’Tis the season for comfort food! A time for home-cooked meals and family-style table settings. We’re delivering stick-to-your-ribs dinners with a selection of recipes designed to easily feed your relatives along with those friends who might as well be family. They are nostalgic with over‑the-top elements; don’t hesitate to add your own unique touch. Maybe this assortment isn’t the healthiest… But it’s the holidays, and they’ll fly by! So, stop worrying about the carbs for now. Besides (spoiler alert), come January, we’ll have you covered with waist-friendly recipes.

Red Wine Pot Roast with Root Vegetables, Caramelized Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

Serves 8

Instructions

Note: This recipe is designed to be made entirely in a Dutch oven. To clarify, the process of cooking a chuck roast is what yields a pot roast.

Begin by preheating the oven to 325 degrees. Next, set a Dutch oven to medium heat and cover the bottom with oil. Season the chuck roast with garlic salt and black pepper to taste, and then brown both sides of the meat. Once browned, remove the chuck roast and set it aside. Pour the red wine and sherry into the Dutch oven, and use it to deglaze the bottom of the pan.

Cut off the top of the head of garlic, place it on a foil square, drizzle oil over the top, season with garlic salt and black pepper to taste, and then wrap up the prepared head of garlic in the foil. Slice the onions into ¼-inch discs.

Place the browned chuck roast back into the Dutch oven, and then cover the top with the onion discs. Add hot water up to nearly the top of the chuck roast, but do not submerge it. Next, stir the liquid beef base into the water so that it dissolves completely. Cover the Dutch oven with its lid, and roast the contents, as well as the prepared head of garlic, for 2 hours.

At the 2-hour mark, peel and cut the root vegetables into manageable pieces. Add the prepared root vegetables to the broth. The carrots, parsnips, and turnips may not be completely covered by the broth, but make sure that they are at least bathed in the liquid. Cover the Dutch oven with its lid again, and continue roasting for another 45 minutes.

Additionally, at the 2-hour mark, remove the roasted head of garlic from the oven. Allow it to cool before extracting the roasted cloves—they should be pulling away from their husks and will take on a creamy consistency when extracted. Set the roasted garlic aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the caramelized mashed potatoes. Leave the skins on the red potatoes, cut them into bite-sized pieces, and boil them until tender.

Set a large saucepan to medium-high heat. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter with oil. While the red potatoes boil, cut the onions in half and then into ¼-inch slices. Add them to the melted butter and avocado oil, sprinkle a bit of garlic salt over the contents (to help the onions sweat), and pour in the sherry. Then, cover the saucepan and allow the onions to caramelize, stirring occasionally.

Once the pot roast is cooked, remove the root vegetables from the Dutch oven and set them aside. Scrape the onions off and set them aside as well. Next, remove the pot roast, set it on a serving plate, cover it with foil, and let it rest.

Keep the broth in the Dutch oven, as you’ll use it to make the gravy. Mix about a cup of water with cornstarch. Once completely incorporated, add it to the broth, whisking until it thickens into a gravy.

Strain the cooked potatoes. Add in the remaining butter, cream, roasted garlic, caramelized onions, the onions from the Dutch oven, and white pepper along with garlic salt and black pepper to taste. Then, mash them together.

Serve the Red Wine Pot Roast with the Root Vegetables and Caramelized Mashed Potatoes & Gravy on the side.

1 chuck roast
2 white or yellow onions
3 carrots
2 parsnips
1 turnip
½ cup red wine
½ cup sherry
2 tbs. liquid beef base
¼ cup cornstarch
Avocado or olive oil
Hot water
Garlic salt
Black pepper

For the Caramelized Mashed Potatoes
8 red potatoes
1 head of garlic
2 white or yellow onions
¼ cup sherry
½ cup cream
4 tbs. salted sweet cream butter
2 tbs. avocado or olive oil
½ tsp. white pepper
Garlic salt
Black pepper

Skillet Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 8

Instructions

Note: This recipe is designed to be made entirely in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, but the ingredients can also be prepared in a saucepan and then transferred to a greased casserole dish, if needed.

