Christmas Dinner

We were joined by my husband's mother and brother for our Christmas celebration. 

We started the day with breakfast, that we enjoyed while opening presents.  I made Peach French Toast Bake.  It was so good.  I am usually not a fan of baked bread and egg dishes such as strata because of the texture.  I forgot to add the lemon but did add a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the custard mixture.  Using the baguette was awesome.  It helped the bread stand upto the custard.  I also loved the peaches and cinnamon. 

In true form to my father's family traditions, we had some light fare between breakfast and dinner.  What else we would have but shrimp cocktail?

I like my cocktail sauce super spicy!

1 cup of good ketchup

1 tsp of hot sauce

1/4 cup of good fresh ground horseradish

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp of ground black pepper

a pinch of red salt

If it is ok to say...dinner was fantastic.  We had a standing rib roast, potato tart, and steamed broccoli with cheese sauce.

Rib Roast Rub/Marinade

1/4 cup of fresh rosemary

4 cloves of garlic

3 TBS of fresh ground horseradish

1 tsp of salt and pepper

2 TBS of olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a mini-food processor.  Grind until it is the consistency of paste.  Smear all over roast and let it sit for at least 30 minutes at room tempature.  Cook as desired but we cook ours on the grill using an indirect grilling method.

The potato tart is pretty simple.  Make your own version of smashed potatoes.  Heat 2 TBS of olive oil in an oven safe skillet.  Place smashed potatoes in the skillet and then into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes until brown.  Nonstick will probably work best here.  I don't use nonstick and mine came out in clumps and wasn't the prettiest thing.  It was great, imagine twice baked potatoes without the skin shell.

We had gingerbread for dessert.  I have posted this recipe before. 

It was a great Christmas!  I hope you had a wonderful celebration as well!