2008 Christmas Menu

At the request of Ms. Finn, the Christmas menu was downscaled. Totally appropriate after the blowout Thanksgiving and lots of other great holiday meals. I did try a few new recipes, with a couple being keepers, and one not to bother with again.

• Parmesan Cheese Puffs, Gourmet December 2006
• Dinner Rolls, Cooks Illustrated #95, Nov/Dec 2008
• Crown Roast of Pork with Winter Fruits and Port Sauce, Gourmet December 2008
  
• Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms
  
• Green Beans with fresh herbs and Lemon
• Brussels Sprouts with Fried Shallots and Wild Mushrooms, Gourmet November 2006
  

Let's start with the bad news. The dinner roll recipe is far too much labor for an adequate result. Since this menu was essentially pretty simple (I know, it doesn't look simple - but the quantities were small since it was just our family, and some things are easier than they look)....anyway, I was willing to invest some time in a pretty complex technique for dinner rolls. Not only were there multple kneading steps, but there were multiple cooking steps. The rolls were first baked in a cake pan, then broken apart and baked at a different temperature on a sheet pan. I was expecting something really sublime - like the crusty exterior and delicate interior promised in the recipe. But no luck. The rolls were ordinary and the preparation process was anything but. So no go on this one.

The Pork Roast is a variation of a Gourmet recipe from this December's issue. Instead of a straight roast, I use a crown cut, which really just means it was trimmed in order to be tied into a circle for impressive presentation. Here's picture prior to cooking.

This recipe is quite nice - a blend of apricots, prunes and granny smith apples is combined with shallot, onion and port, then stuffed into a cavity in the center of the roast. A port / shallot reduction becomes the sauce, which would be better thickened in another manner than cornstarch. But very nice nonetheless, and a GREAT presentation. In the first picture above, you'll see the circle of stuffed fruit in the middle of the chop.

The parmesan puff appetizer is totally simple and delicious. The only downside is the mess (and hassle) of deep frying. I used a very shallow depth of oil in a pretty small pan to reduce the amount of oil. The only way I committed to frying was that I used the same oil for frying shallots for the Brussels sprouts dish. Unless I kept a mini deep fryer around, I don't have much desire to fry. But if you've got oil going, this is a good recipe to add to a menu.

Wild rice and mushrooms were standard - roast mushrooms in high heat with garlic and oil, added them to wild rice cooked with sauteed onion, thyme and chicken stock. Solid complement to this menu, as were the simple green beans to please the kids (few sprouts eaten by the younger crown in this house). It's a risk to add herbs and lemon zest, but sometimes I can get away with it at a holiday meal.

The Brussels Sprouts and Wild Mushrooms recipe is totally awesome - and simple if you skip the fried shallots. I didn't think they were worth the extra effort, and will continue to simply roast shallot slices with the sprouts or mushrooms. Instead of sauteing the mushrooms separately, I also roast them in the oven, separately from the sprouts but same technique. Toss with thyme and finish with some butter. To match the recipe, a quick saute of shallot, reduced white wine and thyme could be tossed to finish this dish.

Coaches Fiesta

While Ms. Finn and the kids were still in Chicago last weekend, I needed to host a party for the Waves Swim Team coaches and some of the board members. The coaches are high school kids (well, graduating seniors) and two young adults. So I was thinking of just ordering a few pizzas and calling it a party. But of course there needed to be a few appetizers, and then one thing lead to another and before you knew it I planned to make an entire Rick Bayless menu from his current TV show.

About Rick Bayless. Rick is one of the foremost authorities on Mexican cooking. He opened his Frontera Grill in the mid 80’s in Chicago, and my friends and I were among the first customers. Shortly thereafter he opened Topolobampo – the first “fine dining” Mexican restaurant in Chicago. Both are still around today.

But Rick Bayless has become an industry. Unlike other chefs who open outputs in food meccas and the latest hotspots (read Vegas), he seems to be focused on outreach, with a possible lean toward empire building. He’s authored a half dozen cookbooks (his Authentic Mexican is considered a modern classic, side by side with Diana Kennedy’s Mexican cookbooks); he’s a staple on public television cooking shows and his name is on a line of respectable nationally distributed products.

