Christmas Eve

Almost a month later and I finally post about our Christmas Eve dinner. Better late than never. Christmas Eve dinner has evolved quite a bit over the years at our house. We used to go out for dinner on Christmas Eve because we were so busy preparing for Christmas Day and this way we didn´t have to worry about leftovers. I remember going to Tías Mexican restaurant around the corner for years after the childrens Mass at church. Then it changed to a fish restaurant since you really aren´t supposed to eat meat on Christmas Eve. That got cut short pretty quickly because not too many restaurants are open for dinner on Christmas Eve, which I think is a good thing.

As I got more and more involved in the kitchen, we started having Christmas Eve dinner at home. Several years in a row I made lentil soup and eggplant parmesan, two of my specialties. I added in a roasted salt fish a couple of years ago and it was a hit. I had to move that to Christmas Day this year since David and Matty had never had the chance to try it since they celebrate Christmas Eve with Matty´s family in Houston.

This year, I blew Christmas Eve out of the water. I wanted to make it a very elegant, special dinner for the family. Christmas Day tends to be a little more laid back since we get a late start after opening presents and tend to hang around in our PJs most of the day. On Christmas Eve, though, we are still dressed from church.

Dinner started off with a few appetizers including a white bean hummus with homemade toasted pita chips, roasted red peppers with toasted sourdough, and a brie en croute with apricot jam. It was followed by eggplant parmesan, cod with raisins and pine nuts over puff pastry, potatoes, and glazed carrots. Then for dessert, homemade hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows and my mom´s famous cookies.

I am a true believer that presentation is everything. Oscar helped out here and made the printed menus for the table. I was surprised at how much everyone loved them. Angela was the brains behind naming the entrees. For example, we had Reindeer Carrots, Elves Elegant Eggplant, Red Pepper Ribbons, Mrs. Claus´homemade cookies ... so much fun! We had a lovely evening just eating and talking. It made all the hard work well worth while.