Easy Holiday Dinner Recipes: From Silan Chicken to Whole Orange Cake
Discover an easy holiday menu featuring silan-glazed baked chicken, festive rice with pine nuts, tender lemon-garlic green beans, fresh fennel salad, and a simple whole-orange cake.
When the holiday season finally winds down, cooking a big meal can feel like a daunting task. Fortunately, food writer Revital Federbusch has the ultimate low-effort, high-reward recipe for silan, soy, and garlic oven-baked chicken. Simply mix the marinade ingredients right in the baking dish, add the chicken, cover, and slide it into the oven. Uncover toward the end of roasting to achieve that irresistible, caramelized char everyone craves, and your main course is done.
Festive Rice with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
While plain white rice would certainly work, holidays are the perfect excuse to elevate your side dishes. This festive rice recipe features a flavorful blend of caramelized onions, celery, parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts. It is a side dish that truly respects the festive table. If one of the ingredients isn't to your taste, simply leave it out without a second thought.
Tender Green Beans with Lemon and Garlic
For the vegetable course, Ruthie Russo offers a comforting green bean recipe that breaks conventional rules. Instead of keeping the beans crisp, you boil them in salted water until they are completely tender. Tossed with minced garlic, fresh lemon zest, and a generous splash of olive oil, these soft beans absorb every ounce of flavor. If the beans begin to fall apart slightly, consider it a triumph of texture.
Fresh Fennel and Pomegranate Salad
To balance the rich main dishes, Israel Aharoni's fennel and pomegranate salad brings a burst of freshness. Thinly sliced fennel takes a quick ice-water bath to achieve maximum crunch, then gets tossed with peppery arugula, fresh green onions, and a mountain of pomegranate seeds. Dressed simply with olive oil and lemon juice, it is tossed just five minutes before serving to ensure ultimate crispness.
Effortless Whole Orange Cake
No holiday meal is complete without a simple, comforting cake to enjoy alongside coffee. This recipe from Yael Katz utilizes a whole orange, peel and all. Blended smooth with eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla, it is folded with flour and baking powder for a wonderfully aromatic dairy-free cake that takes just ten minutes of active preparation.
