Help me make a Christmas Picnic
December 9, 2012 11:41 PM
We're moving the week before Christmas. Soooo let's have a Christmas Eve picnic! Suggestions for food and decor?
We're moving the week before Christmas, and are broke. We're both really stressed, since I'm losing my job as a result of this move, and he's starting a new one.
I'm thinking of having a surprise Christmas Eve picnic indoors, with candles and stuff. I think it'll be really cute/fun, and also, uh, probably involve less cooking than an actual xmas dinner. We'll spread out a blanket, have plates and stuff set up, maybe rose petals, some crazy romantic shit like that.
Here are the requirements:
1. Cheap but delicious. I'm a pretty confident cook, but have a limited budget.
2. Something that can be prepared using limited tools. I'll have... a cookie sheet, a small skillet, a round baking pan, a spoon, and a spatula, and also a knife. I may be able to pick up other things as well but can't count on it.
3. Finger food-ish. I think it'd be cute.
4. Our cat will probably be the secret third wheel. She cannot play a violin or sing in Italian.
We're moving the week before Christmas, and are broke. We're both really stressed, since I'm losing my job as a result of this move, and he's starting a new one.
I'm thinking of having a surprise Christmas Eve picnic indoors, with candles and stuff. I think it'll be really cute/fun, and also, uh, probably involve less cooking than an actual xmas dinner. We'll spread out a blanket, have plates and stuff set up, maybe rose petals, some crazy romantic shit like that.
Here are the requirements:
1. Cheap but delicious. I'm a pretty confident cook, but have a limited budget.
2. Something that can be prepared using limited tools. I'll have... a cookie sheet, a small skillet, a round baking pan, a spoon, and a spatula, and also a knife. I may be able to pick up other things as well but can't count on it.
3. Finger food-ish. I think it'd be cute.
4. Our cat will probably be the secret third wheel. She cannot play a violin or sing in Italian.
oh weird, I came in to suggest crab cakes (heavy on the green+red peppers for holiday spirit).
also, cats can play xylophones if you attach mallets to their legs and lay treats on the table....
posted by mannequito at 2:23 AM on December 10, 2012
also, cats can play xylophones if you attach mallets to their legs and lay treats on the table....
posted by mannequito at 2:23 AM on December 10, 2012
Fondue is fun and not expensive. A skillet is fine, you don't have to use a fondue pot.
posted by shoesietart at 3:47 AM on December 10, 2012
posted by shoesietart at 3:47 AM on December 10, 2012
Also, smoked salmon with sour cream and watercress or dill on dark rye, maybe capers too. It's not too expensive and doesn't require cooking. (Kitty might like a nibble of salmon.)
Baked potato wedges topped with cheddar, green onion and maybe bacon.
Go vegetarian with baba ganoush and hummus served with pita bread and a salad of sliced cherry tomatoes tossed with mint, parsley, olive oil and lemon juice.
posted by shoesietart at 4:05 AM on December 10, 2012
Baked potato wedges topped with cheddar, green onion and maybe bacon.
Go vegetarian with baba ganoush and hummus served with pita bread and a salad of sliced cherry tomatoes tossed with mint, parsley, olive oil and lemon juice.
posted by shoesietart at 4:05 AM on December 10, 2012
Decorations - pine cones, branches, small apples, and tea lights/candles. Fill small glasses with cranberries and nestle in tea lights.
posted by shoesietart at 4:12 AM on December 10, 2012
posted by shoesietart at 4:12 AM on December 10, 2012
When you said skillet and cookie sheet, I automatically thought of nachos. They are delicious and inexpensive. Maybe not the most romantic meal.
Cook and season ground beef (or steak or shrimp or chicken) in skillet. Make two individual aluminum foil rectangle "plates"(or one to share) with edges to hold your nachos. Place chips, meat, shredded cheese on foil plates and heat in oven. Transfer foil plate to real plate or platter, top with salsa, guacamole, sour cream, green onions, jalapeño, etc.
