Early Christmas Dinner

Much like Thanksgiving, Christmas this year is going to be small.  With Christmas on a Sunday, we decided that the dinner we had planned with our friends for yesterday would be our Christmas dinner.  The menu included a few firsts for me, but turned out really fantastic.  The friends that were coming for dinner, the Roberts, raise their own animals for slaughter and Joyce wanted me to show her how to cook a prime rib.  I had never cooked a prime rib before, but it was the main course at the dinner party last week, so I picked up a bunch of pointers from the person who cooked the prime rib last Saturday.  I started with a mirepoix (fancy French cooking term for chopped carrots, celery and onions), some beef broth and a well seasoned prime rib.  I seared the prime rib in a skillet with some garlic and olive oil and then placed it in the oven to begin the cooking process.

I baked it at a high temperature for the first 30-45 minutes and then lowered the cooking temp for the remaining time.  I basted it every 30 minutes with the broth.  It turned out perfectly medium.  

I didn't take any pictures of the gravy, but it was divine.  The mirepoix helps to make a really great gravy.  I pureed the carrots, celery, and onion and then added that to the broth and drippings from the meat.  When mixed together with a little flour for thickening, you end up with an extremely robust tasting gravy.  


You can't have prime rib without mashed potatoes.  I made roasted garlic infused mashed potatoes.  No photos of the mashed potatoes, but here is a pic of the mashed roasted garlic with rosemary and olive oil.

Along with prime rib, mashed potatoes and gravy, we also had Yorkshire Pudding.  My former roommate, Amy, makes Yorkshire Pudding any time she makes roast.  Traditional recipes for Yorkshire Pudding have you baking it in a pan and then cutting the pieces.  Amy's family bakes them in muffin tins which I really like because they're the perfect size and already come individually portioned.  You start out with oil and some bullion in each muffin cup and put it in the oven to get hot, only a minute or two.

Once the oil is hot, you add the batter and bake.  They puff up nicely and are the perfect addition to a roast.  Make sure to eat with gravy.  We did have one small mishap with the Yorkshire Pudding, but that is most likely my fault.  I may have placed too much oil in the muffin tins.  As the batter began to rise, so did the oil and some of it dripped onto the heating unit in the electric oven.  This unfortunately caused a small flame to start in the oven, but we acted quickly and nothing, including the Yorkshire Pudding, was damaged.  I just have to remember less oil next time.

There was a jello salad and a broccoli cauliflower salad.  Dessert was heavenly!  My dad requested a pecan pie for Thanksgiving, but it wasn't on the menu, so I promised he would get one for Christmas.  It wasn't too sweet, which is usually my complaint with pecan pie.  

The other dessert was also fantastic.  It looked very festive.  I made a red velvet cake.  I know some people are not crazy about red velvet because they think that the cake tastes like food dye because of how much food coloring is used.  I don't feel like this recipe has that kind of flavor.  My pet peeve with red velvet cakes is that too often it doesn't look red, but a brownish red which leads me to think that there is chocolate in the cake and if there is chocolate in the cake, then I expect it to taste like chocolate.  The truth is there is chocolate in the cake, but it is a minuscule amount.  This is a Paula Deen recipe and it is light, fluffy and tastes wonderful.

Overall, it was a fabulous Christmas dinner with wonderful food and excellent company.  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Until next year and Happy Cooking!