• Blog
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Tips & Tools
  • International LOVE
  • Love Notes
  • Shop
  • Powered by MSI Media Group

Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Christmas dinner 2012

December 29, 2012 by Mary Frances 15 Comments

Crown roast of pork with sauteed apples, Italian beans, and roasted asparagus on an antique Wedgewood plate on a beautiful tableclothI wish I could have shared this with you before Christmas, just like they do in the magazines. I hope now this may guide you and be helpful for New Year’s Eve or a New Year’s Day dinner party.

A big holiday like this requires a big presentation. Last year, I made a whole beef tenderloin. This year I did a crown roast of pork. Too big really for our party of eight, but I do have some big eaters, and one of my sons and one guest had four chops each! And then the leftovers were divine. I think I’ve already mentioned that I really enjoy and truly taste the nuances of a huge meal like this the next day, as leftovers. The busyness of working to get it all right, the timing and making sure each guest is happy, preoccupies me during the main meal. However, even I could tell, this was darn good!! Impressive and beautiful to boot!

But truly, the best part about a big celebration like this is that my whole family pitches in and we work together to pull it off. They helped to set up the bar area, chop herbs and clean vegetables and yes, even helped with the clean up in a major way. Our last guests left a little after midnight. Then all four of us worked to clean up and then we stayed up talking until 3 am! For my husband and me, spending time like this with our boys is the most precious of all.

One of our guests at our Passover celebration evened remarked about how well we all worked together as a family, to get the dinner on the table and make our guests feel comfortable. I feel proud that our boys have learned to entertain and that they enjoy sharing their love of good food. Serving and sharing love and food makes everyone happy – what could be better?

Here’s my whole menu:

– Straight up martinis with great olives for many of us at cocktail hour
– Homemade cheddar cheese straws – finally I found a stellar recipe for these from The New York Times – make ahead and they will keep for a while – recipe to come
– Texas smoked salmon tartare on blue corn chips
– Warm artichoke dip with red pepper, celery, fennel strips and crostini crackers
– Bowls of mixed olives, toasted corn nuts and lightly salted cashews

THE DINNER:
– Roasted butternut squash soup with bourbon, served with homemade Polish bread
– Crown roast of pork with fennel, sage, garlic and lemon
– Italian beans – the best – recipe to come!
– Sautéed apples in a little butter with cinnamon, nutmeg and a touch of lemon
– Roasted asparagus with olive oil and lemon zest

– Homemade Christmas cookies – all recipes are here on the blog plus special bakery cookies
– Fantastic coffee from our older son

I’m noticing here that it might seem as though I had a lot of lemon going on, but the meal did not taste that way at all. Everything worked together beautifully and was delicious!!
Crown roast of pork with fennel, lemon and garlic paste/marinade.Crown roast of pork with succulent chop cut from first cut.CROWN ROAST OF PORK WITH FENNEL, LEMON AND GARLIC – adapted from Melissa Clark and The New York Times
–
serves 12 – 16

2 heaping tsp. fennel seeds
Rosemary leaves from 4 – 5 bushy sprigs
7 – 8 large cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup fresh sage leaves and tender sprigs
Lemon peel strips from 1 lemon – thinly peel the lemon with a vegetable peeler
2 tsp. fennel pollen (optional)
1 heaping tbs. plus 1 pinch coarse kosher salt
1 heaping tsp. cracked black pepper
7 tbs. extra-­virgin olive oil
1 crown roast of pork (18 ribs)
4 large onions, peeled and sliced into ¼” slices

In small skillet, toast fennel seeds until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

Place toasted fennel seeds, rosemary, garlic, sage, lemon peel, fennel pollen (if using) and all of the salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse processor to chop everything up, then add olive oil slowly, and blend until the mixture becomes a paste, scraping down sides occasionally with a rubber spatula.

Wipe pork very dry with paper towels, then smear the herb paste all over the meat, making sure to coat the middle and the crevices on the sides of the chops.

Wrap in plastic wrap and let marinate for 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Bring the meat to room temperature for at least 1.5 hours before roasting.

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Put a thin film of olive oil in the bottom of your roasting pan and spread it around with your fingers. Place onion slices down to form a rack for your roast. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top of the onions and salt and pepper them. Place your roast on top and roast for 20 minutes at 450 degrees, then turn heat down to 350 and continue roasting until meat registers 145 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours longer. Let rest 20 minutes before carving.
Sauteed apples in butter with cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon; roasted asparagus with olive oil and lemon in a red holiday bowl.Christmas/holiday cookie platter with Cognac sugarplums, hello Dolly Squares, date bars, sugar cookies, pecan crisps, and special bakery cookiesStarting at eight o’clock we enjoyed Cognac sugarplums, pecan crisps, Hello Dolly squares, cut-out sugar cookies, date bars and special bakery cookies that a guest brought. With a great cup of joe, this is a very nice way to end a big meal.

