By Jason Colantonio
Coquitlam Public Library
The tired, bleary week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve is one notoriously filled with leftovers: odd, warmed-over combinations of stuffing, green and red gumdrops, olives, chocolate, mashed potatoes, gravy and butter tarts, and of course, turkey. Spruce things up with recipes from these holiday cookbooks.
The Food Network’s Mario Batali has written several books on quick and easy Italian dishes. Batali’s Holiday Food includes simple fare such as Mozzarella in Carozza (Fancy Grilled Cheese Sammies) and more extravagant meals like Timpano di Maccheroni (Mythic Pasta Dome). For dessert, there is Sanguinaccio (Cinnamon Chocolate Pudding with Pine Nuts) washed down with a citrus flavoured grappas. The festive feasts, hors d’oeuvres, desserts and drinks included in Holiday Food are better examples of fresh new meals as opposed to those made from leftovers, but eaters may need a break. Have at it!
Only one of a long line of Moosewood cookbooks, Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates features recipes for holidays throughout the year. Winter recipes include those for Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanza, First Night and New Year’s Day.
Antojitos: Festive and Flavorful Mexican Small Plates by Barbara Sibley and Margaritte Malfy features a few holiday recipes with a different twist on leftover ingredients: with flour, milk, sugar and some vanilla you can make Pastel Tres Leches De la Palapa (La Palapa’s Three Milk Cake) and with leftover ham, Tortas De jamon Serrano Y Queso Chihuahua en Panecillo de Elote (Serrano Ham, Cheese, and Avacado Sandwiches on Poblano Corn Bread).
Satisify your holiday sweet tooth with Company’s Coming: Most Loved Festive Baking by Jean Pare. Desserts, desserts, desserts. For some, the baking continues past the 25th, and Pare’s collection of recipes lacks nothing in the way of ideas. There’s Chocolate Eggnog Pudding, Mandarin Chocolate Biscotti and Stollen Tea Dunkers.
Peterson’s Holiday Helper by Valerie Peterson is subtitled “Festive Pick-Me-Ups, Calm-Me-Downs and Handy Hints to Keep You in Good Spirits.” And speaking of spirits, that is exactly what is included, recipes for libations that can be served anytime from US Thanksgiving (a month before Christmas) until New Year’s. Strange and interesting concoctions include Fruitcake Fizz, Liquid Mistletoe, Whatever Gets You Through The Woods and Hair of The Pit Bull.
Last, but not least, if you don’t have the ingredients for an elaborate Victorian holiday feast, read about one in Chris Kimball’s Fannie’s Last Supper: Re-Creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook. Kimball, founder of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and host of America’s Test Kitchen, details his preparation of a twelve-course Christmas meal based on Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking-School Cook Book published in 1896. The challenges of preparing dishes like Mock Turtle Soup, Roast Goose With Chestnut Stuffing and Applesauce and Mandarin Cake are well and humourously described. Do not try this at home.
Happy Reading (and Eating) and Happy Holidays!
