So this is a long one, but I haven’t sent one of these in a couple months, so skim and enjoy (apologies if you already heard some of it). I’m sure Christmas is a distant memory for all of you now, but Kara and I have really only been back from Dallas for a week. I got a stand mixer, a meat grinder, and several cookbooks for Christmas. In addition to a post-Christmas dinner for my mom and family, I dug into the cookbooks as soon as we got home for my dad and Lisa and then for a couple dinners for Kara and I.
These were all just too poorly timed for my own photography, but the included pictures are handpicked accurate representations of what I served to give you something yummy to look at (those who joined us in the meals would agree). I’ll try harder next time if Daylight Savings will throw me a bone here!
We’ve spoiled ourselves, you’ll see in the descriptions below…
Post-Christmas Dinner
• Beef Wellington- classic French-style dish, this is a huge beef tenderloin, dry aged, seared, covered in påté and a mushroom paste, and finally wrapped in a luxurious homemade puff pastry, and served with a rich sauce made from a slow cooked oxtail broth and a red wine reduction. Soooo rich.
• Chocolate Mousse- the take I did on this was made from dark chocolate, with a bit of espresso and brandy in it to keep it especially fancy and grown up, and not too sweet. Thanks to the stand mixer, the delicate texture was PERFECT.
From The Pizza Bible, a virtual textbook on pizza and all its various styles, with a serious focus on dough. Definitely the best pizza dough I’ve ever made, these took 3 days, including proofing time and allowing the sauce to rest and meld flavors.
• American Style Pizza- red sauce, mozzarella, and home-ground sweet fennel sausage, finished with oregano, Pecorino Romano, and garlic olive oil drizzle. Everything you love about trashy American pizza, but entirely homemade with love and high quality ingredients.
• Italian Style Pizza- mozzarella (no sauce), finished with prosciutto, arugula, multi-colored heirloom cherry tomatoes, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and garlic olive oil drizzle. Fresh, light, and delicious.
From The Slanted Door, a modern Vietnamese cookbook featuring recipes from a San Francisco chef’s incredibly successful restaurants. The modern spin is what will make this otherwise exotic cuisine (mostly) accessible to Kara.
• Spring Rolls- pretty traditional room temperature rice paper roll filled with shrimp, pork shoulder, lettuce, mint, and rice noodles. Served with a really tasty and complex peanut sauce (we’re talking homemade- peanut butter was NOT an ingredient). Peanut sauce aside, we may start keeping these on hand for Kara’s lunches she liked them so much.
• Watercress Soup- A slow cooked clear chicken stock flavored with ginger, then the only other ingredients are wilted watercress and small dumplings essentially made from puréed chicken instead of dough. Interesting and unique.
• Shaking Beef- the signature dish from The Slanted Door, it’s a pretty basic beef stir fry with red onions, but uses filet mignon cubes, so the outside has a lovely crust and the inside melts in your mouth. The sauce has a distinct Vietnamese flavor that is to die for. Served with a very interesting dipping sauce comprised of lime juice, salt, and lots of freshly ground black pepper. We loved it.
and the next night...
• Seared Scallops in Vietnamese Beurre Blanc- two parts ingredients that nearly make this dish by themselves and one part Vietnamese twist. Large perfect scallops and beurre blanc (white wine and butter sauce) do enough on their own, but in this case the wine is reduced with lemongrass, thai chiles, and shallot, and then after the butter is mixed in, a splash of rice vinegar, lime juice, and fish sauce is added. Then the scallops are garnished with rau ram, which tastes like a mix of cilantro and mint. It was AMAZING.
• Stir-Fried Green Beans- just green beans, but nicely done. I’ve noticed that while in Western recipes, it’s imperative to cook garlic just until fragrant, in Asian recipes, it is usually cooked until dark with a nutty and sweet flavor. So, this one has that kind of garlic with some sugar and fish sauce that all caramelizes into a thick but sparse sauce as the green beans are stir-fried. Delicious and easy.
That’s it. Probably for a while. Hope you’re all having a great new year.
-X
Below, one actual picture from all the cooking. Rather than the usual decorative bow made of pastry, my Beef Wellington was adorned with a Triceratops. Photo courtesy of Tevis.
