Recipes in this article: Rosemary-Scented Pork Loin Stuffed With Roasted Garlic, Dried Apricots and Cranberries and Port Wine Pan Sauce Roasted Onions Silky Sweet Potato Purée Orange Pudding Cakes With Marmalade Drizzle Classic Pear Salad Classic salads Orange Brunch Strata With Cranberries & Walnuts Ask Pamela Anderson a food question!

A simple Christmas dinner
Enough holiday stress! Relax with this elegant, no-fuss, no-fail menu for eight.

Christmas dinner can be one of the most anticlimactic feasts for cooks. After weeks of buying gifts, decorating and baking, most of us would rather put our feet up or at least slow down.

With that thought in mind, I created this weekend's menu, a memorable, no-fuss meal for eight guests.

The centerpiece is a festive pork loin roast -- good-looking, lean and attractively priced (under $25). With those benefits, however, comes a challenge: Lean meat can lack flavor and moisture. To boost flavor, I stuff the pork. Start by slitting the loin to form a long pocket, leaving the ends intact. Line the pocket with sautéed garlic cloves. Add your favorite dried fruit -- apricots, prunes, peaches, pears or apples. For color, toss in dried cranberries. Tie the roast with heavy kitchen twine to help it keep its shape and hold the stuffing, then season the surface. To ensure juicy meat, slowly roast it in a 250-degree oven. To develop a flavorful crust, increase the heat to 400 degrees for the last 15 to 20 minutes. The high heat, together with a jelly glaze, browns the meat beautifully. Note that I have done a whole 8-pound loin, which can serve 16; if you don't want leftovers, buy a 4-pound roast and adjust the stuffing amounts.

The side dishes don't get much simpler. I love Roasted Onions -- no peeling, and the cut surfaces turn rich caramel brown. Silky Sweet Potato Purée can be made two days in advance. Add a favorite green vegetable -- Brussels sprouts, green beans, etc.

For a light, elegant dessert, your guests will love Orange Pudding Cakes. Just measure the ingredients early in the day. As the roast rests, whip up the cakes; let them bake during dinner, and serve warm.

Contributing Editor Pam Anderson is the author of "CookSmart" (Houghton Mifflin, $28).

Give everyone a gift: Be a happy, stress-free cook by serving stuffed pork loin with roasted onions and sweet potato purée.

Go to top

Rosemary-Scented Pork Loin Stuffed With Roasted Garlic, Dried Apricots and Cranberries and Port Wine Pan Sauce

3 Tbs. olive oil
16 to 18 whole peeled garlic cloves, plus 2 Tbs. minced cloves (about 1 1/2 heads)
1 whole boneless pork loin*, 7 1/2 to 8 pounds, patted dry, at room temperature
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 Tbs. minced fresh rosemary (snip with scissors), divided
16 to 18 dried apricots (or similar amount of your favorite dried fruit)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
Heavy kitchen string or twine
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. apple jelly
1/4 cup port
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tsps. cornstarch

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 250 degrees. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add whole garlic cloves and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon; reserve oil.

Turn pork loin fat-side down. Slit lengthwise, almost but not quite all the way through, to form a long pocket, leaving a 1/2-inch border of unslit meat at each end. Brush cavity with some of the reserved garlic cooking oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and 1 Tb. of the rosemary. Line cavity with sautéed garlic and apricots; sprinkle in cranberries. Tie loin together with kitchen twine or heavy-duty string at 1 1/2-inch intervals.

Brush with remaining oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Set roast, fat-side up, diagonally or curved (so it fits) on a large, lipped cookie sheet or jellyroll pan. Warm 1/4 cup apple jelly along with the minced garlic and remaining rosemary. Brush mixture onto meat.

Roast until a meat thermometer stuck into the center registers 125 to 130 degrees. (Start checking at about 1 1/2 hours.) Remove from oven; raise oven temperature to 400 degrees. Brush loin with pan drippings, return to oven, and continue to roast until the loin is golden brown and a meat thermometer stuck into the center registers 155 to 160 degrees, about 20 minutes longer. For even more attractive coloring, broil until spotty brown, 3 to 5 minutes.

Let roast rest 15 to 20 minutes; transfer to a carving board. Stir juices around pan to loosen brown bits. Pour through a strainer into a small pan, and stir in port, chicken broth and remaining 2 Tbs. of jelly; bring to a simmer. Mix cornstarch with a couple of tablespoons of cold water; whisk into sauce. Simmer until lightly thickened. Slice pork and serve with a little sauce.

* Note: If you opt to roast a portion rather than a whole pork loin, select the more flavorful rib end. A 4-pound roast will serve 8.

Serves: 16.

Per 6-ounce serving: 387 calories, 32g protein, 11g carbohydrates, 22g fat (7g saturated), 0g fiber, 115mg sodium.

Go to top

Roasted Onions

4 medium unpeeled yellow onions
2 Tbs. olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Balsamic vinegar (optional)

Adjust oven rack to lowest position; heat to 425 degrees. Cut onions in half; toss with oil and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Place, cut-side down, on a lipped cookie sheet. Roast until tender and cut surfaces are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Adjust seasonings; drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Serves: 8.

Per serving: 62 calories, 1g protein, 7g carbohydrates, 3g fat (0g saturated), 1g fiber, 30mg sodium.

