Holiday Menu Suggestions (+Giveaway)

The holiday season is the perfect time to prepare a pretty table filled with fancy dishes. Last year, Lulu and I spent the holidays with my parents in Paris. This year, I'm catching up and I'm preparing dinner for my husband's family. I have a vague idea of what the menu is going to be and if you're also still wondering what to prepare, I've gathered a few of my favorite holiday recipes. Enjoy!

Today's giveaway is a gift pack from John Kelly Chocolates. The company specializes in elevating fudge with the use of high-quality ingredients. The chocolate pieces are enormous, adding to the decadence of the product. The chocolate walnut bars, which are my favorite, are so dense and chocolate-y. I also enjoyed the hawaiian salted fudge bites. For a chance to gorge on all the fudgy goodness from John Kelly Chocolates, just enter on the 25 Days of Giveaways page.

Make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and John Kelly Chocolates or follow @Phamfatalecom and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "$99 Chocolate Tower #Giveaway from @Phamfatalecom and @jkchoc: http://bit.ly/sp4V7y".

Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Tartlet Appetizers

Whenever we host parties, I always like to serve bite-size appetizers. For our most recent fete, I made small savory tartlets filled with mashed pumpkin and Butter Gold potatoes. For extra creaminess, I added crumbled goat cheese along with some sesame-flavored candied walnuts for crunch.

The wrapping was made of puff pastry, which I’ve also used for many other types of appetizers. Whatever filling you choose, these cute miniature appetizers are always a hit.

Beet Cream with Goat Cheese

I’ve used the combination of beets and goat cheese several times, and I think that it works incredibly well. The color is so vibrant it only makes sense to use it as an appetizer. To brighten up the purée, I added marinated artichoke as a garnish and covered it in crumbled goat cheese as a hint of what’s inside. Just serve it in small shot glasses along with some tasty black sesame crackers, and you’ll have an easy appetizer that still brings the wow factor.

It also goes great alongside the hummus that I published yesterday, so mix and match and have fun!

How to Make Hummus

Hummus is very easy to make, plus it can be prepared in advance. All you need are garbanzo beans, oil, lemon and a few other ingredients. I made a batch today, and after whipping it together, I served the hummus in tiny cups and garnished it with roasted bell peppers and lemon crackers.

If -like us- you host a lot of dinner parties, you might feel a little pressed for fresh appetizer ideas. My criteria for the perfect appetizer, besides being incredibly delicious, is that it doesn’t take an insane amount of time to prepare. I love to cook, but it’s (usually) more fun to spend time with your guests! All you need is a simple recipe, the right ingredients and attractive, small containers to show them off.

PhamFatale.com reaches 500 recipes!

This week, PhamFatale.com reached 500 recipes. It's truly surprising to me that there are over 500 recipes in my head, but as they say, the proof is in the pudding. In this case, the proof is also in the crème brulée, the risotto and the other dishes I've shared over the past year and a half.

I never in a million years imagined that publishing the recipes I prepare daily for and with my family and friends could have been so much fun. Food is an ephemeral art form, so it's easy to forget what ingredient combinations I've made in the past and what I've served.

The other neat side of the website I've enjoyed a lot is to be able to interact with other food lovers from around the world and also make dear friends locally. I'm always surprised at how readers find the website, whether it is through another food site, the newspaper or from a friend. Thanks so much for joining me in my culinary adventures. It's wonderful fun experimenting with recipes, playing with photography by switching lenses and getting the children interested and familiar with cooking. You've probably seen the dietary restrictions in my large family. They aren’t always simple to fulfill but they're always a great adventure!

Thanks for reading! And stay tuned as new surprises will arrive soon.

For now, here's an example of a menu I would typically serve for a dinner party, gathering my favorite recipes including Vietnamese, French and Indian cuisines. Enjoy!