Our neighborhood Christmas dinner

[Jenise]

Every year I harangue about our neighborhood wine group Christmas dinner, but despite some minor setbacks (like I totaled a valuable pot of chantarelle duxelle), this was our best dinner yet. It's a collective effort by a lot of talented cooks; I prepared the main course this year. I wanted to share the menu:

Appetizers
Brandied Chicken Liver Pate on Toast Points
Chopped Egg and Lime Cream topped with Caviar in a Pastry Shell
Bruschetta of Mushroom Truffle Ragu
Whole smoked silver salmon

Champagne Ariston Brut Carte Blanche
Schramsberg 'Mirabella' Sparkling Wine

Salad
Caesar salad with grilled prawns

2006 Domaine Talmard Macon-Villages
2006 Husch Sauvignon Blanc

Main Course
Ancho and porcini crusted roast filet mignon with mixed mushroom duxelle in Madeira reduction on chive and parmesan pastry pillows, garnished with crispy fried leeks

2003 Cougar Crest Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington
2003 Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Dessert Plate
Viennese Apple and Strawberry Strudel with homemade vanilla bean ice cream

2006 Colli Euganei Fior d'Aranacio Spumante Dolce


Re the leeks, I tried about 18 different methods, and what finally worked was milk dipped (cold milk, cold leeks--once they started to warm up the leeks unwound) then lightly dusted with a half and half mixture of flour and corn starch. Corn starch alone felt starchy on the palate, flour alone burned quickly. As did frying the leeks all by themselves. With this method, they got shatter-crispy and gently golden (like tempura) without browning, and stayed crisp for several hours. We (I had a friend here, helping) also played with various cuts. Vertical strips just sat there, flat. So we cut each whole leek about halfway through then cut thin horizontal rings. Those curled up nicely in the hot oil and gave me the tasty, curly, crunchy garnish I was looking for.

In fact, I took a photo of the leeks--when I find my camera I'll post a picture.

I guess I misplaced my invitation. I will watch more closely for it next year.

Yum, Jenise. You really always out do yourself!

Did I miss recipes somewhere along the line? I especially am interested in the bruschetta, the roast filet mignon, and the chive parmesan pillows!

If you already posted them and I just didn't see them, I'll go search.

Jenise, this was the dinner for which you wanted to do a version of Beef Wellington, right? Sounds like mission accomplished! Did you use puffed pastry for the pillows? The whole menu sounds incredible.

[Jenise]

I guess I misplaced my invitation. I will watch more closely for it next year.

Barb, consider it a standing invitation--but be warned, you'll be put to work!

[Jenise]

Yum, Jenise. You really always out do yourself!

Did I miss recipes somewhere along the line? I especially am interested in the bruschetta, the roast filet mignon, and the chive parmesan pillows!

If you already posted them and I just didn't see them, I'll go search.

Nope, didn't post any recipes. Nothing's written down--not being coy but it's just that all the food I made came out of my own head. I mix things until they taste right, then I use methods I know well which is how I can approach cooking for 70 without getting overwelmed. I can describe how it went together, though.

Carrie, yes, this is that meal. I'll describe the pastry below.

The bruschetta was toasted baguette slices topped with sauteed mushrooms finished with cream, brandy and truffle oil.

The roast filet mignon: I used five whole tenderloins, and broke each one down into two roasts. I trimmed them into cylinders of 3" to 4" in diameter, and used the large scrap from the big half to equalize the tapered end of the small half and fill clefts created by the removal of sinew and tough membranes. I ended up with 91 inches of meat (8 feet!!). Each roast was tied off with butchers twine to make the roasts even more uniform, then rolled in a dry rub made of powdered porcini mushrooms, mild New Mexico powdered red chile (yeah, Larry!), garlic, cumin, salt and sugar. The roasts were pan seared to color all the sides and then placed on rack-lined cookie sheets for final roasting later, and cooked to 125 degrees for rare and 135 for medium, then held in a warm oven until service.

The mushroom duxelle was 16 lbs of mixed fresh mushrooms and five pounds of shallots, sauteed separately and then combined with madeira, herbs de provence and a demi glace I'd made separately with pork and chicken bones and skin. Final quantity: 6 quarts.

