'Twas the night before … - Christmas meals - Recipe

Vegetarian Times, Dec, 2000 by Ken Haedrich

Amid the hustle and hustle, take time for a special Christmas Eve dinner

There was a time when I fancied myself a cooking magician, someone who could pull an entire holiday dinner right out of my chef's hat. That was my perception. The reality was, all too often I'd find myself halfway into a recipe without key ingredients, or I'd start too late to do everything I wanted to and end up feeling cheated. You only do that so many times before you learn an important lesson: The holidays should be a time of joy, celebration and high spirits, not a time of frustration measured by the gap between what we had hoped to accomplish and what we actually pulled off. That's when I started cooking smarter, not harder, to make my Christmas Eve table a place where all gathered 'round could sit back and enjoy the wonderful smells and good food.

Cooking smart boils down to one thing: being prepared. Ask any caterer. That buffet for 100 or sit-down dinner for 50 may look effortless, but a week's worth of work went into it--not to mention a small army of cooks. Even if you're a single soldier, you can reap the time- and energy-saving dividends of incremental cooking. I've done much of the work for you, planning a menu that lends itself nicely to these principles.

The mixed green salad is served with a cranberry vinaigrette, and, like most vinaigrettes, it can be made up to three days ahead and still taste wonderful. The fruit bread also can be made a couple of days ahead; it holds perfectly in the fridge at least that long. Just bring it to room temperature several hours before dinner, wrap in foil and reheat at 300 [degrees] F. Removing the foil for the last few minutes will crisp the crust nicley. The stuffed cabbages hold well if you assemble and refrigerate the dish the day before. The chickpeas are quick enough to make at the last minute, and the cookies can be baked and frozen weeks ahead. Serve them at room temperature or warmed ever so slightly. (Incidentally, in case you're thinking cookies aren't formal enough for a sit-down dinner, these are perfectly elegant and need no apologies. Present them on dessert plates--with a scoop of ice cream if desired.)

In addition to all that, there are little steps you can take to put you even further ahead. The fruit can be chopped and the dry ingredients measured for the bread up to one week in advance. You can measure out the rice for the cabbages when you get a spare moment, premix the spices for the beans, and toast and grind the nuts with the sugar for the cookies. These small things may not seem like much, but they quickly add up to a relaxing Christmas Eve dinner that you can enjoy along with your family and guests.

Roasted Potato Soup

8 SERVINGS EGG-FREE

Roasting vegetables adds a satisfying, bold flavor dimension to soup. Be sure to roast the vegetables long enough for the onions to get well done, as undercooking them will give the soup a raw flavor. Because roasting leaves a brown skin on the potatoes, the soup won't be perfectly smooth when you puree it. But don't worry: A few chunks in the soup contribute to the texture.

2 lbs. all-purpose potatoes, peeled and
  cut in half (4 to 5 potatoes)
2 medium-large onions, halved and
  peeled
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 medium head garlic
2 1/2 Tbs. butter or soy margarine
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 1/2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk, half-and-half or soy milk

1. Preheat oven to 400 [degrees] F. Place potatoes in large bowl. Snip root end off each onion and cut each half into 3 sections. Add onions to potatoes, breaking up onions with your fingers to separate.

2. Drizzle vegetables with oil, add thyme and toss well. Spread vegetables on baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Slice top third off head of garlic and place it on a piece of foil. Put 1/2 tablespoon butter on top of garlic and drizzle 2 teaspoons water onto foil. Fold sides of foil to enclose; place on pan with vegetables. Roast vegetables 45 minutes, then remove garlic. Continue roasting vegetables until tender, about 15 minutes more.

4. In large saucepan, bring broth to a simmer over medium-low heat. Transfer half the roasted vegetables to food processor and add 1/2 cup hot broth. Process mixture until fairly smooth, then transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining vegetables and a little more hot broth, squeezing garlic pulp out of husks into last batch. Stir all pureed mixture into broth in pan; keep pan over low heat.

5. In small saucepan, melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 1 1/2 minutes. Stir in milk and cook, stirring often, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in ladleful of soup and cook 1 minute.

6. Add mixture back to soup. Cook over medium-low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Serve right away, or cool, refrigerate and reheat when needed.

PER SERVING: 257 CAL.; 5G PROT.; 8G TOTAL FAT (3G SAT. FAT); 30G CARB,; 12MG CHOL.; 191MG SOD.; 2G FIBER