assorted pickles (sweet, bread & butter if you made 'em, dill, garlic), and a big fruit pie for dessert (I'm still recovering from the Pie Platoon of Thanksgiving, but by Christmas I should be able to look a pie in the face....so to speak. Heh.)

[conuly]

I meant they'd protest (they don't like yellow vegetables, as said), not that they'd lie on the floor and scream. Turning their special choice for meals into something they can't stand would be pretty abysmal of me.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Well, a polite protest is something different.

(What my mother means when she says "your father will have a fit" is that he would be in a grouchy sulk for DAYS until he got his way. And when queried, would say grumpily, "No, nothing's wrong.")

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Take the nieces' request, and ignore the "nothing else".

How traditional do you want to be? Goose is a lot like duck, only bigger, if you can get one at a sensible price. There's a rather nice sharp gooseberry sauce/stuffing I can find you a recipe for (a fifteenth century recipe, I think). Use the fat from the goose to roast the spuds, of coruse.

"A boar's head in hand bear I..." - can your local butcher get you a head, or at least a mask? Most of the meat is on the cheeks. My local farm shop is selling sucking pig, and I wish I had enough people to cook at.