What's for Dinner #64 - This Year's Almost Over, Thank Goodness! Edition - December 2020

[gcaggiano (Greg Caggiano)]

Recipe??? I don’t have an actual recipe. But I can give you a rundown:

Take fresh Brussels Sprouts and cut them to your liking. Normally, I halve them. Lately, I have been slivering them after seeing Jacques Pepin make a similar dish. You can even use baby sprouts and leave them whole.

I usually use four or five strips of bacon, diced, and let them cook until crispy. I then add the sprouts to the bacon and drippings. Cook until the sprouts start to brown and slightly blister. If there isn’t enough grease from the bacon, add a dab of butter.

When the sprouts have reached your desired level of doneness, add two or three tablespoons of brown sugar. You can add more or less, depending on how sweet you want it. Just a dusting usually works for me.

Cook until the brown sugar begins to cake and caramelize. Add a splash of bourbon, take a shot for yourself, and de-glaze. Normally just a minute or two.

I like to cook the bacon and sprouts early on in the dinner prep and then finish it with the brown sugar and bourbon right before serving. I have also made this meal with ham and it is just as delicious, though you will need to add butter or oil to the pan while cooking.

Hope this helps!

[rwcfoodie (Karen Mezzetta)]

Thanks!

[LindaWhit]

Sounds perfectly easy, @gcaggiano. Thanks!

[TheCookie]

Fantastic and fantastic, bummer about PITA Whole Foods delivery, and more fantastic!

[TheCookie]

Christmas Brunch & Dinner Courtesy of de Porres

Pablo Osorio & Danielle Bell of de Porres, are local chefs who prepare a weekly dinner series inspired by Pablo’s Peruvian roots and Danielle’s upbringing in the American South. With the outbreak of the Covid pandemic they have pivoted from catering, private cheffing and hosting dinners in unique locations to now delivering their weekly dinners right to your door. They’re part of a growing number of innovative chefs trying to support themselves during this time, and for us it’s a way to contribute to the local food economy… plus it’s yummy.

Typically their meals lean more toward Peruvian dishes, but this holiday menu is hors d’oeuvres, sides & desserts from Danielle’s arsenal of favorites. Including her famous biscuits!

Chicken Liver Mousse w/Brandied Cherries, Pimento Cheese, Beet Cured Salmon, Spicy Pickled Green Tomatoes, Cornichons & Toast Points (made by me)

This platter is only a portion of each serving… there was enough for a weekend of brunches, snacks and then some.

Chicken Liver Mousse & Brandied Cherries

Hubs loved the Pimento Cheese, but I Chicken Liver.

Blinis & Horseradish Crème Fraîche

Care for a Canapé?

Ham & Biscuits

de Porres’ holiday offerings were only apps, sides & desserts to accompany the holiday meal, but they did have a link to purchase Col. Newsom’s Aged Kentucky Hams. They seem great but since it was only two of us this holiday I decided to cook a small ham myself. It was a disaster. Too long a story (issues with the recipe and fitting it into the small countertop convection oven. It really is time to blowout that not so new anymore oven!). But the biggest issue was the ham itself. We’re trying to forgo conventionally-raised pork when possible, so I decided to buy a small, bone-in ham from Whole Foods . It was uncured (no nitrates, etc) which to them meant adding extra salt, I guess. Ham is salty enough but this was inedibly salty. I hate waste so I froze the remains to use to flavor & salt beans, greens and such. Bummer! I had dreams of leftover ham every which way!

Layers of fluffy, buttery, flaky, goodness.

Spicy Collard & Turnip Greens w/Peads & Barnett Pork

That yellow dollop in the upper-right corner is “Cousin Lori’s Famous Potato Salad” that I also made and which turned out great.

There was wine…

We should also have gone with something lighter or sparkling (lambrusco?) to compliment the whole meal, but we felt like opening this one (indicative blend of syrah, grenache & mourvèdre). It was great with the Chicken Liver Mousse & Brandied Cherries.

