This Christmas I became a grown-up. Yes, I stopped believing in Santa a long time ago (except when I still watch Miracle on 34th Street), but this was the first holiday meal that I hosted for my family at my place. It may be because my mother always does such an amazing job not only with the cooking, but being such a warm, loving host that we've never wanted to change it. It may also be because I live in a studio apartment that may total 300 square feet if we count the fire escape. But this year it was time for a new generation in my family to step up to the plate. And I've learned that it's not about how much space or square footage you have, it's about who you have in your life to share it with. Even in our small home, we still made quite a feast and enjoyed each other and the meal, creating lasting memories.Here was our Christmas Dinner Menu:
Smoked Ham with a Madeira Glaze
Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Raviolis, Brown Sugar and Black Truffle Oil Sauce
Arugula, Gorgonzola, Candied Pecans and Tomatoes with Balsamic
I got the ham from Ottomanelli and Sons Meat Market in the West Village on Bleecker Street. These gentlemen have a first class butcher shop. Even amongst the chaos and craziness of the holidays you will still get friendly, helpful service, let alone as always their quality meats. The reason I chose ham was my small oven is lacking for roasting or baking; it pretty much only broils on top and bottom. So the ham was already cooked, it was just a matter of heating it and basting it to give it flavor. They also provided a wonderful recipe for a glaze, that my brother and I slightly improvised. |
| Inside the Old-School Meat Market |
 |
| Long line around the corner to the butcher shop |
 |
| Mission Accomplished: Day of Food Shopping |
We put the ham in a 3" inch deep roasting pan, and added 1/2cup of Madeira wine and some water. We then poured some more Madeira wine on top of the ham in addition to a little olive oil, and rubbed some butter and brown sugar on it. We put that in the oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, to prepare the glaze, we mixed 1/2 cup of Dijon mustard (we used Grey Poupon) with a cup of brown sugar and since I had some apricot preserves I added a 1/4 cup (even orange marmalade would have been nice). We continued to mix the glaze adding some more Madeira wine to bring it to the right consistency. We took the ham out and poked some clove spikes all around it with some juniper berries, and basted the ham with some of the glaze. We cooked it on 375 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour, consistently basting it.
Since I couldn't use my oven to prepare anything else, I opted for fresh raviolis. I chose two: wild mushroom and aged goat cheese. On the same block as Ottomanelli's is a wonderful Cheese and Italian Specialty Shop called Murray's Cheese. They have quite an assortment of pastas, chocolates, cheese, olives, bread, spreads — it's wonderful! I also learned that they offer classes for cheese learning and gift making. Since we've now eaten the raviolis I would highly recommend the circle raviolis stuffed with mushroom, but would pass on the square raviolis. The goat cheese ravs let the stuffing out when put in the boiling water (my brother chef told me it was because they were prepared without enough flour). I also got some black truffle oil from Murray's which we used in the sauce for the raviolis.
Thankfully my brother took over for the sauce and prepared it with butter, Madeira wine, brown sugar, pomegranate berries and thyme (I believe he also added a little flour to it as he was sauteing it to thicken the sauce). When the sauce was finished, he tossed the raviolis in it, he then added the truffle oil on top to bring out the flavor... DELICIOUS!
As a starter we had an arugula salad with amazing Gorgonzola cheese from Murray's called Gorgonzola Mountain from Italy. First I toasted the pecans in a hot saute pan and added brown sugar, hence candied pecans (super easy and smells great). Other than some sweet cherry tomatoes, the dressing was just olive oil, balsamic, salt and a pinch of pepper since arugula already has a peppery quality to it.
Lastly were the Brussels sprouts that we would have preferred to
roast, but due to our oven dilemma we decided to pan saute. My brother got a hot pan with some olive oil and butter, salted and peppered the Brussels sprouts after cutting them in half and put them in the pan for about 10 minutes, letting them get nice and crispy on the outside.
 |
| Happy Camper |
One of the best parts to the meal was the Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, 2010, courtesy of mom, aka Val. We have now been spoiled by my mother that for any holidays or special events we are enjoying her favorite wine -- and Caymus sure does know how to put the "special" into something.
Homemade Greek Christmas Cookies, Courtesy of my Yiayia Golfo: Melomakarona & Kourambiedas
Variety of Small Cheesecakes
Worst Yule Log EVER (Bought from Zaro's in Grand Central Station)
I will only write something negative if it warrants the review, only as a means to prevent others from having to experience it. I wouldn't feel right not to mention how disgusting the yule log from Zaro's was in Grand Central Station. It was hard to believe that something so beautiful, coming from such an established bakery could be so horrible. I had purchased Christmas Cookies from Zaro's and they were delicious, so I couldn't believe the yule log was so bad. There was no buttercream to it whatsoever, even though it was advertised that way.
All you tasted was sugar and wafer -- no cake and certainly no nice textured frosting. Thankfully I had other desserts which came to our rescue.
Breakfast:
Cheese Charcuterie
Pillsbury Croisants (Just had to!)
Scrambled Eggs & Salami
Fresh Fruit
Most of my breakfast also came from Murray's. The panettone was so moist and sweet, such a delicious fruit bread that went perfectly for breakfast. I'm glad I took the advice of the sales person and bought the Amarena cherries which only come out once a year, and are now completely sold out. The Amarena cherries are in a syrupy consistency that can be eaten as is, or spread on bread. They went well with the variety of cheeses and panettone. Out of all the cheeses my favorite was the Hudson Red from Twin Maple Farm (rich and semi-soft). I also had a wonderful sharp Cheddar that paired well called Prairie Breeze.
My advice is try to get as much done and prepared in advance so you can enjoy the company you are eating with and the time shared together. I specifically chose the menu that I did because overall it wasn't too time consuming or stressful, while offering such nice festive flavors. By the end of my 2+ years living in our tiny studio, I will have some of the greatest memories -- which goes to show that it isn't about the space or stuff you have, but what you make of it. Thank you to my family for making this Christmas so special. I hope everyone had a magical and blessed holiday. Here's to a Happy and Healthy 2013!
No comments:
Post a Comment