Holiday Hijinks

The holidays are a time for getting together with friends, family, and loved ones to celebrate. Usually it’s a bit unclear as to what’s being celebrated, as everyone has their own individual beliefs and values, though food always plays a large part. In many cases, it plays a gigantic and gluttonous part. My dinner was no exception as it contained an unseemly amount of courses.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amazingly-Good-Eggnog/Detail.aspx
http://www.pillsbury.com/Recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=46242
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/swedish-meatballs-holiday-recipe.htm
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cajun-Crawfish-and-Shrimp-Etouffe/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cioppino/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Avocado-Salad-with-Tangerine-Dressing/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Roast-Goose-with-Stuffing/Detail.aspx
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/crepes-suzette-recipe/index.html

I cooked the majority of this monstrous meal the day of, with the exception being the eggnog and prepping the stuffing for the goose. It started off as a royal pain, but the payoff was more than worth it. The eggnog was one of my favorites, but it can be a bit tricky to make because you need to make sure that the eggs don’t coagulate. You avoid this by stirring constantly over a very very low heat or using a double boiler (a smaller pot with the eggs inside of a larger pot filled with water). It’s the same technique as making hollandaise sauce for Eggs Benedict. Even after doing this though, it will still probably taste like a sugary abortion. Chilling it overnight really brings all the flavors together and thickens the drink. As for the rum, I like to use good dark rum like El Dorado. Even though it’s technically a mixed drink, it’s almost as alcoholic as a cocktail, so the rum is really important. I garnished each glass with a pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon with a cinnamon stick thrown in too. The result is way better than store-bought and if you’re going to punish your liver and arteries at the same time, it better taste good.





For hors d'ouvres, I served Crescent Bacon-Cheese Tartlets. Here, I cheated a bit by not making my own bread, but it was still delicious. To be honest, I cheated a lot here since my cooking assistant, Jenny, did most of the work here. All I did was cook the bacon and take the finished product out of the oven. The combination of bread, egg, cheese, and bacon tasted like a mini quiche, while the crescent roll flavor added an extra level of sweetness. It was a great start to the meal, but I was really glad I skipped out on the assembly since it takes a bit of time to hollow out a home for the cream, egg, cheese, and morsels of bacon.







Along with the Tartlets, I served Swedish Meatballs. Both meatballs and gravy I made, but this one was really easy. The whole thing, start-to-finish, couldn’t have taken more than 15 minutes. I had barely any leftovers of these as the accompaniment of lingonberry preserves and gravy with the fluffy texture and flavor of rare meat was too much to resist. I really don’t know what the difference is between Swedish and regular meatballs, but the former feels like more of a holiday staple. My Scandinavian side of the family would always make Swedish Meatballs and Lefse so there was something tasty to eat as we all tried to dodge the intimidating plate of Lutefisk. That’s gelatin cod and if you didn’t know what it was before, you should count yourself lucky.







Next came two soups I made. One was a Cajun Crawfish and Shrimp Etouffe, where I substituted crab for crawfish (it’s a bit hard to come by in Manhattan supermarkets). Unfortunately, this came out tasting fishier than any Etouffe I have ever had. It was also too thin and too pink. When I think of a good Cajun Etouffe, it should be thick, red, and performing a fine balancing act between pleasurably spicy and oh-god-I-need-some-milk-now spicy. My spice level was right, but there was something else really lacking in the flavor that I can’t place.



The Cioppino more than made up for it. I used shrimp (1 lb), bay scallops (1.5 lbs), mussels (3 lbs), cod (1 lb), and squid (1 lb) instead of what the recipe suggested. The squid was one of the highlights of the dish since the strong basil, wine, and tomato flavor really permeated the chewy meat of the squid. Mussels with this flavor is a classic, like in Mussels Marseille, minus the Pernod. Every ingredient came out perfectly cooked and flavorful. Luckily, I made so much that I had enough leftovers to last almost two weeks.





My favorite part of the meal was the main course, a stuffed roast goose, which I accompanied with an apple avocado salad with tangerine dressing. The goose came out of the oven smelling strongly of the stuffing, with which it had been cooking for six hours. Its amber skin was crispy, yet fatty. The dark meat was very tender and the wings were so large and drumstick-shaped, that it was hard to tell them apart from the legs. For the gravy, I probably added a bit too much fat, but it still worked. The gravy in the recipe was really off so I ended up using close to a cup of wine and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Rendered goose fat, pan drippings, white wine, and tomato danced with goose flesh and fat in my mouth. It really varies depending on how much fat you have left in the pan and how much you add to the gravy, but there should be a lot since a goose is a very fatty bird. Even though the stuffing pre-cooking looked like it was mostly apples, it came out very bready, as would be expected from stuffing a whole baguette into a bird. The currant flavors came out in the stuffing, but also came through in the bird. Albeit time consuming, I really recommend this dish especially if you like dark meat, since that’s all a goose has. The pictures below detail steps in the cooking process.

