It's hard not to love Christmas. It's one of the few Holidays that, as adults, we're allowed to revert to that first sense of wonder and delight at what seemed like thousands of tiny twinkling lights, unlimited shimmer and shine, the glitter of tinsel, and the sparkling glow of the season all around us. But as adults, we also know that the magic of Christmas per se is also a lot of work and planning to make that sort of unique ambiance happen, from choosing the décor, the lights, and the meal for Christmas day.
When it comes to Christmas, unfortunately, real life often gets in our way. With busy schedules, even when working from home and shortages, we may forget to do some critical errands beforehand, leaving us to rush before Christmas. Many of us can attest to how stressful having to run the week before the holidays can be, so this year, let our family help yours with the Christmas meal planning!
Get everything you need to make a Christmas meal that will be easy to prepare and sure to impress the entire family and entire gathering this year!
Main Dishes
Pepper Crusted Standing Rib Roast
With a mix of soy sauce, ground chile, garlic, and whole peppercorns that coat a gorgeous standing rib roast, this peppery crusted dish will be a simple but delectable main dish that will wow when paired with an easy to make garlic-horseradish cream sauce.
The ingredients for the seasoning:
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- ¼ cup multicolor whole or cracked peppercorns
- 1 guajillo chile, stemmed and chopped, or substitute with an Ancho chile
- 2 tablespoons rosemary leaves
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire
- 4 minced garlic cloves
- 6 cups beef broth or beef bone broth
How to:
- Remove the roast from the fridge and season with salt. Cover and let sit at room temperature for at least an hour for even cooking.
- In a spice grinder, place your peppercorns if you wish (or leave them out for whole peppercorns), the chile, rosemary until coarse. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and add the remaining ingredients except for the broth.
- Preheat the oven to 400 ° Rub your pepper and spice mix all over your roast. Place the roast on a rack set over a roasting pan. Add 2 cups of the broth to the pan and roast for 30 minutes until the meat is well browned. Add 2 more cups of broth and loosely tent the roast with foil. Reduce the oven temp to 350 ° and roast for another 2 – 2 ½ hours or until an instant-read thermometer registers 115 ° in the thickest part of the roast. Halfway through the remaining 2 – 2 ½ hours, add the remaining last 2 cups of broth as well. Remove from the oven and set the roast on a cutting board to rest for roughly 30 minutes.
For the Creamy Horseradish Garlic Sauce:
- 1 entire head of garlic, left intact
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 3/4th teaspoon salt
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/4th cup drained bottle of horseradish
- 1/8th teaspoon white pepper
How to Make the Sauce:
- Put your oven rack in the middle position and preheat to 400 °
- Cut off and discard the top fourth of the garlic head. Drizzle exposed garlic with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then wrap tightly in foil. Place in an oven-safe pan and roast until tender, about 1 and ¼ hours, remove from the heat, open foil, and let cool.
- While the garlic roasts, simmer cream in a 1 to 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring well until reduced about 3/4ths of a cup, up to 20 to 25 minutes, being careful not to burn the cream, then transfer to a bowl.
- Squeeze garlic into a small bowl, discard the skins, and mash with the horseradish, pepper, and remaining salt using a fork.
- Stir the garlic horseradish mixture into the cream and then chill until ready to serve with the roast.
Citrus Roasted Salmon
For a lighter, quicker take bursting with zesty, sunshine bright flavor, consider a succulent salmon fillet roasted in citrus juices and on a bed of thinly sliced citrus fruits. Grab 3 clementines, 1 lemon, 8 sprigs of thyme, a skin-on salmon filet, some honey, fennel seeds and kosher salt, and fresh ground black pepper.
Next, preheat the oven to 425°F and slice 1 clementine and the lemon. Arrange clementine and lemon slices as well as thyme sprigs in the center of a baking sheet. Top the citrus and herbs with your salmon, skin side down. Grate the zest from another clementine into a measuring cup and squeeze the juice from both remaining clementines into the same cup. You should have about 1/4th of a cup of juice and zest. Add honey and whisk until everything is incorporated, then brush the salmon with half the clementine mix and sprinkle with fennel and any extra thyme leaves, season with salt and pepper, then roast for 10 minutes. After roasting, brush the remaining juice on the salmon and cook for an additional 12 to 15 minutes until barely opaque throughout.
Other Main Dish Ideas
If you aren't sure if the roast or the salmon would fit your idea of a Christmas meal, never fear! We have a few more ideas for you to consider!
- Maple Glazed Ham
- Pork Roast with Crispy Crackling
- Sticky Glazed Christmas Chicken
- Rosemary Crumbled Rack of Lamb
- Slow Cooker Garlic Herb Turkey Breast
Easy Side Dish Ideas
No matter which main course you decide to go with, chicken, turkey, pork, beef, fish, or seafood, we also have some stellar ideas for easy side dishes you may want to add to your Christmas meal prep ideas.
- Roasted red baby potatoes. All you need is vegetable or canola oil, and baby red potatoes halved, 12 large garlic cloves, fresh thyme, salt, pepper, and an oven to roast these gorgeous yet delicious potatoes in.
- Dress it up with cornbread dressing. Not just for Thanksgiving! Dressing is a perfect holiday side dish for seasonal meals, and using cornbread can kick up the flavor while giving it a southern twist.
- Sauteed garlic mushrooms. All you need are mushrooms, butter, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, a splash of soy sauce, and fresh chopped parsley for garnish to create a side dish perfect on its own or poured onto whatever the main dish may be.
When it comes to your Christmas dinner this year, don't let it be another stressful task left to the last moment. Let our Wholey family deliver the mouth-watering, freshest of meats, seafood, and more right to your front door this holiday season to help make your meals merrier and bright.