Without the roast turkey, cakes and cookies, Christmas is incomplete. At this time, you can impress your friends, neighbors and family with some lip smacking dishes. As you decorate your house, plan your Christmas feast. You may want to prepare new recipes apart from the traditional ones.
These can be found in cookbooks or on the internet. One excellent book is The Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook. Enjoy preparing simple to extravagant recipes for the holiday season.
About Martha Stewart
Raised in Nutley, New Jersey, Martha Stewart acquired a passion for home keeping, gardening and cooking at an early age. In her childhood home on Elm Place, she learned the basics of cooking, canning, baking, and sewing from her mother who was a homemaker and a schoolteacher. From the age of 3, she was introduced to gardening by her father who was a keen gardener and also a pharmaceutical salesman.
She completed bachelor's degree in history and architectural history from Barnard College and paid tuition by working as a model. In her sophomore year, she married and after graduation, became a stockbroker on Wall Street. As a stockbroker, she gained business training. In 1972, she along with her husband and daughter, Alexis moved to Westport, Connecticut. She developed a catering business here. Her elegant recipes along with the visual presentation of food made her popular. In 1982, she published her first book, “Entertaining” which featured all these recipes.
Slowly she expanded her business and formed Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. It included an extensive multimedia portfolio like award-winning magazines, Martha Stewart Weddings and Martha Stewart Living; Emmy Award-winning television series “The Martha Stewart Show”; Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio; Martha Stewart Everyday mass-market merchandise which are sold at Kmart. It also includes the best-selling book “The Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook”; Martha Stewart-designed homes and communities with KB Home; Martha Stewart cards; Martha Stewart Furniture with Bernhardt; the Martha Stewart Collection products for home at Macy's, and Martha Stewart Rugs with Safavieh.
About The Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook
Martha Stewart Living Magazine's debuted a decade ago. Each holiday season people looked forward for the holiday issue. In this Christmas cookbook, you can find the best seasonal menu and entertaining ideas. The book contains Martha's favorite recipes. With over six hundred holiday dishes, you will be spoilt of choices.
The Martha Stewart Christmas Cookbook contains ten chapters of recipes. You can find all items from cocktails and hors d'oedvres through main courses and desserts here. Preparing traditional classics to new favorites is very easy. There are how-to photographs and illustrations to help you prepare the dishes. With sixty-four pages of color photographs, you are sure to get inspired. This holiday season cookbook also gives you tips and techniques along with a special menu section for preparing the perfect meal.
With its range of recipes, The Martha Stewart Christmas Cookbook is not just for Christmas Day but is ideal for the entire holiday season. So start preparing delicious eggnog to sip on Christmas Eve, traditional roast goose for Christmas dinner, or a festive brunch for the guests.
Recipes in The Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook
Dishes like Roast Goose, Beef Wellington, and Crown Roast can be prepared for your holiday party. Include cocktails like a Holiday Bloody Mary and White Russian Eggnog, warm spiced nuts for hors d'oeuvres, and side dishes and different breads. One of the well known Christmas dish in The Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook is –
Roast Goose
This serves 6 persons.
Ingredients
- 1 fresh or frozen (12-pound) goose, giblets reserved
- 3 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut in half
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 8 sprigs flat-leaf fresh parsley
- 3 stalks celery, cut in half
- 1 bunch fresh sage
- 1 medium onion, cut in half
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
- 1 bunch fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
Directions-
Place the goose in the refrigerator overnight to thaw if it is frozen. Remove from the fridge and keep for 30 minutes in room temperature. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the goose with cold running water inside and out and dry with paper towels. From the opening of the cavity, trim excess fat. For making the stock, remove the first and second joints of the wings and keep aside.
Prick the entire surface of the goose skin without cutting into the flesh with the point of a sharp knife. Take the neck flap and put it under the body of the goose. Use a wooden toothpick to pin the flap down. Generously sprinkle salt and pepper in the cavity. Insert thyme, garlic, sage, 2 celery-stalk halves, and 2 carrot halves in the cavity. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on the outside of the goose. Then in a large roasting pan, place the goose breast-side up on a wire rack set.
Roast the goose in the oven about 1 hour until golden brown. Every 30 minutes remove as much fat as possible with a baster from the roasting pan. Turn down the heat to 325 degrees, roast it till it is well browned all over and the instant-read thermometer registers 180 degrees, about 1 hour after the temperature reduction. Make sure the thermometer is inserted into the breast and it doesn’t touch the bone.
Prepare goose stock which will be used for making the dressing and the gravy. Remove and keep in a small stockpot, trimmed and excess fat from giblets, wing tips, and neck. Add onion halves, 4 celery-stalk halves, peppercorns, parsley, 4 carrot halves, and bay leaf. Add enough water to cover the vegetables and bones by 1 inch (about 2 1/2 quarts water). Bring all these to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium low. Skim the forming scum from the surface for 2 hours. Strain the stock and remove and discard the floating fat on the stock surface.
Remove the goose from the oven and put it on a cutting board and let it stand for 15 to 20 minutes.
Prepare the gravy. Pour off the fat from roasting pan and put the pan on high heat. Pour wine and cook till the liquid reduces by three-quarters. Then add 2 cups goose stock and cook. Stir the liquid until it is again reduced by three-quarters. Sprinkle pepper and salt to taste. Put in butter and cook until it thickens slightly. Through a cheesecloth-lined strainer, strain the gravy into a gravy boat. Serve it with the goose. Enjoy this with vinegar glazed onions and brussels sprouts
With your warmly decorated room and Christmas lights, enjoy a hearty meal with your dear ones this festive season. With such a variety of recipes in The Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook, you can look forward for a delightful meal throughout the holiday season.
|
