Another christmas dinner

Ok, this was actually Christmas Eve.  But the sentiment was there.

Nothing fancy; just meat, salad, and bread.  Well, ok, maybe a little fancy.

First, a compote to go with the meat (and the bread the next day).  In a small sauce pan I combined:

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup raw sugar
• 1 cup cranberries
• 2 meyer lemons (yeah, I still had some left over)
• Generous amounts of allspice

Reducing that all together took about 45 minutes.  A bit of arrowroot got it to the proper consistency.

The salad was fairly simple: red chard, cilantro, sesame seeds, cranberries, and mandarin oranges.  If nothing else it was quite pretty.  Dressing went like this:

• White wine vinegar
• Olive oil
• Honey
• Garlic
• Black pepper
• Cayenne (not too much; just a slight bite to offset the cranberries and complement the honey)

That all went together with a very simple flank steak served after slicing on a bias.

Pretty and festive.  And delicious.

Avocado/tangerine salad

Simple as can be.

Chop:

• 1 avocado
• 2 tangerines
• A decent amount of goat cheese
• Two handfuls of almonds

Combine that with spinach.  Dress with:

• Sesame oil
• White wine vinegar (rice wine vinegar would work here too)
• Ground ginger
• Garlic powder

And that's it.  The flavors blend extremely well what with the sweet from the tangerines and almonds, the sour goat cheese, and the various spices (plus whatever it is that avocado has).  The textures work well varying from the crunchy almonds down to the almost melty cheese and avocado.

In a large enough batch this could be a meal.