Christmas Day 2017 - Beef

Monday, December 25, 2017

Dale decided he wanted to make Julia Child's beef bourginon recipe for Christmas dinner. I helped and was more involved in the production I think since the first time we made it years ago.

To start, my job was to slice the onion.

Dale got the meat dried off with paper towels.

I also took care of getting the carrots sliced. The recipe calls for one carrot. We had baby carrots so I used about 7 of them and sliced them into quarter rounds.

Dale got the stove set up.

I cut six (they're doubled up in the photo) good sized slices of bacon into thirds.

Dale had the brilliant idea of each of us frying the  bacon off at the same time. I used the skillet and he used the casserole. 

Then we did the same thing with the meat, searing it on all sides. I'm surprised one of us hadn't thought of this before since it made it go twice as fast.

We then fried the vegetables and then added the bacon and the beef and put it in the oven for about 4 minutes, took it out and tossed it, and then put it back in for 4 more minutes.

When it came back out we added garlic,

thyme,

the wine,

chicken stock,

and about a tablespoon+ of tomato paste,

brought it to a simmer and then put it in the oven for about 2 and a 1/2 hours.

As it got closer to the time to take it out, Dale fried off the mushrooms.

When it came out of the oven,

we drained off the broth,

put what was left back in the casserole,

and added the fried off mushrooms to the casserole.

Dale needed to boil down the approximately 3 and a 1/2 cups of broth we had down to 2 and a 1/2 cups. He said it probably started out as 5 and a 1/2 cups when we put  the whole casserole in the oven and reduced to  the 3 and a 1/2 we had when we took it out.

After the broth was reduced, Dale skimmed off the fat although there wasn't much since the beef was pretty lean to begin with. We added the broth back to the casserole and waited for it to rest a bit. The smell was insanely divine.

Mom came over for Christmas dinner. She got here at 3:00 p.m. and we watched The Bishop's Wife serving appetizers of smoked gouda, pears, and crackers. 

We ate around 5 p.m. with the beef over egg noodles. Dale made brussels sprouts in the oven. Pumpkin pie for dessert.

Date Filled Cookies

Stopped by Mom's today. She said she was craving date filled cookies. I asked if she was talking about the same ones she made when we were kids. She said yes. I remember them mostly from the 70s, 80s and even 90s. She planned on making some the next day and told me she bring some for me during her visit to my school later on in the week.

Christmas Season 2013/2014 - Pistachio Rum Cake Pudding

We hosted our holiday brunch the other day. I made a pistachio rum cake pudding and Dale made an egg-bake. The rum cake was quite easy and fun to make and it was a big hit. The recipe comes from family friend Judy and is as follows:

Pistachio Rum Cake Pudding

1 package pistachio pudding mix

1 package yellow cake mix

1/2 cup light rum

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup oil

4 eggs

Beat all ingredients together at medium speed for 2 minutes. Bake in a Bundt pan at 325 degrees for 55-60 minutes.

Rum Cake Glaze

3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup light rum

1/4 cup water

During last 10 minutes of baking, combine glaze ingredients in a pan. Boil 2-3 minutes [I stirred it the whole time]. Reduce heat [I continued to stir and removed from burner a couple of minutes before removing the cake from the oven]. After removing cake from oven, poke holes in the bottom with a knife to allow for seepage and then pour glaze over it while still in pan. Remove cake in 45 minutes from the pan.

Fondue Part 2

Fondue on Christmas Eve has been a family tradition for as long as I can remember. I decided to do a little research on this thing I've eaten for 45 years on December 24. Here's what I found out...

According to James and Kay Salter in their book Life is Meals, the town of "Gruyeres is about seventy miles northeast of Geneva as you head into the heart of Switzerland. It produces one of the two cheeses - the other being Emmenthaler - that are the basis for fondue, which comes from the French verb fondre, 'to melt.' "(p. 391) Also, "Fondue likely originated in remote mountain villages during winters when food was scarce and people softened their old, hardened cheeses over a fire, scooping from the pot with pieces of bread." (p. 391)

I know that my mom uses Gruyere cheese and a basic swiss cheese, but I'm not sure if the swiss she uses is Emmenthaler. Here is the recipe she uses:

Alpine Cheese Fondue

1 clove garlic, cut in half

½ pound natural Swiss Cheese, shredded

½ pound Gruyere, shredded

3 Tbsp flour

2 cups dry white wine (Chablis)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Dash Pepper

Dash Nutmeg

2 Tbsp Kirsch or cognac

1/8 tsp salt or to taste

French bread.

Rub inside surface of ceramic fondue pot with garlic; discard. Toss shredded cheeses with flour. Heat wine on the stove until small bubbles show on the bottom of the pan. Stir in lemon juice and handfuls of cheese, stirring constantly, after each addition, with wooden spoon until cheese melts. Stir in spices and kirsch or cognac. Pour into fondue pot, temperature on the lowest setting.