Begin by setting a 10-inch cast-iron skillet to medium heat. Cut off any excess bacon fat, and then slice the bacon into ½-inch pieces. Cook the bacon until it’s crispy, and then remove it from the pan. Leave the bacon fat in the skillet.

Prepare all the vegetables. Dice the white onion. Peel and cut the carrots into ¼-inch pieces. Chop the celery into ½-inch pieces. Slice the mushrooms into ½-inch pieces. Mince the garlic.

Drizzle a bit of oil in the skillet with the bacon fat. Add the prepared carrots and the garlic, and sauté for about five minutes. Next, add in the white onion, celery, and mushrooms with seasoned salt and black pepper to taste. You may need to add more oil to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the skillet. Allow the vegetables to cook until the onions are soft and fragrant.

Add the white wine, scraping the bottom of the skillet to loosen any crispy bits. Pour in the cream, add the white pepper, and then add the crispy bacon back in. Shred the chicken while you allow the mixture to reduce until the liquid only covers the vegetables, stirring occasionally. Now, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Take the skillet off the heat to finish the filling. Layer on the shredded chicken, followed by the frozen peas. Split the prepared biscuits in half and evenly cover the top of the filling with them. Melt the salted sweet cream butter and brush it over the biscuit tops. Place the Skillet Chicken Pot Pie in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the biscuits turn golden brown. Allow it to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

2 chicken breasts (seasoned and cooked)
1 lb. bacon
8 pre-made flaky biscuits
1 white or yellow onion
2 carrots
3 stalks of celery
1 cup cremini mushrooms
4 garlic cloves
1½ cups cream
1½ cups white wine
½ cup frozen peas
Avocado or olive oil
4 tbs. salted sweet cream butter
½ tsp. white pepper
Seasoned salt
Black pepper

Lobster Mac & Cheese with Old Bay Topping

Serves 12

Instructions

Set a small skillet to medium-low heat. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the skillet. Cut the lobster meat into bite-sized pieces, and then slowly cook it in the butter.

In a large pot, melt 1½ sticks of butter. Once melted, add in the equal amount of flour to make the rue. It should look like a paste. Allow the rue to cook a bit on low heat.

Set a small pot to medium heat. Add in the milk, seafood stock, and white wine, and allow it to warm. Once warm, add the liquid to the pot that contains the rue and whisk the components together until the mixture begins to thicken. Now, set a large pot of salted water to boil.

Shred all of the cheeses. To prevent a grainy sauce, it’s important to freshly shred the cheeses—pre-shredded cheese naturally forms a waxy barrier that is partially to blame for grainy cheese sauce texture. To the warm milk mixture, add all of the cream cheese, cheddar, Monterey Jack, Gruyere, and Parmesan cheeses along with seasoned salt and black pepper to taste. Stir until the cheeses are completely melted and the sauce is smooth.

Boil the pasta until it’s al dente while you prepare the Old Bay topping. In a medium skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Mix in the panko breadcrumbs and the Old Bay seasoning. Allow the panko breadcrumb mixture to brown a bit. Once browned, transfer it to a small bowl and toss with the Parmesan cheese. Set the oven to broil.

Add the cooked pasta to the cheese sauce. Next, mix about ⅔ of the cooked lobster into the pasta. Allow the components to marry for about 10 minutes. To serve, spoon the Lobster Mac & Cheese into individual ramekins, and then top them with the remaining lobster, followed by the Old Bay Topping.

8 oz. pasta (pick a noodle that will hold the cheese)
2 lobster tails
2 sticks of salted sweet cream butter
¾ cup flour
2½ cups whole milk
1½ cups seafood stock
2 tsp. white wine
8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
4 oz. cheddar cheese
4 oz. Monterey Jack cheese
6 oz. Gruyere cheese
3 oz. Parmesan cheese
Seasoned salt
Black pepper

For the Old Bay Topping
3 oz. Parmesan cheese
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
2 tbs. Old Bay seasoning

Editorial Director Lauren Barisic
Photographer Don Dizon