Time to break out the good stuff
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- December 23, 2022
- 648
If ever there was a time to trot out the good stuff, this week is it. If we are lucky, we have things boxed up in the garage, which hold generational meaning for our family.
I have a single box of glass ornaments that hung on the tree when I was a child, and they come out every year, carefully handled and dusted each time. There must have been 10 of them at some point, but now there are six, each carefully safeguarded and packed up after Christmas.
They are certainly not rare, expensive things. Mom bought them during the brief appearance of a Safeway store at what was then Miracle Lane Plaza decades ago. I know this not because of my own super power memory, but because the price tag is still attached. No matter what other ornaments have come to warrant storage space over the years, those are the most valuable and precious to me. That’s the good stuff.
Maybe your grandmother had a full set of Haviland china dishes and now those dishes have come to live with you, making them your good stuff. What they are doesn’t matter. It’s what they mean to you that comes into play.
Many of us have sets of blue and white ironstone with chips banged into them during the Kennedy years. Or we have boxes of plain Pfaltzgraff wrapped in newspaper and which grandma treasured as if they came from the Tsar’s table. The association makes it the good stuff.
I have a friend who is in demand as a wedding planner and interior decorator. He can make a room or a table shine and is a master of Christmas trees.
He offered a perfect bit of advice: Yes, you can go to a store and buy all the ornaments to create a themed tree — all gold seashells or a whole tree of burgundy ribbon.
“That’s how stores do it but not how families do Christmas,” he said. “You have family ornaments that have been handed down. You have a mishmash of things you’ve picked up on vacation or ornaments you’ve been given or the ones that mark some special event. Those are the treasures, and Christmas trees should reflect family history, rather than a theme.”
When we decorate our homes with things that hold family memories, we honor those memories and the people associated with them. When we set the table for Christmas dinner, we use the things that carry memories of those who are no longer with us but who are loved and missed all the same.
If you’re looking for something special and a little fancy to make this week, you may want to try these potato maximes. When finished, they look like delicate ornaments, but they are easy to make and are pretty much herbed potato chips.
What you are trying to achieve is very thin potato slices that, when held up to the light, enclose the shadow of fresh herbs. I would not call them a side dish but rather a stunning decorative addition to your holiday plates. While this dish is quite simple, you will need to work quickly to prevent the potatoes from becoming an unattractive brown color.
POTATO MAXIMES
6 russet potatoes of approximately the same size and shape.
1/4 cup clarified butter
A selection of fresh herbs, tarragon, sage or thyme
Kosher salt to taste
Preheat your oven to 375 F.
Peel the potatoes and trim their shape to an even oval. Slice them lengthwise with a mandolin, vegetable slicer or very sharp knife The slices should be quite thin. Brush a baking sheet with some of the butter, then lay half of the potato slices onto it. Brush them with more of the butter and add individual herbs on top. One or two of the leaves per potato slice is perfect.
Sprinkle lightly with salt. Cover the herbs with a second slice of potato, brush with more butter and press to seal. Bake for 10 minutes or until they’re starting to crisp. When properly done, they should resemble panes of glass with herbs between. The maximes will keep at room temperature for several hours. Serve as a special garnish.