Christmas. Well, another set of Christmas gatherings complete. I'd say that I was glad to see them over, but I always hate to see it end. Christmas Eve was a small group this year…only 8 of us. I have to admit, had a bit of a challenge for dinner. With a small group, I figured that I could go a bit beyond the norm and have something more special. Standing rib roast it was. Rubbed with a mixture of fresh rosemary, thyme, and garlic, this crusty roast was sure to please. I made one huge mistake. The afternoon got away from me and at 1:30, I realized that I hadn't taken the roast out of the fridge. It needed to go into the oven at 2:00, so I was cutting it short. The failure came in the fact that I didn't give the roast enough time to warm up before cooking. I cooked the roast to medium well (where I stuck the probe). There was a section of roast that didn't get a chance to warm up and wound up being a bit less than rare. Oh well, mistakes happen. Fortunately, the crew with me on Christmas Eve didn't hang me for slicing and finishing off the roast on top of the stove!!! I think we'll practice a few more times before I make for a crowd again.
Christmas Day was a bit different. We had 27 people for a noon dinner!! Though I would love to do something a bit more extravagant, with that many people, you run into varying food tastes and food quirks. We wound up serving a turkey breast sliced, beef tips that I made in Bourguignon style, and a ham with an orange-clove glaze. Thankfully, we satisfied everyone's taste.
Now that Christmas has passed, I have a few leftovers to deal with…and these I love as each bite reminds me of the great time we had. Once the tasty reminders of our 2009 Christmas are gone, it will be time for me to start thinking of meal plans for future weeks….including a bit of a healthier spin to get the new year off to the right foot.
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