#holiday-cooking

#holiday-cooking

Christmas dinner? At home or in a restaurant? It's at this juncture of the year, with Christmas dinner hurtling towards us, that you may well find yourself muttering: Well, we could always go out! Who could blame any home cook for wanting to shove this great burden on to someone else's back, especially since every culinary TV show, magazine article and advertising break since mid-November has hammered home what a colossal faff Christmas dinner actually is.

Making a full Thanksgiving feast for guests can be daunting, for some perhaps even terrifying. The world, and especially Hallmark movies, is full of holiday disaster stories: burnt turkeys, failed desserts, steamed hams. But I'm not bragging when I say that the first Thanksgiving dinner I prepared for my extended family-a little early, this year-was an unmitigated success. My aunt couldn't stop talking about the black pepper in the biscuits and the sage on the carrots.

leave the skins on while simmering to prevent waterlogging, and process the potatoes through a ricer for smooth, lump-free results. Melt butter into the hot potatoes, then fold in warm cream and milk. Our version also includes sour cream for an extra-rich and tangy flavor. Processing the butter with the potatoes coats the starches in fat, keeping them perfectly fluffy.

If you're not familiar, they consist of thin potato slices baked in a creamy sauce. When I make them, I add onions and thyme for savory depth of flavor.