Gina Neely - The Neelys Celebration Cookbook: Down-Home Meals for Every Occasion

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright 2011 by Patrick Neely and Gina Neely
Photographs copyright 2011 by Ben Fink
Illustrations copyright 2011 by Robert W. Shepperson

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

A portion of this work was originally published in Food Network magazine (November 2011).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Neely, Patrick.
The Neelys celebration cookbook : down-home meals for every occasion / Pat Neely, Gina Neely, with Ann Volkwein ; photographs by Ben Fink.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-70062-9
1. Entertaining. 2. Holiday cooking. I. Neely, Gina. II. Volkwein, Ann.
III. Title. IV. Title: Celebration cookbook.
TX731.N44 2011
642.4dc23 2011030268

Jacket photograph by Ben Fink
Jacket design by Barbara de Wilde

v3.1

ALSO BY PAT AND GINA NEELY

Down Home with the Neelys

GINAThis book is dedicated to a higher power, as it could not have been accomplished without His hand in it, as well as to all who share a love of entertaining and bringing people together for the pure enjoyment of food and the celebratory communion of souls. Oink.

PATGOD has truly blessed me all the years of my life with many celebrations. My mom, Lorine, celebrated traditional holidays and everything in between in our fun, loving, Christian home. And today my soul mate, Gina, shares and carries on these traditions beautifully, no matter how busy we are in our lives. Our hope is that our daughters Shelbi and Spenser will carry this on when they begin their own families.

And we hope this book will bring you all joy and happiness when you plan your next family gathering.

To God, my family, my wife, and my two adorable daughters, I say, Raise your glasses and lets get the party started!

CHEERS!

If you see this little guy, it means this recipe takes more than one hour to prepare. So plan ahead!

We hope you enjoyed getting to know our family and cooking some of our favorite recipes in our first book, but now its party time! With a little Pat-and-Gina magic, wed like to show you how to Neely-tize a holiday or special occasion to create a memorable event for everyone to enjoy. This book serves up new ways to celebrate the holidays, as well as introducing some holidays of our own. Gina cant stand those long stretches between the real holidays, so she pulls together romantic Mini-Moons, turns it up for Movie Nights, and throws Girls Nights to be remembered. Think outside that box when you entertain!

Everybody teases Gina for throwing parties for any small reason or occasion, but shouldnt life be celebrated every chance you get? Its about sharing joy and loving the here and now. As we all know, cooking is a lot like therapy: food has a way of breaking the ice and helping you start fresh, so you can get relationships right (even on the fifth try, if need be), and entertaining is an excuse to bring all kinds of folks together. Throwing a party is like brewing a special potion of togetherness, and thank God it works!

So get ready to cook up some great dishes with a big shot of love, because, at the end of the day, you cant enjoy the meal without an open heart.

Lets get the party started.Whoo-hoo!

PAT So often were told that if a man truly admires his mother hell look to marry a woman with some of her same distinct qualities. Well, I admit it: Gina and Mom can be like night and day, yet they both love to entertain at home and have family around. Its odd, because I didnt see that right away with Gina: she was so good-looking, and the good-looking girls Id previously dated were so focused on strutting their stuff that they couldnt even boil water! But once I realized that Id found the whole package in Gina, it was a happy surprise.

GINA Pats mom hosted the first Christmas Eve dinner we celebrated as a married couple. Now, Pats mom and I really are very similar in our hosting styles, but she likes to do things over-the-top all the time. Dont get me wrong, I believe that there is a time and place for all of that. But Ive got a little old school in me as well! Everything at that Christmas dinner was so pretty, and the table was beautiful: the desserts were exquisite, and there were elaborate turkeys, hams, and dressings.

So I was checking the table out, and all of a sudden I realized something was missing. I asked, Where are the corn bread and cranberry sauce? Pats mom replied, We dont eat cranberry sauce; we eat glazed apples. I almost laid myself out on that floor! I had to do something quickly, so I said, Oh, I forgot something. Ill be right back, and headed straight to the corner store for a cornbread mix and a can of cranberry sauce. (Forget my ; this was an emergency!) And now here we are, fifteen years later, and Pat and I have hosted every single Thanksgiving and Christmas since that first time. Our house has become holiday headquarters, and Mama Neely doesnt mind a bit! Nowadays she can walk in with one of her Mama Neely specialties, help us finish up the cooking, then have a glass of wine and cross her legs. After all, shes been hosting these holidays for more than twenty-five years for her six childrenshes earned a break!

PAT In many ways, this book could be titled How to Party like Gina, because shes truly a master of hosting events and putting on the good times. Watching her decorate, plan a menu, and assemble a guest list is kind of like watching a kid get ready for Christmas. Youre gonna hear about every detail for weeks and months building up to the event. Some of this may have to do with the role Gina used to have as the head of catering at Neelys: she can wrangle together a party for ten to ten thousand people and get all the details just right, from utensils to uniforms, the whole nine yards. She brings it when shes entertaining at home, too.

And, oh my God, she is raising two more holiday-event coordinators in Spenser and Shelbi. So you can imagine what it must be like to walk in my shoes, with three women in the house, when its Movie Night and theyre getting all excited about which movies, where were sitting, which great dishes were going to nibble on while watching.I used to complain about all the work that went into even the most minor event, but I love my family, and I can have a blast with just the four of themwhich of course includes Zoe, our two-year-old Shih Tzu!