Related

You might also like:

  • Date Bars updated on a white plate.DATE BARS! – updating a tradition
  • Porchetta and salad leftovers.Happy New Year 2015!!! Porchetta with a Persimmon, Pomegranate and Frisee Salad
  • One piece of Made-in-the-Pan chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries.Made-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake
  • Eadter table set with sugar eggs, tulips and antique Easter toys.Easter stories
  • christmas cookies that are Hello Dolly squares with coconut, chocolate and pecansHoliday cookies

Filed Under: Dinner, Meat Tagged With: butternut squash soup, Christmas dinner, cognac sugarplums, crown roast of pork, date bars, fennel pollen, fennel seeds, Hello Dolly Squares, holiday dinner, Italian beans, pecan crisps, roasted asparagus with olive oil and lemon, sauteed apples, sugar cookies

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Security check- *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. johnnysenough hepburn says

    December 29, 2012 at 4:49 PM

    Sounds amazing! Looking forward to your Italian beans recipe as I adore legumes.

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      December 29, 2012 at 6:41 PM

      Thank you – I’ll try to get the beans up by next weekend!! Happy New Year!

      Reply
  2. tartanpants says

    December 29, 2012 at 4:56 PM

    What a wonderful meal. I too look forward to seeing the bean recipe, we eat of lot of these and it is always nice to try a different version!

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      December 29, 2012 at 6:40 PM

      Thank you!! I’ll try to have the beans up by next weekend. They are time consuming but everyone LOVES them!

      Reply
  3. William McLeod says

    December 29, 2012 at 5:42 PM

    Magnificent!

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      December 29, 2012 at 6:40 PM

      Thanks!! 🙂

      Reply
  4. massiscooking says

    December 29, 2012 at 5:52 PM

    Delicate!!!

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      December 29, 2012 at 6:38 PM

      Thanks!! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Chuck says

    January 3, 2013 at 12:32 PM

    That looked great!! I’ve been meaning to have a Crown Pork Roast for a while, but haven’t had the occasion to have enough people over to justify it. I may just make up a reason! LOL

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      January 3, 2013 at 5:41 PM

      Invite big eaters – and enjoy the leftovers!

      Reply
      • Chuck says

        January 3, 2013 at 7:21 PM

        yeah, that’s what it’s going to take. LOL I’ll make them bring the wine.

        Reply
  6. glutenfreezen says

    January 18, 2013 at 1:48 PM

    Wow! Everything looks absolutely mouth watering! Thank you for stopping by my blog today. 🙂

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      January 22, 2013 at 1:00 PM

      Pleasure! Thank you!!

      Reply
  7. Chef Devaux says

    December 5, 2015 at 11:35 AM

    How I love this Christmas dinner. Just looking at the pictures I am mouth watering. The crown roast pork look fabulous. Thanks for making me a good idea for this Christmas year.
    Chef Devaux recently posted…Salmon Dreams Sushi RecipeMy Profile

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      December 5, 2015 at 1:14 PM

      Thank you!! So glad I could give you some inspiration.
      Thanks for stopping by, Chef!

      Reply

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Join 32k+ followers!


Never miss out on a recipe!

Subscribe to receive new posts via email:

Mary Frances

Mary Frances

Spread love through cooking.

Summer Favorites

Easy Cheesy Sautéed Squash The Best Potato Salad Super Quick Chicken and Summer Vegetables Stir-fry Chimichurri-ed Wilted Endives with Walnuts Chilled Curried Zucchini Soup with Apple Garnish Best Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp to make now!

Categories

  • Appetizers
  • Breakfast
  • Brunch
  • Cocktails
  • Contest
  • Cookies
  • Cookware and tools
  • Desserts
  • Dinner
  • Events
  • First Course
  • Fish
  • Food Responsibility
  • Guest Post
  • Lunch
  • Meat
  • Pasta
  • Poultry
  • Products for sale
  • Salads
  • Sauces
  • Sides
  • Soups
  • Tea time
  • Travel
  • Vegetables

Pages

Blog
About
Recipes
Tips and Tools
International Love
Love Notes
Shop
Mary's secret ingredients

Blogs We Love

  • 1840 Farm
  • A Pug in the Kitchen
  • Cottage Grove House
  • Food, Photography & France
  • Food52
  • From the Bartolini Kitchens
  • Go Bake Yourself
  • Hotly Spiced
  • Jovina Cooks Italian
  • Lavender and Lime
  • Orgasmic Chef
  • Smitten Kitchen
  • Sophie's Foodie Files
  • Steven’s Wine and Food Pairings
  • That Skinny Chick Can Bake
  • The Pioneer Woman
  • The Squishy Monster
  • Tips on Food and Drinks
  • Yummy Chunklet
  • LOVE - the secret ingredient


  • GET IN TOUCH
  • E mary@lovethesecretingredient.com

· All Rights Reserved ·© 2016 Love- the secret ingredient. All rights reserved. Disclaimer | Privacy Policy Disclosure Policy Terms & Conditions