Well, it's over.
I've cleaned the kitchen a million times in the past two weeks and prepared what seems like hundreds of meals. My menu and plans turned out pretty well, but it was clear about a third of the way into the food prep that I'd taken on far more than I wanted to handle, particularly with houseguests and in the middle of a pregnancy.
These are exactly the sort of notes that I'll put into my Party Book later on, but I thought you might like to hear how it all turned out. (And, thanks for the ideas!)
The hits of the week were the sugar cookies and the beef tenderloin, hands down.
Cookie Day, 12/23
I made this dough and then totally forgot to bake them. The dough is still in the fridge.
I used a recipe I found via Pioneer Woman and it was so, so, so awesome. It is absolutely my new go-to recipe for roll out sugar cookies. It was a snap to make, required no refrigeration, the cookies rolled out like a dream, baked up gorgeous and were delicious. Slightly chewy/soft, with actual flavor (I find that a lot of sugar cookies just taste like cardboard).
Freezing them for 5 minutes prior to baking made an ENORMOUS difference in final product. Don't skip that step.
Made it. Super easy. Delicious.
Didn't make these. Got lazy.
Evening meal: Bison chili and spicy black bean soup (from a kit at Central Market) with crusty french bread
Erm, yes. After cookie day I was sort of tired and cranky and even making soups wore me out. I forgot to put napkins out with the meal or plates for the cornbread but at that point I totally did not care.
Christmas! 12/25
Breakfast
Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls
Okay. These cinnamon rolls were good. Not like, THE BEST EVER or anything, but pretty darn good. The dough (like everything with yeast) required lots of advance time and babysitting, which I find annoying, which is why I don't like to make things with yeast.
The recipe makes a LOT of cinnamon rolls (I got two 9x13 pans) and does freeze well, as promised. HOWEVER. If I made these again I would freeze the dough slightly prior to rolling out as it gets more difficult to work with the closer to room temperature it is. I would also work with the dough in quarters, as the halves were still A FREAKING LOT of dough. (And, while working with the dough I'd put the rest back in the freezer/fridge to keep cold.)
I rolled mine out on granite countertops and that worked fine, but then when I needed to CUT the rolls I had to transfer to a cutting board and that was kind of a pain (also another reason to work with the dough in quarters - less to transfer).
I would also roll the dough AWAY from the counter edge as the melted butter that's inside of them oozes out as you roll and if you roll towards you/the countertop edge you'll have a mighty greasy mess all over the place.
I didn't make the icing as she specifies with coffee and maple flavoring because I don't really like either of those flavors in desserts and thinking of them together made me want to barf. I just added a tablespoon of vanilla. I didn't pour the icing over the rolls either, I served it in a tiny pitcher so people could put as much as they wanted on their own plate.
These also made for tiny cinnamon rolls - about 2" in diameter. I might have done it wrong, or could have done them differently, but I like big FAT cinnamon rolls. On the other hand, they WERE delicious so maybe it doesn't matter.
Cheese Grits (my grandmother is making them)
These were delicious since I didn't make them and it's a time tested recipe.
Some kind of sliced up fruit tray
I didn't really do this. I just set out a bunch of random fruit on the counter.
Breakfast Casserole
I ended up making Amanda's Man Pleasing Breakfast Casserole with a few of her suggested tweaks. (Thanks to Elizabeth for the link!) I added a red bell pepper, used a mix of monterrey jack and sharp cheddar, used chorizo instead of regular breakfast sausage and only 8 eggs instead of 12 (I don't like it when things are too eggy). I served it with flour tortillas, sour cream and hatch chile salsa.
It was INCREDIBLE. It also heated up well for several days afterward and got rave reviews. Will definitely make again. I used this recipe rather than the others suggested because I liked the hash browns in this one intead of crescent rolls in the others.
I also made this the night before and it was super simple to pop in the oven next day. (Didn't pour the eggs on top until right before baking.)
DIY Bloody Mary bar with celery, olives, bacon, tabasco, pepper, lemons, worcestershire
Oh, yeah, this. I didn't make the bacon because I got tired and I didn't set out all the STUFF because nobody seemed interested and then my Dad started making these drinks and I felt guilty that he was just drinking the mix and vodka when I had promised a lot more than just that, but he insisted that he needed nothing else (because he's a good Dad and he saw how stressy and worn out I was at that point) so I just told him that if he wanted the fancy extras they were in the fridge.
Lunch
Just as I suspected, we didn't need a formal lunch. Lots of leftovers from the night before plus chili and black bean soup.
Dinner
Beef Tenderloin with Port Sauce
This. was. AMAZING. Dry brining the meat was equivalent to magic. I'd heard of brining a turkey but DRY brining beef was a new concept to me. It's fantastic. And, I live in Texas and I've had some good beef in my life but this was absolutely one of the top-three steaks I've ever eaten.
Now, I know I had a good cut of meat because it was a tenderloin (8 lbs) and I got it at Costco where they only sell Prime, but the meat really was incredible and had the most amazing flavor and texture. It was an IDEAL holiday meal because the prep happens effortlessly in the 24 hours prior while it sits in the fridge with kosher salt all over it. I just stuck a thermometer in it and popped it in the oven after we opened gifts.
