Holiday dinner menu ideas

TheKinz · Dec 7, 2009

One of my Xmas presents this year is to cook dinner on Christmas night without any involvement by my lovely wife. Looking for some ideas to round out my menu. Any sugestions,substitutions and or recipes would be welcome. 17 people are coming over. This is what I have so far. Only 2 things for sure is flank steak and garlic mashed

Main course--

balsamic grilled marinated flank steaks
stuffed Turkey breast (?) any good recipes?

Sides

garlic mashed potatoes
grilled asparagus with sea salt
rolls

appetizers

bacon wrapped shrimp and scallops
baked artichoke dip

Betallsports · Dec 7, 2009

You Need a pasta Dish......In My home, Every Christmas...the wife cooks a Lasagna.

Best part of it is, you make a Pan or Two...and it will Feed an Army.

celticGreen+ · Dec 7, 2009

always like to make beef wellington to impress.

chrishansen · Dec 7, 2009

throw a curve ball and get crazy

fish tacos and chicken tacos

make a chipolte glaze (add sum dry fruit to kill sum heat mango, pineappla apricot) for your fish and chicken

toss out a spread
tortillas
thinly sliced red onion
cabbage
lettuce
cilantro
lime wedges
tomatos
sliced avacado
pico de gallo
guacamole

cuban black beans w ham hock n white onion
pinto n kidney bean w onion n cilantro
cilantro n lime white rice
spanish rice
mashed sweet potato and plantain
roasted tomatos n peppers n onions
fried plantain chips

chips n salsa

starters
mini lobster rolls
(then either or)
deep fry pickles
sausage balls
fried sweet potato chips

TheKinz · Dec 7, 2009

Chris- any other holiday or get together that would work. I was going to whip out the Ol Beer Cheese Soup and that did not go over well in the prelim discussions..:toast:

nhoj · Dec 7, 2009

KFC bucket of Chicken and 2 sides and biscuts. Only way to do a special dinner. Remember Bucket not box.

BostonBettor · Dec 7, 2009

I often like to do a couple of racks of baby backs for Christmas. I put on a nice dry rub the night before. Cook them in the oven at 250 for the first three hours, and for the last hour jack it up to 375. I'll make a bbq sauce to go with and brush that on for the last 45 minutes. Make some slaw. Tastes great and very little work.

Defying · Dec 7, 2009

I just tried to cook chicken parm with penne alfredo and it was horrible.. no advice from me...

so far your menu sounds amazing!! Make it for 18! haha

Brotherwo · Dec 7, 2009

Steak au Poive is what we are doing.

Great tasting steak, here is a great recipe
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/steak-au-poivre-recipe/index.html

(fwiw...its from an episode of the show Good Eats...can find it on youtube)

also, I recommend doing bacon wrapped dates... absolutely one of the best appertizers

kidman232 · Dec 7, 2009

pop tarts and slim jims

followed by a 30 pack of beer to drown out the bitching from the wife

Dante · Dec 8, 2009

Betallsports said:
You Need a pasta Dish......In My home, Every Christmas...the wife cooks a Lasagna.

Best part of it is, you make a Pan or Two...and it will Feed an Army.

damn that looks good my wife can actually cook a pretty mean lasagna to

JudgeWapner · Dec 8, 2009

I always cook a stuffed beef tenderloin covered in a bernaise sauce and serve it with Yorkshire pudding.

1cheater · Dec 8, 2009

The Kinz said:
One of my Xmas presents this year is to cook dinner on Christmas night without any involvement by my lovely wife. Looking for some ideas to round out my menu. Any sugestions,substitutions and or recipes would be welcome. 17 people are coming over. This is what I have so far. Only 2 things for sure is flank steak and garlic mashed

Main course--

balsamic grilled marinated flank steaks
stuffed Turkey breast (?) any good recipes?

