Christmas Dinner, 2010

How long ago was Christmas?  As a testament to my perpetual lateness on this blog, let's talk about Christmas dinner.  Christmas and Thanksgiving, for me, are fun in large part because I really have carte blanche on food and ingredients.  $10 for a teaspoon of some obscure spice for this dish?  Too much - wait, it's for Christmas dinner?  Expense approved!
This year, I revisited an old favorite - pork wellington.  Frankly, I have never had a beef wellington, but I have had pork wellington three times now.  I mention that I have never had beef wellington to let you know that I have no basis on which to say whether or not the pork version I made has any relation to the beef version.  I can only say that I, for one, love the pork version.

It is not super hard to make.  You take pork loin, butterfly it, stuff it with a herbed goat cheese mixture, wrap it in prosciutto and sear it.  Then, you wrap it in puff pastry and bake it.  The sauce is tricky only because it is a sauce.  How does it taste?  I love it.  The puff pastry and, to some extent, the prosciutto are crispy/crunchy.  The meat is tender and gushes with the herbed cheese.  It's great even before you add the sauce which, really adds a mellow layer to the whole thing.  I also love it because it's a good looking dish, too.

For sides?  We got a little crazy.  How about a potato and artichoke gratin?  Ok, how about it.  It was delicious.  It was chock full of stuff, that's for sure.  It ended up being a nice combination of flavors.  The artichokes had a bit of a sour tang which was nicely balanced by the creamy sauce and the salty chunks of ham.


The second side was less noteworthy, a simply mushroom and green bean dish - not the one with cream of mushroom soup.

Dessert?  A swing for the fences - Amy attempted to make the Maggiano's cheesecake.  Neither Amy nor myself are huge cheesecake fans.  I appreciate them and eat them gladly when they are served to me.  However, I don't really seek them out.  Recently, we have been exposed to seriously great cheesecake, there is really nothing like it.  It started at a work Christmas party at Maggiano's.  One of the desserts was cheesecake and it was stunning.  So smooth, creamy and rich.  It made the Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes look like a fast food dessert.  A coworker told us that the absolute best cheesecake was a The Palm steakhouse.  So we tried it.  It, too, was astounding.  I felt The Palm cheesecake edged out the Maggiano's cheesecake and Amy felt the opposite.  It doesn't really matter, because they are both amazing.  Amy, then, found a recipe for the Maggiano's cheesecake online and gave it a shot.  What is the difference between the cheesecake you have been making versus the Maggiano's version?  I'm not entirely sure, but I know that part of it is the $15 package of special ricotta cheese.

My role in the dessert was the sauce.  I made a simple syrup type sauce with blackberries and nutmeg.  It was good.  The cheesecake, was great.  Easily the best Amy has ever made.

Don't get me wrong, I know the true meaning of Christmas.  That doesn't change the fact that I also know that after the true meaning of Christmas, the second or third meaning has something to do with Christmas dinner.