The chive and parmesan pillows started with Pepperidge Farm puff pastry. I played with a variety of herb and herb/cheese combinations but settled on sandwiching a heavy layer of grated parmesan cheese and chopped fresh chives between two sheets. We rolled those out just slightly to 13" squares, then used a template to cut away an inch and get nine perfect 4" squares. Those baked into the pillows that were the base of the deconstructed beef wellington--the duxelle went on top, a 1 1/4" slice of filet on top of that, and then a few of the leek rings with a little sprinkle of chopped chives and parsley. Though I created the recipe, I owe big thanks to a marvelous cook named Al Hawks who did the actual baking for me so that I had Saturday free for the meat and vegetables.

The combination worked beautifully--I don't actually have a lot of use for filet mignon as steak material, but in a roast it has an exceptional texture that trumps it's failure to taste as good as a rib eye. You can literally cut it with a fork, and if you pre-sear a rare slice will be perfectly and uniformly red--not rarer in the middle and more well done around the edge, but the same beautiful shade of bright rosy red from edge to edge. But because it's so magically tender, you need contrast textures on the plate and the pastry pillow and crispy leeks provided the perfect counterpoint.

It was pretty cool that almost nobody in the room had ever had roast filet mignon so the texture was an epiphany of sorts for most.

Did the Whitehall Lane hold up to the ancho crust?

[Jenise]

Howard, absolutely, the Whitehall's a big wine. The Cougar Crest was quite delicious too, both a tad sweeter and a little more acidic--more femme you could say. Too, there wasn't that much crust comparatively speaking--essentially a dry rub, it was there to add both accent flavor and, at least as importantly, color to low-fat meat that's really not going to be in the oven long enough to build it's own Maillard.

Thanks for the methods used, Jenise. It sounds delicious and elegant!

What? No mention of the bread??

After saying that, I'm reminded of my first husband's Grandma Bessie. Her contribution to every Thanksgiving dinner was a can of cranberries. During the meal, as everyone was remarking on how good the food was, she'd say, "And these cranberries!! Who brought these?"

The dinner was fabulous. Jenise's filet was extraordinary. I helped plate the salad and main courses; we were dismayed at the number of people who wanted "medium" or "well done" (ruined) for the filet. One remedy was to have the less cooked portion turned face down.

[Jenise]

Congratulations on your 43rd post. At this rate, you'll break 1,000 at about, oh, May of 2018.

Hey, the bread was great--we were all talking after you left, "You know, no one makes a bread run like that Chris, eh?" (I was talking to Canadians.)

Thanks for the props on my course, though. Hey (I'm thinking "liked the meat, left early...")--maybe you're the one who stole that last half a roast. Dog needed to pee, my a@@.

Hee!

If I'd known there was leftover meat, I would've definitely gone for it, as long it was of the red juicy variety.

And I'm up to 43 postings (now 44)? Do I get a prize? Maybe I'd better slow down a little.

Wow, Jenise, you and your neighbors sure know how to throw a pot-luck supper.

Regarding the leeks:

I wonder how a pakora-type Indian batter, based on chickpea flour, would have worked out?

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

If I'd known there was leftover meat, I would've definitely gone for it, as long it was of the red juicy variety.

You'd have had to fight me for it--I had plans! I just hope whoever kyped it got a bloody pocket from trying to hide it.

And I'm up to 43 postings (now 44)? Do I get a prize?

Yes. A lifetime of catsitting for me. Lucky you!

[Jenise]

Wow, Jenise, you and your neighbors sure know how to throw a pot-luck supper.

Regarding the leeks:

I wonder how a pakora-type Indian batter, based on chickpea flour, would have worked out?

-Paul W.

Paul, I never even considered chickpea flour. Would have been a very interesting flavor (I love the stuff). You think it would hold crisp like I needed?

Nice, Jenise!

Had I been on the hook for this, I'd have probably moved out at midnight the night before and left no forwarding address!

Paul, I never even considered chickpea flour. Would have been a very interesting flavor (I love the stuff). You think it would hold crisp like I needed?

I think so. In Yamuna Devi's The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking there is a recipe for spinach pakoras that is advertised as coming out "crispy and delicate". The main ingredients in this batter are:

1 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
9-10 TBS ice-cold water, enough to make a thin batter similar in consistency to light cream

As with any pakora batter, there's also salt and spice ingredients.

I've never made these myself, but it sounds like it's supposed to come out the way you are looking for.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, I understand the initial crispiness, but getting battered vegetables to hold crispness is usually a problem. Even an hour or two, let alone the 6 to 8 hours between fry and service, like I had with this dinner. The hot inner vegetable steams the crust as it cools. But hey, I'd be willing to try--especially with the rice flour, it probably has a better chance than most flours or mixes.

Or maybe not. Pakoras are one of those "serve immediately" items, I'm afraid.

-Paul W.