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Turkey? Fuhgeddaboudit Cindy Barnard checks the rib roasts she is dry aging for nine days before cooking. Jim Flint photo Thursday Dec 22, 2016 at 5:33 PM Dec 22, 2016 at 5:33 PM By Jim Flint For the Tidings The holidays are all about tradition, especially when it comes to the big event, the family dinner. For many, the menu includes a roast turkey with side dishes that recall warm memories — creamed onions for a son-in-law because his mother always made them, fruit salad for your wife because it was always on the Christmas table when she was a child, or plum pudding for dessert because it was dad’s favorite. Four Ashland families are stepping out of the box this year with how they’re going to celebrate at the dinner table, sans turkeys. Jerry Kenefick will celebrate Christmas Eve with an Italian dinner. Ken Ehrlich and Mary Silva will observe Hanukkah with a special meal. Cindy Barnard continues an English dinner tradition she started years ago. And Francis and Josefina Van Ausdal will make a Spanish-themed Christmas dinner this year. Italian Kenefick isn’t Italian, but his wife Beverly was. She died in 2005 and he has carried on the tradition of an all-Italian Christmas Eve ever since. “It’s always the same menu,” Kenefick said. “We never vary it. It’s a tradition. It makes you remember home.” The tradition started with Beverly’s mother. When her mother died, Beverly’s older brother took charge, then her brother’s son, and finally Beverly herself. “We’ll start with antipasto and drinks, and then sit down to dinner at about 7 p.m.,” Kenefick said. Dinner will include lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, home-baked bread and a green salad. “The lasagna is vegetarian and is made with several different cheeses, roma tomatoes, mushrooms, marinara sauce and pasta,” Kenefick said. He did his shopping Wednesday with a list that was two pages long. “I make my own rustic bread,” he said. “It’s a great recipe. It has a very crusty exterior and a chewy interior.” He bakes the eggplant dish earlier in the evening so it can stand at room temperature for an hour before serving. Dessert varies from year to year, he said. “This year it’s hot fudge sundaes!” he said with a twinkle in his eye. There will be six at Kenefick’s dinner, all family from California. Hanukkah Ehrlich and Silva will prepare a Hanukkah meal featuring the same menu he enjoyed growing up. He said as he gets older, tradition has come to mean more to him. “Tradition means family,” Ehrlich said, “like how my grandmother did it.” Ehrlich is a retired rabbi. His wife Silva converted in 1974, some 12 years before they married. Their menu will include brisket or pot roast, latkes, tzimmes (slow-roasted vegetables), and honey cake for dessert. “The tzimmes will have a touch of both savory and sweet,” said Silva, “with root vegetables and some prunes and yams.” Ehrlich will be in charge of the latkes. “It’s too messy for me,” Silva said. “I’m used to it,” Ehrlich said, “having done it for years. I grew up helping my grandmother make them.” Latkes are made from grated potatoes and onions, matzo meal, egg and seasonings, then fried. He’ll serve them with a little applesauce. “Some like to use sour cream, but since we’re having meat, that wouldn’t be kosher,” he said. Silva will tend to the beef. “I make a good pot roast,” she said. “The best,” her husband affirmed. English The English dinner tradition started after Barnard purchased an Aga stove in the late 1990s when she lived in Colorado. “I brought it to Ashland and I’ve been cooking a traditional English dinner Christmas Eve ever since,” she said. “With the children here, I thought it would be nice to set aside time for this tradition.” An Aga is a classic English cooker with a cast iron frame and components. Her guests will include her son and his wife, their two children, and a friend of the family. All live in Ashland. Barnard likes to dress for dinner Christmas Eve. “Everybody dresses up,” she said. “It’s formal.” The table is set with the festive ware, including her special red glasses. “There’s lots of candlelight and a fire in the fireplace.” Dinner will start with a butternut squash soup, followed by roasted winter vegetables that include parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, winter carrots, yams and quince from a tree in her yard. The cornerstone of the meal is a standing rib roast. “I dry-age it for nine days and cook it rare,” she said. “I serve it with horseradish sauce, a fluffy mustard sauce and a side of Yorkshire pudding.” She said the Yorkshire pudding is always a big hit. Pan drippings from the roast are placed in the bottom of each cup of a muffin tin, which she puts in a 500-degree oven until it starts to smoke. Then she pours in an egg-flour-milk batter and bakes it until it puffs up. “It takes a deft touch, but I haven’t had a failure yet,” she laughed. Roasted asparagus is served as a side dish. Dessert will be a jeweled pudding, another English tradition. “I line a bowl with glazed dried fruit, pour in an egg custard and steam it. It looks beautiful when it’s served,” she said. She bought two rib roasts for this year. She loves to have leftovers for French dip sandwiches the next day. Spanish The VanAusdal's Christmas will have a Spanish motif this year, a change-up from their usual turkey dinner. Paella will be the star on the menu. “The last time I made it was after we returned home from a trip to Spain 10 years ago,” he said. Josefina was raised in Mexico where paella is also a popular dish. Francis will prepare the dish with Arborio rice, an Italian short-grain rice that absorbs flavors well. “We splurged on some really good saffron for the seasoning,” he said. The recipe includes chopped red pepper and onion, medium shrimp, crushed tomatoes, chicken thighs, clams, peas, salt and pepper. There will be six at the table. In addition to the paella, there will be artichokes for everyone, served with a lemony dressing. Josefina will make flan for dessert. She melts sugar in a pan until it turns a golden brown and pours it into a baking dish. “Then I used condensed milk in my egg mixture which makes it richer,” she said. It’s poured over the sugar and baked. After it cools, she refrigerates it until serving time. Korean Not to be outdone, I talked my wife, Karen, into also stepping out of the box for Christmas dinner. We’re going Korean. I’m preparing Korean style braised short ribs, served with kimchi (purchased at an Asian market in Medford). Karen will make an Asian cucumber salad and some steamed rice to round out the meal. The dessert — wait for it — will be pumpkin pie with whipped cream. We’re not stepping completely out of the box! Jim Flint is an Ashland freelance writer. You can reach him at [email protected].