Family and friends are coming to town for the holidays. But does that mean you really need to serve the same old traditional over-the-top holiday menu? Of course not. It can be anything you like it to be: favorite old traditions merged with new ones.
Standing rib roast. Roast crown of pork. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Brisket and latkes. Brussels sprouts. Potatoes with cream and more cream. These are some of the meals I’ve made for past holidays, and I have loved them all. But this year I wanted to kick things up a bit and try something a bit lighter, a bit unusual, but still celebratory.
No matter what kind of year you’ve had, 2025 was anything but normal. So if ever there was a time to try something new, something that might lean a touch closer to the word “healthy,” this is the year.
Beef Wellington is a traditional, fancy holiday meal, kind of showy and challenging. I wondered: What if you wrapped a beautiful filet of salmon topped with creamed baby spinach and wrapped it (like a present) in puff pastry (frozen, pre-made is fine)? The pastry puffs up golden brown and stunning, and the salmon is baked to perfection. I serve it with a creme fraiche-lemon-dill sauce (that takes a total of five minutes to put together), and it’s a stunning dish. You can bake the salmon as one big portion, or cut the salmon filet and make individual portions so that everyone gets their own pastry.
Next up: roasted cabbage and radicchio with burnt oranges and capers. Cabbage is one of the most underrated ingredients around, and when it’s roasted at a very high temperature, the sweetness emerges and the edges crisp up. Here it’s mixed with roasted (almost burnt) orange sections and topped with orange juice and capers. This is an unusual and exciting holiday side dish. I served this at a recent gathering, and everyone wanted the recipe.
For dessert, something rich, something seasonal, and something that will keep them talking. A cranberry swirled cheesecake with an Italian amaretti cookie crust should do the trick. The cheesecake is best made a day ahead of time (a night in the refrigerator will help firm it up), which means your oven is free for the salmon and the cabbage.
Other holiday ideas from past years are listed below. Whatever you do, however you celebrate, try to slow down enough to really take in the beauty of the season and those around you. I wish you all a peaceful holiday season.
Salmon and creamed baby spinach en croute
I know the name sounds really fancy. Intimidating, even. But think again. You simply roll out frozen puff pastry, place a piece of salmon in the center, top it with some spinach sauteed with cream, and that’s it. Refrigerate it up to several hours before baking and watch it puff up into buttery goodness with a gorgeous filet of flaky salmon in the middle, topped with creamy spinach. A quick sauce of creme fraiche, dill and lemon is served on the side.
If you want to cut the salmon into two pieces and cut the pastry into four pieces, you can make two individual portions of the dish. You can also double or triple the recipe for a crowd.
Serves 2 to 4, depending on how many other dishes you’re serving.
Ingredients
The creamed spinach:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 ounces baby spinach
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup heavy cream, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons for brushing the pastry
The pastry and salmon:
- One 14-ounce box all-butter frozen puff pastry, thawed but still well chilled
- Flour for rolling
- 1 pound salmon filet, preferably wild or organic
The lemon-dill sauce
- 1 cup creme fraiche, sour cream, or Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh dill or parsley
Instructions
- Place a sheet of parchment paper on a large cookie sheet or baking tin.
- Make the spinach: In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the spinach and salt and pepper, and cook for about 3 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted and just soft. Add the cream and simmer for another 3 minutes until the cream thickens and is incorporated into the spinach. Remove and cool.
- Lightly flour a clean work surface. Roll out half the pastry so it’s just a touch thinner. Place on the prepared cookie sheet. Place the salmon on top of the pastry (it should cover most of the pastry) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon the spinach on top. Roll the second half of the pastry out so it is also just a bit thinner. Lay it on top of the salmon and spinach, and use your lightly floured fingers, pinch the two pieces of pastry together. Fold the edges of the bottom piece of pastry up onto the top piece and use your fingers again to create a seal. Take a fork and use the tines to create a pattern along the edges of the pastry. Use a small, sharp knife to cut 4 slits into the pastry to act as air “vents.” The dish can be made up to 12 hours ahead of time, covered, and refrigerated.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the salmon from the refrigerator and place it on the middle shelf. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Place the 1 to 2 remaining tablespoons of cream in a bowl. Remove the salmon from the oven and, using a pastry brush, brush the pastry with the cream. Place back into the oven and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown. An internal temperature gently inserted in one of the air slits should register 130 degrees for the salmon. If the pastry is not browning enough, raise the temperature to 425 degrees for a few minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before cutting into pieces.
Roasted cabbage with burnt oranges, pomegranate seeds and capers
Cabbage may not seem like glamorous holiday food, but this dish exceeds any expectation you might have of the humble Brassica. The cabbage is cut into wedges, drizzled with fresh orange juice and olive oil, and wedges of orange and roasted at a very high (500-degree) temperature. The sides of the leaves crinkle and are just shy of being burnt, and the cabbage turns sweet and tender. It’s served warm or at room temperature with cubes of fresh oranges, piquant capers, and jewel-like pomegranate seeds. It is then drizzled with a dressing made with mustard, olive oil, caper juice, pomegranate juice and orange juice.
