This is a perfect menu for seafood lovers and because it is festive, it would be a great meal to serve for a small Christmas Eve gathering. Pull up your recipes for the following dishes and plan to serve them with a basic green salad and bread and cheese:
Christmas Eve Seafood Stew
Cranberry Cider Sorbet
Meringue Wreath Cookies
Here are some tips for assembling the meal:
The meringue cookies can be made as far as a month ahead.
The sorbet can be made two to three days ahead. Just soften it before serving by letting it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes; it may become quite hard in the freezer after an extended stay.
Get the stew going. While the stew is simmering, before you add the seafood, you have a 10-minute window of opportunity. Take advantage of this break to get the salad together, slice the bread, and set out the cheese.
Here are some hints for scaling this menu up or down:
Low-Fat Seafood Stew: No problem here. The stew can be scaled up or down, but if you scale up, make sure that you have a large enough pot and wallet!
Cranberry Cider Sorbet: You may scale this up or down, but if you scale it up you’ll probably have to make it in batches. Few ice cream machines hold more than 11/2 quarts.
Meringue Wreath Cookies: May be scaled up or down directly.