The Man and I love that The Lady loves to cook; but cleaning the kitchen is a chore none of us care for, especially moi, who has a significant aversion to water… so…
The Lady decided to do Christmas dinner in a progression of courses with plenty of time to enjoy, relax and clean between courses… sometimes The Man and I marvel at her logic…
The first course was a new recipe pimento cheese (recipe will follow in the next posting) which she served with celery sticks, Castleton Crackers and Sable and Rosenfeld’s Olive Bruschetta.
Vermont’s own Castleton Crackers were made using Jasper Hill’s Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, melding flavors the three of us love. The crackers are made in large sizes and broken up into pieces bringing to life the sweet, nuttiness of the award-winning Cabot Clothbound, aged to perfection at the Cellars of Jasper Hill. Whitney, the baker, adds a touch of cayenne to the recipe, for an extra kick. The crackers were a perfect pairing for the pimento cheese and the olive bruschetta.
While The Lady and I were partial to the pimento cheese, The Man was sent off into a swooning frenzy over the Sable and Rosenfeld Mediterranean Bruschetta. He couldn’t get enough of it and before the day was done… alas so was the bruschetta… In addition to olives, this tasty bruschetta was filled with chopped carrots, celery, cauliflower, capers and pimento with lots of oregano, olive oil and garlic. Simply perfect. The Lady had planned to also use it later, heated, over a pasta… but that ship sailed as The Man scarfed it up on the crackers and the celery.
I give both the Castleton Crackers and Sable andRosefeld’s Olive Bruschetta 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got) and hope for The Man’s sake, this stuff is sold locally…
While waiting for Course Two to cook, The Man and I treated ourselves to an episode of the “reality” series, “Amish Mafia” (I don’t have to make this stuff up… someone has already done it for me…)… if you haven’t seen this… well… you’re not missing a thing…
The second course was homemade New England Clam Chowder which The Lady made using Pink Klondike Fingerling Potatoes she had left in the fridge for a week to sweeten them, a combination of whole milk and heavy cream, chopped clams, fresh parsley and rosemary… the rosemary is fresh from our deck garden… she also added a bay leaf from her tree… also sitting on the deck… another winning course…
As we sat down for the second course, The Lady began cooking a Foster Farm Turkey Breast that comes in its own cooking pouch with a separate gravy pouch. You can never go wrong with Foster Farms…The cooking time was about an hour and a half and she served the turkey breast with a baked yam (topped with a dollop of Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Cultured Butter) and good ole cranberry sauce from a can… a favorite of The Man… no fancy cranberry relish for The Man… 
just the jellied sauce…
After the main course, The Man helped The Lady clean up the kitchen and then he and I both watched reverently as she prepared the dessert, a Pear Tarte Tatin with Winter Spices, from a recipe she found at the William Sonoma website.
It required about an hour to bake and while it was filling the air with comforting aromas of cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, we watched an episode of Hillbilly Blood about how to make moonshine while out-witting the revenuers… Again, you don’t need to make this stuff up…
Before my final thoughts on the dessert, let me pose this question… where other than America can you combine white trash television with a gourmet dinner on Christmas Day???
The Pear Tarte Tatin came out perfectly and once more The Lady and I had to fight The Man for our share… sheesh…
But Christmas Day at The Manse was indeed perfect… Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my peeps…
FTC Full Disclosure – The cheesemakers/manufacturers/brokers sent me some of these products, hoping I would review the product/cheese. Please see my About Page for details.
On New Year’s Eve (which is also The Lady’s birthday… she’s getting up there in people years…) we will post our year in review… stay tuned… lots of pictures, memories and hopes for what lies ahead…
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