If you are stressing out about preparing holiday meals, Chef Eddie Matney, one of the best chefs in Phoenix, has some great tips to help you. We recently interviewed him to find out how he deals with the holidays.
Q. Do you have any suggestions for people who want to prepare a holiday meal that is impressive, easy and delicious. Not everyone has great cooking skills so creating easy, restaurant quality dishes is important.
A. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about whipping up a holiday meal that will impress family and friends. I’ve partnered with the Sam’s Club Simply Delicious Chef Brigade to demonstrate that making restaurant-quality dishes doesn’t have to be difficult. A few tips:
- Plan your menu a few weeks in advance. This will help you determine what you need to buy before the holiday madness sets in and keep you organized when you head to the store to pickup ingredients.
- Always buy a bit more than you think you need. It’s better to have too much food rather than not enough. Buying in bulk will minimize time spent running back and forth to the store and lets you create enough portions for added holiday houseguests.
- Gourmet doesn’t have to mean complicated. One pot dishes are often just as full of flavor as recipes that require numerous pots and many steps. Plus, you’ll not only cut down on time spent cooking but also on time spent cleaning up. My hearty Green Chile and Ham stew is an example of an entrée that warms the soul and will impress guests.
Q. Do you have any suggestions for those wanting to prepare a wonderful roast, such as a prime rib? It’s an awfully expensive piece of meat to mess up.A
A. Here is my easy method for making sure a prime rib comes out to perfection. Combine kosher salt, black pepper, fresh garlic, fresh thyme & olive oil, rub over prime rib. Bake at 350 degrees until internal temperature is 140 degrees and then remove from the oven. I use this no-fail technique all the time and receive rave reviews from family and friends.
Q. What are your favorite dishes to serve around the holidays?
A. The following are my absolute favorite holiday dishes: Chocolate Cream Pie and Gynormous Shrimp cocktail.
Q. What are your favorite side dishes to serve around the holidays?
A. I usually plan my side dish menu around what is on sale, since there are so many fun side dish recipes during the holidays. One of my go-to recipes each year is celery stuffed with cream cheese and green olives.
Q. How do you decide what to make and what to buy for your holiday dishes. Making everything from scratch can be overwhelming.
A. I’ll usually focus my energy on creating the entrees and desserts from scratch. And since these take the longest to make, I’ll typically pick up pre-made appetizers and some savory side dishes. This allows me to focus on the main part of the meal while keeping my hungry family and friends satisfied while they wait for the sit down portion of the holiday gathering.
Q. What are your favorite ways to use holiday meal leftovers?
A. There so many ways to create amazing dishes using holiday meal leftovers that it’s difficult to pick my favorite. For example, I love to glam up those holiday ham leftovers by creating a fantastic egg and ham breakfast frittata. It’s incredibly easy to make and my kids love this recipe. You can find some other easy-to-make recipe ideas using holiday leftovers at www.SamsClub.com/meals.
You may also want to try Chef Eddie's recipe for Moroccan Seared Halibut with Peach Fresca.
Don't feel like cooking? No problem. You may want to go to Eddie's House for your holiday dinner.
If you would like a free one-day pass for Sam's Club, get your free 1-day pass for Sam's Club. You will be able to see what is available at Sam's with a 10% service fee for any purchases made using the pass. There is a Sam's Club located in Gilbert, AZ as well as several across the valley.
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