Despite my knowledge of him, I’ve never been a big fan, with no reasonable explanation. I’ve never bought his books, watched his shows or cooked his recipes. Until now.

The hook was that his “party fare” dishes were quick to put together. For the most part they were, but don’t forget I’m a very experienced and efficient cook, and they still took me a lot longer than what’s implied on screen. Why? The age old cooking show problem: prep time. Though he shows some chopping and sautéing, there’s no retreiving, package removal, cleaning or skinning involved. Pots and pans are pre-staged. On TV, plating simply requires that one reach for the perfect bowl, which has been placed within arm’s reach.

One further delay is that I needed dinner, not just appetizers. And while the multiple small taco menu seemed OK, I felt we needed more substance. So I added a flank steak, chicken thighs and tenders as soft taco ingredients, using a recipe from The New Basics, one of my old favorite cookbooks. Those recipes are back from when fajitas were considered a new trendy dish. Wow.

Randomly, I happened to pick up the current Cooks Illustrated and saw Spicy Pickled Onions for steak tacos. Perfect. So that was also added to the menu.

In all, prep and cooking time ran about 2 hours; grilling was completed after guests arrived and some of us migrated back to the patio.

Here’s the menu and links to the Bayless recipes:

• Chipotle Baked Nuts
• Garlic-Black Pepper Tortilla Chips
• Porcini Queso Fundido
• Roasted Pumpkin Seed Guacamole
• Mango Guacamole
• Tuna Escabeche Tacos
• Grilled Chicken Tacos, The New Basics Cookbook
• Grilled Steak Tacos, The New Basics Cookbook
• Spicy Pickled Onions, Cooks Illustrated, Aug/Sep 2008

Results?

• People liked the pumpkin seed guac more than the mango. Very surprising. I liked them both. The pumpkin seeds I got were small, roasted ones, which were ground to a paste (with a dash of oil). I’ve become addicted to the leftover seeds.
• People loved the nuts. But I’d make a half recipe at most, and found them a little troublesome to get to the exact right crispness, especially on day two+.
• Queso was solid. Don’t add too much dark beer, and keep it warm (fondue / sterno) or it will separate later, even in a ceramic pot.
• Escabeche – probably my favorite. Perfect for a simple appetizer or light meal. GREAT recipe.
• Pickled onions – also a very, very nice recipe. Use rice wine vinegar instead of red for more delicate flavor and you’ll bring out a better pinkness in the red onion slices.
• The marinades for the chicken and steak differed quite a bit. Both were good, could have been interchanged with each other. Very simple. Don’t forget about them, even if not using for tacos / fajitas.

Pasta Salad with Tomato, Olive and Herbs

From Cooks Illustrated - May / June 2008

I wasn't expecting too much from this recipe, just a simple fill in for a summer grilled dinner. In fact, 10 days later I can no longer remember the dinner. Maybe it was steak, but it I'm not sure. But the real reason for the memory lapse is because THIS dish came up by surprise and wowed me and Ms. Finn.

As with most CI recipes, this one was developed with extensive "scientific" experimentation in the kitchen. The secret to success is mostly in well chosen proportions and one sleeper ingredient - fresh toasted bread crumbs.

Oh.....I just remembered - it was grilled ground lamb patties on skewers - from the June Gourmet. Good idea, not enough seasoning. Quite bland, enough so that the kids liked them after all. And it was a little tricky to get the logs of ground lamb to stay wholly formed while on the grill. Close - but not enough make it again.

Back to the pasta. Fresh bread crumbs toasted in oil with garlic were added to a pretty pedestrian pasta salad with tomato, olives and more garlic. The recommended pasta was farfalle or other mid-sized tubes which is a good match for olive quarters and tomato cubes. The quatity of olives was excessive - 1C for a pound of pasta (or was it, incredibly, a half pound - dear lord). So I cut that back.

The additional mouth feel of the bread crumbs tied together the core ingredients. Seasoning was spot on. This is a keeper. In fact, I can't wait to go back and check the recipe for variations. I hope they published some!!

Holiday Results

Pretty uneventful holiday cooking, now that it's done. The strategy of trying to keep the menu simpler than usual in order to not be on my feet for hours each day worked well. Though few dishes were over the top, especially for the Christmas feast, each meal was pretty well balanced.

