Christmas Eve

Max and I were invited to my friend C's house for Christmas Eve dinner. (Max was also invited to a few other festivities but his heart, like mine, tends to go with good food.)It is always great to have someone else cook for you, but this supper was so far beyond great that is makes great seem bland.

We arrived at C's house around 5:30 pm. To my delight, I was greeted at the door with a pomegranate martini. (Max got a diet Coke) C used a fresh pomegranate to infuse vodka earlier in the week. The martini was 2 parts pomegranate vodka, 1 part Grand Marnier and 1 part cranberry juice. Beautiful AND DELIGHTFUL!



I brought a 3 cheese dip and she had Maytag bleu cheese we ate as appetizers. My 3 cheese dip was a hit and so easy. It can be made ahead and even frozen. It will definitely be a party staple at my house. It contained Feta, Monterey Jack, Parmesan, green onion, mayonnaise and butter. I baked it on baguette slices until bubbly and slightly browned. Yum!



I lent a few cloches to C in the fall so she could attempt to preserve some of the fresh herbs from her garden. To wit:



Her centerpeice of fresh thyme! Amazing.

The rest of her menu included: mixed green salad with mustard vinaigrette, wild rice stuffed red onions, cheesy creamed cauliflower, mashed potatoes, sugared yeast rolls (Max's favorite), and bacon wrapped filet mignon with green peppercorn cream sauce. I also made a Grand Marnier creme brulee we ate for dessert. Hard to imagine we could have squeezed anymore calories in there, but it was worth every single one I assure you.

Here we are digging in. To the lower right is Sophie the Beagle, strategically positioned to catch some crumbs.



We had a wonderful evening. Great food, great drinks, and great company. It just doesn't get any better than that!

Finished

I just finished off the rest of the quiche. I ate the entire quiche. By myself. 3/4 pounds of bacon. 1 cup heavy cream. 2 cups cheese. 6 eggs. All me. At least I did not do it in one sitting. But STILL.

It's just Quiche - sheeesh...

Quiche is one of those things I don't often make and then when I do, I wonder why I don't make it more. I made a delicious one last night for supper with cottage bacon, carmalized onions, and Cheddar. (I am sure "cottage bacon" has other names in different areas - it is more ham like than regular bacon). I had a slice for breakfast and lunch already today. It is great cold and extremely versatile as well. You can add almost anything (ham and Swiss, bacon and Cheddar, goat cheese and fresh herbs, spinach and feta) and it makes a great meal anytime. I have also used this recipe for hors d'oeuvres, making individual quiches in mini muffin tins. Always a hit!

This is the basic recipe.

1 Pillsbury refridgerated pie crust
6 large eggs
2/3 cup heavy cream or creme fraiche
1 cup milk (preferably whole)
8 ounces gruyere, emmenthal, or other Swiss-type cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg - optional


Roll out the pastry to fit a 10-1/2 inch glass or tart pan. Crimp the edges, poke the bottom with a fork or the tip of a sharp knife. Pre-cook according to pie crust directions.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, and the milk until thoroughly blended. Season with the salt and pepper, then add the cheese and stir until it is blended, Turn the mixture into the pre-baked pastry, and spread out the cheese evenly over the bottom of the pastry. Sprinkle the top with nutmeg if you've used a Swiss-type cheese, and bake in the center of the oven until the filling is golden and puffed, and is completely baked through, about 30 minutes.

Caramel recipe

I am going to post this before I pitch the recipe. Seriously, these are the best caramels I have ever had. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart, so there you go. I made this recipe a few years ago and found it incredibly labor intensive. Two years ago I asked my friend Carrie to help, so we doubled the recipe and made them again. Have you heard women talk about how after a time, they forget about the pain of childbirth? Well, that must have been what happened here, because I asked Carrie to help with caramels this year and for some reason we both are still wondering about, she agreed. (Come to think of it, I think I drank heavily last time we made them. That could explain it....)

This year, we decided to triple the recipe which, while it gave us 3 times the caramels, it was more like 9 times the work and time. It took over 3 hours to make which was bad enough. But the cutting was just horrible! I am still sore today and literally have caramel all over my ass and socks and carpet and hair and chairs and....What a mess. By the last half of the last cookie sheet of caramel, Carrie asked for a hammer. And although the pieces weren't pretty PERFECT little rectangles, it did break up easily with much less man power. So if you should decide to make these - the wonderful, chewy, perfect caramels, just whack away. Your back will thank you.

This is the original recipe for a single batch. It makes one cookie sheet or about 90 caramels. We tried some with pecans the first year and both felt they did not hold up over time.

8 T butter (1 stick cut into pieces)
2 C heavy cream
1/2 C sweetened condensed milk
2 C light corn syrup
1/2 C water
2 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 T vanilla or bourbon
cooking spray

Spray cookie sheet that is at least 1" deep.
In small sauce pan, combine heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk. Set aside.

In heavy 3 or 4 quart sauce pan, combine corn syrup, water, sugar and salt. Cook on high heat until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Bring to boil. Use pastry brush dipped in water on sides to brush away sugar crystals.

Cook, without moving pan, until 260 about 20 minutes. Meanwhile warm cream mixture over low until warm - NOT boiling. When sugar mix. reaches 260, slowly add butter and warmed cream mixture boiling at all times. Stirring constantly, cook on medium heat until firm ball stage 248, about 15 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Immediately pour into prepared sheet. Let sit uncovered for 24 hours at room temp without moving pan.

Use hammer to break into pieces. Wrap in wax paper. Tell all Susan is a genius.

These really make a great gift. People we know BEG us for them. We are both very selective however on which people are actually "caramel worthy" particularly on this, the last year of the caramel.....

A Stretch.....

I love Christmas in theory. Birthdays always should be fun (you know? The REASON for the SEASON - DAMN! I hate that phrase). I generally like the decorating, the baking, the entertaining and the shopping for the perfect gifts. I probably should say the perfect decorating, perfect baking and perfect entertaining. Yes, that evil perfectionism is a curse this time of year. I inevitably put way too much pressure on myself to have 'the best Christmas EVER.' But every year, without exception, it ends up being complete drudgery and a major disappoint in so many ways. I think I have ended up in tears almost every Christmas night. BAH!

This year seems so different. I have BAKED cookies, made carmels (note to self -NEVER make again!), dipped pretzels in that grody white waxy stuff. I have set MAJOR spending limits and have managed to find some pretty good, thoughtful gifts for those I love. I have decorated my tiny house with only the really good decorations I saved from the move. For the first holiday season probably since I was I child, I feel hopeful, happy and at (semi) peace. I cannot begin to express how wonderful that feels.

Which brings me to the topic of this post. In the new Bon Appetit, (See? There is a food reference!) there is a dining room makeover section. This was the new chandelier...............


I found it online and ordered it yesterday. My mom is going to LOVE this light from Dutch designer Tord Boontje. His works are amazing. And it was in Bon Appetit so it is sort of food related.