I’m in over my head. Well not really, but I’ve been working and have not had time to think or prepare. One of my best friends and I are having a private dinner for two on Christmas eve (Nobody does this anymore. I’m bringing it back!), and although we will probably cook it together, I get the fun of deciding what and how, and actually following through with it.
I have tomorrow to hit up some stores and as much as I disdain crowds, that’s not that big of a deal, I can probably find almost any reasonable ingredient. I am however having trouble deciding what to make. I am not the biggest fan of pasta (although I’m not opposed to stuffed pasta) and she doesn’t like chicken, fish, lamb, tomatoes or onions. We’ve also agreed to avoid fowl in general.I also do not have access to a grill at the moment.
So far, here are the choices I came up with:
[ol]
[li]Filet mignon with some sort of a potato and cheese side dish. I have never cooked filet mignon and without a grill, I can pretty much pan fry it or roast it. The potato and cheese side dish should be hard to screw up, but I’m thinking sauteed thinly sliced potatoes with some sort of a cream and cheese sauce. I don’t know anything about sauces though. I guess filet mignon could have a mushroom sauce or served plain. [/li][li]Some sort of a pork dish with something like ravioli and white sauce. Again I don’t know anything about sauce. Roasted pork tenderloins and fresh ravioli (I’m not actually making these myself but I’m hoping I can get really good fresh pre-made ones), but again, sauce? [/li][li]Veal or beef with something like basmati rice and vegetables. Some sort of cucumber yogurt sauce on the side. Vegetables. Saffron on the rice for that central asian touch. You see where I am going with this, right? [/li][li]Concoct some ethnic fusion and combine veal pelmeni with some french sauce recipe, and serve with vegetables. [/li][/ol]
Now, the drink selection gets somewhat odd, because we’ll probably be drinking some sort of a sparkling wine, and probably not too dry - rose, prosecco, or similar. I honestly don’t know how well that goes with main course food at all, much less with the food above.
I’m opening myself up to any suggestions, ideas, options, recipes and anything else the teeming millions are willing to contribute. Did I mention I don’t know anything about sauce?
Get a small (5-lb) prime rib, have the butcher trim the bones off. Find a good rub on Epicurious.com. Make Yorkshire pudding to go with it (very simple and very good), and vegetable side or salad.
This is not the time to experiment, I would think. Do something you know works. Number 2 gets my vote as it sounds fairly similar to what we have at home every year for either christmas or New Year. Tortellini in Brodo, Pork Loin with some sort of mushroom sauce, Potato Salad and Panettone for desert with whatever bottle of red wine has more dust on it (we are no connisewers )
I have not considered prime rib, but that’s definitely a possibility. I’ve never had Yorkshire pudding, so I had to look it up and I’m still having trouble visualizing this. What is the consistency? What does it resemble?
That was going to be my suggestion. Only I like the bones on, and I season it simply with coarse salt, coarse pepper, and rosemary. Be sure to use a meat thermometer and cook the meat rare.
You bring milk and I’ll bring flour
And we’ll have pudding in half an hour…
When I think Christmas Eve, I think of seafood (my family’s tradition is shrimp and crab legs_
May I suggest a shrimp scampi.
Use a wok or skillet, melt about half a stick of butter, add about 5 or 6 cloves of garlic minced, zest and juice of a lemon and some parsley (I actually prefer dried in this dish). If you’re serving wine with the meal, throw a little into the scampi butter as well. (I can’t stand wine of any sort so I don’t use it)
Then toss in your shrimp, stir fry until the shrimp is pink.
Usually I would recommend serving this over linguini, but if you don’t like pasta, a rice pilaf would be good as well.
YUM! have the Filet mignon along with this. If your oven has a broiler that is good way to cook the Filets. An interesting sauce for the beef is Bernaise. Just go buy a sauce mix – only the fussiest of Dopers would complain. Buy Knorr brand. The others pretty much suck. Go for the Rice.
How about steak au poivre with a side of asparagus and a nice cabernet? It’s quick and easy to make, but it always gets a little hectic the last two minutes – at least for me, for some reason. But it really isn’t very hard to make.
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