Wicked Holiday Recipes

It’s Wicked Wednesday, and it’s Christmas Eve! We’re sharing holiday recipes with you today.

Edith: I had clemantines dipped in chocolate at a party last week and decided I must make it for our celebration tonight!

Ingredients
7 -8 medium clementines
4 -ounce dark chocolate bar (60-70% cocoa), finely chopped
Sea salt
Directions
Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Peel and segment clementines, set aside. Gently melt chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave or over a double boiler. Working in small batches, dip segments in chocolate and transfer to wax paper-lined sheet. Immediately sprinkle segments with a few grains of salt before the chocolate begins to set. Once all pieces have been dipped, set the sheet aside until chocolate hardens. To quickly harden chocolate, transfer baking sheet to the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

Sherry: That sounds delicious, Edith and easy enough for me to do! I make an olive spread that is easy and delicious. Buy a couple jars of your favorite olives (I usually use one green and one black), drain, and chop fine. Add a bit of minced garlic — a whole clove if you love garlic, less if you don’t. Grate in some Parmesan cheese and add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Mix together and serve with crackers or bread. It’s yummy and so easy. Adjust the ingredients to the amount of olives you use.

Julie: Both of those sound easy and great! Here’s my easy punch recipe. Get the following juices frozen: lemonade, limeade, pineapple, grapefruit, cranberry, orange juice. Mix them together, and freeze half for the next party. Put the rest in a punch bowl, add a bag of ice. Put in one bottle of seltzer, and one bottle of gingerale. Keep adding the sodas and adding more ice throughout the party. Lasts until your last guest leaves.

Liz: I just found the best recipe on Kriscarr.com for 2-Minute Pumpkin Pie Pudding. I’m pretty sure most people who read this blog have heard about my pumpkin obsession at one point or another, and this just added to it. It’s like eating pumpkin pie filling – and it’s good for you!

• 16 ounces unsweetened pumpkin puree
• 1 cup raw walnuts
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg)
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon pink salt
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or maple syrup)

Add all ingredients to a Vitamix or high speed blender. Use a narrow container for optimum fluffiness. Start Vitamix on low and move to high speed. Blend on high for one minute. Blend a bit longer for warmer pudding. Serve warm and fluffy or chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Jessie: I love to make soup at this time of year and one of my favorites is French Onion. It is fast, economical and my grandmother always said onions cured colds. This is the recipe for a quick, easy version:

Grab a large kettle and set it over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 tablespoon each olive oil and butter. When the butter is melted add 2 large sliced onions or 1 whole bag chopped frozen onions. Saute until the onions are a light golden brown. Sprinkle on 2 Tablespoons flour and stir until absorbed and the flour smells cooked, like toasted nuts. Add 8-10 cups of  beef stock and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Cook at just under the boil for 30 minutes. While soup is finishing slice a loaf of baguette, place on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with grated cheese. Pop under the broiler until melted. Ladle soup into bowls and top with slices of baguette.

Barb: I forget where I was recently when a discussion broke out about the Jello-based recipes of the 50s and 60s. Here is one, and you’ll have to take my word for it until you break down and make it, it’s delicious. This beet salad is called in the family, “borscht jello,” because it’s a savory blend of beets, onions, onion juice, horseradish, celery for crunch and served with sour cream. My father’s cousin Nora made it one year, and it became forever after a part of the meal, because my mother wanted everyone to have something red on their plate. Nora hasn’t had Christmas dinner with us since she graduated from college forty-five or so years ago. I’m sure she doesn’t know we still serve this dish every year. I wonder if she still makes it herself or if it’s a long forgotten recipe? I’ll have to ask her.

Ingredients:

1 can whole beets
3 Tablespoon tarragon vinegar
1 package lemon jello
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons onion juice
2 Tablespoons horseradish
3/4 cup sliced celery

Green
Sour cream

To make: Drain and preserve liquid from beets. To beet liquid ad enough water to make 1/2 cup, add vinegar. Bring liquids to a boil, stir in Jello until dissolved. Blend in salt, onion juice and horse radish. Refrigerate.

Cut beets in quarters. When Jello is partially (mostly) set,, stir in beets and celery. Spoon mixture into a 1 1/4 quart ring mold. Refigerate.

To serve: Unmold on bed of greens. In center of mold, set small serving bowl of sour cream. This is essentially a condiment. A little goes a long way.

(With apologies to June Lemen. I promised her this recipe a year ago and I don’t think I ever delivered.)

Readers: What’s your go-to holiday recipe? Favorite food at this dark time of year?