Looking for some new appetizer ideas for the caroling party, a traditional dish to ring in the New Year or trying to find a gift for a culinary-minded friend?
'Tis the season for cookbooks. They're full of recipes and ideas, and they're easy to wrap. Here are some new arrivals for the holiday season:
The Lion in winter
On Santa's local list this year is "Lion House Christmas Cookbook" (Deseret Book, $22.95), a revision of the book published in 1989. After selling 80,000 copies, the book was out of print and needed updating, said Lion House banquet manager Julie Ulrich, who headed up the project. It follows on the heels of the updated "Lion House Classics," which came out in 2004.
Now 150 years old, the Lion House was the home of Brigham Young, territorial governor and second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and up to 12 of his wives who lived there with their children. (The name comes from the lion statue above the front entrance.)
Still owned by the LDS Church, the upper levels are used for wedding receptions, business meetings, group dinners and children's birthday parties. The ground level is now The Pantry, where hot meals are served cafeteria-style to the public. The Lion House has a reputation for hearty entrees, melt-in-your-mouth rolls and old-fashioned desserts.
"At the Lion House, I try to cook the kind of food that you'd experience if you came to my mother's or my grandmother's house — the food I enjoyed when I was a kid," said Lion House chef David Bench, who grew up in Moroni, Utah.
The restaurant's Chicken and Dumpling Soup came from his mother, Karla. "If someone wasn't feeling well or had a new baby, that's what she would bring them," Bench said. "I hate to say that we kind of looked forward to someone getting sick so we could have it."
For the new edition of the cookbook, some recipes were streamlined with ingredients more commonly found today. "We took out a few recipes like pickled watermelon rinds, because there didn't seem to be a lot of interest in them anymore," Bench said. "Also, you can find good chicken and beef stock in the grocery stores, so the recipes don't have you go to the bother of making your own."
The culinary staff, which comes from all over the world, contributed recipes from their own family Christmases. For instance, Pat's Gumbo came from Patrick Roe, now cooking at Utah State University.
Like "Lion House Classics," the book has step-by-step directions for making the signature Lion House rolls. (Those who want to take a shortcut can buy the new Lion House roll mix at Deseret Book stores.)
This is only a test
"Best of America's Test Kitchen, 2007" (America's Test Kitchen, $35) recaps recipes developed this past year for the PBS television show "America's Test Kitchen," and Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines. (The company's mega-kitchen is located in Brookline, Mass.)
The text accompanying each recipe almost reads like a whodunit, with the author trying to solve the mystery of making Shepherd's Pie taste more beefy, or keeping Chicken Kiev's butter stuffing from leaking out during cooking.
The recipes are detailed and almost overly exacting. For instance, the editors tweaked Peanut Blossoms, the popular Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe where peanut butter cookies are each topped with a Hershey's Kiss.
The recipe calls for creamy peanut butter plus a cup of finely ground peanuts to boost the flavor. It also says to rotate the baking sheets front-to-back halfway during cooking to ensure even baking. And instead of sticking Hershey's Kisses on the cookies when they come out of the oven, you place them during the last two minutes of baking.
Both steps raise the risk of burned fingers. Casual cooks may wonder if the results are worth the hassle.
But if you are a meticulous cook and thrive on step-by-step details, the recipes are great. They include trouble-shooting tips on "Where things can go wrong," or "What you can do ahead of time."
The editors also rated such ingredients and equipment as all-purpose olive oil, canned enchilada sauce, no-boil lasagna noodles, muffin tins, frozen waffles and more. It's surprising to find expensive products aren't always best.
Sound bites
"Country Music Christmas" by Edie Hand and Buddy Killen (Broadway Books, $25), is a collection of Christmas recipes from country, gospel and "crossover" music stars, such as Ray Price (Good Times Classic Onion Soup), Barbara Mandrell (Do-Right, Outta Sight Christmas Turkey) and Alan Jackson (Chattahoochee Cornbread).