Go to top

Silky Sweet Potato Purée

3 pounds whole sweet potatoes, pricked with a fork
1/2 tsp. salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 cup each, buttermilk and whole milk
6 Tbs. butter

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position; heat to 425 degrees. Place potatoes on a foil-lined pan; bake 45 to 60 minutes, until tender. Peel when cool enough to handle. Purée with salt and pepper in a food processor. With motor running, gradually add milks through feeder tube, then butter. Process until silken. (Can make up to 2 days ahead; store in an airtight container.) Reheat and serve.

Serves: 8.

Per serving: 220 calories, 3g protein, 31g carbohydrates, 9g fat (5g saturated), 3g fiber, 272mg sodium.

Go to top

Orange Pudding Cakes With Marmalade Drizzle

2 Tbs. very soft butter
1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsps. finely grated zest and 1/4 cup juice from a large orange
4 eggs, separated
1/4 cup instant flour (Wondra)
4 Tbs. fresh lemon juice, divided
1 cup milk
6 Tbs. orange marmalade
2 Tbs. orange-flavored liqueur

Spray eight 6-ounce ovenproof custard cups (such as Pyrex) with vegetable cooking spray.

Set them in two 9-inch round or square baking pans. Bring 1 1/2 quarts of water to boil in a tea kettle. Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Whisk butter, 1/2 cup sugar and zest until smooth. Whisk in egg yolks, then flour, until smooth. Next whisk in 1/4 cup orange juice and 2 Tbs. lemon juice, then the milk, to form a thin batter.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with a hand mixer until foamy. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, until the whites are stiff enough to hold a peak. Gently fold the whites into the batter until just smooth.

Pour batter into each custard cup. Place pans on oven rack, then carefully pour hot water into each pan, being sure to avoid getting any water on the cakes. Bake until tops are golden brown and spring back to the touch, about 25 to 35 minutes. Remove pans from oven; let custard cups stand in the water until just warm. Place a dessert plate over each custard cup; invert cake onto plate. Mix marmalade, liqueur and remaining 2 Tbs. lemon juice. Spoon sauce over cakes.

Serves: 8.

Per serving: 216 calories, 4g protein, 35g carbohydrates, 6g fat (3g saturated), 0g fiber, 86mg sodium.

Why do these Orange Pudding Cakes get a hot bath?
To cook them slowly and gently. When you put a container of food (here, the batter-filled custard cups) in a larger pan filled with hot water, it allows delicate things to cook without curdling or separating. The French call this hot-water bath a bain-marie (Mary's bath), allegedly after Moses' sister, Miriam, an alchemist.

-- Pam Anderson, CookSmart columnist

Go to top

Classic Pear Salad
Cut ripe pears in half and remove the cores with a melon baller or spoon. Shave off a thin piece from the bottom of each pear half to steady it, then place on a salad plate with a handful of watercress. Fill hollowed-out core with chunks of a good blue cheese. Serve immediately (so the pears don't darken) as is or with a little balsamic vinaigrette.

Updated Waldorf Salad
Toss chopped apples and celery, toasted walnuts, and dried cranberries or raisins together with a little olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve on a bed of interesting greens or in an iceberg lettuce cup.

Citrus Spritz Salad
Toss mixed greens with olive oil, salt and pepper, then drizzle on a little rice wine vinegar. Top each portion with grapefruit sections and scatter with pomegranate seeds. Fresh pomegranates are widely available during the holidays.

For an easy and economical winter brunch dish, add a fruit salad, sausages or ham, juices and coffee, and you'll be the host with the most.

Orange Brunch Strata With Cranberries & Walnuts

12 ounces (1 1/2 boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature (you may substitute reduced-fat cream cheese)
1 1/2 tsps. finely grated orange zest and 14 cup juice from a large orange
9 large eggs
3 cups half-and-half
2 Tbs. sugar
2 tsps. vanilla extract
12 to 13 slices fluffy white bread (not dense artisanal or country-style bread)
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup orange marmalade

With a hand mixer, beat cream cheese and orange zest in a medium bowl, adding 1 egg at a time, to form a lumpy batter. Beat in half-and-half, sugar and vanilla. (Batter will still be lumpy.)

Spray a 13-by-9-inch Pyrex or ceramic baking dish with vegetable cooking spray. Line pan bottom with 6 slices of bread, cutting some slices into strips to form a tight fit. Pour 1 cup of the egg mixture over the bread, then sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the cranberries. Make another layer with remaining bread. Slowly pour remaining egg mixture over bread.

Cover with plastic wrap, then lightly weight the strata, such as by setting a pie plate on it (or lightly pressing on it with your hand a few times), until bread has almost completely absorbed the milk mixture. Refrigerate at least several hours or overnight.

Remove plastic and bring to cool room temperature before baking. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Sprinkle strata with walnuts and remaining cranberries, lightly pressing them into the bread. Bake until strata is firm and puffy, 35 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, warm marmalade and 1/4 cup orange juice in a small saucepan. Remove strata from oven and let stand for 8 to 10 minutes. Cut into 12 portions and serve immediately with warm orange sauce.

Serves: 12.
Per serving: 443 calories, 11g protein, 45g carbohydrates, 24g fat (12g saturated), 1g fiber, 311mg sodium.

Go to top