Christmas Dinner 2023
Dec. 25th, 2023 08:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rscThe tradition continues.
Montchèvre Cranberry and cinnamon goat cheese
Sautéed duck liver
Trader Joe's sliced truffles in olive oil
Assorted crackers
Roast duck with cranberry-hazelnut stuffing
Sautéed potatoes and onions
Roasted acorn squash
Trader Joe's "everything" ciabatta rolls
Tossed salad with balsamic vinaigrette
J. Lohr Syrah 2021 (Paso Robles)
Denver chocolate pudding
Moroccan mint tea
The truffles were kind of strong all by themselves; I liked them OK,jwg was more dubious. I think they'd be good as an addition to rice or mashed potatoes.
I started the duck – a rather large one, at over 6 pounds – at 425F, reduced to 350 after 15 minutes; at just over an hour the meat thermometer claimed about 190, so I took it out. I don't think it was that well done; the legs seemed a little on the rare side, but it was fine. I still have no clue how to actually carve a duck.
The wine was nice. We've done pinot noir with duck at times in the past, but I prefer something s little more robust.
The Denver pudding (which is basically a chocolate cake imbued with chocolate syrup, from a recipe in my mother's old Fannie Farmer cookbook) came out exactly right (there have been occasional problems with its consistency in the past), probably because I was reminded by reviewing an earlier instance of this report to use slightly less milk and sugar than specified. The tea, which was one of my gifts to John, was very good, and complemented the dessert nicely.
Montchèvre Cranberry and cinnamon goat cheese
Sautéed duck liver
Trader Joe's sliced truffles in olive oil
Assorted crackers
Roast duck with cranberry-hazelnut stuffing
Sautéed potatoes and onions
Roasted acorn squash
Trader Joe's "everything" ciabatta rolls
Tossed salad with balsamic vinaigrette
J. Lohr Syrah 2021 (Paso Robles)
Denver chocolate pudding
Moroccan mint tea
The truffles were kind of strong all by themselves; I liked them OK,
jwg was more dubious. I think they'd be good as an addition to rice or mashed potatoes.I started the duck – a rather large one, at over 6 pounds – at 425F, reduced to 350 after 15 minutes; at just over an hour the meat thermometer claimed about 190, so I took it out. I don't think it was that well done; the legs seemed a little on the rare side, but it was fine. I still have no clue how to actually carve a duck.
The wine was nice. We've done pinot noir with duck at times in the past, but I prefer something s little more robust.
The Denver pudding (which is basically a chocolate cake imbued with chocolate syrup, from a recipe in my mother's old Fannie Farmer cookbook) came out exactly right (there have been occasional problems with its consistency in the past), probably because I was reminded by reviewing an earlier instance of this report to use slightly less milk and sugar than specified. The tea, which was one of my gifts to John, was very good, and complemented the dessert nicely.
