christmas dinner

I’ve got a great son-in-law! He prepared a fabulous Christmas dinner the other day.  His first inclination for Christmas dinner was lamb. However, my husband isn’t a big fan. My son-in-law then sent me a text saying he decided on veal. I assumed that he was making veal cutlets, but much to my surprise he made osso buco.
 
He found a fantastic old fashioned butcher shop, John’s Meat Mark, in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. My son-in-law was impressed by the service and knowledge of the butchers and also their walk in meat locker. They carry a wide variety of beef, pork and chicken products. John’s also carries assorted varieties of specialty sausage including Andoille, Chorizo, bratwurst, bockwurst, weisswurst and knockwurst. If that isn’t enough for you how about foil gras and wild game such as duck, quail and venison to name a few. 

For appetizers my son and daughter-in-law made a beautiful cheese platter with cheeses, dry sausage and prosciutto from Wegmans. They selected a truffle goat, honey goat and smoked maple cheddar.  I made two pounds of shrimp and homemade cocktail sauce with a recipe from my old, reliable Betty Crocker cook book.
 
Usually we have a pasta course for a holiday dinner, but this year we skipped it. I did, however, make a pear salad that my son-in-law found on a food blog called Chelsea’s Messy Apron. The salad was made with spring greens, pomegranate arils, dried cranberries, feta cheese and topped with candied pecans. The salad is dressed with a delicious raspberry and poppy seed dressing
 
made with fresh raspberries. Also, I used Diane’s Candied Pecans recipe for the candied pecans that topped this recipe.
 
My son-in-law found a delicious recipe on www.finecooking.com   website for his osso buco. The veal shanks were braised with onions, celery and carrot. Also in the braise was oregano, dry white wine, tomato paste, one 28-ounce can of plum tomatoes, fresh thyme, bay leaf and chicken stock. The veal braised for approximately two hours so that it became succulent and fork tender. To go along with the osso buco, he combed several recipes for risotto alla Milanese to create a recipe he liked. To round the meal he had roasted cauliflower and carrots.