Post Christmas Dinner

I promised the readers of my weekly column in The Leaf Chronicle a copy of our menu for Christmas Dinner (which wasn’t prepared until the following Saturday).  I love having the menus of tried-and-true meals, served by real people, for my own use, so perhaps you will find some appeal in this menu.  If you have offered the same thing on your blog (or elsewhere) I hope you let me know—I’d love to check-it-out.

The menu:

Rosemary Prime Rib

Brussels Sprouts

Bourbon Carrots

Barley Casserole

Almond-Citrus Salad

Rosemary Prime Rib

6 garlic cloves, pressed

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

1 tsp crushed rosemary

2 tbsp olive oil

1 (7 lb) 4-rib prime rib roast, chine bone removed

1 c sour cream

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp prepared horseradish

Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl; rub over roast. Let roast stand at room temp for 30 mins.

Bake at 450 degrees for 45 mins on lower rack of oven.  Reduce temp to 350 degrees and bake 45 – 50 mins or until meat thermometer inserted into roast registers 145 degrees (medium rare) or 160 degrees 9medium).  let stand 20 minutes

Combine sour cream, lemon juice, and horseradish; serve with roast.

Southern Living 2003 annual recipes

(For the record, we prepared our roasts for 45 minutes in our oven, then moved them to the grill, which we had preheated to a medium heat.)

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

4 slices bacon, chopped into one-inch pieces

1 lb baby Brussels sprouts, thawed

1/2 c heavy cream

1 tbsp cream

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat, remove cooked bacon.

Cook sprouts in bacon drippings until they start to brown; add cream, salt and pepper.  Cover cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes; add lemon juice.  Top with cooked bacon just before serving.

This is actually a conglomeration of a few recipes—not sure where it originated.

Bourbon Carrots

3 c water

1 1/2 lbs baby carrots

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp bourbon

Bring water to boil, add carrots, sugar and salt.  Return to boil and cook 5 minutes or until tender.

Melt butter and brown sugar in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Stir in  carrots and cook stirring occasionally, 2 –3 mins or until well coated.  Add bourbon and cook, stirring occasionally, 3 more mins.

Southern Living 2003 annual recipes

Barley Casserole

1c barley

1/4 c butter

2 medium onions, chopped

4 ozs. mixed specialty mushrooms, chopped

4 c chicken broth

Melt the butter in a sauce pan, add barley and cook—stirring frequently—until barley is browned.  add chopped onions and mushrooms to sauce pan; cook until tender.  Transfer to a casserole dish, stir in chicken broth.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Charlene Saunders Thomas (my mom)

Almond-Citrus Salad

2/3 c vegetable oil

2 tsp grated grapefruit rind

1/2 c fresh grapefruit juice

1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix

1 grapefruit

2 oranges

1 avocado, peeled and sliced

3 c torn spinach

3 c torn leaf lettuce

3 c iceberg lettuce

1/2 c sliced celery

1/2 c chopped green bell pepper

1/4 c Sweet-and-Spicy Almonds

Combine oil, rind, juice and dressing mix in a jar; cover tightly, and shake vigorously.

Peel and section grapefruit and oranges, and place in a large bowl.  add avocado and next five ingredients.

Add dressing, tossing to coat.  Sprinkle with Sweet-and-Spicy Almonds.

serves 8

Sweet-and-Spicy Almonds

1 c sliced almonds

1 T butter, melted

1 1/2 t sugar

1/4 t ground cumin

1/4 t chili powder

1/8 t dried crushed red pepper

pinch salt

Combine almonds and butter, stirring well.  Combine sugar and remaining 4 ingredients; sprinkle over almonds, tossing to coat.  Spread on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake at 325 degrees  for15 minutes, stirring occasionally; cool.

(Make a double batch to use as an appetizer or hostess gift.)

Southern Living 1996 Annual Recipes

Summertime grilling

Not being a big fan of hot weather, there are a few things I do enjoy about the summer—not the least of which is grilling most of our meals.  In actuality, we are year ‘round grillers, but we truly step-up the game during the summer months.
Everything from chicken legs and hotdogs to beef filets and prime rib have been prepared on our grill.  I would like to expand my repertoire with regard to main dishes, but the accompanying dishes, as well. 
I’ve prepared the more obvious side dishes on the grill—corn on the cob, potatoes and vegies—but there are some many more opportunities to use the grill. 
I started thinking about this while I was preparing one of my family’s favorite appetizers last week—mango brie quesadillas (thank you, Stacy)—and committed to myself that I would start investigating the aisles at our local book store for grilling books.  (Yup—that means I’ll be buying yet another cookbook, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.  Don’t be a hater—it’s for my family for heaven’s sake.)

Truth is, as I typed that my mind went to Barefoot Contessa and Giada De Laurentiis cookbooks already in my collection.  They probably have a few recipes in there, but I am pretty sure Bobby Flay or another grilling expert would have it all neatly packed into one volume.  Again, this will require some exploration.
In the meantime, I wanted to share the recipe I came-up with the other night.  I had thawed some chicken breasts, but did not have a marinade planned.  Since I had the mango standing by for the quesadillas, I decided to use them in the marinade.  I actually buy mango in a jar—the kind packed in juice—because it is quick and easy to use for morning smoothies. 
Looking in the fridge and realizing we are heading out of town for a few days, I decided I needed to use the remnants of an open yogurt container.  A mango yogurt marinade started to formulate in my mind.  It’s loosely based on a recipe I got from my friend’s, Brooke’s, sister, Lynn. I usually use plain yogurt for marinades, but all we had was vanilla Greek yogurt—again, for smoothies.  Here’s how it played-out:
for six boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 c. of yogurt
1/2 cup of mango juice (from jar)
1 T fresh lime juice
garlic (I had to use powdered because I was flat-out of fresh—if was okay, but it’ll never happen again.  I used about 1 t, but will use 2-3 minced cloves when I make it again.)
chopped cilantro, about 3 T
2 t curry powder
3 T olive oil
I allowed it to marinade for about 1 hour, but will allow more time the next time I make it.  I grilled over medium-low heat.  don’t ask me how long—as I rarely do it the same way twice.

Do you have any favorite grilling recipes? Will you share them with me, please.  I enjoy cookbook recipes, prepared by people in restaurant-worthy kitchens, but the best ones come from real people in their real kitchens.
Thanks for your indulgence.

“that cilantro tzatziki-like sauce”

I made this sauce last summer and since then, my husband has requested it regularly.  I cannot remember what I served the first time I prepared it, but it seems to go with everything!

We call it “that cilantro tzatziki-like sauce.”

It requires:

32 ozs of plain yogurt

1/3 – 1/2 of a bunch of cilantro, chopped

the juice of  1 - 2 limes (about 1/2 cup)

4 cloves of garlic—pressed

 

I use the leaves and stems of the cilantro.

The limes exceptionally juicy—I only used 1 1/2.

Make sure the garlic cloves are a good size—mine nearly filled the the receptacle side of the press.

Combine all with the yogurt.  I prefer to do this a day in advance, but have used it as soon as 2 hours after I prepared it.

 

Tonight I served ground beef  browned with onions.  I added salt, pepper, marjoram and rosemary, then a can of stewed tomatoes (chopped).  I served the beef mixture over brown rice, then we topped it with chopped tomatoes, feta, olives (not me—can’t stand them), cucumbers and that cilantro tzatziki-like sauce.

I hope you try it—then let me know how you serve it.

Thanks for your indulgence,