Jump in the mouth

Did you know that's what saltimbocca means? I discovered this over the weekend when I prepared saltimbocca for dinner. I love how vivid a description it is. And accurate--proscuitto gives the veal a nice salty bite but the sage makes for a pretty velvety taste. Mmm. I'm now on a quest to find more fun food idioms like this one, so stay tuned...

My cooking of late has been a bit herky-jerky. I've not yet baked a single holiday cookie, but I expect I'll be making some butter cookies over the weekend that sound pretty good. They have a lot of spice--cardamom particularly--in the dry mix, and you finish them with a drizzle of both bittersweet chocolate and an espresso-chocolate glaze. Other notable feasts (in reverse chronology) include...

• The aforementioned saltimbocca, served with spinach & ricotta dumplings (tasty but structurally unsound).
• Panettone bread pudding with a cinnamon-orange caramel sauce. This is a surefire hit and very easy to make. Recipe to follow (courtesy of Gourmet & Chow.com for inspiration) tonight.
  
• Chicken fricassee with plum tomatoes and white beans. Anything braised is a winner in my book.
• Roast prime rib with horseradish & garlic. I think this may have been my first time having prime rib. It's a lot more tender than I expected. I surprised myself by cooking it to a perfect medium-rare--in the past my beef cookery has been a bit hit-or-miss.
  

On the menu for Christmas? I'm inclined to make my aunt Marguerite's delicious meatballs, but a nomination has been cast for ham. We shall see...