Y'all. I don't want to toot my own horn but..... **toot toot** my New Years Eve dinner was THE BOMB. Let me just lay it all out for ya:
Challah
Steaks (in a marinade)
Au gratin potatoes (ok, so THOSE were out of a box-the HH prefers those over home made, go figure)
Black eyed peas
And (:::drum roll please:::)
Creme Brulee
Dudes. I cannot tell you how amazing this dinner was. The whole time Steve and I were gushing over it every other bite. Best. Meal. EVER. If you want to impress someone, this is the way to do it.
So this meal is good only if you have about...mmm...4 hours or more to spend in the kitchen off and on.
I started off with the Challah. Let me be honest, Sex and the City inspired me to cook some challah. You know, the episode where Charlotte converts to Judaism and makes a Shabbos meal for her and Harry? Yeah... I saw that braided dough and knew I would eventually have to make it. I figured it would go well with a hearty dinner, so I decided NYE was a good night to do it.
Steve and I don't go out on NYE. Mostly because menus are generally limited and all the crazies are on the road. Plus, we both know we can make a dinner that rivals any decent restaurants meal. Also, we also know ourselves well enough that we'll probably be in bed before the ball drops in Times Square. I think I started the challah around 5:00.
You're gonna need a lot of time with this one part of the meal. 3 hours at least.
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp salt
4 eggs
6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Topping:
1 egg
1 tsp cold water
1 tbsp sesame or poppy seeds, optional
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the oil, sugar, salt, eggs, and 4 cups of flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down (I forgot this part, but it didn't seem to make a difference). Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide each portion into thirds. Shape each piece into a 15 inch rope. Place three ropes on a greased baking sheet and braid; pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
(see I told you this one takes a while. At least you can leave it and forget for an hour at a time)
Beat egg and cold water; brush over braids. At this point you can sprinkle it with sesame seeds or poppy seeds. I choose to leave it plain because I didn't think it needed anything else. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans and let cook on a wire rack.
This is the water and yeast. I think I ::may:: have put a little bit too hot of water for the yeast. Not sure though. The challah still turned out amazing, but I was worried it wasn't rising fast enough
Getting ready to braid the challah
Braiding
So that was the Challah. While I was messing with the challah, I was doing a crap ton of other stuff to prepare dinner. At first I was baking a sweet potato and regular potatoes because I thought that's what we were having as one of the sides but then I remembered that Steve wanted au gratin potatoes, so I took the potatoes out of the oven once they were done. At least I can just save them for a lunch or dinner tomorrow. While the challah was rising, I started on the Creme Brulee. This little dessert also calls for a lot of down time, so if I were you-I'd start it BEFORE you start anything else for dinner. Trust me.
Oh and by the way, this is what my HH does while I'm busy in the kitchen :) I may or may not have enjoyed a few glasses of that Jack Daniel's (with diet Dr. Pepper) you see back behind that Maker's 46 while I was cooking.
White Chocolate Creme Brulee
3 egg yolks
6 tbsp sugar, divided
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 squares (1 oz each) white chocolate baking chocolate (I used Ghirardelli's white chocolate chips), finely chopped (I didn't chop up the chocolate chips)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and 2 tbsp sugar; set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the cream, chocolate, and 2 tbsp sugar. Heat over medium-low until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth, stirring constantly.
Cream, white chocolate chips, and sugar
Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Stir in a small amount of hot filling into egg yolk mixture; return all to the pan, stirring constantly.
Pour into two (I used 3 smaller ramekins) 10 oz. ramekins. Place in a baking pan. Add 1 inch of boiling water to the pan. Bake, uncovered, at 325 for 50-55 minutes or until center is set. Remove from water bath and cool for 10 minutes. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours (yeah. I told you that you'd need pretty much all late afternoon/ evening for this meal).
The water bath, getting ready to be put in the oven
The finished product. OH. EM. GEE. Flipping fantastic.
So while the creme brulee was chillaxin' in the fridge, I got the crazy idea to make a steak marinade. I wish I'd had this idea around 10:00 this morning so that the steaks could have marinated all day, but oh well. Definitely will do this next time.
Steak marinade:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil (I used 1/3 since I'm kind of low on olive oil)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder (I eye balled it and used garlic salt)
3 tbsp dried basil (same thing-eye balled it)
1 1/2 tbsp dried parsley flakes (again-I eye balled it)
1 tsp white pepper (I used ground black pepper and I probably only used about 1/8 tsp)
Basically, I put all these ingredients into a big shallow rubbermaid dish and mixed it all up. Then I put the steaks in it, turned them over a few times, covered it up and put it in the fridge until we were ready to put them on the grill.
I don't know if it was the marinade or if it was the quality of steaks we had but these steaks were the best I've ever had. I'm talkin' melt and fall apart in your mouth good. Almost no knife necessary good.
The soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and olive oil.
While I enjoyed my creme brulee, I sipped on a personal size portion of champagne. I NEVER drink champagne, but this one sounded good. And it was. Highly recommend this brand.
This meal is definitely something I would not do any old night of the week. I highly recommend this for NYE, anniversaries, birthdays, religious reasons, and special family get togethers. This was a special occasion dinner that I probably won't be replicating for a while, but I enjoyed it. I think my next post is going to be about the things I find most necessary in the kitchen. I've been thinking about the few things that I've recently acquired or have had for a while that have made my life SO much easier and I thought it might be wise to pass on my thoughts and feelings.
Anyway, I hope everyone is having and/or did have a great NYE. I wish everyone and their families a wonderful 2012. May the new year bring you joy, comfort, and blessings beyond measure!
Happy cooking!
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