Christmas Eve Dinner 2011

Christmas Eve is finally here!!!  After sleeping in until 10:30 (Gary would like me to point out that he woke up at 8:30), taking a shower, I was ready to commence cooking!  Last year I made a big ham only to remember that, wait, I don't even like ham that much.... so not this year! 

This year I made roast beef along with a lot of veggies: brussel sprouts with apples and bacon, roasted asparagus with garlic olive oil, creamy mashed potatoes, creamy corn soup, and green bean casserole with homemade mushroom gravy.

For my cut of meat, I used a bone in ribeye!  I tried a bone-in filet the other day for the first time, and was not the biggest fan.  Bone in ribeye on the other hand, I love!  All I did was coat with salt and pepper, sear all sides, then roast for only 45 minutes (medium rare of course).  So easy!  The gravy took a little longer, but it was so delicious.  I used shallots and sauteed them in the drippings from the roast then combined with some red wine and beef stock.

Now, I used to be anti-brussel sprouts growing up, but then I went to a cooking demonstration by Betty Rosbottom and totally changed my mind!  This recipe is so delicious!  You boil the brussel sprouts for about 8 minutes, then cook the bacon, use some of the bacon grease in addition to butter to saute chopped apples, add the brussel sprouts and bacon back in, then let all the amazing flavors mix together.  The combination of the brussel sprouts that are slightly bitter combined with the sweet apples and salty bacon makes for a delicious side.

Now this next dish was the one that took the most effort and was totally worth it.  A few weeks ago, I made some easy green bean casserole.  Campbell's cream of mushroom, green beans, French's fried onions... sounds familiar right?  Good but mediocre at best.

As most things are, this dish is also SO much better when it's homemade!  I boiled the green beans for 3-4 minutes, then shocked them in ice water.  While I let the green beans dry, I made some mushroom gravy.  Melt the butter, cook mushrooms, add spices, add flour to make roux, slowly add chicken stock, add sour cream and heavy cream, then voila!  Amazing mushroom gravy.  Guy Fieri is a genius!  I also sliced some shallots and covered them in flour with salt and pepper and fried them up!  Popped the green bean mix in the oven and sprinkled with the fresh fried shallots.  Time consuming?  Yes, but come on, it's a holiday!

Now, it wouldn't be a holiday meal unless Kuma got a special dish too.  No special mix this time.  Just gave her some straight up mashed potatoes, chopped asparagus, and roast beef.  Makes for one very happy puppy.  Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!