Rewind: Christmas Dinner

I got to make Christmas dinner this year! For me, that is a good thing. Since it was just me, my brother, and my parents, it was the perfect time to try something fancier since I was only cooking for four.

We started off the day with stockings and brunch, and then opened the rest of our presents. I started cooking and getting everything organized. We then had a sit-down appetizer of cracked crab around 4 or 5. This was a tradition that I guess my mom's family had done, and my brother thought it sounded really cool, so we figured we'd go for it this year.

My Dad's bday is in December too, so my brother and I got him this beer with an assortment of edible goodies and he waited til my brother came home for Christmas to open it (brother works/lives in NY). And yes, we each got him beer glasses from our respective colleges.

My brother's only task was to crack the crab. He did a very excellent job.

We had the crab with little bowls of shallot-butter sauce and cocktail sauce for dipping and Anchor's Christmas beer. Such a fun thing to do! Not only do people not have the chance to fill up on chips and snacks, it's an unusual enough dish that it made the evening feel extra-special.

I'd started the pork the night before, so my first plan of attack was the roasted red onions.

A friend of mine told me about this recipe from Not Without Salt which is apparently also adapted from Bon Apetit

-5 T extra-virgin olive oil
-1/4 c pomegranate molasses or syrup. I couldn't find the molasses so I went with a syrup which worked perfectly.
-2 T red wine vinegar
-1 T minced fresh rosemary
-salt and pepper to taste
-5 medium red onions, peeled, each cut into 8 wedges through core, with some core still attached to each piece.

1. Preheat to 425°F. Line a pyrex baking dish sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk all but the onions together in a large bowl, add onions and toss. Arrange onions close together in the pan and pour the rest of the juices from the bowl over.

3. Roast 20 minutes and carefully turn onions over. Continue to roast onions until tender and thickly coated with glaze, 20 to 25 minutes longer. If they start to get too brown, cover loosely with foil.

4. Remove when tender and cool slightly. These can be served at room temp.

Gremolata:
-2/3 c fresh pomegranate seeds
-1 T chopped fresh Italian parsley
-2 t finely grated orange peel

Combine all in a bowl and toss together. Sprinkle on the onions once they're cooked.