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A Smashing Success

December 26th, 2012

After mentioning in my post about the big dinner we had planned, many of you asked for photos. Of course I took photos all throughout the day. The beauty of a meal like this one, is that it doesn’t take a lot of work, it’s a lot of waiting around. I was lucky enough to score a beautiful 10.5lb standing rib roast from a local farm last week.
Making Christmas Dinner 1
Christmas Dinner Again 1
This isn’t my first time cooking a standing rib roast, we’ve enjoyed them New Year’s a few times in the past. This year I decided to give Alton Brown’s dry aging a try. Basically you wrap the roast in a towel and put it in the fridge for a few days to dry a little. I’ll give it two thumbs up, so did everyone else. The dry aging is supposed to help the meat cook more evenly, providing a medium rare roast throughout instead of one that is cooked on the ends and rare in the middle.
Christmas Dinner Again 2
The beauty of a standing rib toast, is that it bakes in the oven for a few hours while you prepare the rest of the meal. The Christmas dinner menu from The Williams-Sonoma Entertaining was my guide for the meal because all of the sides are made on the stovetop. There were mashed potatoes with celery root, caramelized carrots, oyster stew, sautéed mushrooms, marsala au jus, fresh horseradish sauce and a very impressive Yorkshire Pudding!
Making Christmas Dinner 5
Christmas Dinner Again 3
Dinner’s like this are great because they’re a good excuse to get out the nice glasses and silverware. It reminds me of the joy of setting up tea for the dolls as a kid.
Making Christmas Dinner 8
Making Christmas Dinner 6
The meal was perfectly rounded out by a maple bourbon pecan pie, which was AMAZING. I used my Grandma Graham’s Pie Crust Recipe. The bourbon in this recipe really helps cut the sweetness of the pie. I’ve always found pecan pies to be way too sweet, but this one was just right!
Making Christmas Dinner 2
Making Christmas Dinner 3
bourbon pecan pie
Mr Chiot’s even roasted decaf coffee beans and fired up the coffee maker to make cappuccinos for us to enjoy with the pie. Along with the maple bourbon whipped cream and the pie, it was the perfect ending for a wonderful meal.
Making Christmas Dinner 7
Christmas Dinner 4
We were happy that my parents and our neighbor (who brought some wine) came up to enjoy it with us. Oh yeah, the recommendation that you need one pound of standing rib roast for every person is a bit overkill, looks like we’ll be eating on this for the next week (not that I’m complaining).

What did you enjoy for Christmas dinner?

13 Comments to “A Smashing Success”
  1. daisy on December 26, 2012 at 6:24 am

    That pie looks scrumptious! Can’t wait to see the recipe and try it. I find most pecan pies offensively sweet too.

    We always eat lasagna for Christmas supper. This time I did the meat version in the crockpot and it turned out great! My new favorite recipe!

    Happy and healthy new year to all of you at Chiot’s Run.

    Reply to daisy's comment

  2. Kathi Cook on December 26, 2012 at 8:03 am

    Wow that looks amazing! Your pictures are beautiful-I especially love the shot of the pecan pies. We enjoyed a delicious simple brunch with chorizo sausage and eggs,bacon,fruit ,cured meat, homemade cinnamon rolls and mimosas. Brunch with mimosas are our new Christmas tradition. I am definitely ready for some light and healthy food this week with lots of green vegetables.
    Happy new year!!

    Reply to Kathi Cook's comment

  3. Lisa on December 26, 2012 at 9:18 am

    Would love to know more about the oyster stew recipe. Pictures are beautiful, and I wish you blessings in your new home. I would so love some chickens!

    Lisa

    Reply to Lisa's comment

  4. Mich on December 26, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    Your Xmas table looks fabulous, I love to use my grandmothers table ware on special occasions. We had a boned & rolled piece of Longhorn sirloin roast from the local farm shop for our Xmas dinner.
    With that roast spuds, parsnips, various veg and Yorkshire puds. Dessert was a pear trifle… Yum.

    Reply to Mich's comment

  5. Chas on December 26, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    Susy, your meal looks like perfection on plates. I think you have inspired me to go a little deeper and make a much nicer meal next Christmas. We had very easy foods, which was nice because we woke up with sickness in the house. Now that the children are getting older I think this would be a grand tradition to start.
    Blessings,
    Chas

    Reply to Chas's comment

  6. Mrs. Mac on December 26, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    Looks like a wonderful meal! How nice that you had family and friends to join you.

    Reply to Mrs. Mac's comment

  7. Wendy on December 26, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    I’m getting hungry all over again!

    Reply to Wendy's comment

  8. KimH on December 26, 2012 at 7:40 pm

    Your dinner table is a dream.. Our house is too small for something like that but I like to think that someday we’ll have the space to all sit down together at one table again..

    For brunch and munchies thru the day, we had shrimp on ice with cocktail sauce, an anti-pasta platter that was amazing, and a layered buffalo chicken dip with crackers..

    For supper, we had garlic & pepper crusted beef tenderloin, whipped creamed potatoes, brussels sprouts, asparagus and rolls. No pies for us this year.. we had the last few pieces of pumpkin roll, cookies, & date nut bars to finish.. It was divine and super easy.

    http://nourishedkitchen.com/maple-pecan-pie/ Here is a fabu recipe for a pecan pie that isnt too sweet.. heck, I may have even found it here, I dont remember. I made this one for Thanksgiving and it was awesome!
    Usually pecan pie is so sweet I can only eat 1 piece a day.. but not this one.. YUM! ;)

    Reply to KimH's comment

  9. gina on December 26, 2012 at 7:47 pm

    Your holiday meal looks delicious. Can you tell me about your pie plates?

    Reply to gina's comment

    • Susy on December 27, 2012 at 7:43 pm

      They’re actually enameled cast iron gratin pans (I don’t have a pie plate). I use them for everything, I have the Staub 9.5 Inch Oval Roasting Dish, in graphite.

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • gina on December 29, 2012 at 11:00 pm

        Thanks, Susy! They’re going on my wish list :)

        to gina's comment

  10. laura on December 29, 2012 at 11:45 am

    We have standing rib roast every year too. The recipe we use is from an episode of Tyler Florence’s Ultimate that I saw one year. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/horseradish-and-garlic-prime-rib-recipe/index.html
    it is sooo delicious!
    happy holidays!
    blessings
    ~*~

    Reply to laura's comment

  11. Brenda on December 30, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    My daughter-in-law always orders pizza (for me to make). I take it as a complement and the rest of the gang (including 5 kids, 3 spouses, 3 wee grandsons) don’t complain. My 2 year old grandson sat on my butcher block table and “helped” for the first 5 large pizzas, which was fun for me. We gave the kids a fresh butchered pork samplers as their main gift from us; we started creating anticipation when we got the piglets this summer. We have a good supply of lamb and venison too and I anticipate visits from the kids if only for the goodies in the freezer :)
    Anyway, I mainly came back to this post because I have been wondering and googling those “pie” plates. Thanks for the answer! I am seasoning a new grill skillet (my gift to my husband, the one I wanted to share) right now on my cookstove with new lard. Love that cast iron.

    Reply to Brenda's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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