Duck Confit, Scallops with Lemon Shallot dressing … and Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire….
This intimate dinner makes for a perfect evening, especially if you prefer opening presents on Christmas Eve.
Begin by planning your courses and selecting your ingredients with care – only the best will do. Next, choose your wine taking care to pair the aromas and flavors in the bottle with the essence of each dish.
Next, prep your courses with care. This will make building the meal simple and fun and allow for conversation with guests while you cook!
Now, arrange the watercress artfully upon the salad plates before searing the scallops
for the salad. Voila! Enjoy the robust and savory embrace of watercress, fresh lemon and sweet scallops…
Then, open presents while holiday tunes play in the background and lights dapple the wrapped gifts beneath the tree. Afterward, prepare the duck and the potatoes with a bit of kitchen flare and knife work. Finish your evening roasting chestnuts on an open fire as you finish the Cotes du Rhone.
Delicious. Fun. Not too complicated…
Prepping for the meal is relaxing and enjoyable … and most of it can be done well in advance. I like to begin by washing all the vegetables and fruits and slicing and dicing wherever possible and practical.
Next, open a bottle of Cotes du Rhone, a perfect pairing for the fare at hand. Enjoy the full flavors of this reliable blend of old world reds, wrested from grapes grown in the soil of the left bank of the Rhone River in France.
Scallops on Watercress with Lemon Shallot Dressing
1 fresh lemon
1 small shallot
2 tablespoons of peanut oil
8 to 10 medium scallops (the freshest you can find – and, take note: Fresh scallops are a pink to light tan color, NOT flat white)
8 to 12 sprigs of watercress (gently washed)
Salt or pepper to taste (use a grinder for both. The secret to great food is fresh, fresh, fresh)
DIRECTIONS. Squeeze 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon into a glass and mix with 1 ½ tablespoons of peanut oil. Mince ½ tablespoon of shallot very fine. Whisk together and salt and pepper to taste. Slice scallops in half lengthwise. Put remaining ½ tablespoon of peanut oil into a frying pan. On high heat, sear scallops about 3 minutes per side, until golden. Plate with a bit of triumph, masked with an air of utter humility.
Enjoy the salad!
Open your presents!
Duck Confit with Duck Fat Fried Potatoes
DIRECTIONS. Wash 6 to 8 perfect fingerling potatoes or three medium Yukon Gold potatoes. Open one can of Rougie moulard duck confit quarters and congratulate yourself for not spending three days laboring over the confit. (If cooking for two, place remaining two legs with approximately six tablespoons of the duck fat from the can into a gallon-sized baggie and place in the freezer.) 
Next, put 4 tablespoons of the fat into one frying pan and 2 tablespoons into another. Place the confit legs into the frying pan with the 4 spoons of duck fat.
Deftly dispatch the potatoes into 1/8th inch slices, 
lengthwise with a chef”s knife and place in the second frying pan. With a flourish, wield the salt and pepper grinders over the potatoes and turn the stove to high. (Be careful not to cut yourself with the knife or all of this will be ruined.) With practiced wrist action around the handle of the pan, flick the potatoes into the air as they brown. (Practice this alone for as long as it takes to get it right or settle for a spatula and the appropriate humiliation.) When potatoes are beginning to go golden in the pan (about 5 minutes), turn the confit pan to high.
Taking care not to overpower the delicate confit legs, brown on the bottom side and then carefully flip with two large forks. Regulate heat as needed to bring the potatoes to a golden burnish
and the confit to a crisp 
skin simultaneously. Plate the duck confit and the golden potatoes and enjoy with a little more Cotes du Rhone!
Now on to the chestnuts, an open fire and the rest of the wine. Merry Christmas, to you…
Fantastic