Grand feast: an old-fashioned Christmas dinner comes with all the trimmings - Food and Entertaining

As Ebenezer Scrooge finally learns in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, the holiday is about generosity. Dinner reflects the spirit--for most people, a feast of particularly special, familiar foods, eaten with family and good friends.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

This year, our entire food department collaborated on a Christmas menu, collecting and devising dishes that express the goodwill and happy times we'd like to share. Our first course and finale are traditional dishes revised with fresh flavors: crunchy salt crystals on little gougeres, and poached cranberries, rich toffee sauce, and rum-flavored whipped cream in a festive trifle. The main course--a showy prime rib roast, creamed spinach, and parsley potatoes--echoes the spirit of Christmas past in the best way.

Salt-and-Pepper Cheese Puffs (Gougeres)

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 1 hour

NOTES: These easy puffs are especially good made with strongly flavored, aged white English, Irish, or Canadian cheddar. We like to use an imported sea salt with pretty, crunchy crystals, such as fleur de sel, Halen Mon, or Maldon, but any coarse sea salt will work. The puffs can be made up to 1 month ahead and frozen; cool, then freeze airtight. Reheat thawed puffs, uncovered, in a 375[degrees] oven until crisp and hot, about 5 minutes.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

MAKES: 48 puffs; 12 to 14 servings

  1/2  cup (1/4 lb.) butter, cut into chunks

1 1/2  cups all-purpose flour

    6  large eggs, beaten to blend

1 1/4  cups shredded sharp cheddar
       cheese (see notes)

1 1/2  teaspoons fresh-ground pepper
       Coarse sea salt (see notes)

1. In a 3- to 4-quart pan over high heat, bring 1 1/2 cups water and the butter to a full rolling boil. Remove from heat, add flour all at once, and stir until mixture is a smooth, thick paste with no lumps. Add a quarter of the beaten eggs at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition until dough is no longer slippery. Stir in cheese and pepper.

2. Spoon dough into a large pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/2-inch round tip. Pipe in 48 equal mounds on two cooking parchment--lined or buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheets. (Alternatively, drop dough on sheets in slightly rounded tablespoon--size portions.) Sprinkle each mound with a few grains of coarse sea salt.

3. Bake in a 400[degrees] regular or convection oven until dry and well browned, about 30 minutes. Serve warm (see notes).

Per puff: 53 cal., 61% (32 cal.) from fat; 1.9 g protein; 3.6 g fat (2 g sat.); 3.1 g carbo (0.1 g fiber); 87 mg sodium; 35 mg chol.

Butter Lettuce Salad with Walnuts and Grapes

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 50 minutes

NOTES: You can toast the walnuts (step 1) up to 2 days ahead; when cool, wrap airtight and store at room temperature.

MAKES: 12 to 14 servings

  3  cups walnut halves (9 oz.)

1/3  cup plus 1 tablespoon walnut oil

  2  tablespoons sugar

     About 1 teaspoon salt

1/4  cup Champagne vinegar

1/4  cup minced shallots

  2  tablespoons Dijon mustard

     About 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground
     pepper

  1  pound butter lettuce, rinsed, crisped,
     and torn into bite-size pieces

  3  cups rinsed and stemmed red
     seedless grapes, halved

  1  cup finely slivered red onion,
     rinsed and drained

1/4  cup chopped fresh tarragon

1. In a 10- by 15-inch baking pan, mix walnuts with 1 tablespoon oil, the sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; spread level. Bake in a 350[degrees] oven, stirring occasionally, until nuts are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

2. In a large bowl, mix vinegar, shallots, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Slowly whisk in 1/3 cup oil until vinaigrette is emulsified. Add lettuce, grapes, red onion, tarragon, and sugared walnuts; mix gently to coat, adding more salt and pepper to taste.

Per serving: 217 cal., 75% (162 cal.) from fat; 3.5 g protein; 18 g fat (1.6 g sat.); 14 g carbo (2 g fiber); 224 mg sodium; 0 mg chol.

Standing Rib Roast

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 2 3/4 hours, plus at least 10 minutes for meat to rest

NOTES: For easy carving, have the butcher cut the rib-eye muscle from the bones, then tie the meat and bones back together for roasting. After cooking, the roast may stand in a warm place up to 30 minutes. To serve, snip off the string, lift the roast off the bones, and slice the meat. Cut between the bones to serve them. Accompany the beef with prepared horseradish.

MAKES: 12 servings (without bone section; 14 with bones)

    1  fat-trimmed, 4-bone beef rib-eye roast
       (about 8 1/2 lb.; see notes)

    1  tablespoon dried thyme

1 1/2  teaspoons kosher or coarse sea salt

1 1/2  teaspoons fresh-ground black pepper

1 1/4  cups fat-skimmed beef broth

  1/4  cup brandy or tawny port

1. Rinse meat and pat dry. In a small bowl, mix thyme, salt, and pepper. Rub mixture evenly all over roast. Set on a rack, bones down, in 10- by 15-inch roasting pan.

2. Roast beef in a 375[degrees] regular or convection oven until a thermometer inserted in the center of the narrow end reaches 135[degrees] for medium (the wide end should be about 125[degrees] for rare), about 2 1/2 hours. As fat accumulates in pan, ladle it out and discard.