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 CHRISTMAS
MENU
Veuve Clicquot Champagne
Mushroom Soup
Prime Rib Roast of Beef
Yorkshire Pudding Popovers
Crisp Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary
Brussels Sprouts with Shallots & Pancetta
Mincemeat Pies with Hard Sauce
Recipes yield 6 servings each
For the past 30 years that I've been with my British-born husband, I've
cooked many of his favorite foods that he sometimes craves....
just proving that you can
take the man OUT of England but you CAN'T take away his cravings for the
foods of his childhood. It's the same with all immigrants
who come to the USA from all over the world - and because of those
ethnic food cravings, we all benefit from
the increasing number of so many different food cultures and
restaurants in multi-ethnic cities like New York and communities all over the
USA. Another Christmas tradition and at other celebrations, the
British have fun with "crackers"....not the edible kind, but what
American's might call "poppers".
Click here for a full description of Christmas crackers. Williams Sonoma stores have been selling
them for many years so I can only assume this British tradition has
taken over in the USA.
The first course (or starter as the British would say) is a
mushroom soup which stems from my Slovak heritage. I've updated the
original
recipe to reflect and take advantage of the variety of mushrooms now available.
A Prime rib roast of beef, served with Yorkshire pudding is probably
my favorite meal to serve at Christmas dinner or at a special occasion
dinner. My variation on Yorkshire Pudding is that I make individual
popovers in a 6-cup non-stick popover pan (see photo below) instead of
baking the Yorkshire in a shallow 8 or 9-inch square or round pan which
is the traditional British way. Just be sure to make the Yorkshire
popovers as close to serving time as possible - they tend to deflate as
they cool. The recipe below is the basic standard for homemade Yorkshire
Pudding.
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A traditional British sauce to serve with a Prime Rib Roast is a
strong horseradish cream sauce - click on the link here for a superb
one from Lobel's in New York - and while you're on Lobel's website,
why not buy their delicious Prime Rib Roast!
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This year however, I will be using an organic popover mix made by
King Arthur®Flour
in Norwich, Vermont. Their Organic Golden Popover mix
yields 6 large or 12 small popovers. All you do is add eggs,
melted butter and water to the mix. Pour into a 6-cup popover pan
or a standard 12-cup muffin pan for smaller popovers. Just be sure not
to open the oven during the 38 to 42 minutes it takes to bake the
popovers in a 400°F. If you can peek into the oven door
window to see how brown the popovers are getting, your oven may be
hotter than the thermostat indicates in which case the popovers may
cook in less time than suggested.
 There is no question as to what vegetable I serve....it's
always and forever the British standard for vegetables...... Brussels Sprouts
- seen in this photo as they grow on the stalk. The difference between
how my Brussels taste and the taste of Brussels from my husbands' childhood, is that I don't
boil them as long as his mum used to!
For the
most part, overcooking Brussels is why this healthy vegetable is so maligned! If you give my recipe a try, I'm sure you'll
love Brussels Sprouts! As I do most of my food shopping in Manhattan, I have
access to many wonderful food stores -
Citarella is one of my
favorites - and in the Autumn and Winter they sell a mesh bag full of the smallest Brussels
Sprouts from Holland. They are
simply delicious. If you can't find baby Brussels, then buy the
smallest you can find or just
cut larger ones in half.
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Pan
roasted potatoes are another British staple vegetable that is served
with just about every traditional meal. With the many varieties of potato that
are now available in specialty food stores or at your local farmers'
market, once you have eaten a variety of potato called fingerling, or any of the many other
potato varieties, you'll be hard pressed to go back to the regular
Idaho/Russet style of potato. Not that there is anything wrong
with an Idaho/Russet potato! They still make the best fries and
baked potato. |
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Note that the recipe calls for
roasting the potatoes in DUCK FAT. The best source for this
ingredient is to save the rendered duck fat from roasting a duck, or
alternatively, check your local specialty food store for rendered duck
fat sold by
D'Artagnan - a top quality purveyor of specialty
meats and charcuterie.
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Mincemeat pie with hard sauce is a favorite
British-style dessert of ours - I must admit that I don't often make my own mincemeat mixture which
needs to be made at least 10 days in advance.