Stuffing:



Attempting to brown with my tiny pan:



Making it pretty:





Later on:





Finished:





Gravy, Salad, Stuffing, and Carved:









Last was the dessert. Of all these recipes, the Crepes Suzette was the most complicated and took up most of the prep time. It was composed of an orange sauce, a grenadine sauce, the crepe itself made from fresh batter, the Grand Marnier added to flambee, and a dollop of vanilla ice cream.



The butter had to be browned to give the crepe batter a nutty flavor before adding the rest of the ingredients.







Since I didn’t have a crepe pan, it was a bit difficult to flip the crepes at first, but after a while I realized that it’s easier to just lift the crepes up with a spatula and use your hand to flip them over.







After all the sauces and crepes were made, I prepared each one individually. First, I threw in just enough butter to grease the pan, chucked a crepe on top, spooned a few orange slices on top, and topped it all with about 1/8 cup of Grand Marnier. Then came the fire. It either flared up all at once or I had to move the pan to the side to catch the burner’s flame. You probably can’t do this on an electric stove. After the flames subsided, I plated it, sprinkled some grenadine sauce around the side, and placed a small dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. I loved how there were so many different flavors in this dish. There were the very alcoholic oranges, the ice cream, the grenadine, and my favorite, which was the taste of orange liqueur permeating the thinly drenched pancake.



So that was my gigantic holiday feast. Excess was definitely the name of the game and such gluttonous extravagance kept me stuffed for the better part of 24 hours. It was one of three great meals I made over the break. The others were Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon and Lobster Thermidor I made after being inspired from watching Julie and Julia. That though, is a story for another day.

Eggcellence

I found this recipe for baked eggs with mushroom cream in Robuchon’s book, which I have mentioned in previous posts. He calls it oeufs cocotte à la crème de champignons. This particular dish is great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and is sure to impress guests. What is best about it is the soft texture of the egg and the vibrant colors that come from making the dish correctly. However, the timing can be difficult and it varies based on the size of the eggs, the equipment used, and even the placement of the eggs before baking. The ingredients for the dish are as follows.

2 tablespoons butter

2 minced shallots (I only used one, to place more emphasis on the mushrooms)

1/2 pound mushrooms

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Salt (I used fleur de sel)

Pepper

Eggs

Minced chives

Shallots are like onions, but much smaller, sweeter, and milder. They are commonly used for sauces because of their mild flavor and ability to blend easily since they are so small. The chives are great for a garnish and their crunchiness creates an interesting balance beside the softness of the egg and smoothness of the sauce. I used generic mushrooms for the sauce which were already sliced to save some time. Also, this recipe makes a lot of sauce, so I had enough to use for a dozen eggs which really helped because I was able to serve all of my friends.



To start off, chop the shallots, chives, and mushrooms.



Then, sautee in melted butter until browned, add cream, and top with salt and pepper. Take this mixture and blend in a blender or food processor. Transfer sauce to a pot and keep warm.



The eggs are a bit more difficult. In the restaurant, Robuchon uses a steam oven where the eggs are cooked for a long time over low heat, but the diah can be made at home as well. For more information about steam ovens, check out this site . Line a pot with parchment paper that has holes poked in it to prevent the water from boiling over.



Bring the pot of water to a boil then remove from heat. Sprinkle a pinch of fleur de sel in a ramekin and place an egg in each ramekin.





A ramekin is a small porcelain cup commonly used in baking. Moat souffles are served in these. Place each ramekin into the pot of water so that the water goes about halfway to the top of the ramekin. If there is too much water, pour some out until it is at the right level.



Now that the eggs are in the pot, put the pot into the oven and bake for 8 minutes for large eggs. Remove the pot from the oven and remove the ramekins. The eggs should appear soft and smooth over the top. In addition, the sides should not be burnt.





Cover each egg with the mushroom cream and garnish with chives.



If it is cooked correctly, the yolk should still be soft and it will mix with the mushroom cream.



My favorite part of this dish is the moment the spoon (use a spoon because a fork is just awkward and messy in this case) enters the egg. You realize that the surface is even softer than it looks and the white yields effortlessly to the touch. Once you contact the yolk, it runs all over the cup, which is why it is so necessary to eat this in the ramekin. When the yolk mixes with the cream, the result is purely delicious. Every bite tastes of cream, mushroom, yolk, chives, and fleur de sel. I feel that it is very important to use fleur de sel for this dish because it imparts a flavor to every bite that you just do not find with ordinary iodized, kosher, or even sea salt. The first few eggs I made did not come out perfectly, but by my third batch I figured out the timing and if you follow these instructions exactly, it should turn out well for you too. It is a delicious and beautiful dish and I highly recommend that you try and make it.

You can also see this post here: http://cornellsun.com/node/36088