Monday Night Dinner

I am so far behind on Dinner reports that we’re just going to do this in summary (with links to recipes) so that I can get to the good stuff, which is all about eating (and drinking) my way through London over Christmas + the first Dinner of 2013 which excitingly features (almost) all members of Dinner seated around the table for the first time in far too long.

End of 2012 Birthday Season – November 27th

This was the meal where I had an email exchange where the Birthday girl picked Pumpkin Chili and then asked if it would be ridiculous to have that with corn pudding. My answer was that theoretically no, but in practice it seemed like the two would be hard to eat together. We compromised on what turned out to be essentially the cornbread version of corn pudding.

Pumpkin Chili
Creamed Corn Cornbread
Salad

Goat Cheese Cake with Pistachio Crust

Get the recipes here.

Committing Christmas – December 4th

Because Thanksgiving was so early this year, it pushed the start of the Christmas season early too. And let me qualify the difference between when retailers started their Christmas season which was about 3 weeks before Thanksgiving, and the legitimate start of the Christmas season which doesn’t happen until at least December. We ended up getting our tree earlier than usual and decorating both because my roommate and I both needed something to jump start our Christmas spirit, and because I was leaving on the 18th for Christmas and wanted a chance to enjoy Christmas at home before I left. Anyway, Christmas was committed in our house the weekend of December 1st and enjoyed all the way through January 5th when I dismantled and packed everything away in advance of the Epiphany deadline.

Pretzel Crusted Chicken w/ a variety of mustards & mustard based sauces
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Grilled Apples
(umm, some kind of vegetable, although I’m blanking on what exactly – green beans?)

Get the recipes here.

Last Dinner of 2012 – December 11th

I thought about my upcoming 10 days of gluttony in London, and I contemplated the 24oz bottle of pumpkin beer leftover from Election Night, and decided to make a (marginally) lighter riff on a the classic Belgian beef stew with onions and beef (i.e. carbonnade). But then because this is Dinner, and moderation is never our watch word, I gilded a roasted Brussels sprout lily by pairing them with chestnuts, dried cherries and a maple glaze. These Brussels sprouts were so good they even won over a non-believer.

Chicken Carbonnade
(Fancy) Roasted Brussels Sprouts (with Chestnuts, Dried Cherries & a Maple Glaze)
Bread

Get the recipes here.