Holiday Twists

By: Epicurious Em QUOTE:  “The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk!  This drunkenness culminates on New Year’s Eve, when you get so drunk, you kiss the person you’re married to!”  --P. J. O’Rourke



We all have holiday traditions and recipes that have sometimes been handed down for generations.  Here are a few tips for taking your tradition and modernizing or updating it with a “twist.”
Add Grand Marnier and port to your cranberry sauce.  If using fresh cranberries, the proportions would be 4 cups of cranberries, 2 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup Grand Marnier, 1/2 cup Port.  This is also a great sauce for turkey tenderloins or chicken medallions.  Another option is to add a few chopped pitted dates and balsamic vinegar to your cranberry sauce.

Combine 1/4 cup butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3 tblsp. flour, and 1/2 cup chopped pecans to the consistency of course meal.  Sprinkle on your already baked sweet potatoes until lightly browned.

Add a little grated Parmesan cheese to your creamed corn.

Add ginger, molasses, and vanilla to your pancake mix.  Tastes like gingerbread.

This is an interesting twist:  Prepare your turkey in a bag as you normally would.  Pour a bottle of champagne inside and outside of the turkey before baking.  Don’t forget to slit the bag!
Bake your ham with 4 onions (peeled and quartered) with 2 mangoes cut into 1” cubes and cover with 1 cup mango juice or peach nectar…OR

Bake your ham with 5 oz. of dried cherries and 1-cup port or sweet wine.

Instead of the traditional pumpkin or pecan pie, try spiced vanilla custards with a sweet potato streusel.

TIP:  I’ve recently found canned cranberry sauce at Riba Smith, Rey, and Machetazo.  On a recent venture into the city, Foodies in Bal Harbor had whole frozen cranberries.  I’m still on the hunt for canned pumpkin.

Epicurious Em welcomes your comments and suggestions.  As always, the information in this article provides ideas and suggestions.  You need to exercise your creative self.  Feel free to e-mail me at em@playacommunity.com.