Chritmas Bowl

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Christmas is truly a great time of year.  Being a Chef and owning my own business I really enjoy watching people celebrate ad having a good time with friends and family over a Christmas “bowl” as Ebenezer would have called it.

In this article I will give you a fail safe recipe that is not only dead easy, but the results have been amazing.  Dates stuffed with Blue Cheese and almonds, wrapped with pancetta, and broiled till crisp.  I know that it may sound a bit weird but this is seriously one of top canapés in areas of taste, and easy of preparations. 

2 lb      box of dates (Costco special)

1 lb      blue cheese (Roquefort preferred)

40        almonds

30        thinly sliced pancetta, or proscuitto

Take the dates, and remove the pit if they have one.  Do this task on all of them first; it will make your life a lot easier.  Then stuffed the middle of the date with -1 teaspoon of blue cheese, topped with an almond.  Close the date around the cheese and the almond, try to make sure that all of the cheese stays in the date.  Take the round pancetta slices, and cut in ½.  Wrap one piece of the pancetta around the date, making sure that it goes around all the way (do not worry what it may look like).  Place seam side down on a baking sheet, line with parchment paper, to make clean up easier.  Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 5-7 minutes, and serve.  Can be made a day ahead.

To do 40 of these should really take you no longer than 30 minutes, and the taste; sweet, rich, tangy, salty; it is honestly one of the best appetizer, items you can serve at this festive time.  Great with wine!!

With Christmas coming up, the thought of preparing that festive meal may sound like agonizing work to some of you, but here are a few tips that make life easier for you.

Helpful Hints:

Instead of making your gravy Christmas Day, make chicken gravy ahead of time and freeze, then add the turkey drippings to the gravy Christmas Day.

To save room make your stuffing in your crock pot, most manufacturers have cooking suggestions.

Instead of mom doing all the work, have mom cook the bird, the potatoes, and the dressing and farm out the rest, like potluck.

Blanch your green vegetables before Christmas morning, and then gently re-heat, instead of running around trying to cook 3 vegetables on the stove at one time.

Trust me; the only thing that gets cooked at our house on Christmas Day is the turkey.  I like to relax with my family and my Christmas “bowl”.

For those hard to shop for “Home Chefs”, why not get them a professional cooking class.  I will show up at their home with my pots, pans and sharp pointy things and we can spend part of the day shopping and part of the day cooking.  A real live professional Chef one on one.  For more information give me a call @ 46-7762 or email bsmoliak@shaw.ca.

Have a safe and happy holiday season.