Occasionally I buy a
good brand of mince imported from the U.K. that can be found at specialty food stores
and some major supermarkets. If you're in
or near NYC, the British grocer -Myers of Keswick on Hudson
Street in the West Village will fulfill any British "soul food" desires
you may have - including mincemeat by
Robertson's which is delicious. Making your own hard sauce is easy,
can be made days in advance and tastes a
lot better than ready-made hard sauce in a jar, especially when you use a top quality
imported butter such as
KerryGold®
from Ireland.
Mushroom Soup
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1½ pounds
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fresh assorted mushrooms, cleaned, and sliced thickly
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3 Tablespoons
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unsalted butter |
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1
teaspoon |
caraway seeds |
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3
Tablespoons |
chopped shallots |
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1 Tablespoon
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flour |
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4 cups |
organic beef broth (heat up the beef stock in a separate small saucepan) |
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1 |
egg yolk |
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1 cup |
organic sour cream, room temperature |
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1 Tablespoon
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chopped fresh dill |
 In a 4 quart
size soup pot, melt the butter and sauté mushrooms with caraway seeds
and shallots for 5 minutes. Add the flour and blend it into the
mushroom mixture.  Gradually
add the heated beef stock, stirring with a whisk. Cover the pot and simmer for
30 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk until creamy, add the
sour cream, dill and blend mixture well. Quickly whisk in
½
cup of the
hot soup (to temper the
 mixture) and then
gradually add the tempered mixture to the soup pot whisking as you add
it. Continue cooking soup over low heat for 2 minutes more.
Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of chopped fresh dill.
 If you prefer a smooth puréed
soup, purée solids in a powerful blender or food processor - add a
small amount of soup liquid to aid the puréeing. Return the
mushroom purée to the
soup pot and re-heat before serving - garnish with dill.
*if using dried mushrooms,
rinse them under running water before soaking 1
ounce of dried mushrooms in 1 cup hot water for about 20 minutes. When mushrooms have
re-hydrated, remove them and strain liquid through a very fine sieve to
remove any remaining sand and use the mushroom liquid
as part of the 4 cups of liquid.
Prime
Rib Roast
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4
Ribs of
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Prime
Beef, approximately 9 - 10 pounds, trimmed. Set beef on a rack in a roasting pan and leave at
room temperature for at least 1½ to 2 hours. There should be a
good layer of fat on the beef - don't trim it off as you'll need the
rendered beef fat for the Yorkshire Pudding recipe
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SEASONING MIX |
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5 cloves |
garlic, finely minced |
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1 Tablespoon |
sea salt |
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1 Tablespoon
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ground or crushed black
peppercorns |
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1 Tablespoon |
celery seed, finely ground |
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1 Tablespoon |
Paprika |
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1 Tablespoon |
fresh thyme leaves |
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Heat Oven to 450°F
 1. Using a mortar and pestle, combine the seasoning mix
ingredients and grind until celery seed is finely ground. Rub the
seasoning mix all over the Prime Rib as it sits at room temperature.
NOTE: The seasoning mix can be made and spread on the rib
roast the day before roasting, thereby allowing more time for the
seasoning mix to penetrate the beef.
2. Place roasting pan in the lower third of
your oven and roast for 20 minutes at the set temperature. Then
reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Continue roasting until internal
temperature of beef in the center registers 125°F to 130°F for rare.
This should take approximately 2 hours, but check the internal
temperature of the beef at least 15 minutes before the end of cooking
time. Spoon out the beef fat as it is rendered from roasting
- reserve in a bowl for using to bake the Yorkshire Pudding Popovers
recipe.
Yorkshire
Pudding Popovers
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1 cup Plus 2 tablespoons |
King Arthur® All-Purpose Flour
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1 cup
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whole milk |
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4 large |
whole eggs |
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1 teaspoon |
ground sea salt |
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1/4 teaspoon |
nutmeg |
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Pinch |
black pepper |
1. Oven should be heated to 400°F. Put 2
teaspoons of the reserved rendered beef fat into each cup of a 6-cup
non-stick popover pan.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, milk, eggs, salt,
nutmeg, black pepper. Beat with a whisk until mixture is the consistency
of whipping cream. (NOTE: batter can be made a few hours in advance
and refrigerated)
3. Place popover pan onto a baking sheet with sides and put in the
oven; heat pan until the beef fat is very hot and almost smoking.
4. Fill each popover cup with batter about half way. The hot beef fat
may spill over onto the baking sheet which is why we put the popover pan
on it!! Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and bake until
popovers are puffed and browned and the exposed sides of the popovers
are firm - this should take approximately 20 - 25 minutes.
