A Big Meal on December 25th

For some Jewish people, celebrating aspects of Christmas is a common occurance. Do a Google search on "Jews celebrating Christmas" and you'll find several debates on whether having a Christmas tree (or Hanukkah Bush) is acceptable. It's hard not to feel like you're missing out on something when everyone around you is preparing for Christmas.



Growing up, we celebrated Christmas because there have always been non-Jewish family members. Actually, we probably celebrated it more than a lot of Catholic families (we had all nine reindeer in our basement next to a manger scene, with so many presents that you couldn't even touch the tree) -- a slight glimpse into the insanity that is my family.

Nowadays, I go on a "we're Jewish and don't celebrate Christmas" soapbox starting about 1 month before Christmas. Inevitably, I still get "Hanukkah presents" on Christmas. It's a losing battle.

Never ones to miss out an opportunity to cook way too much food, here's the feast we had at Giz's place.

Spinach Dip

(the recipe toward the bottom of the post)

Yorkshire Pudding

Turkey


Stuffing


Salad


Potatoes

Challah

Cabbage Rolls

Brussel Sprouts

Giz will tell you about the desserts -- there were just as many selections of desserts as mains and sides combined. It's a good thing there were 7 of us The seven of us combined hardly made a dent in the food.

Mini Greek Meatballs

For some reason this is a bigger year for social gatherings than in past years. Are people feeling better about the economy? or is it just the time of year that brings out the best (and sometimes the worst) in us. I'm doing my fair share of entertaining since I've always celebrated this season as Hannamas which combines Hanukkah and Christmas. Just give me a reason to celebrate and I'm there.

One of the events is a potluck and I really wanted to simplify my life. I happened upon an interesting recipe over at Kalyn's Kitchen that adapted a South Beach Diet recipe. I loved the ingredients and decided to give it a trial run before I make it for the pot luck. It also doesn't hurt that it's figure friendly given that I'll probably have to have my jaws wired shut just to get through the holiday season.



Mini Greek Meatballs

1 lb lean ground beef (I used lamb)
1/2 small onion, minced
1/2 cup very finely crumbled feta cheese (measure after crumbling finely with a fork)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large egg
1 T extra virgin olive oil, plus more for baking dish
1 T dried Greek oregano
4 tsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt (optional - I didn't use it since the Feta is salty)
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp Greek seasoning (I omitted this since I didn't have any on hand)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Use a food processor to chop the onion very finely (or a box grater), then drain if it seems like there is a lot of liquid.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, then use your hands to mix ingredients.

Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish (I foiled and sprayed). Shape meat into 1 Tbsp size meatballs and place on baking sheet.


Bake 20 minutes, after which time you will see liquid oozing out.


Turn meatballs and bake 10 more minutes. Turn again, and bake 5-10 more minutes, until meatballs are well-browned and cooked through.

Tzatziki Sauce is great with these meatballs.

Verdict: Using the lamb instead of beef gave it a distinctive and wonderful flavour. I found that I didn't need the full 20 minutes in my oven before the first turn and that the meatballs were done by the end of the first turn.

I would make these again and double or triple the recipe for a crowd.

Nuria's Lamb Brochettes

Inspired by Nuria from Spanish Recipes I thought her lamb skewers for the BBQ looked just mouth watering. The next thing I knew I was at the meat counter buying lamb and the rest is history. In our family there's no such thing as moderation when it comes to backyard barbeque so in addition to the lamb we threw in some chicken just to make sure nobody went hungry and you just never really know when another 15 people might just happen upon your doorstep.



nope...not done yet



Pathetic, don't you think? There were only 6 of us for dinner. This obsession as Psychgrad once said is totally baba's doing. During WWII when they had next to nothing to eat she swore her family would never go hungry. She lived by her promise... and then some.

