For our Christmas Eve dinner, my AIL decided to do something very different, and have a tapas-style dinner. Each member of the family brought something for dinner. I offered to bring a pie, and some tea sandwiches (even though she insisted that the pie would be enough). The last time we spent Christmas with the in-laws, I made a chocolate-raspberry pie, which is simply a variant on the basic recipe. I knew I could easily make it. The one teeny glitch that I had in making the pie (though I don't think anyone really noticed) was the crust. I discovered too late that I didn't have quite enough cookies to make the crust, and thus it was much thinner than expected. Come serving time, it was also much HARDER than expected! I had to really muscle into the first piece of pie just to get it out. At the very least, it was easier to do as I sliced more pieces. It was quite yummy with the peanut butter layer on the bottom! The tea sandwiches appeared to be a big hit as well; the crab salad ended up nice and lemony, and the capers & chives added that little bit of bite to the sandwich overall. I opted to not use Bibb lettuce, and they tasted just fine without. It would've been nice to have that little bit of crunch, so I'll be sure to try it with the lettuce if I make it again.
I also decided to make peppermint chocolate bark as gifts for the in-laws. The recipe is incredibly easy. The method to make it? My poor arm! It called for the chocolate to be melted slowly, which meant melting some of it over the stove in a bain marie, and adding the rest of the chocolate off the stove. I think it took me about an hour to get it all done, plus there's the fact that I had to do both regular chocolate AND white chocolate. My right arm was SO very sore. The recipe then called for the chocolate to cool at room temperature for about an hour, then break it into pieces. Well, I waited for more than an hour, and it was still a little soft, so I left it a little longer. When I finally decided to try and break it up, the chocolate was still quite soft and kept melting on my fingers. GAH! I finally gave up and put the rest into the fridge, because we had to leave for my GIL's for Christmas Eve dinner. At the very least, it was quite tasty!
When we got home, the chocolate bark was much more cooperative. It did get a bit softer again as I worked with it, but not as badly as it was when I was working with it at room temperature. If I were to make it again, I would stick it straight into the fridge once finished. I suspect that the condo may have been just a little too warm as well (especially with all the thermostats cranked up), but still...In the end, the in-laws were very appreciative of the food gifts.
Here is the meal plan for the week. We're doing our usual tradition of tapas-style dinner for New Year's Eve while we await midnight; I'll be attempting several new recipes for the meal. Enjoy the weekend and happy cooking all!
December 29-January 3rd
Sunday: Baked penne with Italian sausage
Monday: Lemon-spiced chicken, rice, veggies
Tuesday: New Years Eve tapas (BLT tea sandwiches, warm spinach and cheese dip with crudites & baguette slices, seven-layer dip with nachos, mini-cheesecake tarts)
Wednesday: Lamb racks, potato gratin, salad
Thursday: Linguine with white clam sauce
Friday: Taco pie