So what are the traditional foods or new

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Yesterday with the in-laws, we had a turkey, a really spammy looking and tasting ham (according to husband), macaroni salad (didn't try this - not my fav), green salad, stuffing, creamed cucumbers (this I do like), corn, rolls, "homemade" lasagna (courtesy of brother in law#1's restaurant -- actually his mom's recipe, and pretty tasty), mashed potatoes (which were more like glue since sister in law#1 beats the living daylights out of them), nut horns (some type of cream cheese and walnut cookie -- very fattening but very irresistible), cherry and apple pies, various wines (which only four of us drank), coffee with Bailey's (only I seemed to enjoy this).

Today was just my little family and my uncle, his wife and their son. I served a spiral cut/glazed ham, minted peas (first try at this recipe -- includes green onions, fresh mint and rosemary, all from my garden), mashed potatoes (and they were properly mashed, not whipped into submission), sweet potato cashew casserole (with sliced peaches, ginger and brown sugar, except I forgot the cashews!), rolls, tossed greens with cranberries and candied pecans, rolls, and sparkling apple cider, with pumpkin pie for dessert. Oh, and my uncle's wife brought some yummy Vietnamese beef soup -- it was sweet, with carrots and onions -- very good!
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Coming in late to this but on Christmas Eve we did our traditional lasagna and on Christmas day a standing rib roast in a salt crust, french country potatoes, and maple glazed carrots.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
I made stuffed shells with meat sauce (veal, sausage and beef) yesterday. I wanted to keep it simple. We had a lot of appetizers, like stuffed mushrooms and assorted dips.

We had a big dessert table that included ammaretto ricotta cheesecake, stufoli, assorted chocolates, donuts, pies and cookies.

We went to in-laws on Christmas Eve and she made manicotti. We had shrimp and I made stuffed calamari.

Fran, I make several different versions of Italian Wedding soup. I use sausage with boccoli rabe a lot. Sometimes i use meatballs, but lately I've been using chicken sausage. If the store doesn't have brocoli rabe, I'll use escarole. My family loves it.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
We tend to go Greek - tzaziki, taramasalata, Greek salad, pickled octopus. I'm about to get a late lunch for people here - smoked salmon and cream cheese with capers and lettuce. I love it in summer. I'm cooking a roast chook (chicken) this evening (with all the roast vegetables), mother in law is grilling lamb and rosemary snags (sausages). We're chopping up a fast salad and pooling the lot. I'm going to make some chocolate pots, maybe for tomorrow night. Planning one night soon to have kangaroo satay - the roo is currently the cheapest meat, plus it's the best for iron. Strongly flavoured, though. Some chefs roast the whole roo rump, but it can be VERY dry if you do this. I much prefer it to camel, which I frankly don't think should be served except in a strongly-flavoured stir-fry. by the way, the roo is farmed roo - much more sustainable, better for the environment. We should never have tried to farm sheep or cattle in this country.

I know it gives us the distinction of being the only country in the world that eats its coat of arms, but maybe because we're the only country in the world where you can find the coat of arms in any paddock outside the cities. Canberra is having a lot of trouble with roos moving in to the outskirts of the city, following the water and the lush growth of people who hose their gardens in the drought.

We also have locust plagues forming in the Riverine, they will move north and we will see them here soon. We do get the edges of the plagues, even in Sydney. But I can't come at eating locusts. I should - it would be patriotic to do so.

I guess I have my limits.

Marg
 
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