December 15, 2021

Dear friends,

Last summer I tucked away a boffo recipe for Christmas dinner. It’s for a side dish that will go with almost anything, from the duck I’ll have Christmas eve to the ham, turkey or prime rib that may be on your table Christmas day. But I’ll warn you, the feta-mint rice with pomegranate relish may steal the show.

My friend, Martha, served the baked rice dish at a girls’ night on her patio. It looked so festive with the topping of currants, parsley, olives and walnuts. She had subbed currants for the out-of-season pomegranate arils the recipe calls for. If you can find a little container of ready-to-eat pomegranate arils (seeds), or have the patience to separate the arils from the rinds yourself, the dots of red will make it look like a dish baked by an elf.

Yeah, that’s almost too cute, but the flavor slays. Martha sent home the leftover relish with me, and I ate it straight from the tub. If you don’t want to make the rice, the relish would taste fabulous on anything, from roast brussels sprouts to a salad.

Maybe you’re gathering with family and friends this year. Maybe you’re celebrating small. Either way, I hope this recipe helps brighten your holidays. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah and happy Festivus, my friends.

This recipe is the brainchild of chef Yotam Ottolenghi.

BAKED MINTY RICE WITH OLIVE AND POMEGRANATE RELISH

Pomegranate Relish:

½ cup walnuts

¾ cup pomegranate seeds (from about ½ large pomegranate)

¾ cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted, coarsely chopped (may substitute any firm green olives)

½ cup olive oil

¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh mint

¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp. pomegranate molasses (found in Middle Eastern stores)

1 garlic clove, crushed into a paste

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

Rice:

2 cups basmati rice

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

¾ tsp. kosher salt

10 mint sprigs

8 oz. feta, sliced ¼-inch thick

For the relish:

Place a rack in upper third of oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Toast walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.

Toss walnuts, pomegranate seeds, olives, oil, mint, parsley, pomegranate molasses, and garlic in a medium bowl to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

For the rice:

Combine rice, butter, and salt in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish, then pour in a scant 3½ cups water; top with mint sprigs. Cover tightly with foil and bake until rice is tender and water is absorbed, 30–35 minutes. Remove from oven and discard foil; pluck out mint. Fluff rice with a fork.

Heat broiler. Arrange feta over rice. Broil until rice around edges of pan is browned and crisp and feta is starting to brown, 8–10 minutes.Remove from oven and spoon pomegranate relish over. Makes 6 servings.

GUT CHECK

What I cooked recently:

Frozen Aldi breakfast pizza; Japanese pork curry with rice; a mesclun salad with toasted walnuts, toasted sunflower kernels and white French dressing; spicy pork and green bean stir fry; thin-sliced filet mignon, carrots, green onions and sugar-snap peas grilled table side with steamed rice and a ginger-soy dipping sauce; pork miso soup.

What I ate out/carried in:

Superfoods Salad and pita bread from Aladdin in Montrose; pepperoni pizza from Big Star in Copley; a chili-cheese dog and chili-cheese fries at the Hot Dog Shoppe in East Liverpool; a cheeseburger and fries at Town Tavern in Copley; hot crab dip with tortilla chips, beef stew and mincemeat hand pies at my friend Joan’s; wonton soup with cabbage and lamb kabobs at Han Chinese Kabob & Grill in Cleveland.

THE MAILBAG

From Robin F.:

Just read your newsletter from Dec 1 (I’m way behind in my emails…lol)!

The recipe for the cookies you made for Tony sound wonderful!  Will have to make those if time allows before Christmas, otherwise I’ll make them in the new year.

Do you mind posting your recipe for your chili? As the weather has changed, I’ve been thinking about some good chili!

Thank you for all the yummy recipes you send out to us! Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Dear Robin:

That chili recipe as been around for awhile but I still love it. I put a sort of mole spin on it by including cinnamon and chocolate. The bit of brown sugar added at the end rounds out the flavors.

I published this first in the Beacon Journal and in 2009 in my cookbook, “Jane Snow Cooks,” still available from the University of Akron Press. The easiest way to reach the link is to Google “University of Akron Press.” Here’s the recipe:

JANE’S CHILI

1 1/2 lbs. ground chuck

1 medium onion, chopped

Salt, pepper

2 tbsp. chili powder (pure chili powder, not the spice mix)

1 tbsp. ground cumin

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tbsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 tsp. (or to taste) cayenne pepper

4 (14.5-ounce) cans whole plum tomatoes

1 (16-ounce) can kidney beans, drained

2 oz. broken Mexican chocolate or 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 tbsp. packed brown sugar

Brown ground beef and onion together in a large pot. Spoon off some of the fat, leaving some in for flavor. Season with salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, oregano, coriander and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes.

Drain juice from the tomatoes into the pot. Dice tomatoes and add to the pot with the beans. Stir well. Stir in chocolate and brown sugar. Reduce heat and simmer  uncovered for about 30 minutes or until flavors are blended. Makes 8 servings.

From Linda D.:

Your Ruszkis cookies sound divine and worth a try for family Christmas day. Can you share a few simple-to-make Christmas cookie favorites, please, for the oodles of times we have to take cookies to exchanges or church dinners or parties, etc.? I would like some easy and quick ideas.

Dear Linda:

I have the perfect recipe for you — a simple butter cookie from my friend, Jan, who was the food editor of the Palm Beach Post back in the day. It can be shaped various ways and dressed up with jam or sprinkles. I wrote about it last December.

Here’s a link.

December 3, 2020

From Maria M.:

The Ruszkis cookies sound so good! I don’t need to make 5 dozen, is there a way to reduce the recipe in half? I wasn’t sure since it calls for 1 egg yolk.

You asked what cookies we’re making this year. For Christmas cookies I always make sugar cookies, Russian tea cakes, raspberry almond jam thumbprint cookies, molasses cookies, ritzies, and I have to make peanut butter cookies with the Hershey‘s kiss in the middle like my grandma used to make. I like all the cookies I make, but several of them are very nostalgic for me.

Dear Maria:

Your cookie jar will be jammed! You must have lots of visitors. My mother made molasses cookies and I miss them. I’m afraid if I make a batch I’ll eat them all, hot from the oven.

As for your question, I think you should beat the egg yolk with a fork, then discard half of it and use the other half in the pared-down recipe. You don’t have to be exact — just eyeball it.