For Christmas dinner, we had [...] a roast beef

I notice a lot of Americans go for roast beef at Christmas instead
of a turkey. I guess that's because your Thanksgiving is so close
to Christmas that you're not ready for another one. Because ours
falls in October we're ready for our second bird by Christmas.

This year we got invited to a friend of our daughter Cathy for a belated Christmas dinner. We had had them to our house for Christmas dinner a
few years ago. He served a prime rib roast that he got from Wegmans.
It was very good -- and rare enough that you might have enjoyed it.

I did mine a tad more than I'd prefer myself,
but it was butter-tender, so half an hour
extra in the oven didn't do anyone any harm
and may have pleased the guests more.

I do prefer my meat to jiggle a little, though.

Not having had one in a while, I was tempted
yesterday by frozen 12-15s at 69c/lb but settled
for chicken breasts for 99c - the rendered skin
was worth the $3 I paid for a package, with the
rib cages for soup (augmenting beef rib bones
leftover from Christmas) a bonus. Haven't figured
out what I'll do with the white meat, though.
There's 2 lb of that millstone - probably cutlet
for four and stir-fry for two.

After we had a couple of meals off of a BJs rotissery chicken, we
decided to take the rest, mostly breast meat, and turn it into a chicken curry. Turned out pretty good. We ended up freezing three meal sized portions of it though.

These are about 4 to 5 lb cooked, right? I
once boggled Ian's mind by telling him
about roasters in the supermarket that got
into the double digits poundwise; since
then I seldom find anything over 8, almost
never over 9, but a couple farms I've
seen in California will grow you a
double-digit one if you preorder.

Back when pesto first became popular among
the last generation of hipsters, I enjoyed it
even with the Parmesan, though when making it
I used nuts and basil and olive oil and pepper
and omitted the cheese. Now I omit the basil
and use parsley if any green.

I have never enjoyed pesto in any form, although people say that our son Bryan makes a pretty good one.

It's hard to balance the flavors unless
you use a way lot of oil.

Discovered last month but just recently formatted:
Title: Grapefruit & Cranberry Gin Sparkler - Christmas Cocktail

That may be a place in which pink grapefruit
might be actually useful, but I think I'd still
prefer white grapefruit with some Campari.

Back when I was allowed to have grapefruit, I strongly preferred the
Ruby Red.

Sweeter and less bitter, but in a drink
that can be a disadvantage.

Title: Eggplant Salad

Also a pretty nice-looking one.

In a pot, cover eggplant with cold water, bring to a boil & cook for
1/2 an hour. Drain & press with a spoon to remove excess moisture.

That's a legitimate way of doing things but
the recipe calls for way too much cooking time.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v7.07

Title: Vegetable Enchiladas
Categories: Mexican, Vegetarian
Servings: 2

4 Corn tortillas
1/2 c Salsa sauce
1 ts Olive oil
1/3 c Thinly sliced onions
1 Garlic clove, sliced
1/2 c Cubed eggplant
1/4 c Grated zucchini
1 tb Sherry, optional
1/4 cn Diced green chilies
2 tb Minced cilantro

Place tortillas in shallow pan. Spread salsa over them to soften them.
Let
sit for 5 minutes. Turn tortiallas over & coat the other side.

While the tortillas are softening, heat oil in a skillet & saute onion
for
3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic, eggplant, zucchini & sherry
if
using. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or so, till eggplant begins
to
stick. Remove from heat & stir in chilies.

Pre-heat oven to 400F. Lightly oil a baking tin. Remove each tortilla
from the sauce & fill with one quarter of the sauteed vegetables. Roll
up
tortillas & place seam side down in baking tin. Top with the rest of the
sauce & cilantro. Bake for 15 minutes, until evenly browned.

VT September, 1991

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