A Little Christmas Fun

[Orion21]

This Christmas marked the first time my wife and I hosted our families for a Christmas Eve dinner. Including our babies there were 22 loved ones to entertain, feed and spend time with. To be honest, I had a very strong flash back to getting married and not feeling like I had enough time to see all the people who attended. However, as soon as dinner was served all the stress melted away and we had a solid three hours of wine and food fun.

For the main course I prepared my first Prime Rib. A 16.25 pound monster of a roast that by nights end was gone. Thank you to brazoeagle, David, for helping me figure out how to prepare this right the first time. It came out to a beautiful medium rare, bloody in the middle, with perfectly moist end cuts for my wife's grandpa.

After a marathon of gift opening the next morning my father-in-law, wife's uncle, brother-in-law and I enjoyed some down time on the golf course. It was a three cigar golf round of Trinidad Coloniales, QdO Corona and a Fuente Anjeo #49. The #49 was the best cigar I smoked all year. A solid 96+ pointer that never stopped evolving with white pepper spice, sweet nougat, cedar, cream and espresso. I am continually amazed by the ultra high end Fuente products.

I am truly blessed to have wonderful family and friends. I am so lucky to be in a position to host family, smoke cigars while playing golf and enjoy my son opening presents at Christmas for the first time. I know many people in the world are not as blessed as I and many on this board. My New Year's resolution is to be more charitable and to help those in need. I hope everyone on FOH had a fantastic holiday. Cheers and a Happy New Year to come!

[maverickdrinker]

very cool story. Congratulations on a successful Xmas Dinner. Cigars on a golf course in December. Lucky guy.....

[Squarehead]

That pr-roast looks very good Aaron.I guess the mailman lost my invitation.

[brazoseagle]

Glad it turned out good! Looks Awesome!

[mbrody]

Alright, someone help me with a good Beef Tenderloin recipe! QUICK!

[brazoseagle]

Alright, someone help me with a good Beef Tenderloin recipe! QUICK!

Tenderloin steaks or whole Tenderloin.

I have two really awesome Tenderloin recipes, they both are hits and have been crowd favorites for years. Let me know if you mean whole tenderloin and I will post.

[brazoseagle]

Recipe #1 'The Go-To Crowd Pleaser"

1 Beef Tenderloin (4lbs.-5lbs) - trimmed and hopefully prime

Butter

Mushrooms

Sherry wine

Kosher salt

Cracked Black Pepper

Garlic

shallot

500F oven

23 minutes for rare

25 minutes for med- rare

(I always use a probe wireless thermometer, and take out at exactly rare temp or even before to let the resdual heat keep cooking to rare)

Rub the entire trimmed tenderloin with butter

Season the meat, even the ends, with kosher salt and cracked black pepper

In a sautee pan melt some butter at least 1 full stick

Mince garlic and shallot

Slice Mushrooms

Sautee on medium heat mushrooms, shallots and garlic for 5-7 minutes.

stir in a cup- cup and a half of sherry wine, continue to cook for 2-3 minutes.

Place the meat in a roasting pan, pour in the butter, mushrrom sherry mixture around the meat in the pan. NOT ON TOP OF THE MEAT!!!

Put in 500F oven for 23 minutes.

Using a large spoon or ladel at the 12 minute mark, 17 minute mark and 23 minute mark spoon the mushrrom sherry mixture over the beef, very aggresively.

Once done cooking , spoon the sauce over the meat one more time, and take out of oven, cover with foil and sit for 10 MIn,

Slice in thick slices, and serve the reheated sauce and drippings mixture on the side for people to spoon over their slices and enjoy!

Recipe #2 "The Razzle Dazzle"

Whole beef tenderloin filet, trimmed and (butterflied or sheeted) Your butcher can do this, or you can if your knife skills are good.

You basicially have the whole tenderloin sheeted out in one sheet that could cover a cookie sheet baking pan.

4 par-cooked and shelled lobster tails

kosher salt

cracked black pepper

butter

mushrooms

green onions

pancetta or bacon

garlic

olive oil

butchers twine

400F oven

25-30 min for rare

30-35 min for med rare

In a sautee pan melt some butter and olive oil together

sautee some minced bacon or pancetta, minced mushrooms, garlic, green onion, salt and pepper over medium heat - 7-10 minutes

On the sheeted out beef, cut side up, cover the entire surface area with the drained sautee mixture

on one edge, interclok the shelled lobstertails together in a row hooking the tails where it looks like they fit.

Roll the sheet up around the lobstertails like a jelly roll.

Tie the entire roll up with twine

Rub butter all over the outside of the roll

season with kosher salt and cracked black pepper.

Drizzle lightly over the top with olive oil

Place on roasting pan and cook at 400F for 25-30 minutes for rare

Let stand for 10 min. covered in foil to rest.

Cut twine

With a very sharp slicing knife, slice into thick slices. If rolled perfectly, there should be a perfect circle of lobster tail, "eye" right in the middle of each slice.

There are many sauces that pair well with this, (I'm not a fan of sauces on beef really), but most common with thie style is a Bearnaise sauce.

ENJOY!!!!

[kevinfj]

What golf course is that??

[mbrody]

Whole tenderloin...thanks David! I am a big fan of mushrooms/sherry, so it looks like a hit!

[Pilgrims]

lovely story, just what "it" is all about...

[pwhite]

Golf in December. I can only dream.

[First Lady]

David they both sound yummy , will have to copy them dwn

[demiurgic]

Excellent post on gratitude

oooh, sherried mushrooms