Nesselrode Bula Ice Cream - Chestnut Rum Base w/Pecans, Bourbon Soaked Raisins, Dried Pineapple, and Amarena Cherries

It’s like fruitcake in ice cream form and I wasn’t sure I’d like it. We did and it was bomb melting on top of this…

Sticky Toffee Pudding

All-in-all we had a really nice holiday weekend, eating hors d’oeuvres on the patio and quiet suppers in the kitchen. It was strange just dropping off gifts and not doing the usual brunch with the kids & grands (departing tears from the little ones was small torture ) but so it is in the time of Covid… small sacrifices in exchange for a lifetime of celebrating & togetherness.

Happy Holidays!

P.S. May I have your honey ham recipe @gcaggiano? No rush.

[Saregama]

Oh my! Where to start?! That’s a delicious and bountiful weekend!

First, any chance of a recipe for the potato salad, biscuits, and sticky toffee pudding?

I agree re chicken liver - I ordered some for myself and ate it early this week as one of my “what do i alone like?” meals! Have half left, and that mousse might be the way it’s going…

Pimiento cheese - oh yes! The wine bar behind my building offers only snacks, and this might be the most popular. If you have a lot, it makes great crackers / shortbread - but they are short-lived for their deliciousness.

What a pity about the ham. In hindsight, do recipes for home ham from scratch ever involve boiling first to leach out some salt? I will admit that I always find ham too salty, so if it was even saltier - sorry you had to deal with that!

[TheCookie]

Thanks @Saregama!

The biscuits & sticky toffee pudding were all Chef Danielle with re-heating instructions, but I’ll definitely post the potato salad recipe for you. Here’s a hint - after trying for years to nail my cousin’s recipe I figured out that it’s basically egg salad with potatoes added.

Pan-fried chicken livers were one of the first things I learned to cook. My of all things chicken liver progressed from there!

Boiling the ham might’ve been a good idea! Idk if it gets rubbery, but I’m willing to try… or try a different brand. Ugh!

@Saregama

If you have a lot, it makes great crackers / shortbread - but they are short-lived for their deliciousness.

Very Nice!

Happy Holiday Eating!

[shrinkrap]

It all looks so good, and son LOVES sticky toffee pudding. Wife has made it twice since they’ve been here, the last time in large muffin tins,
Potato salad looks like mashed potatoes! Can you share some details? Also, what are peads?

[pilgrim]

It all looks incredible, but a side note re your salty ham. Ours too was over the top in salt this year. We discussed tossing the 1/3 left rather than to continue to create more unpalatable plates, but that hurt our consciences so I tried a soak in cold water. Left thick slices in water for two hours, then drained and dried. Bingo! Close to perfect for future treatments, and certainly ham saved.

[shrinkrap]

What kind did you get? Was it a “country ham”? Is that what you have @TheCookie?

Oh, I see now it is from Whole Foods. How disappointing that might be, to have a ha you don’t like. I was wondering if it might be"country ham"

The one from the catering company is “country ham” from Kentucky ! Not to be confused with “city ham”.

https://www.newsomscountryham.com/

https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/the-food-lab-definitive-guide-to-ham-holiday.html

Among other things it says "When most people think of ham, they’re thinking of city hams. These are the moist, pink hams that you eat in thick slabs, served spiral-cut at the holidays. However, in certain parts of the country (mainly Virginia, Tennessee, and really all through Appalachia), country hams are more prominent. These hams are served very thinly sliced, as they tend to be drier, tougher, and saltier than a city ham. If you’ve never tried a country ham, be warned: They are not for everyone. Even when properly prepared, they are intensely salty, and much drier than a brined city ham. They are also much more difficult to prepare, requiring several days of soaking to make them palatable.

Country-ham devotees can be a zealous bunch, but make sure that you know what you’re getting yourself into before you commit to one for the holidays."

We are getting a Honeybaked (“city ham”) for our New Years Day pork.

