Ingredients
Bitter greens with candied lemon peel, pine nuts, balsamico, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese become a salad destined for the holidays.
These are still a holiday favorite and are even better the next day with leftover cold cranberries. Use your favorite type of sweet potato, or mix all varieties in a single dish.
An elaborate preparation for a special meal, you can cook everything except the Brussels sprouts the day before. Reheat the vegetables, blanch the sprouts, and combine them at the last minute. Instead of chestnuts, which I find to be disappointing and expensive (and the canned ones are just too soft), I use walnuts instead.
Ingredients
With their sticky, spicy glaze, these hens are a diminutive riff on our holiday turkey. The birds can be served with Butter-Roasted Cornbread — a twist on traditional stuffing, made of cornbread with sausage, nuts, and cheese baked into it and then toasted into crispy croutons. That crunch makes them irresistible. Spoon them over the hens and serve with Roasted Grapes and Winter Vegetables and you have a dish worthy of a cover shot.
Although they're called "horns," these cookies are shaped more like a horseshoe. They can be piped into any shape, however, such as the familiar rosette with a little piece of maraschino cherry in the center. The almond paste and egg white combination gives them a wonderful chewy texture.
You should bake this a couple of days in advance and let it stale at room temperature.
Sautéeing the cabbage ahead, even a day ahead, works well, but finish it with the butter and mustard just before serving.
The technique Chef Richard uses in his version of the traditional Yule log is inspired for eliminating the pesky problem of the cake cracking as you roll it. Another bonus is that his isn't as time-consuming and difficult as some. While the recipe appears long, there are few ingredients, and the directions are clear and easy. And the cake is so very good!