Food brings people together, especially during the holidays. Whether we’ve eaten them since childhood or adopted them as more recent traditions, many of the dishes we serve up this season have special meaning. T&S reached out to St. Louisans for their favorite recipes to share some holiday joy. Bon appétit!

brian roy
variety st. louis
This is a recipe from my maternal grandmother, Rita Murtha, who immigrated from Ireland. It’s not named for me, but for my Uncle Brian. The dish is a staple for Thanksgiving and Christmas for both my mom’s side of the family, as well as for my three brothers. We all reliably post photos of our completed dishes in a family group text each holiday season, so it keeps us connected.

Brian’s Potatoes 

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients
5 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes
32 oz. sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
8 oz. mild cheddar cheese
Lawry’s salt

Instructions

  1. Skin potatoes and cut into halves or thirds, making sure chunks are a similar size. Add potatoes to a large pot of cold water and then bring to a boil. Boil potatoes until easily forked-through. Drain potatoes in a strainer.
  2. Add butter, half of the cream cheese and half of the sour cream to a hot pot—all should be room temperature. Layer Lawry’s salt over mix. Add potatoes and another layer of Lawry’s salt.
  3. Mash potatoes with mixture until you get to your desired texture. Add another layer of Lawry’s salt with remaining sour cream and cream cheese. You can also add milk to make them smoother, but use at least 2% milk.
  4. Transfer to a 13” x 9” x 2” glass dish, and add another layer of Lawry’s salt if you’d like. Shred cheddar cheese and evenly layer onto potatoes
  5. Put the dish in the oven at around 300˚F and keep covered with foil. It’s good to put in right when you pull the turkey as that usually means around 20 minutes. Pull the foil after about 15 minutes.

pat whiteside
saint louis ballet board member
A favorite family tradition is a red and green Christmas Eve dinner. For more than 50 years and three generations, we’ve enjoyed lasagna and grasshopper pie on Christmas Eve. My southern mamma began this tradition, and we honor it every year.

Grasshopper Pie

Ingredients

Crust
2 tbsp. melted butter
14 crushed Hydrox wafers

Filling
24 marshmallows
½ c. milk
4 tbsp. green crème de menthe
2 tbsp. white crème de cocoa
1 c. cream, whipped

Instructions

  1. Combine butter and wafers and press into a pie plate.
  2. Melt marshmallows in milk. Add crème de menthe and crème de cocoa. Chill.
  3. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into the crust.
  4. Freeze; serve frozen.
Pat Gioia
Parker Geisendorfer

pat gioia and parker geisendorfer
stl barkeep
This holiday spin on a cosmo was created for STL Barkeep’s Frosted pop-up at the Piper Palm House. Inspired by the flavors of the season, it’s the perfect way to celebrate with festive cheer.

Cultured Metropolitan 

Ingredients
1.5 oz. Haku Vodka
0.75 oz. Pamplemousse Liqueur
0.25 oz. Royal Combier
0.5 oz. Pomegranate Juice
0.5 oz. Lemon Juice

Instructions

  1. Build in a shaker tin. Add ingredients into the shaker tin over ice. Shake for 20 to 30 seconds.
  2. Strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with cocktail glitter.