We had a wonderful Christmas dinner with J's parents.
Appetizer was cheese platter. J, the cheese master, picked those three kinds of cheese.
Main dish was roast beef tenderloin with caramelized onion and mushroom. My first idea was classic roast beef tenderloin. Then, J said it sounded boring. So I picked a little more complicated recipe with beef tenderloin. The recipe was by Cook's Illustrated as usual. Butterflied the beautiful tenderloin center cut, spread caramelized onion and mushroom, pressed baby spinach leaves, rolled and tied. Rest 1 hour, roasted in the 450 degree oven until the thickest part reached 125 degree for medium rare. Spread herb-mustard butter top and rest for 15 minutes.
For side dishes, I made my
usual potato-leek gratin. Cheesy creamy savory, who doesn't like it? I have only one oven, so I cooked the gratin first and roasted the beef. And reheated the gratin in the oven while the beef was being rested again. Cheese became brown and bubbly.
And easy braised carrot. I had the other veggie options such as braised mustard greens, braised Brussel sprouts, and sautéed asparagus. But I thought carrots would be better. The bright orange color was cheerful and the sweetness went well with the delicate tenderloin.
Inside of the tenderloin was rosy pink, moist, tender. Caramelized onion and mushroom gave the beef earthy savory flavor. I am very happy with the result. I am basically not a meat lover, but consumed my two slices quicker than anybody else at the table. And gratin and carrots were fine too. I had another small piece of gratin and a few more bites of carrots.
Merry Christmas 2014!
