I know it isn’t Thanksgiving yet, but I’m getting kind of excited about Christmas dinner.
S has been inspired by Gordon Ramsey youtube videos, and wants to have Beef Wellington. I haven’t made it since I was in college, but what the heck! I am toying with Tournedos Rossini instead, but he is keen on the former. Which will require me to reboot my puff pastry making skills. (It used to be possible to actually buy real puff pastry made with actual butter, but haven’t seen that in a LONG time.)
I’m thinking of going full out traditional and making real Christmas pudding, something else I haven’t done for several decades. Better start now, because it has to age for a month or so and be basted with rum or brandy while doing so. Luckily, I still own a couple of pudding basins.
I think a salad course with Stilton, walnuts, and pears. Debating vegetable choices. Perhaps just simple broccolini or haricots vertes? Don’t feel the need for a starch because of the crust, but maybe a little white turnip mousse? A soup or seafood course?
We will have Christmas with friends. I make a dish called Potatoes Romanoff…from one of the Vegetarian Epicure cookbooks. It’s easy to find online. It goes very well with the standing rib roast and green beans with garlic that we will have.
I’ll probably bake an apple and pear pie also. I did that last year, and it was a big hit.
I have seen the Dufour puff pastry at Whole Foods recently - you definitely need to look carefully for it. I believe you can also get it from Amazon but I’d be nervous about shipping/thawing possibilities.
I am planning a salmon dish for Christmas Eve - not a true salmon coulibiac as there will be no hard boiled eggs, but similar. Christmas Day will be bœuf Bourgignon. I’m also making fruitcakes which need to be started this weekend. I like a white fruitcake which is then wrapped in fondant, iced and decorated. A little goes a long way!
The white fruitcake I make has dried apple, pear, pineapple, crystallized ginger, golden raisins and lemon zest. It’s a Martha Stewart recipe that has you cook the fruit in Armagnac until it’s completely absorbed, then folded into the batter for baking. The recipe doesn’t call for it, but I wrap it in Armagnac soaked cheesecloth to age for a few weeks. My father and FIL loved it - I haven’t had the heart to make it but it will be a nice surprise for Mr. Sabaray.
So funny to see this post - I actually had Ramsey’s Beef Wellington at his restaurant in Vegas a couple years ago! The funny part is that my colleagues were talking about it beforehand and I was all, “What’s Beef Wellington?” LOL you can tell I’m not a big steak guy but I ordered one regardless.
I’m having 32 for Thanksgiving this year, I haven’t even made that list yet. Normally I’m all over it. My daughter and I love the Williams Sonoma chocolate peppermint cake so I did order that.
I also have to deal with major food sensitivities with my son. I’m an all natural cooker, which is helpful, but I can’t do my delicious french onion soup of beef bourginon because he can’t have wine and it has to all be from scratch because he can’t have any msg/soy - which is in anything that is in a package, including store bought broth, etc.
My H and I made Christmas pudding 6 years ago and we keep them frozen and take one out to use each Christmas. I think we have 2 left in the freezer. H’s father was British so H loves the Christmas pudding tradition. The recipe above is a bit different from the one we did that was H’s late father’s. After we steam the pudding we put cognac on top and light it. Once the alcohol burns off you top the pudding with Bird’s custard and serve.
I have eight for Christmas dinner. Three people with anaphylactic allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, seeds (sesame, flax), soy, and I think mushrooms. Two are pre-diabetic, two have celiac. DS1’s SO is vegetarian, but she’s heading to her parents’ for the holiday. Hopefully she’ll be back around while the rest are still here and I can add her needs to my menu!
We have a nice Christmas Eve meal at my sister’s. We bring a smoked turkey. For the day of, we are at my BF’s home with their extended clan. We bring mochi rice with shiitake mushrooms and Chinese sausage.
I had to look up beef Wellington to even see what it is. No way am I trying something that ambitious. I know I’d screw it up, and Christmas dinner is not the time to screw up the main dish.
Beef Wellington is a somewhat tricky dish - getting both the meat and the pastry correct can be a challenge.
We’ve been doing beef tenderloin for the past 10 years or so. The whole meal is pretty set in stone. Sometimes I’d like to try something new but I always get vetoed. At this point, it is easy for me to accomplish and it makes everyone happen, so it works. Tenderloin is easy and well received.
Trader Joe’s has real butter puff pastry. Personally, I’d skip the Wellington and just roast the beef along with yummy Yorkshire Puddings (Gordon Ramsay recipe is the best!)
I think my favorite Christmas dinner was the year it snowed so much we spent the day digging out. We had a 1 car garage and our second car was in the driveway blocking the garage door. All the doors of that car froze shut so we weren’t going anywhere.
I forgot all about starting Christmas dinner until about 4:30 and by then I was too tired from all the shoveling. A gas station about two blocks away was open. They happened to have a pizza counter. So we ordered 2 large pizzas and S walked over and picked them up and brought them home.
@Consolation If I were making Beef Wellington, I’d be tempted to call good local bakeries and see if they would sell puff pastry. Sure would save a lot of work not having to laminate especially in a small kitchen, unless you’re looking for the challenge.
