Splendid Holidays

If you’re looking for a new way to make a traditional dish for your family’s holiday dinner, or an off-the-beaten-path idea for your office potluck, please let the Splendid Table help. Here’s a selection of stories, episodes, and recipes to help you in your quest.

A Winter Holiday Dinner Menu

In spite of a shared Mediterranean heritage, Scandinavian tastes lure us in as winter descends. Celebrate anything with this menu. It could be Christmas, the New Year or just an excuse to get everyone around a table.

• Slow Roasted Pork with Glazed Orange Slices

• Gingered Puree of Winter Roots

• Mustard-Glazed Red Cabbage with Apples

• Double Pear Pudding Cake with Warm Caramel Cognac Sauce

Pulling it off

Three Days Prior: Season the pork. Make the pears for the Double Pear Pudding Cake and the Caramel Cognac Sauce.

One Day Prior: Bake the Double Pear Pudding Cake. Make the Gingered Puree of Winter Roots and Mustard-Glazed Red Cabbage.

Day of the Dinner: Roast Slow Roasted Pork with Glazed Orange Slices. Reheat Gingered Puree of Winter Roots and Mustard-Glazed Red Cabbage.

Favorite holiday recipes
 

Any of these simple dishes will add a kick to your holiday dinner table.

• Candied Walnuts

• Sichuan-Inspired Pickled Vegetables

• Pickled Mushrooms with Black Pepper and Lemon Grass

• Pickled Grapes with Rosemary and Chiles

• Crispy Feta-Stuffed Phyllo Torte

• Leg of Lamb with Honey and Moroccan Table Spices

• Hot Spiced Portobello Grill with Fresh Arugula and Parmigiano Shavings

• Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi with Saffron Tomato Sauce

For more of our best holiday recipes, click here.

Patricia Wells' French-inspired Christmas

Patricia Wells is a culinary legend who has lived and cooked in France for more than 30 years. She is an award-winning journalist, author and teacher who runs a popular cooking school out of her homes in Paris and Provence, France. Here is her French-inspired Christmas menu.

• Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Toasted Pistachios and Pistachio Oil

• Saffron and Honey Brioche

• Seared Duck Breast with Fresh Figs and Black Currant Sauce

• Pomegranate and Buttermilk Sorbet

More stories in the holiday spirit

• Respect the cheese ball: It's the perfect party food

• 11 types of gifts you can make in the kitchen

• Welcome to the virtual cookie exchange

Episodes
 

• Cuban Christmas

Chef Douglas Rodriguez joins us with a Cuban take on the Christmas feast. The legendary Paula Wolfert joins us with her book Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. And we have a tale of a childhood gingerbread house gone mad from Augusten Burroughs, author of You'd Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas. Emeril Lagasse also checks in with holiday recipes inspired by his mother.

• Holiday Nostalgia

British food writer Nigel Slater, author of Tender, joins us with his take on the holiday meal; Edward Behr discusses his book, The Art of Eating Cookbook; and Andrew Schloss, author of Homemade Soda, brings some non-alcoholic suggestions for the holiday.

• Duck, Duck, Goose

We are taking on the Christmas goose with Hank Shaw, author of Duck, Duck, Goose, master baker Alice Medrich takes on chocolate with her book Seriously Bitter Sweet, Jane and Michael Stern bring us the best in holiday pies, and Nathan Myhrvold of Modernist Cuisine talks about what it takes to capture the best food photos.

• Christmas with Nigella

It's Christmas with England's Nigella Lawson, the lustiest, yet pragmatic, cook we know. She'll talk the feast, with ideas for taking the pressure off and having some fun. She leaves us her recipes for Bread Sauce and Easy-Action Christmas Cake from her book, Feast.