December 24th, 2016 my family marked another Christmas Eve with the Feast of the Seven Fishes. It was fabulous as usual. Shrimp tortilla soup, crab legs, crab salad, clams, mussels, calamari, trout, salmon and lobster - oh my. In my quest to find new ways to prepare the fish for our fish dinner, I discovered lobster pot pie. It was really tasty AND as an added bonus - I was able to make it ahead of time and freeze it so that I could concentrate on getting all of the other fish on the table that night. As you can imagine, getting 7 different kinds of fish on the table all at once is no easy task so being able to just pop these little pot pies in the oven was a huge help. Since I live in land locked Atlanta and I don't have access to fresh lobster, I bought three previously frozen lobster tails for my lobster pot pie. The hardest part of this whole recipe was to NOT eat the lobster before I got it into my pot pies. Lobster Pot Pie 4 tablespoons butter 1 onion, chopped 3 stalks celery, chopped 2 tablespoons flour 2 cups lobster meat, steamed and cut into chunks ½ cup sweet corn kernels ½ cup potatoes, peeled, diced and pre-cooked ½ teaspoon salt Pepper to taste 1 ½ cups stock 1/8 cup sherry 1 egg plus 1 tablespoon of water beaten together for egg wash Two sheets puff pastry dough
Add lobster. Cook filling until thickened. Remove from heat and spoon into individual dishes. Cut pastry dough into circles that fit the top of the dishes. Place pastry circles on top of pot pie mixture. Brush with egg wash. Bake 20 minutes at 400. I don't normally get the chance to take pictures of these big family dinners because I'm so busy getting everything on the table. (And making sure that I don't forget about the peas in the microwave.) This year though, I had lots of cooks in the kitchen - literally - and I assigned everyone a type of fish to prepare. It was super crowded with all of those people in my kitchen but it did seem to go a lot faster with all of the extra help. AND I got the chance to snap a couple of quick pics of our fabulous feast. To say that we ate a lot is an understatement. We ate until we could literally eat no more. It was THAT good. I think I am going to have to make my lobster pot pie again - this time when we don't have 6 other fish to try. I love our Christmas Eve Feasts of the Seven Fishes tradition and all of the new fish recipes that we keep incorporating into our menu.
Ciao!
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I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that 2016 has come and gone already. The entire month of December was pretty much a whirlwind in this house. No complaints from me though because the majority of my December busyness was self imposed. I did a record amount of baking for my business right up until Christmas Eve and had the privilidge of hosting my family for Christmas too. Don't be fooled though - I'm not a superwoman. My house was an absolute disaster for an entire month --- but the baking was done. Priorities people. LOL You might have noticed that I didn't do a lot of blogging in December either and that's simply because I had to choose between sleep and blogging. (Sleep won.) But, there were a couple of meals that I just couldn't let slip away without recording and this beef tenderloin was one of them. Our Christmas dinner this year featured a Roast Beef Tenderloin. This was the second time that I'd made this recipe and it was just as delicous. I was super dissapointed in myself for not blogging it the first time around because it was so good. I had to spend an hour looking through my Cook's Illustrated magazines to dig this recipe out again last month so I was not about to make it again without getting it on my website. This is definately one recipe that I will want to have at my disposal for future reference. Roast Beef Tenderloin 1 beef tenderloin 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 4 Tablespoons butter 1 Tablespoon oil Heat oil in skillet. Place roast in skillet and brown on all 4 sides. Transfer roast to a carving board and spread with 2 Tablespoons butter. Let rest 15 minutes. Slice into 1/2 inch pieces. Our menu was simple: roast beef tenderloin, green beans almondine, hasselback potatoes and pecan bread. Fortunately we had some leftover beef so I was able to take a few pictures of it a couple days after Christmas - when I was less hungry. This recipe is a keeper for sure. I'm pretty sure that you'll agree. Happy New Year friends.
Ciao! This might come as a surprise to some of you but with all of the baking that goes on in this house over Christmas - I don't really bake a whole lot of Christmas cookies. I baked hundreds of cupcakes and decorated thousands of Christmas sugar cookies last month - but only a couple of batches traditional Christmas cookies. The truth is - I really don't have to do a lot of cookie baking because I've been blessed with some of the most talented neighbors who generously share their Christmas cookies. You might recognize these cookies from my 12 Days of Christmas blog post. These are the cookies that we enjoyed on Day 8 with our giant glasses of (maids of) milk. These flaky pastry cookies featuring a Hershey Candy Bar almost require a glass of milk in order to be fully enjoyed. Chocolate Croissant Cookies 1 cup flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 8 Tablespoons butter 4 ounces cream cheese 2 Tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 6 Hershey Bars 1 egg 3 Tablespoons sanding sugar
Bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Let cookies 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. Break remaining chocolate bar into pieces and melt. Drizzle over tops of cookies. Let set for at least 30 minutes before serving. Since there is nothing inherintlely "Christmasy" about these little cookies - they are really perfect for any occasion. The dough needs to chill prior to assembling the cookies so you can make it a day or 2 in advance and store it in the refrigerator until your ready to make your cookies. Gotta love having ready to go cookie dough in the frig!
Ciao! |
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