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Photography by Susan Jackson
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The Slays: Lebanese Ground Sirloin Wrap
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The Orthweins: Hollandaise Sauce Over Stuffed Artichokes
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The Obatas: Ozoni
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The Schlaflys: Baked Apples
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The Shannons: Pecan Balls
After my father-in-law died, my mother-in-law and parents decided to fly to San Francisco for the holidays, to get Jo’s mind off her grief. Lovely gesture, but my husband and I, both only children, have never forgiven them. Orphaned, we debated making my mom’s famous pecan pie, but we didn’t know how. I dug into the archives of Laclede Gas, which used to send customers recipes, to retrieve my father-in-law’s famous stuffing recipe, but we decided that shoving a turkey in our 1942 Magic Chef oven would be a mistake. We went with equally bereft friends to some restaurant with a long buffet table, and the food all looked shellacked. The experience left me hungry for tradition—and curious to know how big families celebrate their holidays. Food, it seems, is always the centerpiece.
Photography by Susan Jackson, Food by Linda Hilcher
Lebanese Ground Sirloin Wrap
The Slays
Public-relations expert Laura Slay, cousin to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, remembers “lemon, cumin, garlic, onion, and allspice” as the smells of Christmas. “We used to all get together at my grandmother’s house on Longfellow Boulevard, in Compton Heights. She would prepare the most incredible Lebanese dishes for all of us—nine grown children and their families—and as you approached the house, you could smell the aromas. Now, every time I make them, I’m 5 years old again, running around with all my cousins. It’s like going home again.”
Serves 4
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Granulated garlic
1 small fresh lemon, juiced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
4 servings Lebanese flatbread or pita
Salad of tomato wedges, sliced onions, feta, oregano, and vinegar–and–olive oil dressing
In a dry sauté pan, slowly toast the pine nuts over low heat. They will burn quickly, so watch them carefully. When they’re toasted lightly on all sides, pour them into a bowl and set it aside. In a large sauté pan, heat the oil and sauté the onion over medium heat. Add the ground sirloin and stir it until it’s brown. Mix in salt, pepper, and granulated garlic to taste. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley. Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the toasted pine nuts. Warm the flatbread or pita in the oven. Fill the pita, or spoon the mixture into a piece of the flatbread and roll it, then serve it immediately. Serve the dish with a fresh salad.
Web Exclusives:
Hummus B’Tahini
Makes approximately 3½ cups.
2 16-ounce cans garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved
3 large cloves fresh garlic, peeled
6–8 heaping tablespoons tahini
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt
2–3 pinches white pepper
2 pinches paprika
½ lemon, thinly sliced and seeded
1 tablespoon Italian leaf parsley, chopped
High quality feta cheese, crumbled
Kalamata olives
Baby carrots
Pita bread, warmed and sliced
In a food processor, chop the garlic. Add the garbanzo beans and process the mixture until it’s smooth. (The paste will resemble coarse, fresh peanut butter.) Process in just enough of the reserved garbanzo-bean liquid (approximately 1/8 to 1/4 cup) to create a smooth texture. Add the lemon juice to taste. (Slay happens like a lot of fresh lemon. Others may prefer a lighter touch.) Add salt and white pepper to taste. Mix well. Pour the hummus into a serving bowl and sprinkle it with the paprika. Decorate it with the slices of lemon and sprinkle it lightly with the parsley. Serve it with the feta, olives, carrots, and pita.
Tabbouleh
Serves 8.
1 cup #2 (medium-grind) bulgur wheat
8–10 green onions, finely chopped
3 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3 large cucumbers, seeded and chopped
2 ½ cups fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
½–2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
½–2/3 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Granulated garlic
Rinse the bulgur wheat and soak it in cold water until it’s very tender to the bite, at least one hour, maybe two. Drain the wheat, then squeeze all of the excess water from it using your hands. The drier it is, the better.
Mix the wheat in a large bowl with the green onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, and mint. Add the olive oil and toss the mixture. Add the fresh lemon juice and salt, pepper, and granulated garlic to taste.
Chill the tabbouleh in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Toss it before serving.
Hollandaise Sauce Over Stuffed Artichokes
The Orthweins
Laura Rand Orthwein Jr. (also known as Laura X) still remembers the hollandaise sauce her family enjoyed at holidays and on special occasions, poured over creamed spinach inside artichoke hearts. “It looks as festive as pastry, but tastes so much better,” she says. “It’s the lemon in the hollandaise, as well as the heart taste.” She even persuaded Lena Willet, a caterer and cook who was with the family into her nineties, to make the saucy dish for her birthday party—then ate it as her dessert, instead of cake and ice cream. The recipe’s from the classic cookbook of all time, The Joy of Cooking, written by St. Louisan Irma Rombauer.
Hollandaise Sauce
Makes 1 cup
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoons cold water
Simmering water
1/2 to 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 dash hot pepper sauce (optional)
Salt and white pepper
Melt the butter in a pan over low heat. Skim the foam off the top of it and keep it warm. Place the egg yolks and cold water in the top of a double boiler or in a large stainless-steel bowl.
