Ham with All the Trimmings

Tuesday December 25

Today was our responsibility, so we began by setting out a breakfast buffet of hot scones (some savory: heart-shaped from a mix Becky gave Holt as a birthday prezzie; the others sweet with cardamom, from a recipe by Sue Phinney, called "Holt's Birthday Scones"), butter, jams, Holtbread, lox, cream cheese, and Barbara's herbed goat cheese spread. We needed some sustenance, as opening all the presents for 17 people takes about 3 hours.

For Christmas dinner, we had decided to buy a local product, a bone-in Schad's Ham - 18.5 lbs. of it. We had to slice it into pieces so it would fit in the same oven* with:
Roasted vegetables - Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots, turnips, shallots, and red onions, tossed with kosher salt and goose fat frozen from last year's Christmas dinner.
(Did we tell everyone "Goose grease? You're soaking in it!" We did not).

We also made a couple of side dishes the day before:
Pineapple salsa with a hint of jalapeno.
Sweet Potatoes with Ginger: a dozen bright orange sweet potatoes** nuked in the microwave until tender; peeled with asbestos fingers; put through a ricer; and mixed with a large nubbin of stem ginger, minced, and about 2 Tbsps. of stem ginger syrup. Refrigerate until it's time to serve, and nuke for 3-4 mins. until hot. It is far lighter and airier than the brown-sugar-and-marshmallow stuff that people are used to (and why do we go overboard in sweetening something that's already sweet?), and those who taste it generally like it a lot.

For dessert, Holt made pecan pies with the last of the pecans Helene sent us. He was a bit nervous, since he's never liked any of his pie crusts. But New Joy's cream cheese crust (fresh from breakfast) worked a treat, as did cane syrup, a N'arlins present from Susann and Bert.


*When the kitchen designers ask if you want a second oven, say yes.
** "Yams? Useless little tuber." -Mad about You, sometime in the first season.