Christmas Party

Over the holidays, I hosted a Christmas party for our friends to meet our new son in law.  Unfortunately I was not taking many pictures and only have pictures of a few of the dishes I had prepared for the party.

This became an interesting party as we had opened our house to host a young Syrian family  just before Christmas.  The flavors of Serbia were introduced in the menu to our guests. 

The menu 

Asian Pork Meatballs with Nouc Cham Sauce

Lamb Kofta Kebabs with Tzatziki Sauce

Cheese platter

Marinated peppers 

Spinach and Artichoke Bread Ring Dip Baked in a Cast Iron 

This was such a hit that it quickly disappeared when taken out of the oven, before being place on the table

Two rows of small dough buns were arranged around the edge of a greased Cast Iron pan. In the centre was Spinach and Artichoke dip. 

Pate in Puff Pastry

Sweet Spicy Honey-Sriracha Roasted Mix Nuts

Christmas Tree pull apart Scones 

Savory Crackers 

Season these crackers with whatever you like!  I layer hot and spicy crackers with ones that where not so spicy.  Chilli flakes, cracked pepper, oregano, basil and paprika, chunks of fresh Garlic and Parmesan cheese, Sesame seeds with hot chilies, Za'atar spice! 

An assortment of smoked and spicy sausages with Homemade pickles

Syrian Chicken with rice

Arabic Eggplant Dip (Mutabal) 

The two dishes, Mutabal and Spicy Arabic chicken were prepared and brought to the party by a friend of the family were hosting. 

Chicken Liver Pate in Puffy Pastry

Syrian Hummus

This recipe was prepared and plated by the young family we were hosting. 

Asian Chicken Meatballs with sweet and sour sauce

Assortment of desserts

Cranberry Bundt

Serbian custard filled pastry

Assortment of Heritage Quebecois desserts 

Cinnamon-Walnut Crescent Cookies 

What's in your suitcase?

What would you take if you were fleeing your home and country?

My brother has always wanted me to write about my experiences of staying with my grandparents from Grade One to Three.  Here I learned to appreciate some of the stories that my grandmother told me about leaving her country.  Her eyes would fill with tears as she spoke of a large brown trunk that she had to leave on the East coast.  My Grandmother and her husband had arrived by ship and the trunk was just too big to bring with her to the prairies.  I remember as a child fantasizing finding this trunk and opening the lid to look at what was inside.  I do know that she had packed; her china and linens. What did they look like?  I often ponder on what else was in this trunk and what had happened to it.  It surprised me when I asked my Aunt about this, she was unaware that her Mother had left a trunk behind.  Yet, I remember her talking about this and becoming very emotional.

This week, my husband and I visited the young Syrian family that we had hosted over the Christmas holiday's.  They had arrived to Canada with two huge heavy suitcases just before Christmas.  As I looked around their new home, a couple of icon medium sized wooden mosaic pictures were in the corner waiting to be hung.   A huge Wooden Rosary and another icon wooden wall plague was given to us as gifts!  

 I look around my house wondering what I would take.  Would it be my Expresso coffee maker, the Royal Alberta "Memory" China I had bought my Mom for helping me through University or would it be the cross in our bedroom given to us by the priest who married us.  

What would you take? 

Fish Balls

These Fish Balls are delicious and a great hit with children. They are served with a sweet and sour sauce.  The only seasoning is lime juice in this case.  

I prefer crusted cornflakes as the sweetness in the cornflakes and the added crunch adds to this dish.

The fish is pulsed in a food processor but can also be chopped or ground in a meat grinder.  1/2 medium onion was added along with the egg. The onion can be sauté first, but I didn't in this case. 

  

Dip the fish balls in an egg wash and then in cornflakes. 

The fish balls were frozen for the Traditional Christmas Eve dinner.  

The best part of preparing all these dishes is the tasters

.  You can also adjust the spices at this time before you makeup the fish balls.  

For Christmas Eve, these fish balls were baked in the oven at 325

Christmas Tree Scone Appetizer

Our Annual Neighbourhood Christmas Party was last night and our side of the street was assigned to bring a savoury Appetizer.  Since my husband makes awesome scones, he made bite size scones and we arranged the scones in the shape of a Christmas Tree to bake.

The scones even though I did push them together did not stick together.  Perhaps moistening the edges may help.

The tree was covered with a cream cheese icing

Cream Cheese Icing:
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 c Sour Cream
dill weed
1 garlic clove, minced

Top the tree with 3 cups of chopped vegetables of your choice.

I grated one carrot, chopped broccoli and 1/4 c onion, thinly sliced red peppers for the garland, chopped tiny broccoli florets for ornaments and shaped a star out of the bell pepper

This appetizer was very festive, made a grand entrance to the party and disappeared quickly!

Plum Pyrohy

Plums were used as a filling to use up the left over dough, 2 dozen of Plum Pyrohy were made for Christmas Eve.  The tester with a drizzle of maple syrup sour cream and whipped cream was delicious.

My father used to love High Bush Cranberry pyrohy for Christmas Eve 

The sliced plums were first soften in the microwave.  The testers were boiled until they floated in the water.

Now to wait to see how my family likes this variation. I have made prune ones which are lovely too.  

Cabbage Pyrohy for Christmas Eve

Another traditional dish made for Christmas Eve dinner is Sauerkraut pyrohy.  These pyrohy have always been my favorite and especially delicious reheated. 

Using the same recipe dough that I did for the cottage cheese I made 4 dozen of these dumplings.  My Mom always made the shape of these dumpling by pinching the ends together to get a circle shape. The shape is much like the Italian Tortellini shape. 

The sauerkraut is drained and washed. A step my Mom always did as she felt the store bought Sauerkraut was too bitter and salty. 

Drain and squeeze out as much moisture as you can as easier to make the dumplings if the filling is dry.

Soften finely chopped onion in a drizzle of Olive oil and then add the sauerkraut to sauté.

Yes, a lot of pinching that needs to be rechecked before freezing as the dough does relax and the seams need to be checked and resealed tor the dumplings will open when boiling to cook.  Trust me after all this work the last thing you want to see is the filling floating as you cook the dumplings!

These are frozen on a cookie sheet pan.  Cover the pan with saran wrap and each layer.   My Aunt Marion laughing commented that life is so much better with Saran wrap.   Sprinkle a dusting of flour on the base and on each layer of dumplings.  Another time that a shaker with flour is most handy.  When the dumplings are frozen, repack into ziplock bags. 

Vushky, Mushroom Dumplings

Vushky, "Little Ears"

These tiny dumplings are part of traditional Christmas Eve dishes and served in Lenten Borscht.  Vushky translates to "little ears' because of the dumplings final shape.   As a child, I remember being fascinated by these tiny white dumplings floated in a clear Borscht broth on Christmas Eve at my Grandmother's place.

Sauté mushroom and finely chopped mushrooms in drizzle of Olive Oil.  Wild Mushroom powder was added to mushrooms. 

Chop the cooked mushroom filling

Again, I used the same dough recipe I did for the Cottage cheese pyrohy the recipe for this dough is my Mom's recipe for Pyrohy.

I did do two different shape styles and will have to wait to see which one floats better in the broth. One style is to pinch the ends so you get a circle shape, like the Italian tortellini. For the other shape pinch the ends together over top of the dumpling.

Using a smaller cutter size or glass, I got 4 dozen of these tiny dumplings.