Day 12: Christmas Dinner Menu

Day 12 ends with a Christmas Dinner menu.  We are not having Christmas at our house this year otherwise I would be making this.  The last time I made it was Christmas 2009 when we told our parents that I was expecting; that seems like such a long time ago.

Menu
Arugula-Orange Salad with Pomegranate-White Wine Vinaigrette
Horseradish and Garlic Prime Rib
Roasted Wild Mushrooms
Roasted Asparagus or Fresh Green Beans with Sautéed Shallots
Mashed Potatoes

A delicious wine to pair with the Prime Rib is 2005 Finca Allende Rioja. Be sure you open up the bottle at least two hours before eating to let it breathe.

I made the Arugula-Orange Salad a couple weeks ago and actually included it in Day 3 of the Twelve Days of Christmas Celebration. I love making this salad this time of year; not only is it really tasty but I just love the colors of it.  I highly recommend making the dressing with the Raspberry vinegar, it's delish.

As for the Prime Rib I have a few notes (1) I usually cut back on the amount of sea salt I use, I probably use closer to 1/4 cup versus the 1/2 cup the recipe states and (2) you must save the juices from the prime rib, it makes wonderful gravy.  I have made this recipe a number of times and everyone always enjoys it.

I am sure when my husband reads this post he will have something to say about he shocking fact that I recommended a menu that contains asparagus and mushrooms. Ha, ha the jokes on me; I can't help it they go well together. This is just more support to why he decided to come up with an asparagus spear rating system for my meals.  If you aren't a big asparagus person, another option is fresh green beans with sautéed shallots.

I have used two different roasted mushroom recipes in the past and both are equally as good. The first is Bobby Flay's Oven Roasted Wild Mushrooms with Garlic and Thyme and the second is Tyler Florence's Wild Mushrooms, you will be pleased with either option.

Fresh Green Beans with Sautéed Shallots
Trim the ends off your green beans and blanch them in boiling salted water for approximately 5 minutes. Drain from water and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.  Meanwhile in a separate pan, sauté diced shallots (2-3 large shallots) in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Let the shallots soften and brown slightly. Then add the green beans to the pan and heat them back through, stirring regularly.  Season with Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper to taste.

Roasted Asparagus
Trim the bottoms of the asparagus spears, place in single layer on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Cook on 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

I always make my standard mashed potato recipe you can refer to my earlier blog posts for the recipe. I have made them so many times I don't measure anything anymore so it was difficult when I tried documenting the recipe.  In any case you can refer to my Thanksgiving post if you are making roughly 5 pounds of potatoes or my Garlic Herb Pork Loin post if you are making a smaller portion.

I probably won't be posting again before the holidays as I will be busy finishing up my Christmas shopping.  Yes, I am that person.  I don't know why I waited until the bitter end.  I normally really enjoy Christmas shopping; I think it's so fun to look around and really find a fitting gift for everyone.  Unfortunately I don't know that I have been as creative this year since I am in crunch time now. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and enjoys spending time with their families.

Merry Christmas!

Good Food, Great Friends...

Last night one of my best friends from college visited us with her family; I haven’t seen them since February 2010 so it was great to catch up.  They live in Texas now so we don’t get to see each other too frequently but it’s always great when we do get together.  Her daughters are older than S, 4 years and 20 months; it was fun to watch them play with her.  S was very interested in what they were doing; she spent most of the evening crawling around trying to keep up with them.

Menu

Appetizers

Brie, Fig Preserves, La Quercia Prosciutto, Dried Cranberries and Crackers

Main Course

Beef Tenderloin Sandwiches with a Dijon Horseradish Sauce and Caramelized Onions

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Grilled Asparagus

Garlic and Rosemary Potatoes

Fruit Salad

Beef Tenderloin Marinade

The marinade recipe is one that my mom received from a friend of hers when they lived up in Wisconsin.

Combine the following ingredients into a large zip lock bag:

¾ cup soy sauce

½ cup sugar

½ cup toasted sesame oil

¼ cup flour

1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

¼ teaspoon pepper

Add trimmed tenderloin to the marinade for 15-20 minutes. Be sure to move the bag around to make sure the marinade covers the entire tenderloin.  (I actually ended up leaving the meat in the marinade for about an hour)

Grill on indirect heat at about 425 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until the desired temperature on the meat is achieved.