Besides the obvious tie-in with hit songs, each recipe is accompanied by the artists' Christmas memories. Willie Nelson tells how as a kid his family decorated a potted oleander bush because they couldn't afford a Christmas tree. Amy Grant remembers how her father would shoot mistletoe down from trees on the family farm. Billy Ray Cyrus tells of delivering clothing to families in need in the Appalachian coal mines (and his accompanying recipe is Achy Breaky Cake).
There are photos of the stars but not the recipes. A bonus: The book comes with a CD of Christmas songs.
The Deen of Southern cuisine
Paula Deen is the Food Network's motherly queen of Southern comfort. Viewers joke that her recipes start out with either a cup of butter or a pound of bacon, but more than half of the 10 most-accessed recipes from the Food Network Web site for 2005 were from her series, "Paula's Home Cooking."
Deen's first claim to culinary fame was her restaurant, The Lady and Sons, in Savannah, Ga. She now has five cookbooks — including "Paula Deen Celebrates!" by Paula Deen with Martha Nesbit (Simon & Schuster, $26) — and a magazine. Her prime-time special, "Paula's Southern Thanksgiving," was Food Network's most-watched TV special to date.
This isn't strictly a Christmas book; Deen covers year-round celebrations like Mother's Day, Mardi Gras, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. She also includes her own "holidays," such as Elvis' Birthday (Jan. 8), and a Movie-Watching Pizza Party in Bed.
Deen declares, "At the restaurant, we have to cook so many turkeys and hams for Thanksgiving and throw so many parties with turkey and dressing, that I am just sick to death of turkey by the time Christmas rolls around. All I want is beef."
She writes that she always cooks at home on New Year's Day because her restaurant is closed, and because she wants to make sure her family eats black-eyed peas (for luck), hog jowl (for health) and collard or turnip greens (for financial success).
ZUCCHINI BOATS
3 medium zucchini squash
1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten well
2 green onions, minced
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
Paprika
Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash zucchini. Cut off ends but don't peel. Cook in boiling, salted water 7-10 minutes. Drain off water and cut zucchini in half lengthwise and carefully remove pulp with spoon, leaving shell intact. In a small bowl, mash zucchini pulp with fork and mix with bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, eaten egg, onion, parsley and salt. Spoon mixture into zucchini shells and place in baking dish. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese and paprika. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Makes 6 servings. — Lion House Christmas
ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES
1 large onion
2 large carrots
1 large potato
2 large parsnips
2 large turnips
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Thoroughly clean all vegetables. Peel onion and carrots. Slice or chop all vegetables into bite-size pieces, keeping each type of vegetable separate. Combine hard vegetables (carrots, potatoes, parsnips and turnips) in a large mixing bowl. Add 2 tablespoons oil and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Toss these vegetables until evenly coated and spread them evenly in one layer in a large baking pan and place in oven. Toss remaining vegetables in remaining oil, pepper and salt. When vegetables in oven are slightly tender, remove from oven and add remaining vegetables to pan. Return to oven and continue roasting until all vegetables are tender and begin to brown. Serve hot, garnished with chopped fresh parsley. Serves 6-8.
Note: Any combination of vegetables will work: zucchini, yellow squash, hard winter squashes or beets. Beets tend to color the other vegetables, so keep them separate until served. Add the softer vegetables later to avoid overcooking. — "Lion House Christmas"
CHICKEN DUMPLING SOUP
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 1/2 stalks celery, diced
Meat from 1 roasted chicken, cooked and shredded
4-6 cups chicken broth
1 cup fresh cut green beans
1 cup pearl barley, optional
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper
Lightly saute onion, carrots and celery in a small amount of oil in a large soup pot. Add shredded chicken, broth, green beans, pearl barley, celery salt, parsley, bay leaf and thyme, and simmer until the barley is tender. Season to taste with the salt and pepper. Add spoon-size balls of Dumpling Dough and simmer until dumplings rise.