[biondanonima]

Happy New Year’s Eve, HOs! We are planning to ring in 2021 with a smorgasbord of (mostly trashy) finger foods, augmented by homemade Christmas candy courtesy of my mother (which didn’t arrive in time for Christmas thanks to the mess at the USPS, but will be equally enjoyable today). Meatballs in apricot-Sriracha glaze, pizza rolls, fish sticks with jalapeno tartar sauce, mozzarella sticks, chips and guac, caramels, buckeyes and fudge- a veritable festival of junk food! I might put out some crudites as well, but then again, I might not. Prosecco in the fridge for midnight and plenty of other potent potables waiting for go time. I hope all of you have an equally festive evening however you choose to kick 2020 to the curb!

[pilgrim]

Good point, shrinkrap, but ours was just a garden variety supermarket half spiral cut “city” ham. In the past we have had rather good luck with “Cook’s” and “Farmer John” brand. This was neither and I can’t remember was it was. I really detest spiral sliced hams. I find the slices too thin and dry and/or too thick to use as one would a shaved ham. And the sweet glaze is, to me, an insult to any self-respecting pig, Husband likes, looks forward to it, but it ruins the 5 or so pounds of leftover ham for most other savory uses. But now, LIGHT BULB: I can soak the ham to get rid of both salt and sugar!

[shrinkrap]

@pilgrim

And the sweet glaze is, to me, an insult to any self-respecting pig, Husband likes, looks forward to it

I think the sweet glaze is husband’s favorite part.

[LindaWhit]

@biondanonima

Meatballs in apricot-Sriracha glaze

Holy hell, this just started me salivating! So simple, so good! Happy New Year, @biondanonima!

[biondanonima]

@LindaWhit

Holy hell, this just started me salivating! So simple, so good!

Total rip off of the old school grape jelly and chili sauce combo. Half and half apricot jam and Sriracha, splash of soy sauce, bit of water to get them started in the crockpot and you’re good to go. Happy new year to you too!

[LindaWhit]

Fair warning…this is a long one.

We made it through an incredibly difficult year. (And here I thought 2019 sucked the big one…I mean, it did for me, but 2020 just needs to leave in a flaming fire of poo because its suckage was pretty damn bad!)

For the most part, the online community could not have been more welcoming in its support to carry us all through whatever we were each going through.

But we rise up.
We live.
We prove that we are worthy of this life.
With the support of our family and friends.

Each of us have friends and family who have supported us. Continue to lean on them.

We do what we need to do to move past the negative and focus on the upcoming future positives.

Because WE are the ones who make those positives.

So I say goodbye to 2020. And hope and aim for the positives for ALL of us in the new year.

Chin up. Right foot forward. And focus. And thanks for being there for me when I needed to lean. You’ll never know how much you’re appreciated.

OK, down to my normal daily bizness: dinner.

For my final meal of 2020, I went with a pan-seared D’Artagnan duck breast, cross-hatched and seasoned just with s/p, and finished in the oven. Blackberry-balsamic sauce I pulled from the freezer worked as a drizzle on top. Israeli couscous and steamed asparagus with a pistachio gremolata on top.

A very nice 2017 Argentinian El Enemigo Chardonnay alongside. No dessert. Probably a snifter of Cuarenta y Tres for afters. Probably won’t stay up for the NYC ball drop. Too weird for me seeing an empty Times Square.

A very happy, safe, healthy new year to all.

[TheCookie]

Thanks Y’all!

Yes @shrinkrap, I thought that photo of the potato salad looked like mashed potatoes too… glad you brought it up, lol. I took one scoop with the firm potato chunks then topped it with a scoop of the liquidy, mashy part.

The ham from WF was bone-in hickory smoked. I prefer something plainer and to add the glaze and flavors myself (which I still did anyway), but it was all they had left and crazy salty. I should try soaking it like @pilgrim.

Potato Salad recipe coming up…

[Saregama]

@shrinkrap would your DIL share the recipe?

[shrinkrap]

@LindaWhit

But we rise up.

Yes. We do.

[shrinkrap]

For the sticky toffee pudding? I will be happy to ask!