Christmas Eve with the Kiddos (recipes included)

Since we are living so far away from Heather & Matt, it was a special treat to be able to share Christmas Eve dinner with them...

...and with Heather's special guy, James.

When visiting Tucson, we stay in a casita at a friend's house and fortunately there is a full kitchen. So, I was ready to cook :)

After thinking through a variety of options and discarding many for a various reasons, I came up with this rather simple dinner:

• Rouladen
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Brussels Sprouts Hash
• Cole Slaw
• Rolls

Dinner was a hit, with requests for recipes, so I figured the easiest way to go about it was to write it up here.

ROULADEN

For the Rouladen,  I turned to my dad for input. Originally I had asked for information about using a flank steak, but I decided to go the easier route and visit my local butcher to order some round steak sliced for rouladen. Excerpts from his guiding comments (with my notes in parentheses) are:

"Working from long side of meat smear meat with mustard, place a partially cooked piece of bacon, some lightly sauted onions and a spear of dill pickle. (I omitted the pickle as I have never had it before and didn't want to test drive it on Christmas Eve.) Then roll up meat tightly into a log and fasten with toothpicks or tie with kitchen string.

Saute meat in bacon fat in cast iron pan until browned.  Remove meat from pan and set aside until all meat is done. (I prepped up to this point the day before and refrigerated them until it was time to jump down to the part of putting the meat into a pot with beef broth. I got lazy and didn't follow these next couple of steps. The gravy probably would have been tastier, but it turned out pretty darn good the way it was.) In empty pan sauté lightly salted and peppered mirapois of onion, celery and carrot until lightly browned.  Season with a half dozen allspice berries and a couple of bay leaves. Add meat back in pot and add beef stock to come about 1/2 way up sides of meat.  Cook in 325 oven for a couple of hours until tender.  Strain broth and thicken with potato starch or corn starch. (I used corn starch.)" 

(Look at those two...they have matching glasses :))

MASHED SWEET POTATOES

Peel and cube 4 medium sweet potatoes. Place in saucepan and cover with water and bring to a simmer. While these are cooking, toast the nuts - see the next paragraph. Simmer potatoes until fork-tender. Drain. Add in 3 tablespoons orange juice, 3 tablespoons maple syrup, a couple of tablespoons of butter, and some cinnamon (about 1/2 teaspoon). Mash until well mixed or use a hand mixer to blend. (Kitchen was not stocked with a potato masher.) Just prior to serving, fold in about 1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces. That half cup is total guess work. Matt was helping, and I told him to add in nuts until it looked good - and he did a great job.

Oh, to toast the nuts, break them into small pieces, place them in a skillet over medium heat and jiggle the pan every few minutes to keep them dancing. Keep a close eye on them, because once they get to that toasting point, they can quickly move to burned. When you can smell them, that is a good sign they are done. Empty them into a glass bowl to cool - if you leave them in the skillet, they will keep cooking.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS HASH
Heather is featured with this recipe, because she always told me she hated Brussels Sprouts...until I made her try my hash.

For this I followed my Brussels Sprouts Hash recipe, found on my blog, but with a few adjustments...

Omit cranberries, water, and Better Than Bouillon. After adding the sprouts, cover the pan and turn down the heat a bit. When sprouts are crisp-tender, continue, but substitute a couple tablespoons sugar for the maple syrup and increase the balsamic vinegar to 2 tablespoons.

COLE SLAW
The cole slaw was definitely the hit of the party...and the instigator for me to put this blogpost together, since I had three requests for the recipe.

This is the easiest of them all...at least for me to write up. I got it off Pinterest. The Cole Slaw recipe is from the Sweet Little Bluebird blog, and the dressing is from Food.com. Fabulous recipe! The only change I made was using regular mayo, because that's what we have. Do note that you will use a half recipe of dressing for the single recipe of slaw. Oh - and I wouldn't bother buying those pre-packaged bags of cabbage. They are usually too fine and get soggy too quickly. Buy cabbage and just slice it thinly. I did use the packaged shredded carrots, though. Just kind of made things easier.

Oh, I forgot to mention the wine! One of Heather's favorite wines is the Pomegranate wine from St. Clair's Winery, which we happened to be stopping at on our way to Tucson. She and James had some of that with dinner while Matt and I enjoyed some Caleo Primitivo.

And that was pretty much the meal. However, I have to say that the meal (as tasty as it was) really played second fiddle to just being able to hang out with my kids, which is always fabulous :)

I wasn't really photo bombing - it was just a fun way to get into the picture.

It was so wonderful spending time with these guys. I miss them already!