#holiday-recipes

#holiday-recipes

Plums have long been a symbol of Christmas, with plum pudding - also known as Christmas pudding or figgy pudding (which is not a pudding in the American sense, but a dense British fruit cake) - traditionally served at Christmastime. The dish has roots in Medieval English sausages, for which fruits, spices, and fats were added to meats to preserve them. It morphed into a sweet dish in the late 1500s when dried fruit was more abundant and the pudding cloth replaced animal intestine cases.

Second, while these mouthwatering mushrooms feel fancy and festive, they are surprisingly quick and easy to prepare, and don't take long at all to cook up in the oven, which means that your guests can enjoy them fresh and warm. Finally, these stuffed mushrooms are naturally vegetarian and easily adaptable to boot, making them suitable for a wide variety of dietary restrictions.

2 pounds whole sweet potatoes, washed and patted dry 1 9-inch pie crust 1 cup evaporated milk 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter, cooled 3 large free-range eggs, yolks and whites separated 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 2 pinches ground Himalayan pink salt 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest whipped cream, for serving

Tahchin is a Persian rice dish in which the rice is mixed with yogurt, oil, egg yolks and saffron and baked until a golden crust forms at the bottom (Persians refer to this as the tahdig). Tahchin is a Persian rice dish. Typically, you'll see it kind of filled or layered with chicken, sometimes spinach greens. My spin on it to make it more of a holiday Thanksgiving vibes is by incorporating caramelized onions, cranberries and rosemary. Look for good quality basmati rice that's labeled sella.

As bird flu affects poultry supply and people grow tired of the usual spread, we ask chefs, artists and regular Christmas Day dinner hosts for their alternative take on the menu, from meaty to spicy, veggie and hassle-free Christmas is coming but this year it doesn't look like the goose, or the turkey, is getting fat as an outbreak of bird flu has led to the culling of thousands of birds in farms across the country, many of which were destined for the Christmas market.