In my family, instead of waiting until Christmas morning, we traditionally have Christmas Eve dinner first, and then proceed to opening the presents. This year is no exception.
For dinner menu, I was watching the foodnetwork on TV and got inspiration from the Tyler's Ultimate show one day. Perhaps it is the fact that I have been working with couple Britishs this past year, and of course, Tyler made it look so simple on TV. But since I never made Beef Wellington ever before, I was a bit hesitant. My backup plan is to do a traditional prime rib roast. Finally couple days ago, decision was actually made while grocery shopping, it came down to what I can get from Ralph at a reasonable price!!! Hey, it is a slower economy…haha...at least it is a good excuse.
The final menu is:
- Beef Wellington with Green Peppercorn Sauce
- Sauté Winter Greens
- Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Rosemary & Parmesan Oil
- White Asparagus with Truffle Beurre Blanc Sauce
I did not make any dessert this year. In fact, I didn’t do any baking at all. This means no Christmas cookies for anyone!!! It was too late by the time we got back from the honeymoon. And I figure Brenda & Chris can bring the dessert for the Christmas Eve dinner.
I remember to take pictures of all the food I made this time. Oh, they are yummy, and met all my expectations. I was surprise how simple the steps were. I guess it helps when you have all the right tools and ingredients at hand!!! I normally do a bit of improvising when it comes to cooking. I don’t necessary follow the recipes to the exact. I “interpret” a recipe; meaning I sometimes skip or replace a step or an ingredient.
On the sauce for the beef Wellington, I didn’t strain the ingredients; instead I used an immersion blender to smooth the sauce out. And in the excitement of Caden and Makayla showing up at the door, I totally forgot to add the green peppercorn at the end. So the peppercorn sauce didn’t have any peppercorn!!! Oh well, personally, I don’t even think we need the sauce. Once I tasted the beef, it was already very juicy, but Tom likes it with the sauce.
For the winter greens, I used Swiss chard and kale, just whatever I can find at the store. The main entrée is already very rich; I want the sides to be simple. I just simply sautéed the greens in olive oil and garlic; doing the two greens separately. For the Fingerling potatoes, I used some Parmesan oil I bought from Ezard in Melbourne & a bunch of rosemary from the backyard.
The white asparagus was on sale. This dish is delicious!!! I bought this highly priced truffle on a trip in Europe. I have been wanting to use it. This is the actual truffles, not truffle oil. White asparagus is very delicate; therefore, I didn’t add much other seasoning or herbs so the truffle would take a center stage.
For the beef, I got the beef tenderloin, tie it up to hold the shape, seasoned and seared it a bit. I then worked on the mushroom duxelles. The fun part was to roll the beef up, assembled it into the puff pastry, and sprinkled some Victoria seasalt. I did watch the cooking time very closely. That is mainly because my family loves our meet pretty rare. When it was all done, I think it turned out to between rare and medium rare. Tom loves his meat a bit more cooked. So he had the end piece instead.
And for the table setting, it was beautifully. I got this set of blue & yellow pattern table linen from Willams-Sonoma after Christmas sales one year. I used it a few times for the wine dinners. It just happened to go with everything this time. Remember that sparkling tree at the wedding place card table with the two white birds; well, I added 4 turquoise/blue ornaments, and used it as center piece here! Pretty cool, the whole setting actually looks very elegant after the wine glasses are in place. Love that color.
After dinner & dessert, we opened gifts. The kids were the entertainers, as always! After they left, Tom and I watched “It’s a wonderful life”. My first time watching the entire movie even though I have been in the US for 20+ years…
Here are the pictures of the food. When Chris sends me the rest, I will post the ones with the kids.
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