Dumpling Dough:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup flour
3 eggs
To make dumpings, bring milk and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add salt and nutmeg. Remove from heat and immediately add flour, stirring until dough leaves the sides of the pan. Incorporate the eggs, one at a time, forming a sticky dough. — "Lion House Christmas"
FESTIVE CHEESE BALL
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 cup finely chopped nuts
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Combine all ingredients, except nuts and parsley, in a medium bowl and mix until well-blended. Divide the mixture in half and spoon into two small bowls lined with waxed paper. Lift out waxed paper from each bowl and mold cheese into a ball, using waxed paper to protect hands. Roll each ball in chopped nuts and parsley. Refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator about 15 minutes before serving with a variety of crackers. Makes two small cheese balls. — "Lion House Christmas"
CHEESE STRAWS
This perennial holiday appetizer got a makeover after testers decided Asiago and Parmesan were the only cheeses that didn't taste bland against the rich dough.
1 9-by-9-inch sheet frozen puff pastry
2 ounces Parmesan or Asiago cheese, grated (1 cup)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Thaw pastry on the counter for 10 minutes. Adjust the oven racks to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
Place the puff pastry on a sheet of parchment and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the cheese and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Place a sheet of parchment over the cheese and, using a rolling pin, press the cheese into the dough by gently rolling the pin back and forth. Without removing the parchment, carefully flip the dough over, cheese-side down. Remove the top layer of parchment and sprinkle with the remaining cheese, salt and pepper. Cover the pastry with the parchment. Measure the piece of dough and continue to roll it out, if necessary, to form a 10 1/2-inch square.
Remove the top sheet of parchment and, using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 14 3/4-inch-wide strips. Gently twist each strip of dough and transfer it to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing the strips about 1 inch apart.
Bake immediately until fully puffed and golden brown, about 10 minutes, reversing the positions of the baking sheets from top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Remove the straws to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Where things can go wrong: It's best to work with partially thawed pastry. If it's completely thawed, you will likely have trouble twisting it into the desired shape. — "Best of America's Test Kitchen, 2007"
ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE WITH SALMON BALLS
One of Brenda Lee's traditions is a "fan Christmas tree," decorated with ornaments sent by her fans. Her family likes to sit around the tree and snack on these salmon appetizers.
3 pounds cooked salmon fillet, skin removed
1 cup cooked chickpeas
2 large eggs
1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach leaves
1/3 cup dried bread crumbs
1/3 cup minced fresh onion
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
Salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
Place salmon and chickpeas in a large bowl. Using a potato masher, crush the fish and chickpeas until mashed. Add eggs, spinach, bread crumbs, onion and teriyaki sauce and stir until well-blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Using your hands, pinch off a bite-size portion of salmon mixture and roll it into a ball. Continue pinching and rolling until you have 24 balls. Place in a container; cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm.
Working in two batches, place 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. When hot, add 12 of the salmon balls. Cook the balls, turning occasionally, 10 minutes or until they are lightly browned and cooked through. Repeat with remaining oil and salmon balls. Serve warm. Makes 24. — Brenda Lee, "Country Music Christmas"
BLACK-EYED PEAS WITH HOG JOWL
1 pound dried black-eyed peas
1/2 pound smoked meat — hog jowl, meaty ham hocks, smoked neck bones or smoked ham
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons ( 1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper, for garnish (optional)
Pepper sauce, for seasoning
In a large bowl, cover the peas with water and soak 1 hour. Drain and discard the water. Place meat in a 2-quart pot and add 2 1/2 cups water. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover pot and cook the meat for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper and the peas to the meat and cook until the peas are soft and the liquid has thickened, about 45 minutes. When done, add the butter and serve. Garnish with green pepper, if desired. Serve with pepper sauce. Serves 6-8. — "Paula Deen Celebrates!"
TOFFEE GOOEY BUTTER CAKE
A variation of Paula's popular Gooey Butter Cake.
Cake:
1 package yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1-pound box confectioners' sugar
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 cup almond or chocolate toffee bits
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with vegetable oil cooking spray. In a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed, combine cake mix, egg and 1/2 cup melted butter; mix well. Pat evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Set aside.
In the same bowl, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add confectioners' sugar and beat again at low speed until blended. Add the butter. Mix well. Fold in the toffee bits with a spatula. Pour the filling over the cake mixture and spread it evenly. Bake 40-50 minutes; the center should be just a little bit gooey. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into pieces. Serves 24. — "Paula Deen Celebrates!"
E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com