DEPT OF TRADITIONS: A CHRISTMAS WRAP

The menu for Christmas dinner used to be a no-brainer. The meal was always the same as past years, in a word, traditional. In the 1950’s our family gathered around a table of middle-America’s favorite ‘gourmet’ foods: roasted beef tenderloin and twice-baked potatoes with a green vegetable on the side. As I recall, we all ate the same food without much reflection or complaint.

Today, two generations later, a once consensual menu has become burdened with a list of food restrictions that would overwhelm a short order cook. Home cooks are more skilled and better equipped to handle numerous food allergies and moral restrictions of family members.  They are also aware that holiday foods have health and social consequences. Faced with all these factors, is there a way to satisfy everyone at the table and spare the cook?                                                          

My solution this year is a Holiday Wrap aka Coulibiac of Salmon, a filet of fish set on a bed of rice, covered with spinach and baked in a crust. It looks like a traditional ‘gourmet’ entrée and is somewhat more demanding than assembling a burrito. Let me add that this all-in-one wrap fills the plate beautifully and eliminates the need for side dishes. Dress it up with a simple sauce of sour cream seasoned with Dijon mustard.  Just don’t try to pick it up.

Best wishes for Happy Holidays and a Healthy, Productive New Year!