Andrea L Soave-Nadeau
Chef di Cuisine
Camille's

Taking the point of view of a busy chef, holiday season isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sure, most everyone loves getting together with friends and family to celebrate, catching up on the past years’ events and unwrapping presents…who doesn’t like presents? But there’s a lot of work that goes into it, even for someone “in the business.”

Organization is key. Juggling all the roles as we often do in our high-tech, fast paced, day to day lives, often complicates the enjoyment of the festivities and undermines the ‘tis the season attitude. Between shopping, crowds and decorating it’s admittedly hard to pull together a menu that will impress. My advice, make an outline weeks before allowing yourself to remember the likes and dislikes of your potential guests, dietary concerns & allergies, and providing yourself time to prepare some items well in advance. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that nobody enjoys a dinner when you’ve only had two hours of sleep and hadn’t had time to look presentable.

Once you feel organized, you can actually find time to upgrade your original ideas and become a little creative with your prior selections. You may want to support the local bakery, or berry farmers by making “homemade” cranberry sauce, even use a local vineyard for your wine choices. Some vineyards even run end of summer specials, so you can grab a few bottles of great wine and still stay within your budget.

There are also simple ways to upgrade your holiday favorites. Sure, cranberry sauce is the old stand-by, but why not make cranberry apple chutney? It’s still within the traditional parameters, yet, it is a bit more edgy. Remember, there are tons of websites where you can download recipes if you need a little help. There are many simple ways to make your accompaniments even better such as making honey butter to replace standard salted, or adding a bit of white truffle oil or oven-roasted garlic to mash potatoes, another great one tying in local produce; roasting peeled butternut squash and apples with a touch of all spice and smash them together, leaving them with a hearty texture.

Here in Rhode Island, we are fortunate to have many fresh choices; such as, native produce from local farms, and specialty and ethnic markets with many exotic ingredients. So why not get organized and use your time wisely? Impress your guests and set the bar higher for next years’ host.