Christmas Dinner -12/25/2022

Every Christmas I am trying to host a dinner party with  Kevin, Kristie, and our in laws.  It is such a nice time of year for family to get together around a nice meal.

I usually do not prepare a traditional Christmas dinner with roasted turkey or Christmas Ham.  Instead I am serving a tasting menu with a variety of food from different origins.

Table is set up.

Dressing up the table with red festive red vases and ornaments and adding green napkins for a pop of color.

Decorations on the table.

Table overview.

Tonight we are having Kevin A., Cheryl and their cute baby Jaxon, and Kenji

On the left: Kevin and Kristie in matching Christmas sweater, Alice, and Mark.

The menu for the evening.

The first appetizer is a pan seared mochi with bacon, brushed with teriyaki sauce and nori sheet.

The second appetizer is a Vietnamese shrimp toast.

Vietnamese shrimp toast is really simple to make and only requires a few ingredients: shrimps, green onion, a little bit of mayonnaise, sautéed onion and bread.

The toast is crunchy and the shrimp filling is really delicious.

Kevin helping plate the Hamachi dish.

Hamachi on a bed of mango salsa avocado and drizzled with a ponzu, ginger, honey sauce and a bit of crispy taco on top.

Simple dish to make but very fresh and delicious.

Next is a chestnut soup with savory flan and sautéed mushrooms.

The dish is brought our without the broth so I have to make sure to tell everyone not to eat it and wait for me to pour the broth over.

Pouring the broth over.

Chestnut soup is hearty, and perfect for the Christmas Holiday.

Little Jaxon is such a happy boy!

Cheryl and Jaxon having fun.

For the next course I have to put the prawns in the over for about 10 minutes before they are ready to be served.

Garides skordates (Greek dish) is a baked prawns dish with roasted tomatoes in a shrimp broth

Pasta alla norma is a traditional Sicilian pasta dish with sautéed eggplant, roasted tomatoes, and sautéed spinach and then tossed with tomato sauce.

For the last course, we are putting the lamb chops on the grill.

Lamb chops are grilled and rested for a few minutes before serving.

I served the lamb chops together with crispy pork belly.  I simply love the pork belly as the skin is crispy and so addictive.

Grilled octopus.

Assortment of roasted vegetables.

And for dessert, I served an orange cake with crème Anglaise.

Jaxon making lot of happy noises when Cheryl puts her hand on his mouth.  He is definitely entertaining all of us.

Happy Christmas!

Filed under: BBQ Thanksgivng, Holidays, and New year Parties