Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

We’ve spent most of the day shopping for our two feasts. We always have a seafood luncheon or supper on Christmas Eve. Whichever meal we have our celebration depends on our daughter the choir director’s schedule of Christmas Eve services. Tomorrow it will be a luncheon. We’re serving peel and eat shrimp, crab legs and broiled lobster tails. We will also have a wonderful salad of celeriac remoulade on a mixed field greens. Some of the field greens will be from my garden. We’ve had four weeks of below average temperatures and several snowstorms. Yet the arugula and corn salad that I planted in Earth Boxes in September are still growing. The weather has warmed up today, and I was very pleased to find the greens still growing. I think if I plan well I might be able to grow fresh salad greens all year round. As soon as I have recovered from Christmas entertaining I plan to plant flower and lettuce seeds in my little mini greenhouse. That way I can set out some plants in February if we have our usual late January warm spell.

Here’s the celeriac recipe. We learned to love this ugly looking root vegetable while we lived in Germany in the 1960s. It’s also called celery root or knob celery.

Celeriac Remoulade

For Celeriac:
1 head celeriac (about 1 1/2 lb)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt


For Sauce:
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice or wine vinegar
2 tablespoons light cream
dash of Tabasco

Cut the celeriac into fine julienne. Boil water in a large non-aluminum saucepan; add the lemon juice and some salt. Put in the celeriac and when the water returns to a boil remove the saucepan from the heat. Drain the celeriac and refresh under running water. Drain again in a strainer, then dry it in a cloth.

Whisk the egg yolk and the mustard together in a bowl. Keep whisking as you add the oil in a thin stream, until you have a thick mayonnaise. Add salt, pepper and lemon juice and mix again. Mix in the cream and dash of Tabasco. Continue to whisk until the sauce is creamy.  Place the celeriac in a large bowl. Add the sauce and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve, sprinkled with black pepper.

There will also be a cheese tray, assorted olives, and some pickled beets. In Mexico a salad made with beets is a common dish on Christmas Eve. I love any excuse to put out the pickled beets.

For dessert we’ll have a Charlotte Russe. This is an easy version that doesn’t contain any gelatin, so I can eat some of it.

2 c. milk
1 c. sour cream
2 pkg. (3 3/4 oz. each) instant vanilla pudding
18 lady fingers
2 tbsp. triple sec
Sliced bananas or strawberries
Beat milk and sour cream at low speed until blended. Sprinkle in instant pudding. Beat at low speed. Line 1 quart mold with lady fingers. Add triple sec to pudding and pour into mold. Refrigerate or put in freezer if made shortly before serving.