Deck the halls and make meal easy
By J.M. HIRSCH December 11, 2012 8:25AM
In this image taken on November 12, 2012, roasted cobb salad is shown served on a platter in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Matthew Mead)
Updated: January 13, 2013 6:06AM
Here’s the thing about decorating for Christmas. It should be fun. It should be an occasion. It should involve delicious food.
But since your attention really should be on the decorating — and getting all those (expletive deleted) lights untangled — the food you serve needs to be fast, easy and mostly hands off.
When I was a kid, the night we put up and decorated the tree was a shrimp feast. We bought many — too many — pounds of cooked shrimp, then paired them with a bunch of sauces for dipping, some sparkling cider and a purchased dessert. Done. It was special, but also effortless and allowed easy grazing while hanging ornaments.
These days, I like to put a little more effort into it. But not much. That’s why I came up with this medley of roasted vegetables and sausage.
You basically season a bunch of produce and arrange it on baking sheets. Toss on some sausage, then pop the whole thing in the oven while you sweep up the glass decorations your child just smashed.
Keeping the vegetables separate on the baking sheets not only makes for an attractive presentation (it resembles a Cobb salad, from which the dish takes its name), it also lets you easily add faster cooking items toward the end of the cooking time.
AP
