What's Cookin' - Yule Feast

Published December 19, 2007 in The Spectrum & Daily News

By Kathryn van Roosendaal

Probably my favorite family dinner of the year is Yule. It’s a fun time of year – and after weeks of get-togethers with tons of candy and sugar and hectic rounds of shopping, it’s great to sit down and eat and catch up on a year’s worth of gossip.

The best part is there was no set traditional Yule menu in my family, so I was able to develop my own traditions. I could steer clear of duplicating the Christmas ham and the Thanksgiving turkey and go with something more unique. At the same time I wanted something fairly easy to put together so I didn’t spend all day in the kitchen when I could be spending it with family.

The answer presented itself about 15 years ago when a friend of mine invited me to a fancy dinner. Xana had just finished reading “Like Water for Chocolate” and was trying out the recipe for hens with rose petal sauce. It was absolutely delicious and I was pleased to find out that it was pretty easy to put together. The hens only take about an hour and a half to cook – a lot better than the 4 to 5 hours you have to wait for a turkey – and it was easy to find fresh rose petals in Los Angeles in December.

Of course, I can’t leave well enough alone and I have modified the recipe over the years. In the original, the rose petal sauce was more like a chutney, chunky and sort of savory-sweet. I opted for a glaze-like sauce that is sweeter and can be used on ice cream just as easily as on hens. When I found it difficult to find fresh roses in St. George in late December, I adjusted the recipe so I could use dried petals saved from earlier in the year, and I added rose hips to give the sauce a nice tang.

To the hens I added chestnut stuffing, the Prima Donna of the dressing world. In LA I was able to find canned chestnuts in the stores, but I have yet to find them in Utah and I always forget to order them ahead of time. Fresh ones can be a bit of an ordeal to peel, but I have made a tradition of roasting them the night before and then peeling them while a watch a movie – “A Christmas Story” is best. The stuffing is then easy to throw together the next day and I cook it in a crock pot so it can do its thing while I mingle with guests.

Add steamed asparagus or green bean casserole and a gingerbread cake for dessert and viola! There is a great meal that looks fancy but doesn’t take long to put together.

That’s my favorite kind.

Chestnut Stuffing

Chestnuts are sweet and rich, making for a delicious stuffing that needs no gravy to make it delicious.

1 cup chopped sweet onions

1/2 cup butter

2 teaspoons dried sage

1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

8 cups dry sourdough bread cubes

1 cup chicken broth

1 pound fresh chestnuts

Cut an X in the shells of the chestnuts. Roast them on a baking sheet at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Let cool, then remove shells and skins. Chop coarsely and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add onion and cook until tender but not brown. Remove from heat and add spices and chestnuts. Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Add chestnut mixture and broth and toss until moistened. Put the mixture in a large crockpot and set on high. Cook until heated through, then turn to low. Add more broth as needed to keep it moist. Serves 8 to 10.

Cornish Hens with Rose Petal Sauce

Serving individual birds to each dinner guest makes for a beautiful, elegant dinner – yet it is easier and faster than doing a big turkey. The Rose Petal Sauce adds just the right flowery sweetness to the hens.

8 Cornish hens, fully defrosted

olive oil

Salt and pepper

Rose Petal Sauce

Rinse the hens and pat dry. Sprinkle in the inside with salt and pepper and place breast side up on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Brush with olive oil and cover loosely with foil. Roast at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Brush the hens with some rose petal sauce and continue roasting – brushing a couple more times with the sauce – another hour or until a meat thermometer in the thigh reads 180 to 185 degrees F. Remove from the oven and let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Serve each hen on its own plate drizzled with more rose petal sauce. Serves 8.

Rose Petal Sauce

This sauce can taste very different depending on what type of rose petals you use. My rule: If you like the way a rose smells, you will like the way it tastes. Just do not use flowers from a florist, they contain chemicals and often taste very bitter.

3 large strongly scented roses OR 2 cups dried rose petals

2 tablespoons chopped rose hips OR 1 tablespoon chopped dried rose hips

1 sprig rosemary, about 3 inches long

4 cups water

4 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar OR 1/3 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

milk

Put 2/3 of the rose petals and the rosemary sprig in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes covered. Remove from heat and let stand 20 minutes covered. Strain, reserving the juice and discarding the rose petals. Measure the juice and add enough water to make 4 cups. Return the juice to the pan. Shred or chop the remaining rose petals and add to the pan along with the lemon juice, sugar or honey, salt and rose hips. Bring to a boil. Add just enough milk to the corn starch to make a thin paste. Add to the pan and stir until the sauce thickens. Serve warm or cold over ice cream, chicken or Cornish hens. Makes 4 cups sauce.