Hanukkah Recap



Yesterday was our family's fourth annual Hanukkah celebration, a tradition I instituted when my husband and I got engaged.

Usually, the celebration takes place on a Sunday night, but I like Sunday nights to myself and thought I'd do an elegant holiday lunch this year. We live about an hour from the rest of the family, so I figured it would be easier on them too to have it earlier in the day.

I was very happy with this year's lunch menu, though it's not exactly traditional.  We have a couple of different kinds of eating habits (aka some people are easygoing and some are pains in the asses!) so I served two main course options.

We started, of course, with matzo ball soup. No picture, but here's last year's post with the recipe. Delicious and make ahead.

For my non-meat eaters, we had Ina Garten's Roasted Salmon Nicoise salad:

I loved this. It's a mix of room temperature salmon, served with blanched green beans, spring mix, roasted red peppers, steamed fingerlings, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, and olives, all topped with a tangy Dijon vinaigrette. The salmon, eggs, and green beans can be done a day ahead, the potatoes need a quick boil before serving, and then you can assemble it in the morning and refrigerate until serving time. Easy, healthy, delicious, and customizable- key for my crew.

Find the recipe here.

Our other main course was a roast beef tenderloin, an expensive option, but well worth it for ease of prep and crowd pleasing factor (and the sandwiches with leftovers!). All I did was salt and pepper the living hell out of it, and roast it for about 30 minutes at 425. I took mine out when it was 130 degrees and let it rest about a half hour before serving. You may want yours done a little more rare, so give it a shorter rest time or take it out at 125.

I served this with a horseradish mayo. No real recipe there either, I used about half a cup of mayo, a few tablespoons of sour cream, a tablespoon of Dijon, and a teaspoon horseradish.

We had latkes, pictured above. These I always cater, they are too much work and too smelly to cook at home.  Wegman's charges me $25 bucks for 40 or so latkes and applesauce. I'd say that's worth it!

My sister in law made a nice mixed greens salad, and we also had Food52's ridiculously good spinach gratin, and roasted asparagus. A loaf of challah made an appearance too.

 

And, as always, we had piles of gifts and a cramped apartment:

Happy Hanukkah!

Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus with Homemade Mayo

There are certain friends you can do anything with. That’s how it is with me and Jenn- she can always text me with some random suggestion and I’m always up for it, and vice versa. We’ve taken cake decorating classes together, done crafts, and both find it helpful to plot out stores to visit in malls before we actually go shopping. 

One afternoon where we were both off from work, she decided we needed to try making mayo from scratch. Not something I had ever considered before, and definitely not a phone call I’d get from everyone, but sure, why not? 

We used the food processor and after wasting 2 cups of oil, gave up. But Jenn got it right later on, and raved about how good it was. 

Months later, I decided to finally try it out on my own. It was so simple- 1 egg yolk, 1 cup of oil, salt, and a whisk-induced arm workout.  The mayo was delicious, with a lighter texture than the bottled stuff and a more delicate flavor from the olive oil.

I took the liberty of flavoring my mayo with lemon, parsley, and capers, and I used it as a topping for roasted potatoes and asparagus. It was sooo good. This is perfect dinner party fare, or would make a delicious side for a spring holiday meal. 

Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus with Homemade Caper Mayo

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

2 lbs fingerling potatoes (I used a mixed color variety bag)

1 bundle fresh asparagus

Olive oil

Flaky sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 and line an aluminum sheet pan with foil. 

Slice potatoes in half or in quarters if very large. Drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste.  Place on sheet pan and roast for 35 minutes.

While potatoes cook, prepare asparagus. Snap them at the ends to remove the woody part of the stems, and then cut the spears into 2 inch lengths.

At 35 minutes, add asparagus to pan with potatoes and roast another 10 minutes. 

Place on serving platter and dollop with mayo, recipe follows. 

For the mayo, basic recipe from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters:

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp water

1 cup mild olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice 
Pinch of salt

Caper Parsley Flavoring:
1 tbsp capers

¼ cup flat leaf parsley leaves

½ tsp grated garlic (you can use more, I just don’t love an intense garlic flavor)

Additional lemon juice to taste

Flaky sea salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together egg yolk and water in a small bowl. Add the oil in tiny drips, whisking constantly. You have to add it very, very slowly in order to create the emulsion. It is annoying, but go drop by drop at first.  After a minute or two, you will see everything start to thicken up and an emulsion form. Once that happens, you can add the oil a little faster, in a slow stream.  Keep whisking constantly; the process will take about 5 minutes. (Not actually that long, but it feels long!)

Once your mayo’s done, you can add the flavors. Chop together your parsley and capers. Add to mayo along with garlic. Taste, and add salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice as desired. Can be made ahead. Flavors will intensify as it sits; mayo will last about a week in fridge.

Experiment with this- try adding different herbs, spices, etc. You can create chipotle mayos, smoky mayos, arugula mayos- have fun!