Highlights:

Bob's mother-in-law (age 80ish) and her sister draining eggnog to the last drop and spooning out the last traces of foam from their cups.

Bourbon Marmalade glaze. Traditional approach is to include pineapple in a glaze like this. No need - it adds little and mostly falls to the bottom of the roasting pan. 50/50 English marmalade and bourbon were heated, then poured over a trimmed, clove-studded ham which had been dusted with brown sugar. 30 minutes in oven, add sauce, then heat 1.5h. Pour off liquid, de-fat (depending on ham) and add a T of butter to smooth sauce.

Gazpacho pasta. Nice combination of flavors, definitely benefited from addition of sliced, grilled sausage. Recipe proportions for vegetables not great - too much onion (and I cut in half). Be sure to grill tomatos over highest heat to get some charring without overcooking them. Pureed sacue ingredients were excellent.

Steamed Cauliflower. Butter, Salt and Pepper. Nothing else. Kept florets very large, helped prevent overcooking. AWESOME. Why don't we eat Caul. more often? There's no reason.

UPDATE: Well, it's not polite to keep adding to the list of successes, but I have to mention that Alex is addicted to the roasted sweet potatoes. He had two helpings at Christmas dinner, and last night, finished off the potatoes before he touched anything else on his plate. The preparation was 3 large sweet potatoes, two of which were the ruby garnet style, chopped into 3/4 cubes. Toss in 1/4 C olive oil with cumin (about 2t,), chili powder (1t), cayenne, oregano and thyme (1/2 t each), S&P. Could season even more, but I held back a bit for the kids and glad I did. .

Lowlights:

French onion soup. The early stages of the process were excellent, and resulted in remarkably rich, brown onions, with absolute ease. 5 pounds of sliced onion were placed in a buttered dutch oven, and roasted for 2 1/2 hours in 400 deg. Effortless. Then brown onions on stove, creating moderate frond. After deglazing 3 times with water, I added 1/2 C sherry and the aroma was killer.

However, after adding the stocks and herbs the soup finished as somewhat bland. It needed additional intensity. Also, the ratio of onions to liquid was too high, especially after large croutons began to soak up soup in the bowl. But adding more liquid would only exacerbate the flavoring problem. Since I matched the recipe precisely, I'm surprised that a Cooks Illustrated "best....ever" recipe needs more attention or adjustment.

So now for leftover pasta, leftover ham, leftover cauliflower, ........

Holiday Menus

Mom and Dad are flying in from Chicago this weekend. Menu plan is as follows:

Sat Evening

• Local Texas cheeses - 'Plain Jane' goat cheese, Bosque Blue, Blanca Bianca (wine washed, similar to Taleggio), Veldhuizen's Texas Aged Cheddar
• Pasta with Grilled Gazpacho Sauce with Sausage, Gourmet, July 2007
  
• Grilled Boneless Leg of Lamb, marinated with fresh oregano, thyme, rosemary
  

Sunday Breakfast

• Quiche, bacon, sausage

Sunday Afternoon at Bob's

• Bacon and Roasted Corn Gougeres, Gourmet Nov 2007
  
• Homemade Eggnog (Rum and Bourbon)

Christmas Eve Breakfast

• Strata of Gruyere and Sausage, Cooks Illustrated, long ago...
  
• Homemade Eggnog (Rum and Bourbon)

Christmas Eve

• Cheese Plate
• Veggie Tray
• French Onion Soup, Cooks Illustrated, Jan 2008
  
• Homemade Eggnog (Rum and Bourbon)
  

Christmas Breakfast

• Strata and quiche leftovers
• Huevos Rancheros if needed
• Homemade Eggnog (Rum and Bourbon)

Christmas Dinner

• Smoked Salmon Spread - scallion, dill, lemon, Cuisine Rapide
  
• Bacon and Roasted Corn Gougeres, Gourmet Nov. 2007
  
• Tossed Salad, with Ricotta Salata and Balsamic Viniagrette
• Ham with Orange Marmalade Glaze and Orange Bourbon Sauce
• Cumin and Chili Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• Steamed Cauliflower
  
• Snow Peas with Tomato and Mint
• Chocolate Orange Pots de Creme, Gourmet Dec. 2007
  

Not sure if I'm kidding about the eggnog or not? Nope, no joke. At least until we run out, anyway.