I did deviate from the cooking instructions a bit and that might have been a mistake, timing-wise. Mine had a nice layer of fat on it, so I skipped the olive oil and put it in the oven with the fat up. I broiled it for 15 minutes at 500 to give it a nice crispy crust and then reduced the temperature to 350. I noticed it was cooking too fast though, so I reduced temp to 325, then 300, then 275 and OOPS that sucker was medium rare in 70 minutes and not the 160 I thought it would take. I thought that since it was 8 pounds it would take closer to 20 minutes/pound to cook.
No worries though, because beef is super forgiving about resting after being removed from heat. It doens't get all gross and congeal-y like chicken and pork seem to. Beef is good both hot and cold so even though I was stressed about it being finished early (in a major, high blood pressure, whiney way) I let it sit on the counter for about 45 minutes before cutting and it was still warm in the middle. It rose in temperature about 8 degrees while resting and then came back down. The center slices were PERFECTLY medium rare (a meat thermometer will never lie to you) and the end pieces were more cooked for those who prefer that (NOT ME).
The port wine sauce was fantastic and I served a fluffly horseradish on the side (horseradish, whipped cream, parsley, garlic salt) because I like that kind of thing. I doubled the sauce but found that I didn't need to. I am a huge, huge sauce person but the meat was honestly so good it didn't need any extra bells and whistles. We had 13 adults and tons of sauce leftover. The sauce was good, but the meat was better.
I will absolutely be making this again. Soon.
Some kind of simple sauteed green beans or mixed green salad or maybe both
I roasted asparagus in the oven with olive oil, garlic salt and cracked pepper and made a salad with mixed greens, thinly sliced green apples, strawberries, parmesan and blush vinaigrette.
Simple mashed potatoes
I asked my mom to make them. She did. A brick of cream cheese was involved. They were awesome.
I'm looking for another side vegetable dish idea.
Never found one, perhaps because I didn't actually look. Also, I didn't go for any of the brussels sprout ideas you gave me because I've never cooked them before and new things sounded scary to me at that point.
Dinner rolls (Frozen. I like the Sister Schubert brand.)
Waaaay too many rolls. I think I budgeted 2-3/person and it was too many. Next time, 1.5/person will do.
Dark Chocolate Peppermint Tart
Awesome.
Pumpkin Pie (store bought)
Specific request from Chris. Was good. I don't care for pumpkin pie though.
Pecan Pie
My brother's girlfriend brought one, and it was tasty.
Wine: 2006 Syrah, Astrale e Terra
From the 23rd to the 25th I think we drank almost 20 bottles of wine. (Hey, we had a lot of people in the house.) We ran out of the Astrale e Terra on the 24th and had to go buy more for Christmas dinner. (We bought 14 Hands Merlot.)
I made a LOT less Christmas food than you did and I am trying to figure out how to freeze ahead the WHOLE meal. (I did a breakfast casserole and a lasagna this year frozen ahead and it was SO convenient.) So, basically, what I am trying to say is that I am very impressed.
Posted by: HereWeGoAJen | January 01, 2011 at 01:57 PM
Looks amazing. Thanks for the cinnamon roll review. I have a recipe that I like pretty well, but I am always looking for a better once since it's not THEE best I've ever had (and it's a lot of work for it not to be THEE best - but I can use frozen bread dough and get good results, which is a nice shortcut). I have been thinking about making this particular recipe, but I think I'll skip it for now.
And as for the breakfast casserole, the crescent ones do have potatoes in them, so the crescent just ends up being an extra layer. I used to make the one you made, which my mom had always called "My Father's Best Casserole," which I thought was funny, since her dad never made it. :) I always added a lot more veggies to it. ALSO!!! I am like you and I do NOT like a lot of egg. I find that mixing a tsp of hot sauce and 1/2 cup sour cream in with the eggs before pouring them over the hashbrowns makes it creamier and less eggy.
What I like about making the cresent one is that if you serve it at a buffet-style breakfast, it's a bit firmer, so people can eat it in a piece, like pizza. You can also slice it up into tinier slices for more of a breakfast app or to stretch it a bit further if need be.
My mom dry-brined her turkey (instead of wet-brining) it for Christmas this year, and the flavor was AH-MAZING. I definitely will have to give this dry brine thing a try.
Posted by: Katie | January 01, 2011 at 04:39 PM
Slick trick for cutting cinnamon rolls from my husband (Dad to Arwen)-- don't move them. Instead of a knife, loop monofilament fishing line around the "log" of dough and pull both ends. Cuts perfect slices with no squashing.
Posted by: Salome Ellen | January 02, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Re-read my comment and realized I forgot to specify to cross the ends of the line. Otherwise it would dangle; crossed cuts from outside to center.
Posted by: Salome Ellen | January 02, 2011 at 12:32 PM
Wow--I'm really impressed with all your cooking and entertaining. And I love the idea of a party book. How fun!
Posted by: meghan | January 02, 2011 at 09:07 PM