A more festive and romantic (but pricier) option is Coquilles St. Jacques. (You would need to buy or find ramekins or small bowls. Or, you could make one large serving.) Have as an appetizer along with a store-bought rotisserie chicken, french bread, and wine. Make a flourless chocolate cake in your cake pan for dessert.
Decorations: Do you have any Christmas lights? String them around your place. Very romantic -- especially if they are white but any color will do.
posted by Fairchild at 6:00 AM on December 10, 2012
Cook and season ground beef (or steak or shrimp or chicken) in skillet. Make two individual aluminum foil rectangle "plates"(or one to share) with edges to hold your nachos. Place chips, meat, shredded cheese on foil plates and heat in oven. Transfer foil plate to real plate or platter, top with salsa, guacamole, sour cream, green onions, jalapeño, etc.
A more festive and romantic (but pricier) option is Coquilles St. Jacques. (You would need to buy or find ramekins or small bowls. Or, you could make one large serving.) Have as an appetizer along with a store-bought rotisserie chicken, french bread, and wine. Make a flourless chocolate cake in your cake pan for dessert.
Decorations: Do you have any Christmas lights? String them around your place. Very romantic -- especially if they are white but any color will do.
posted by Fairchild at 6:00 AM on December 10, 2012
One of our favorite Christmas things is to hit up the grocery store and raid the antipasto bar. A jar of roasted peppers, some fresh mozzarella, olives, marinated mushrooms, artichoke hearts, salami, a cheap bottle of wine, and bread or crackers can be purchased for under $20, and they're delicious, require no prep at all, and will likely give you leftovers for pasta in another night or two. If you would like to overachieve, you can roast your own peppers, marinate your own mozzarella, and bake your own bread, all of which is relatively low investment and uses equipment that you already have on hand.
Alternative: Pick up a piece of filet mignon. Yes, this is expensive, but there are only two of you, so you don't need a ton--half a pound would be plenty, and where I am, at least, that'd run you under ten bucks. (It's about $17/lb where I am.) On the cookie sheet, put one cut up potato, one onion cut into thick rounds, and drizzle with olive oil. (And thyme, if you're into that. I love thyme.) Bake that until the potato is golden and delicious. In the round baking pan, put spinach, butter, chopped onion, cream cheese, garlic, and a little milk. Mix well; put into oven with potato until the spinach is melty and delicious. Cook the steaks the way you cook steaks, maybe topping with a little blue cheese or garlic butter. Serve with a bottle of cheap red wine, and have ice cream with fudge sauce for dessert. If you're a careful shopper and/or if you have any of these items on hand already, you can totally do this for under $20, as well.
Buy the cat a tin of wet foot and give it to them in another room. I speak from experience when I tell you that cats do not make amazing guests at floor picnics.
posted by MeghanC at 6:01 AM on December 10, 2012
Alternative: Pick up a piece of filet mignon. Yes, this is expensive, but there are only two of you, so you don't need a ton--half a pound would be plenty, and where I am, at least, that'd run you under ten bucks. (It's about $17/lb where I am.) On the cookie sheet, put one cut up potato, one onion cut into thick rounds, and drizzle with olive oil. (And thyme, if you're into that. I love thyme.) Bake that until the potato is golden and delicious. In the round baking pan, put spinach, butter, chopped onion, cream cheese, garlic, and a little milk. Mix well; put into oven with potato until the spinach is melty and delicious. Cook the steaks the way you cook steaks, maybe topping with a little blue cheese or garlic butter. Serve with a bottle of cheap red wine, and have ice cream with fudge sauce for dessert. If you're a careful shopper and/or if you have any of these items on hand already, you can totally do this for under $20, as well.
Buy the cat a tin of wet foot and give it to them in another room. I speak from experience when I tell you that cats do not make amazing guests at floor picnics.
posted by MeghanC at 6:01 AM on December 10, 2012
Pizza. You could make that with the tools you have on hand, it's finger food, and if you made it with toppings he'd like it would be romantic and get you smooches.
