Christmas Eve Tapas

This year we decided to depart from all of the traditional Christmas Eve menus and have a tapas night. The menu was created by my son Justin.

Menu
White Sangria
Bruschetta
Cooked Jumbo Shrimp with Tomato and Pepper Dip
Roasted Aspargus
Chicken Wings
Stuffed Baby Portabellas*
Beer Marinated Grilled Flank Steak

*This was a substitution for Broiled Figs. No fresh figs available in Omaha in December!

White Sangria

1 750 ml bottle of Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup brandy
4 -5 slices of lemon
4 -5 slices of lime
1 peach sliced
12 - 18 seedless grapes
Club Soda

1.In a large pitcher or other container, combine the wine and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the remaining ingredients, excluding the club soda, and mix well.
2.Place the pitcher in the refrigerator and let the sangria sit for at least 1 hour (and up to 4 hours). The sangria will sweeten with time, so the longer it sits, the better.
3.Just before serving, stir in the club soda and ice cubes.


Cooked Jumbo Shrimp With Tomato and Pepper Dip

1 pound cooked jumbo shrimp, shelled
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp. chopped onions
1/2 can crushed tomatoes
3 Tbsp. chopped red bell pepper
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. tabasco sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor combine all the ingredients except the olive oil and shrimp. Blend until smooth. Add the olive oil in a thin stream and blend further until smooth. Put mixture in large bowl. Chill for at least one hour. Chill the shrimp on a platter.

Serve the dip and shrimp cold.

Beer Marinated Grilled Flank Steak

2 pounds flank steak
1 (12-ounce) bottle Guinness draught
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
3 jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine Guinness, onion, garlic, and peppers in a zipper-locking plastic bag with beef. Marinate 6 to 8 hours in refrigerator.
Remove steak; discard marinade and season with salt and pepper. Grill over medium-high heat to desired doneness.
Let steak rest 4 to 5 minutes; slice across grain and serve.

Holiday Dinner

You gotta love winter...okay maybe not so much. This week the midwest was blanketed with another snowstorm, our second one in weeks. We'd planned to celebrate Christmas with Tim's kids on Wednesday night but because of the weather they headed to their grandparents in Minnesota early.

We were planning on tapas for Christmas Eve dinner so why not have this dinner on Wednesday night anyway?

Menu
Deep Fried Turkey
Paula Deen's Cornbread Stuffing
Brussel Sprouts
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie*

*This is a January Sweet Melissa Sunday's post, so check back for this one!

This incredibly delicious Brussels Sprouts recipe is from my son Justin's recipe file.



Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts, Dijon and Crisp Crumbs
Fine Cooking

1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. caraway seeds, toasted lightly and crushed
3/4 tsp. kosher salt; more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
2 lb. Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed, cut through the core into quarters
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Position racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and heat the oven to 400°F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment.

In a large bowl, whisk 1/4 cup of the olive oil with the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, caraway seeds, 1/2 tsp. of the salt, and about 10 grinds of pepper. Add the Brussels sprouts and toss to thoroughly distribute the mustard mixture. Spread the sprouts in an even layer on the two baking sheets.

Roast until the cores of the sprouts are just barely tender and the leaves are browning and crisping a bit, 20 to 25 minutes (if your oven heat is uneven, rotate the pans midway through cooking).

While the sprouts are roasting, make the topping: Line a plate with two layers of paper towel. Heat the remaining 1 Tbs. oil with the butter in a medium (10-inch) skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter has stopped foaming, add the breadcrumbs all at once; toss to coat with the fat. Reduce the heat to medium, add the walnuts and the remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, and cook, stirring constantly, until the crumbs are browned and slightly crisp and the nuts are golden, 4 to 6 minutes. (The crumbs will start to sound “scratchy” as they get crisp.) Dump the breadcrumb mixture onto the paper towels to drain the excess fat.

Transfer the sprouts to a serving bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper if necessary. Sprinkle the crumbs over the sprouts just before serving.

Make Ahead Tips
You can fry the crumb topping up to 2 hours before serving.

Peanut Butter Balls

What Christmas treat are you known for? You know that recipe you make every year and everyone asks you for this recipe. For me, it's these decadent Peanut Butter Balls. It doesn't get any better than peanut butter and chocolate.

I've been making these at Christmas since Justin was small. My recipe is scratched onto a piece of notebook paper, it has my son's scribbles and a phone message he took for me on the back. Too sentimental to rewrite onto a recipe card!

Peanut Butter Balls
1/2 cup butter
3 cups Rice Krispies
2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 pound powdered sugar
8 ounces Hershey's chocolate bar
6 ounces semi sweet chocolate bits
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cake paraffin

Melt butter, stir in peanut butter until smooth. In a large bowl, combine rice krispies and powdered sugar. Pour peanut butter mixture over rice krispie mixture. Stir until combined well. Chill for at least one hour. Roll rice krispie mixture into balls approximately the size of walnuts.

In a double boiler or a bowl over a pan of boiling water, combine chocolate bar, chocolate chips, paraffin and vanilla. Stir until melted and combined.

Dip balls into chocolate mixture, making sure to cover all sides. Place on waxed paper to dry.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Treats

I decided to make homemade treats for my staff this year. Instead of making one thing, I decided to make a variety of treats. My often requested Peanut Butter Balls, mini loaves of Mrs. Flint's Banana Bread and a third treat to be revealed in January. You see it's the January 3rd Sweet Melissa Sunday's recipe.

Hopefully they will all enjoy some sweet holiday treats. They're a great bunch and I am lucky to have them all on my team!

Vegetable Stock from Scraps

When I took the Culinary Boot Camp series a few weeks ago, we learned to make stocks. I learned a lot of tips from the chef who taught our classes but one of my favorites was the save your veggie scraps and make stock. I am sure for some of you that's a given but for me, I'd never made stock before these classes.

For the past six weeks or so, I've been putting the celery, onion, carrot, mushroom and various other veggie scraps in a gallon bag in the freezer. I was excited to make my first ever Vegetable Stock using these scraps. While the stock was cooking, the house had a wonderful soup like aroma. Although I forgot to take a picture, the stock had a beautiful golden color.

Vegetable Stock

4 cups vegetables*

2 garlic cloves, minced

Water to cover

6 peppercorns

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add vegetables and garlic. Sweat with the lid on for about 5 minutes, stirring at least once. Add enough water to cover vegetables, peppercorns, parsley, thyme and bay leaves. Simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Strain stock into a collander, lined with cheesecloth. If you don't have cheesecloth, use a strong paper towel.

You can freeze your stock in ice cube trays. This makes for a quick way to add stock to soups or sauces.

Tomato Soup

I have fond childhood memories of a steaming hot bowl of Campbell's Tomato Soup, a Grilled Cheese Sandwich and lunch with my mom. As I grew older, I became less and less fond of tomato soup or should I say canned tomato soup. Homemade tomato soup on the other hand, I love. The flavor is so much milder and less acidic than the canned varieties. I am always anxious to try a new recipe for tomato soup. I so enjoy Michael Chiarello and when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. The only change I made to this recipe was to substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock. This soup has a wonderful texture and a nice mild tomato flavor.

Tomato Soup
Adapted from Michael Chiarello

1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 stalk celery, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup heavy cream, optional

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Strain the chopped canned tomatoes, reserving the juices, and spread onto a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, to taste, drizzle with 1/4 cup of the olive oil and roast until caramelized, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat remaining olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the celery, carrot, onion and garlic, cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the roasted chopped canned tomatoes, reserved tomato juices, chicken broth, bay leaf and butter. Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add basil and cream, if using. Puree with a hand held immersion blender until smooth.