Lamb Brochettes



Ingredients for 4 servings: 600 grs of lamb cut in dices (ask your butcher for a tender piece), 2 garlic cloves, 1 cup of red wine, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of sweet red ground paprika, 1 teaspoon of hot red ground paprika, 1 teaspoon of dry oregano, 1 bay leave, 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds, salt and black ground pepper. One red pepper and one green pepper.
• Peel the garlic cloves and chop thinly. Place in a big bowl together with the wine, water, olive oil, the paprika, oregano, chopped bay leave, cumin and pepper. Mix well.
• Clean the lamb meat and take the fat away, cut in dices and place inside the bowl. Let marinate for at least 4 hours. I had mine in the fridge overnight and cooked the next day. Meat will be more tender the longer it marinates.
• If you use wooden sticks, have them soaking in water so that they don't burn when you cook the skewers.
• Insert lamb dices and red/green peppers with the stick.
• Cook in your barbecue or in the griddle or grill in your oven until they get golden. While cooking, pour some of the marinating liquid on top and turn so that they get all done.

Verdict: Incredible flavour and the aroma from the marinating sauce is wonderful.

We have recently been the recipients of a couple of awards.


Hope from Hopie's Kitchen What a great award and many thanks for thinking of us.



The rules for this award say to
Include the award logo in your blog or post.
Nominate as many blogs which show adorability, cuteness and charm.
Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.The rules for this award say to:

We'd like to share this award with:

Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita
Joan of Foodalogue
Steph at Obsessed with Baking
Cindy from Cindystar
Heather from Girli Chef



And a big thanks to Melissa from Alosha's Kitchen for this beautiful award.

The award is for our blogging sisters who show great attitude/gratitude. The Rules for the recipient: 1. Put the logo on your blog or post. 2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude 3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. 4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog, or sending them an email. 5. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

Val from More Than Burnt Toast
Jeanne from Cook Sister
Cynthiafrom Tastes Like Home
Nuria from Spanish Recipes
Grace from A Southern Grace

Lentil Encrusted Lamb

The Royal Foodie Joust for January is in full swing. This month's ingredients are lentils, eggplant and cinnamon. You can read all about these monthly jousts on the Foodie Forum.



My first vision of these ingredients had me visualizing a tajeen in Morocco with a simmering stew and the heavenly smell of African spices. Although this was only a mind's eye vision, I quickly snapped back to reality thinking that I had absolutely no clue what I was talking about. So rather than researching and testing and doing all the things that are common to my sensibility, I decided to create something that I've never seen in a cookbook (a little scary for me) and just go with the flow of what I would see as being spectacular.

Little did I know that while I was going into uncharted territory, I was also creating a dish that I think is as good if not better than anything I've had in a 5 star restaurant. It's a little time consuming .. okay it's alot time consuming but I'd make it again and I'm sure the second and third time I won't be writing down ingredients as I go along and I'll get it perfected. I totally shocked myself (in a very good way) - this is a killer delicious dish.

Ingredients:

1 - 1 kilo (approx. 2 lbs) deboned leg of lamb rolled and tied (the butcher did this for me)
1 1/2 cups lentils (your choice of colour - I used brown)
1 eggplant
1 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves fresh garlic
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
2 cups full bodied wine (I used Yellow Jacket Shiraz)
250 gm (1 cup) dried apricots
1 good sized cinnamon stick
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons liquid honey

Method:
1. Cook lentils in a dutch oven (use 5 cups of water to 1 cup of lentils) Cook for about an hour or until soft. Half way through the process add peeled and diced eggplant to the dutch oven. When cooked, drain and allow to cool.

2. In mortar and pestle combine olive oil, garlic, coriander (I used the seeds), cumin, fennel seeds, salt and pepper. Make into a well combined paste.



3. Take 1/2 of the paste and rub well on the lamb



4. Reconstitute the apricots in a bowl with the wine and cinnamon
5. Mash the cooled lentils and eggplant and add beaten eggs and the second half of the spices to the mix. You want to form a good paste - if it's runny, add flour a little at a time until you get the desired consistency.
6. Encrust the lamb with the lentil/eggplant mix - it should adhere reasonably easily to the lamb (if it doesn't you haven't added enough flour)
7. Prepare roasting pan with a slight amount of olive oil. Dispose of cinnamon stick and add apricots and wine to roasting pan. (I poured some extra wine into the roasting pan to create a glaze)
8. Drizzle liquid honey over the crust - about 3 tablespoons
9. Add whatever roasting vegetables you like (I used fingerling potatoes)
10. Bake in 350 F oven (uncovered) for 60-70 minutes depending on how fast your oven is.