Joel & Sue's 2022 Holiday Party Dishes - Zodiac

I'm a little embarrassed that I forgot to take pictures until the food was pretty well decimated, but I wanted to share if not the flavors, the ideas and visuals of our creation.
Cooking started 3 weeks ago with the theme of Zodiac. Some of the concepts are a bit stretched (Leo, for instance, is merely a dish from Africa, but not the part of Africa that has lions. Libra has cups). The text below came from a horoscope site with some significant editing. We're getting better at this: all the food was ready before folks arrived except for Pisces; we'd recruited some friends and offspring to help but they were, to a large degree, able to sit back and have a drink for much of the time.

The Menu


♈︎Aries
If you’re torn in a couple of different directions because you’ve ended up with too many pots on the stove, choose Merguez Sausage flavored lamb Meatballs.

Recipe source: Marcus Samuelson's Discovering a Continent, including the peanut-ginger tomato sauce

♉︎Taurus
Brainstorm ideas or note a too-good-to-refuse offer that has come your way. Keep that door open and see what else is on the menu, like Shredded Beef Sopes (lime crema and salsa macha).

Same oven-baked sope recipe I used for the LTH Picnic, with ropa vieja.

♊︎Gemini
Since one area of your life just won’t comply, note what circumstance insists you do instead and have Chicken or Paneer (pink top) Makhani Pie

Hot water crust, filling riffed on recipes in Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking

♋︎Cancer
This season your sweet tooth has so many temptations to resist, so create a plan around Crab Rangoon Spring Rolls (duck sauce, Chinese mustard, sriracha).

What better for Cancer than crab cigarettes? Internet recipe came out really good -- a fair amount of mozzarella helped keep them together. Used krab for this

♌Leo
Novel experiences are bonding and keep the spark alive, so remember, have African Chicken and Egg in Phyllo Triangles

Recipe source: Savory Baking from the Mediterranean by Anissa Helou, this is basically hand-pie-sized bisteeya

♍︎Virgo
We all know you’d win gold if organizing were an Olympic sport, and that goes for your interest in nutrition too.  Virgin Bloody Mary Deviled Eggs will fit the bill.

As usual, the deviled egg is an improv. Tomato paste, soy (trying to keep these vegetarian, so no Worcestershire), chive, smoked paprika, lemon, mayo. Garnished with half an olive, quarter slice of cucumber and bit of celery

♎︎Libra
Learning something new and creative isn’t only stimulating; it may serve you well later down the line, so have a Prosciutto Cup with Ricotta and Fig Jam

Idea came from the Costco magazine. Ricotta has thyme, pepper and parmesan, garnished with pomegranate.

♏︎Scorpio
You could have a blowout on gifting or pre-holiday fun if you don’t make a clear budget, because you’ll be tempted by Shrimp and Mushroom Sichuan Wontons

Inspired by the resemblance between scorpions and shrimp, and needing a sting, I found an internet recipe whose filling was just shrimp. I added chopped water chestnuts and seafood mushrooms. Sauce is Gary's Chile Oil plus black vinegar, soy, fresh garlic and scallions

♐︎Sagittarius
More information is guaranteed to come to light, it’s time to give yourself a break rather than ‘rocket’ ahead with a Bacon (pork or carrot), Arugula and Date (BAD) Sandwich.

With centaur out of season, I went for something stuck through with an arrow, and Floriole's BAD sandwich inspired us. Carrot bacon is an internet recipe. It's almost but not completely unlike bacon (and pretty tasty). Has anyone ever seen date preserves? We ended up using "baking dates" which is just a paste.

♑︎Capricorn
Over this week, you could be called or tempted by
Goat Cheeses (jam, wine pearls, marcona almonds)

Cheeses included Drunken Goat, a goat cheddar, a rose-petal-wrapped capriole, goat feta with herbs and olive oil, and a chevre cheese ball with the Capricorn symbol, spinach and artichokes. Wine pearls from our trip to Budapest

♒︎Aquarius
It may feel more challenging to connect yet the secret is to eat a Hippie Salad (sprouted seeds and chickpeas, vegan green goddess dressing)

All vegan and raw. The internet recipe said it served 4 as a main course, I tripled it, then only served half of what I bought. Involves days of sprouting wild rice and chickpeas, lots of prep... it was tasty but I'm not likely to do this again

♓︎Pisces
Bring a little magic into your life by enjoying the finer things like
Thai Steamed Fish.

Recipe source: Simple Thai Cooking by Shesimmers (Leela Punyaratabundhu), lake trout

Hi,

I always admire the creativity and time spent crafting all this food. You both work so well together, too.

Thank you!

Regards,
Cathy2

Impressive in scope and imagination. And as a Leo, I approve of your choice for that sign.