Christmas Dinner (on Dog Day, 5th of Snowy, Year 232)

[neotoma]

ellen_fremedon and the Vegan Knitter graciously shared the use of their kitchen (which is actually big enough to have more than one person in it) for Christmas dinner. ellen made harissa soup, baked bread, and sheet-roasted vegetables (brussel sprouts, onion, sweet potato, carrots, the knobbiest parsnips know to man (which I had bought -- oops), red beets).

I brought a duck and roasted it accord to this recipe. The only changes we made were to add a little bit of cornstarch to get the drizzle to thicken up.

I also made spätzle, because I own a spätzle press and like the noodles enough to make them despite how sticky the dough sometimes is. I make mine with mace instead of nutmeg, for a more delicate flavor.

I also brought springerle cookies and gingerbread tiles from The Springerle House. Technically I could have made them myself, but they require baker's ammonium and The Springerle House has an amazing collection of cookie molds, so why not leave it to the professional?

hollimichele was also there for dinner, and when she asked if she could help was assigned the task of cutting up the pomegranate, which was a bit mean to give someone who'd never attempted cutting one open before. They are very messy, but she was the one wearing black. She rose to the occasion and found a tutorial about how to cut open a pomegranate on Youtube (and then went "why are there still MORE seeds?" as she was taking it apart.)

Dessert was waffles by the Vegan Knitter. They came apart slightly in the iron, but were wonderful crispy anyway.

For New Year's Day, I have invited people to come to my place for vegan pancake and Liège Waffles. I may also make New Year's Waffle Cookies (AKA Lukken/Nieujaar's Wafeltjes/Gaufrettes) because I have a mini-waffle iron and can make them a day ahead. Maybe Smitten Kitchen's Winter Fruit Salad, assuming I can find dried figs and dried apricots.