Three Easy Suppers

The best way to keep that holiday spirit is to stop serving dinner and start serving supper.

Most of us do more entertaining than usual during the holidays. Now that the season is almost over, cooking a full four-course dinner, no matter how festive, is the surest way I know to run out of spirit and smiles.

Supper, on the other hand can be the perfect antidote. It is simply a two-course meal: a savory and dessert. Add good, fresh bread or rolls, maybe a simple side dish or two, and you’ve got a special meal.

The sides could be as easy as chutneys, relishes, pickles and olives, or a plain plate of watercress and butter lettuce dressed with sliced carrots or cucumbers or pieces of papaya or avocado. Anything, in fact, that agrees with the main dish. This is an early American tradition, for our forefathers knew that when one substantial dish is being served, a few small dishes make the food more enticing.

THREE HOLIDAY SUPPER MENUS Oyster Stew

Hot buttered toast Cranberry Spongecake Roll Goldenrod Eggs with salmon roe

S moked salmon on butter lettuce Fresh Lemon Juice Ice and Cookies Thinly sliced cold roast beef

Boiled small red potatoes

Green Sauce Sweet gherkins Cinnamon Cream Pie

This oyster stew seems quite complete with nothing more than hot buttered toast. One could add cold chopped celery dressed in a light sharp mustard vinaigrette as a small side dish, but this is an afterthought.

OYSTER STEW

2 cups milk

2 cups whipping cream

2 cups oysters with oyster liquor

Salt, pepper

3 tablespoons butter

Heat milk and whipping cream in saucepan. Do not boil. Add oysters and oyster liquor and simmer just until edges of oysters curl slightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in butter and serve very hot. Makes 4 servings.

This cranberry cake roll is tart and sweet with a light delicate cake and is especially right for this time of year.

CRANBERRY

SPONGECAKE

ROLL

1/2 cup cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups cranberry jelly

Grease 15x10-inch jellyroll pan and line with wax paper. Grease and lightly flour wax paper.

Mix cake flour, baking powder and salt in bowl, stirring with fork to blend well. Beat eggs and sugar in electric mixer about 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Turn mixer to lowest speed and sprinkle flour mixture and vanilla over egg mixture, mixing just few seconds. Remove bowl from mixer. Using spatula, gently finish folding flour into egg mixture until no white streaks show.

Spread batter evenly in jellyroll pan. Bake at 350 degrees about 12 minutes or until top of cake is golden.

Spread tea towel on counter and sift little powdered sugar evenly over towel. Invert cake onto towel. Remove wax paper and roll cake, wide side up, in towel. Leave rolled up until ready to be filled. Unroll cake. Spread cranberry jelly evenly over roll. Reroll and place on serving plate. Dust top with powdered sugar. Slice and serve. Makes 1 cake roll.

Goldenrod Eggs was the thing I learned to cook at the first cooking lesson I ever had -- in junior high school. It’s just as good to me today as it was then. Creamy, satisfying and a very attractive dish, it is a perfect foil for salmon roe and smoked salmon. GOLDENROD EGGS

4 hard-cooked eggs, shelled

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/4 cups milk

Salt, pepper

1 raw egg yolk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 slices buttered toast

1/4 cup salmon roe

1/4 pound smoked salmon

Butter lettuce leaves

Lemon wedges

Separate hard-cooked egg whites and yolks. Dice whites and set aside. Reserve yolks.

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until butter and flour are well blended. Cook over low heat, stirring, at least 2 minutes longer.

Slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Cook 5 minutes, stirring until sauce has thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Combine raw egg yolk and lemon juice in small bowl. Stir several tablespoons heated sauce into yolk mixture. Add yolk mixture to sauce. Cook 1 to 2 minutes until smooth and hot. Add diced egg whites.

Place buttered toast on 2 individual plates. Spoon sauce over each toast. Using fine-graining side of grater or sieve, rub 1 to 2 yolks over each portion. Divide salmon roe and sprinkle over top. Place smoked salmon next to goldenrod eggs on leaves of butter lettuce. Garnish with lemon wedges. Serve hot. Makes 2 servings.

FRESH LEMON JUICE

ICE

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 cups boiling water

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Place sugar in bowl and pour boiling water over. Stir until sugar dissolves. Cool and add lemon juice and zest. Pour into ice trays or bowl and freeze. Remove from freezer few minutes before serving so ice isn’t too hard. Or spoon ice into serving dishes or glasses and return to freezer until serving time. Makes 5 cups.

Cold, sliced leftover roast beef can really be as delicious as the first hot version--especially if you try serving it with this green sauce. The sauce works well on potatoes, too.

GREEN SAUCE

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Pepper

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons cream-style horseradish

2 large cloves garlic

1/3 cup chopped parsley

2 green onions

Combine olive oil, water, cider vinegar, kosher salt and pepper to taste in food processor and process until well blended. Add mustard, horseradish, garlic, parsley and green onions and blend well. Store in airtight jar in refrigerator until needed. Makes about 1 cup.

Cinnamon Cream Pie does justice to the beef and the season. You may substitute bourbon for the cinnamon; if you do, add 3 tablespoons of bourbon when you remove the custard from the heat. CINNAMON CREAM PIE

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups milk

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon butter

1 baked (8-inch) pie shell

1/2 cup whipping cream

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and salt in heavy-bottomed saucepan. Mix well. Stir in little milk until smooth. Heat over medium-low heat, gradually adding milk, stirring constantly. Cook, stirring, until mixture is smooth and thickened. Remove from heat.

Add several tablespoons hot milk mixture to yolks. Stir briskly to blend. Add yolk mixture to saucepan and return to medium-low heat. Continue to stir and cook another 2 or 3 minutes, until yolks are smoothly blended into milk or cream mixture. Stir in butter. Remove from heat. Cool, stirring occasionally. Turn into baked pie shell. Chill, if desired, until serving.

Whip cream to soft peaks, add remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Whip until smooth and stiff. Spread in smooth layer on top of pie filling just before serving. Makes 1 (8-inch) pie.