Sides

garlic mashed potatoes
grilled asparagus with sea salt
rolls

appetizers

bacon wrapped shrimp and scallops
baked artichoke dip

I would stick to one meat item. I would personally go with a Wellington or a standing rib roast (prime rib bone in)

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/-No-Nightmare-Beef-Wellington-243010

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Prime-Rib-with-Cabernet-Jus-971

Either one of these would pair perfect with the veggies you have..The stuffed Turkey is a great idea if your up for the task. I would do a cranberry stuffing for that and roll as into a roulade. You can find techniques on how to do a proper Roulade and I'm sure many cranberry stuffing recipes. To tell you the truth, the idea of the Flank steak doesn't impress me; If not done perfect, flank steaks can be a nightmare.

Aslo, I would sub out one of the seafood apps for something else.. Not everyone likes seafood, and you may have some who doesn't like Artichokes. So this gives another choice.

TheKinz · Dec 9, 2009

Judge Wapner said:
I always cook a stuffed beef tenderloin covered in a bernaise sauce and serve it with Yorkshire pudding.

I printed out a recipe for Lobster stuffed tenderloin with a Bernaise sauce...don't know if I will make it for xmas but I will at some point. Thanks for the tip.

By the way thanks for all the other suggestions. I have the flank steaks down to science. Balsmic marinade for 24 hours 6 mins each side on grill perfect..

Cheater-- any other app suggestions. I may leave off the scallops and just do shrimp. Any apps I can do on grill to round it out?

quantumleap · Dec 9, 2009

The Kinz said:
I printed out a recipe for Lobster stuffed tenderloin with a Bernaise sauce...don't know if I will make it for xmas but I will at some point. Thanks for the tip.

By the way thanks for all the other suggestions. I have the flank steaks down to science. Balsmic marinade for 24 hours 6 mins each side on grill perfect..

Cheater-- any other app suggestions. I may leave off the scallops and just do shrimp. Any apps I can do on grill to round it out?

Kinz, what do you put in your marinade (besides balsamic vinegar I presume).

Are you SURE your wife won't interfere? If she does interfere while you're cooking can you bring back the present you bought for her?

TheKinz · Dec 9, 2009

here is my marinade

1-2 lb flank steak
1/4 cup good balsmic vinegar
1/4 cup olivre oil
2 tbls worschester
1/2 of a lemon juice
1 tea oregano
1 tea salt
1 tea garlic powder
1/2 tea onion powder
1/4 te pepper

24 hours turning the bag a few times. Medium hot grill 5-7 mins each side for med rare..It is awesome alone of in a warm hoagie roll

1cheater · Dec 10, 2009

I would do some Chinese style wings on the grill.. What you do is use all drum sticks. Scrape the skin from the knuckle of the wing down and chop off the knuckle end of the wing (as to make a handle for eating). Marinade the wings in a simple marinade...make enough marinade to cover all the wings enclosed in a zip lock bag.

Marinade and Basting sauce:
1 cup low, low sodium soy sauce. (the lower the sodium, the better it tastes)
1/4 brown sugar
2 Tbs Rice wine vinegar
2 Tbs freshly sliced ginger (slice thinly so you can remove from the marinade)
1 Tsp Sesame oil

Marinade the wings for 8 hours. Remove the wings from the marinade(save the marinade) and shake off excess and pat them dry. Grill the wings at a very low temp, if you get flare ups, grill them using the indirect cooking method. Take the marinade and add 1/4 cup of Honey and cook in a sauce pan over low heat until the liquid turns almost into a syrup consistence. Baste the wings with this sauce at the very end. Make sure to taste the sauce and adjust flavors to your liking. I would serve the wings on a platter with some good Gorgonzola cheese chunks.

1cheater · Dec 10, 2009

Forgot to mention; when you do the wings cut around the wing to the bone at the knuckle end and then the meat will be easier to scrape down to the other end and make a chicken ball at one end. Hope you understand what I mean.

TheKinz · Dec 10, 2009

This looks great. I may make this over the weekend. Could I use the entire wing and leave skin on ( I am more intrigued with the marinade)? It will only be me eating so presentation is not needed..lmao Thanks

1cheater · Dec 10, 2009

Yes, use the whole wing, wait till you taste them! This will be a staple for you. Make sure you adjust the sauce for basting so it's not to sweet or not to salty to your liking. If you serve as an app present them on a big serving platter with chunks of Gorgonzola on the corners of the plate; looks awesome! Just make sure you make enough, they will go very fast.