This would be a beautiful addition to a holiday buffet or side dish to rich meats.
Serves 4 to 6.
Instructions
- 1 small white cabbage, cored and cut into quarters
- 1 radicchio, cored and cut into quarters
- 1 cone-shaped cabbage, also called Hispi, sweetheart, or pointed (if you can’t find this substitute 1 medium red cabbage, cored and cut into quarters)
- 1 blood orange, or navel orange
- 3 navel or Cara Cara oranges
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup pomegranate seeds
- ¼ cup capers, drained
The dressing
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon orange zest
- 1½ tablespoons orange juice
- 1½ tablespoons olive oil
- ½ to 1 tablespoon caper juice (the brine from the jar that the capers soak in), or white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 500 or 525 if your oven goes that high.
- Arrange all the cabbages on a large rimmed baking sheet. Juice the blood orange and 1 of ½ of the navel or Cara Cara oranges and drizzle over the cabbage. Drizzle the olive oil, salt and pepper on top. Cut the remaining 1½ oranges into small pieces and scatter throughout the cabbage. Roast for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until the cabbage is just shy of being burnt and is quite tender when tested with a small, sharp knife. The radicchio and cone-shaped cabbage will probably roast faster than the dense white or red cabbage. Remove the radicchio and cone-shaped cabbage, and let the red and white cabbage cook for another 5 to 10 minutes until really tender and crispy.
- Peel the remaining orange and cut the flesh (without the core) into small ½-inch cubes.
- Arrange the cabbages on a serving platter and sprinkle with the orange cubes, capers and pomegranate seeds.
- Make the dressing: in a small bowl, mix the mustard, salt and pepper, orange zest and orange juice. Add the olive oil and caper juice or vinegar. Taste for seasoning.
- Dress the cabbage within an hour before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Marbled cranberry swirl cheesecake
This rich, luscious, colorful cheesecake has graced our holiday table for many years. The crust is made from ground cookies – you can use Italian amaretti cookies, gingersnaps or graham crackers – topped with a batter of cream cheese, ricotta, and sour cream. A puree of cranberries is swirled into the batter (think of marbled Italian paper). The tart cranberries (with a hint of orange zest) provide a great counterpoint to the creamy richness of the cake.
The cake is baked for an hour at low heat and then kept in the warm oven for another hour. This method avoids the need for a water bath (a traditional method) and avoids the dreaded crack in the cheesecake. This cake is best made a day ahead of time, as it needs to chill at least 8 hours.
Serves between 10 and 12.
Ingredients
The cookie crust:
- About 12 to 14 gingersnaps, or about 1 ½ cups amaretti cookies, or 12 graham crackers
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus for the pan
- 1 tablespoon to ¼ cup sugar, depending on how sweet the cookies you use
- Pinch fine salt
The cranberry puree:
- 12 ounces cranberries (no need to thaw)
- ¾ cup water
- ⅓ cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Finely grated zest from 1 orange
The Cheesecake:
- 1½ pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups sour cream
Instructions
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350 degrees F.
- Butter a 9 x 2 ¾ -inch springform pan and set aside.
- Make the crust: Process the cookies or graham crackers in a food processor until finely ground; you should have 1½ cups. Add the melted butter, sugar and salt, pulse to combine. Transfer the crust to the prepared pan, pushing the crumbs evenly over the bottom and about 1 inch up the sides of the pan. Bake on the middle shelf until set, 12 to 14 minutes; set on a rack to cool thoroughly. Reduce the oven temperature to 275 degrees F.
- Make the cranberry puree: Put the cranberries and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to moderately low and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the cranberries have burst and thickened. Transfer the mixture into a fine sieve set over a medium bowl and, using a soft spatula, push the cranberries through. Stir in the vanilla and orange zest and let the puree cool completely.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, ricotta and sugar on low speed for a minute until fully blended and softened. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating fully after each addition. Add the vanilla and the sour cream and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl and paddle as needed.
- Spoon half the batter into the pan. Drop half the cranberry puree in spoonfuls on top of the batter in a random pattern. Using a table knife, swirl the cranberry puree through the batter in a swirly pattern (swirling horizontally and then vertically). Top with the remaining batter and then the remaining cranberry puree, again dropping it in spoonfuls in a random pattern, and again swirling the cranberry puree with a knife through the batter. It should look like Italian marble paper.
- Place the cake on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the warm oven for another hour. The middle will still be a bit wobbly, but it will firm up as it chills. Transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature, about another hour. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. To serve, remove the springform ring and cut using a warm knife.
More holiday recipe ideas:
- Lasagna, white bean salad, and lemon semifreddo
- Holiday garlic shrimp and scallop linguine, sweet potato gratin with sage and maple syrup; maple crème caramel
- Roasted vegetables
- Green olive breadsticks, radicchio, roasted pear, radish and pistachio salad, and chestnut and apple-stuffed acorn squash with cider glaze
- Desserts: maple pecan pie, upside-down apple cake with ginger, lemon tart
- Moroccan doughnuts, sweet potato and pecan pie, chocolate-dipped tangerine and toasted pecan biscotti
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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