An Enchanted Evening Holiday Menu
Menu
Imagine a holiday menu with all your favorite bits amplified: Hors d'oeuvres are lovingly wrapped in bacon. Brussels sprouts beckon, golden and crispy. Even the punch is spiked with nectar from the fleeting fruits of the season. It's all here.
Bacon-Wrapped Persimmon Wedges
Creamy Chestnut Soup with Candied Walnuts
Crispy Sesame-Crusted Brussels Sprouts
Pancetta-Stuffed Beef Tenderloin with Port Mushrooms
Two-Potato-and-Mascarpone Gratin
Extras
tips + how-tos
NOTES ON THE MEAL
Once roasted, the sweet persimmon morphs into a tart morsel -- the perfect foil for rich bacon for Bacon-Wrapped Persimmon Wedges.
And to what do we owe the pleasure of this jewel-toned Kumquat-Pomegranate Punch? Its tongue-teasing tang comes from kumquats and pomegranates.
Crisp, leafy Crispy Sesame-Crusted Brussels Sprouts lie under a shower of toasted sesame seeds. Dreaming of something smooth?
Dollops of cream are swirled through a chestnut puree crowned with roasted, candied walnuts in Creamy Chestnut Soup with Candied Walnuts.
Pancetta-Stuffed Beef Tenderloin with Port Mushrooms is stuffed with an herbed dressing and swaddled in pancetta -- but it's the winter mushrooms, drowned in a rich port sauce, that lift it to intoxicating levels.
Chived Yorkshire Puddings, light as air, are just the thing for soaking up the sauce.
Golden breadcrumbs mingle with grated parmesan over tender, savory potato layers filled with creamy marscarpone in Two-Potato-and-Mascarpone Gratin.
But save room for dessert: Bittersweet chocolate cloaks a delicate crepe cake filled with pastry cream for Chocolate Éclair Crêpe Cake -- just the thing to end the meal.