Roast Beef

I spent the majority of my childhood as a non-meat eater. I wouldn’t touch any type of pork, beef, or chicken, and the fish varieties I ate were pretty limited. I took a corn muffin for lunch every day, and lived on pasta with butter and cheese or my mom’s tomato sauce nightly for years (clearly, she is a saint for putting up with this!) It’s kind of amazing I wasn’t sickly, though I can assure you I looked completely malnourished. 

I began to eat more variety in high school, and by the time I got to college I was eating fish, chicken, and sausage- everything but red meat. And by the time college was over, I was in love with meatballs, short ribs, and beef stew.  In fact, just the other night, I snacked on octopus and braised goat at a restaurant in NYC.  I am a recovered picky eater, and much better off for it.

My only remaining holdout is steak. I really want to like it, but I just can’t get into it. 

The downside of my longtime meat aversion is that there’s so many recipes and techniques I haven’t gotten around to trying, let alone perfecting.   I’m still trying to duplicate my grandmother’s pot roast, I’ve never had meatloaf, and until this weekend, I also never had roast beef. 

I did a bit of research on cooking roast beef, in terms of time, temperature, and cut, and opted to start with an eye-round roast. It’s from the back leg of the cow, and is a pretty lean cut, which means it’s not the tenderest. The trick is in temperature- you don’t want to let it go past 135 (medium rare) after resting.

Roast Beef, technique from Cooking Light
Serves 4 for dinner, much more if using for sandwiches

2lb eye round roast beef
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

Let your roast come to room temperature an hour before cooking. This will help it to cook more evenly (I do this also with roast chicken and turkey). 

Preheat your oven to 475 and line an aluminum baking sheet with foil. 

Brush the roast with olive oil and cover generously with the salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet

Roast at 475 for 20 minutes, turning after the first ten. 

After 20 minutes, turn the temperature down to 300 and let it cook for another 30-40 minutes, until the temperature reads 130. Remove from the oven, tent with foil, and let rest ten minutes until the temperature reaches 135. (If you want it rarer, take it out at 120 and rest till 130).

I combined mayo with a little bottled horseradish and served that on the side for dipping.

My husband ate a generous amount of this, but I have to admit I preferred it cold. I refrigerated it overnight and then shaved thin slices off and had them on whole wheat bread with the horseradish mayo and arugula. 

Will last 2-3 days cold in fridge.

Fennel and Orange Salad

 

I love this wintery, refreshing salad as a change of pace from typical mixed greens. It’s my take on the classic Italian combo of fennel and orange- I added arugula to make it a little more “salady. This can be prepared in advance, and dressed just before dinner, plus it’s elegant, making it perfect for a dinner party. 

 

Fennel and Orange Salad

Serves 4

4 cups arugula

2 blood oranges, peel and membrane removed, sliced horizontally

1 small bulb fennel, very thinly sliced

¼ cup kalamata olives, sliced

Olive oil

Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

 

Pile arugula on a serving platter or in a bowl.  Arrange fennel on top, then orange slices. Scatter kalamata olives on the top.  Can be refrigerated for an hour or so at this point. (Too much longer and the acid in the orange may break down the arugula). 

 

Just before serving, dress with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt, and pepper to taste.

The Easiest Impressive Appetizer: Fig and Goat Cheese Tarts

Recently, my best friend and her husband came over, and I raided my pantry to come up with a quick appetizer I could serve them before going off to dinner. I came up with a fig and goat cheese tart, made with store-bought phyllo dough shells and prepared fig butter. It was delicious, easy, and elegant, making it a perfect recipe to keep on hand for unexpected company, fancy parties, or just an addition to a holiday buffet.

Fig and Goat Cheese Tarts

1 box store bought phyllo dough tart shells (I use Wegman’s brand)

1 jar fig butter (Found this at Trader Joe’s, they currently have seasonal pumpkin and cranberry versions as well)

1 5oz log goat cheese

Defrost your phyllo shells as necessary according to the package directions. I simply let mine sit out for ten minutes as the oven preheated.

Using a quarter to a half teaspoon measure, drop a small amount of fig butter into each shell. This stuff has a very strong, sweet flavor, so I found that a little goes a long way. Of course, you can adjust this to your taste as necessary.  You will have plenty of fig butter and goat cheese left over.

Crumble off large pieces of goat cheese and place in shell. Again, no exact measurements here- the amount you use will depend on the size of your shell. I use enough to fill the shell, but not to come spilling out over it.

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes, until the goat cheese is slightly melting and the phyllo shells have turned golden.  Garnish with fresh basil.

You could prepare these up until the baking step and leave in the fridge for a few hours to get them ready before a party. When needed, bake as directed for 10 minutes and serve.

Makes 12 tarts.

This appetizer lends itself to so many variations, beyond just fig and goat cheese. Some ideas:
 

·         Tomatoes and feta

·         Goat cheese and olives

·         Manchego and quince

·         Spinach and artichoke- Whir up some thawed frozen spinach and artichokes with cream cheese in a food processer. Thin with a little cream and bake until golden.

·         Smoked mozzarella and soppresata

·         Mixed sautéed mushrooms

·         Pastry cream and fresh berries, for a dessert variation