Off the heat, beat the yolks with a whisk until they’re light and frothy. Place the top of the double boiler or bowl over—not in—barely simmering water and continue to whisk until the eggs are thickened,
3 to 5 minutes, being careful not to let the eggs get too hot. Remove the pan or bowl and whisk it to cool the mixture slightly. Whisking constantly, very slowly add the melted butter, leaving the white milk solids behind in the pan. Whisk in the lemon juice, an optional dash of hot pepper sauce, and salt and white pepper to taste.
If the sauce is too thick, whisk in a few drops of warm water. Serve it immediately, or cover the sauce and keep it warm for up to 30 minutes by placing the pan or bowl in warm (not hot) water.
To get the spinach-and-artichokes recipe, go to tasteofhome.com and search for “artichoke and spinach eggs Benedict.”
Ozoni
The Obatas
Architect Gyo Obata and his grown children—designer Kiku Obata, musician Gen Obata, and potter Nori Obata—have a favorite New Year’s Japanese soup: ozoni with mochi (a rice cake that is made for the new year). “Each item [in the soup] means some sort of good luck for the new year,” says Kiku. “I am sure it is an ancient recipe. My grandmother, Haruko Obata, and my aunt, Masa Obata, would make it, and they taught my mom, Midge Obata, who taught me! I have had it every new year for as long as I can remember.” But how is it made? “Do you need the actual recipe?” she asks. “I just wing it!” Not as good on the fly, we turned to the Web and found this version by Marc Matsumoto of the PBS food blog Fresh Tastes (pbs.org/food). Linda Pilcher of Something Elegant Catering updated it for us.
Serves 6
1 cup water plus 4 cups water
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 pound boneless chicken thighs
8 slices carrot, carved into cherry blossoms
1/4 cup sake
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 small bunch spinach, torn or cut into strips
4 mochi
1 yuzu or Meyer lemon, zested
About an hour before you prepare your ozoni, put 1 cup of water in a bowl along with the dried shiitake mushrooms. Put the chicken in a colander. Boil a kettle of water and pour it over the chicken, letting the water go down the drain, to remove impurities, helping give you a clear soup. Then place the chicken in a pot along with the remaining 4 cups of water and the carrots, sake, and salt. Simmer it for 20 minutes, skimming to remove any scum that rises to the top. Remove the chicken and set it aside.
Add the soy sauce to the soup, along with the soaking liquid from the shiitake mushrooms, then adjust the salt to taste. Slice up the mushrooms and add them to the soup.
Lay down a sheet of aluminum foil in a toaster oven, then toast the mochi until it inflates and turns golden brown along the top. You can also just microwave it until it inflates.
To serve, place a piece of toasted mochi at the bottom of each bowl, then add a few slices of chicken. Sprinkle the soup with strips of spinach before serving. Add the soup, along with two slices of carved carrot and some mushroom slices. Garnish with some yuzu or Meyer lemon zest and serve.
Baked Apples
The Schlaflys
We envisioned Tom Schlafly, barrister and bar owner, sharing warm sticky toffee pudding with his cousin and political opposite, Phyllis Schlafly. “We don’t make STP at home,” Tom replied. “Let me check on something German.” His wife, Ulrike Schlafly, sent the recipe below, saying, “It belongs to the traditional Christmas and Advent cooking—and it’s easy and quick to prepare. It’s best to use a sour Boskoop apple instead of a short-lived sweeter one.”
Serves 4 to 6
4 apples
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons raw almonds, chopped or sliced
2 tablespoons pecans, chopped
3 tablespoons raisins
3 tablespoons sugar
Cinnamon
Vanilla sauce (optional, recipe available at allrecipes.com)
Core the apples, taking care not to cut to the bottom, because you don’t want the filling to fall out. Mix together the butter, honey, almonds, pecans, and raisins, and spoon the mixture into each cavity. Sprinkle the apples with sugar and cinnamon, then bake them in the oven until the skins burst. Enjoy the aroma in your kitchen, as well as the taste. The apples may be served with vanilla sauce.
Pecan Balls
The Shannons
Pat Shannon-VanMatre, owner of Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood, sent the Shannon family’s favorite Christmas cookie recipe. “We have been making these since we were kids, and now our kids all are part of the baking,” she writes. “We like to get together and bake for the whole family, which usually includes quite a bit of wine, storytelling, arguing, laughing, and memories, so not only are the cookies amazing, but it’s a great reason to get family together.”
Makes about 10 dozen cookies
2 cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups flour, sifted
4 cups pecans, chopped
Powdered sugar, finely sifted
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the butter and granulated sugar. Add the salt, vanilla extract, flour, and pecans; mix well. Chill the dough for 1 hour. Shape it into balls and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, until they’re light brown. While the cookies are still warm, roll them in the sifted powdered sugar.
Tip: If you’re packing these in a cookie box (once they’re cool), top each layer of cookies with additional powdered sugar.
