Friday, December 25, 2009

December the 25th

Best version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol... "Scrooge", 1970 starring Albert Finney!

We had Christmas dinner at our house. This year it was just 5 of us but of course there was enough food for 10! We start of with cocktails and appetizers. I ordered a small antipasto tray from Bradley and Wall along with their Fried Goat Cheese Balls. We probably could have done without the goat cheese but I love them.

Next is my favorite dish. Cupalets. I am sure I am misspelling it, if anyone knows the correct spelling please let me know. My sister, Lenore and her husband make these every year with the left over Thanksgiving turkey. The pasta is homemade and she makes this wonderful chicken broth. My Aunt Nora use to make me a large bag of cupalets for my birthday. I loved getting that bag of frozen pasta!

Next was the Roast Beast. So I told the butcher I needed a roast for 5 possibly 6 people. 10 pounds is a lot for 5 people. Roast beef will be the main ingredient for many nights to come.

It is easy to prepare. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Rub the roast with salt and pepper. Place the roast, bone side down, in a roasting pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 3 hours, or until meat thermometer registers 130 degrees. Let it rest about 10 minutes before serving.

Served Ginger Glazed Carrots and Domino Potatoes as side dishes. Also had Thyme Popovers from Cooking Light.

Carrots with Ginger Honey Glaze
Ingredients-
2 1/2 pounds baby carrots
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp butter (1/4 stick)
1 tbsp finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Cook carrots in large saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain. Stir honey butter, fresh ginger and ground ginger in large skillet over low heat until blended. Mix in carrots. Cook carrots over medium-high heat until glaze thickens enough to coat, tossing occasionally. about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

We had a nice selection of wines. For the soup we had Lacryma Christi Del Vesuvio 2004 which is a Neapolitan wine produced on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius in Campania, Italy. Both of my parent's families came from the region of Campania. We also tasted a white wine that my dad made in 1993. He made it from the white grapes that were in the backyard. It smelled like the yard when the grapes were on the vines and the taste was exactly what the grapes tasted like. For the meat course we had Francis Coppola Director's Cut Cabernet Sauvignon 2006.
Dessert... what else - cookies!

It was a very nice day with family and cats. Archie helped out by watching over all the coats.

Merry Christmas!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW! Your Christmas dinner looks fabulous.

Lucia from Madison said...

Thank you! It was fun to prepare and it was just a nice relaxing day with family.

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I'm not sure I'm leaving this message in the right place but I wanted to ask you about the cupalets. My husband's Italian family has been making cupalets for a long time. My husband and I make them too. We call them cupalets but I'm not sure of the spelling. We make them with veal meat and zest of lemons. We put the meat in pasta and then freeze them to use in our chicken soup broth. No one I know ever heard of them and when I tried looking for them or a recipe over the years online I can't find anything. Until today when I came across your site. The picture you posted looks like the ones we make. I was just wondering if you could tell me anything you know about them. I was always told that the word cupalets means "high hat". I'm curious because other than family no one I know ever heard of them. My email address is LMBocco@yahoo.net. If you have the time and you're willing to email me I would love to hear anything more about these cupalets.

Lucia from Madison said...

LMBocco@yahoo.net
So excited that you found my blog.
My sister and her husband make cupalets after Thanksgiving every year and freeze them until Christmas.
I found a video that I made back in 2013 with their recipe.https://youtu.be/1GrRDsTtr3A

When I was little I had an Aunt Nora who made them for me every year for my birthday.

I have seen recipes online where they are referred to as agnolitti. They will always be cupalets to me!

Thank you again for contacting me!