Here's King Arthur Flour's recipe for pizza dough; it's the best recipe I've tried, and I've tried a lot of them.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:02 AM on December 10, 2012
Here's King Arthur Flour's recipe for pizza dough; it's the best recipe I've tried, and I've tried a lot of them.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:02 AM on December 10, 2012
I'd go with some kind of Christmas spin on Ploughman's lunch. That's made of pre-made things, and probably gets used as "picnic" food because it can be served cold. The regular ploughman's lunch is cheese, bread, pickles, and beer; some people add ham, or plain apples for dessert. Maybe adding some kind of a thick, hearty soup (served out of a thermos, if you really want to extend the "picnic" theme) or mulled cider or spiked hot cocoa instead of the beer (also out of a Thermos) can Christmas it up. Maybe a quick bread (cranberry bread, date nut bread, banana bread). But if you pick up a slightly-better-than-usual cheddar cheese, get some good crusty bread and some good pickles, and get another couple of premade things like that, you'd be good to go.
Or, another idea - a grand aioli. That's a Provencal French take on the antipasto platter, with simple boiled vegetables or raw vegetables, hardboiled eggs, and maybe some seafood served with a garlic mayonnaise. The link I posted mentions salt cod, but the one time I did a grand aioli I swapped that out for a jar of fancy-ass tuna filets I saw in my supermarket. It was a cakewalk - I hardboiled some eggs and new potatoes, also steamed up some green beans, and put that all on a platter with lettuce, some baby carrots and sliced bell pepper, and a few other pretty veggies and the aioli (which you could totally cheat on by stirring some chopped garlic into regular mayo and letting that sit for an hour or so). If you have access to a food processor, you could also make up some tapenade by throwing black olives, a clove of garlic, a little lemon juice and a spoon of chopped rosemary in and whizzing it up, and using that as a spread on bread. I had five people over for the grand aioli and the bread and tapeande and they loved it.
Another idea - Christmas is probably the one day of the year you can get away with eating nothing but cookies and chocolate and candy canes, so that could be another way to go.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:32 AM on December 10, 2012
Or, another idea - a grand aioli. That's a Provencal French take on the antipasto platter, with simple boiled vegetables or raw vegetables, hardboiled eggs, and maybe some seafood served with a garlic mayonnaise. The link I posted mentions salt cod, but the one time I did a grand aioli I swapped that out for a jar of fancy-ass tuna filets I saw in my supermarket. It was a cakewalk - I hardboiled some eggs and new potatoes, also steamed up some green beans, and put that all on a platter with lettuce, some baby carrots and sliced bell pepper, and a few other pretty veggies and the aioli (which you could totally cheat on by stirring some chopped garlic into regular mayo and letting that sit for an hour or so). If you have access to a food processor, you could also make up some tapenade by throwing black olives, a clove of garlic, a little lemon juice and a spoon of chopped rosemary in and whizzing it up, and using that as a spread on bread. I had five people over for the grand aioli and the bread and tapeande and they loved it.
Another idea - Christmas is probably the one day of the year you can get away with eating nothing but cookies and chocolate and candy canes, so that could be another way to go.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:32 AM on December 10, 2012
Not finger food, but bananas Foster (can be virgin if you don't have any appropriate alcohol on hand) is very delicious, very romantic, and very cheap.
posted by ostro at 10:05 AM on December 10, 2012
posted by ostro at 10:05 AM on December 10, 2012
If you traditionally have sweet potato casserole at holiday meals, get a bag of sweet potato chips! Very picnic style. Whole Foods and similar stores carry them.
posted by dreamyshade at 1:59 PM on December 10, 2012
posted by dreamyshade at 1:59 PM on December 10, 2012
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Best of luck in your new place!
posted by incessant at 1:20 AM on December 10, 2012