Be sure not to open the oven door during the baking time.
Crisp Roast Potatoes with Rosemary
| 4 large |
baking potatoes, scrubbed and each cut into
eight wedges. OR if using Fingerling potatoes, cut
in half lengthwise, allow 3 or 4 fingerlings per person. |
| 4 Tbl |
Rendered duck
fat* OR Extra Virgin Olive Oil |
| 3 Tbl |
rosemary leaves,
finely minced |
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Sea Salt and freshly ground pepper |
Coat potato chunks with duck fat (or olive oil) and minced rosemary. Place potatoes
in a shallow roasting pan or on a cookie sheet pan with sides and roast for
approximately one hour in a 375ºF oven until potatoes are browned and
crisp roasted. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
Alternative: Peel and cut
potatoes into equal size chunks, season with salt & pepper and roast the
potatoes in the pan along side the roast beef adding the rosemary leaves
if you want to - the potatoes will roast in the beef fat so no need for
the duck fat.
Brussels Sprouts with Shallots
and Pancetta
| 1½ lbs. |
Brussels Sprouts |
| 2 cups |
chicken stock (homemade or unsalted canned) |
| 3 Tablespoons |
butter |
| 1/2 cup |
diced pancetta,
cut from 1/2-inch thick slices |
| 1/2 cup |
shallots, finely
minced |
Wash and trim the ends
of each sprout. If sprouts are large, cut in half.
Bring chicken stock to a boil in a large sauce pan and cook the sprouts
until crisp tender (not soft) and bright green. Drain well and transfer sprouts to a
serving dish. In the meantime, in a large skillet, melt the butter and sauté the
pancetta until lightly browned. Add the shallots and sauté until
lightly browned. Return Brussels to the skillet and toss to
combine with the pancetta/shallot mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Note: This vegetable dish can be prepared several hours in advance
and just heated through on the stovetop before serving.
Mincemeat Pies with Hard Sauce
Prepare at least 7 to 10 days before needed
| 1 lb. |
golden raisins |
| 1½ lb. |
currants |
| 1 lb |
raisins |
| 1 lb. |
dried cherries |
| 1 lb. |
beef suet, finely chopped |
| 1 lb. |
dark brown sugar |
| ½ |
whole nutmeg, grated |
| 1 tsp. |
cinnamon |
| 1 tsp. |
ground clove |
| 1½ lb. |
Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored
and finely chopped |
| 1 |
lemon, rind grated and juiced |
| 1½ cups |
Cognac |
In a large ceramic or glass bowl, thoroughly mix all ingredients
together in the order as listed. Keep covered in the refrigerator
and stir the mixture daily for at least 7 days, up to 10 days. The yield
will be sufficient to make two 10" double crust pies, or up to 24
individual pies using a muffin tin lined with pastry dough. If making
individual mince pies, be sure to make a few slits in the top, just as
you would if making larger pies. For a shiny crust, brush each pie or
individual pies with an egg wash (whole egg beaten with a teaspoon of
water).
If you're not making your own pie crust, purchase Pillsbury ready made
pie crusts which you can find in the refrigerated section of any
supermarket. The box is red and contains two pie crusts, ready to
be formed into your pie pan or if making individual mince pies, cut a
circle of pie crust to fit inside each muffin tin, plus a small circle
of pie crust dough to fit on top of each individual pie. You will
need at least 3 packages of ready made pie crust to make individual
pies.
Bake pies in a 400ºF oven for 10 minutes, then lower oven temperature
to 350ºF and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until crusts are
golden brown. Remove large or individual pies from oven and let
cool on a rack. Mince pies are best served medium warm with a
large dollop of Hard Sauce.
Hard
Sauce
| ½
pound |
unsalted
KerryGold® butter, slightly softened |
| 1 cup |
powdered (confectioners) sugar |
| ¼ teaspoon |
freshly grated nutmeg |
| 1/4 cup |
Cognac or dark Rum |
| 2 teaspoons |
pure vanilla extract |
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a medium-size
bowl using a hand mixer), cream the butter and powdered sugar
together until smooth. Add nutmeg, Cognac and vanilla extract and mix again
until well combined. Transfer butter mixture evenly into a container and cover with plastic wrap
so that it doesn't absorb any other food odors in the refrigerator. Refrigerate
until butter has hardened. Serve a dollop or more of hard sauce with warm mince pie or Plum Pudding. Hard
sauce should melt slightly on top of the warm pie or pudding.
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