I'm hosting a holiday dinner for my family on December 5th. I plan to bake a turkey with stuffing and will be making sherried sweet potatoes.
I'd like some super good, super easy recipe ideas for a couple of side dishes. My uncle is severely lactose intolerant, so ideas without milk or cheese are best.
TIA!
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"Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess." ~ Edna Woolman Chase
What about a risotto instead of potatoes? Most holiday potato recipes contain (lots of) dairy. But a nice mushroom risotto would be creamy and good, and pretty easy too.
Maybe a sauteed garlic spinach?
The cranberry sauce my family makes couldn't be easier. 1 bag of cranberries, 1 orange, cut into chunks (peel and all), 1 cup of sugar. Toss in a food processor (or food mill to make it chunkier) and serve chilled.
I make green beans with caramelized shallots. It's tasty and extremely easy, which is what I look for in a holiday side dish.
I change the recipe at home to suit the meal, but here's the one from the Martha Stweart site that I used as a base. This one serves 12.
2 pounds green beans
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 shallots, thinly sliced 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons store-bought seasoned breadcrumbs Coarse salt and freshly ground peppe
Prepare an ice-water bath. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add green beans, and blanch until bright green, about 5 minutes. Drain, and transfer to ice-water bath. Let stand until cool. Drain, and pat dry.
Heat oil in a large straight-sided skillet over medium heat. Add shallots, and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add beans, and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.
Stir in breadcrumbs, and cook for 2 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm. Sometimes I'll omit the bread crumbs and add tosted almond slivers instead. To brighten it up I've also added lemon zest as the beans are heating with the shallots. I also tend to use much less oil than what is called for in the receipe. I've found that if you just swirl some oil in the bottom of the pan and watch the shallots carefully, it works just fine.
I know you asked for side, but if you need any appitizer ideas, let me know. My SIL and I spilt most holidays so if I'm not cooking the meal, I'm bringing the wine and apps.
-- Edited by Boots on Tuesday 16th of November 2010 01:57:25 PM
OK, here are some favorite apps I make for parties.
STUFFED DATES
I make these all year long (I've even grilled them!) They are probably my most requested dish. This makes 12 servings of 5 dates per person.
60 pitted dates 60 pieces of Marcona nuts (nuts from Spain) 60 pieces of bacon (cut a slab into 2 thin strips then slice those strips in half to make 4 pieces) 60 toothpicks
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stuff each date with one nut (or 1/2 a nut if date is small) Stuff all dates the same. Wrap each date with one strip of bacon and hold in place with toothpick. Place on a foil lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Serve hot.
I like to mix up the ingredients too. You can also stuff the dates with water chestnuts, almonds or goat cheese mixed with finely chopped shallots, salt & pepper. It's all good.
SWEET & SPICY NUTS
This is a great make ahead recipe. I make it the night before and put them in zip lock bags in the fridge. Let them come to room temp before the party for an hour or so. This make 4 cups. It goes with just about any drink you will serve.
4 cups of unsalted mixed nuts (about 1 lb) 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup honey 1 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Mix sugar & salt together in a wide bowl. On a slightly oiled parchment paper covered cookie sheet toast nuts in oven at 325 degrees for around 10 minutes (watch carefully. When the nuts smell like toasted nuts, take out right away.) Let cool. Melt honey with cayenne pepper in a skillet. over low heat. Add nut and coat with honey mixture. Let cool very slightly. Add nuts to sugar/salt mixture and toss to coat completely (I do it with my hands in small batches in the shallow bowl.) Throw away parchement paper (you can recover if you want to aviod a mess) and let nuts cool completely on cookie sheet.
BAKED BRIE
Serve this with crackers (I like wheat thins or Triscuits.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove top rind from cheese (a sharp knife should slice it off easily.) Leave rind on the sides. Place cheese (cut side up) in a small oven proof baking dish (like a small casserole dish.) You can also wrap the cheese in parchment paper instead after you add the rest of the ingredients. Use 2 sheets of parchment and gather it together at top then twist it shut. If you wrap in parchment paper, place it on a lined cookie sheet to keep clean up minimal. Sprinkle top of cheese with cranberries, thyme and walnuts. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is soft and gooey. Serve in baking dish or carefully unwrap from paper (I like to trim paper away so only the bottom remains papered and serve it on a platter with the crackers and more cranberries sprinkled around it. Serve right away.
thanks Boots! the stuffed dates sound wonderful (unfortunately I would not be able to eat them, but everyone else could!) The nut recipe is a good idea too... I definitely want to make things ahead of time.
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"Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess." ~ Edna Woolman Chase
a nice antipasto platter might be nice for an appetizer. Its super easy and isn't too filling. Plus, you can buy so much of it a the deli bar. As long as you kept the cheese on a seperate plate for your uncle, you'd be all set. It would compliment the nuts boots posted.
Actually, you could place a few pieces of mixed stemware on the platter, and put the nuts in one (balloon glass, with a spoon), cheese in another (maybe a large martini glass) and meats in a third (like salami sticks in an iced tea glass) and it would look very pretty with all the peppers and mushrooms and olives and whatnot on a pretty platter below.
ooh - that sounds super pretty, gd! actually, i found a candlewick relish dish last year that intend to use. I also have some candlewick glasses, but they're squat bases. I'll have to figure something out...
__________________
"Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess." ~ Edna Woolman Chase