We actually cooked the meat the night before and just threw it back on the grill for 5-7 minutes at about 400 degrees just before we were ready to eat.  On Tuesday, when we took the meat off the grill we let it rest on a plate and covered in it aluminum foil and let it cool down before putting it in the refrigerator.   I took the meat out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before we put it back on the grill to bring it down to room temperature before we put it on the grill.

For the rolls, I just picked up a package of the Parker House Rolls from Trader Joe’s.

Caramelized Onions

Slice 2 medium to large Spanish onions

In a Dutch oven add 1-2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Add the sliced onions, cook until the onions start to caramelize, stirring frequently.

I would say the total cook time was between 30-40 minutes

Salt and Pepper the onions and add a few pinches of thyme

Dijon Horseradish Sauce

I intended on following a recipe that I found on Epicurious for a Mustard Horseradish Sauce. When I started making this I just started adding things and tweaked it a bit.

2/3 cup of sour cream

¼ cup of Dijon Mustard

3 very full tablespoons on prepared horseradish

Fresh ground pepper, approximately 2 turns of the pepper mill

Thyme, approximately ½ tablespoon (I used dry because it was all I had but fresh would work too)

Mix the above ingredients together well and chill until ready to serve

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Remove the stem from cleaned cremini mushrooms. I bought an 8oz container of lump crab meat and followed the recipe for crab cakes off the back of it to use as the crab stuffing.  In a small bowl mix together,  ½ of a beaten egg, 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise, ½ tablespoon prepared mustard,  ½ teaspoon of dry mustard, ½ teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, ½ teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning, ¼ teaspoon of lemon juice. Add the crab to the mixture and then fold in 3/8 cup of bread crumbs, I used panko crumbs.  This makes more stuffing then you need for 8 mushrooms unless you have really large mushrooms.  I think next time I would add some additional old bay seasoning and maybe a small amount of chopped scallion or chives.

We grilled these in a cast iron pan for about 15 minutes.  I normally would have just placed this in the oven to cook them through and then put them under the broiler for a few seconds to get a little bit of crust to the top of them.  With it being near 100 degrees in the shade last night there was no way I was turning on the oven, so to the grill they went. 

Grilled Asparagus

Cut the tips off the bottom of the asparagus. Drizzle with olive oil, the juice of a half of lemon and kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Grill for about 15 minutes on indirect heat and then finish them up for a minute or two on direct heat.

Garlic and Rosemary Potatoes

I used a mixture of petite Yukon gold and red potatoes.  In total I probably used slightly under 1 lb.  I just wash the potatoes well and leave the skin on.  Cut them in halves or quarters depending on the size of the potato, so that all the potatoes are generally a similar size.  In a large zip lock bag, add the potatoes, 2 (maybe slightly more) tablespoons of good olive oil, 3 large cloves of chopped garlic, 1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary chopped, 1 tablespoon of Montreal Steak Seasoning, 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley chopped, a couple dashes of dried thyme (fresh is better but I didn’t have any on hand). Shake all of the ingredients in the bag to coat the potatoes as evenly as possible.  Add a dash of salt and fresh ground pepper.

You can let the potatoes sit in the bag until you are ready to grill. To cook, remove the potatoes from the bag and wrap them in aluminum foil.  Be sure you have them wrapped well so that you don’t lose any while you are turning them on the grill.  The aluminum foil bags work great for this too.  Place on direct heat for about 45 minutes. Turn them every once in a while so that they cook evenly.

Fruit Salad

I put watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries, strawberries and Kiwi in the fruit salad.  All fruit that Stella absolutely loves, which is good since I made a huge bowl of it.

Unfortunately we never made it to dessert. I had picked up Chocolate Lava Cakes and some Vanilla Ice Cream from Trader Joe’s for the adults. For the kiddies, I got Trader Joe’s mini ice cream cones.  By the time we finished dinner we were all stuffed and it was quickly approaching all of the kid’s bed times.  Lisa and Larry, next time you are in town I owe you dessert! 

This meal was rated 4.5 asparagus spears