As a Matter of Food ™…

My apologies for the lack of new blog entries and updates lately.  I promise I’ve not stopped my quest in sharing everything I know and learn about food with you!  The truth of the matter is, I’m working on some behind the scenes technical updates.  I’m working on making my blog look more awesome and more user friendly.  I’m hoping this will encourage you to contribute more!

So stay tuned for updates!  It won’t be too much longer.

Thank you for your continued interest and support.

As a Matter of Food is going to have a great year coming up and a line-up which will be very interesting and full of helpful information!  Check in often and send in your comments and suggestions.

My girlfriend and I got together and decided to start a new tradition this year. Well the tradition is new to us.

Each year, my husband’s grandmother, aunt, mother, cousin, and her daughter, spend days before Christmas making cookies and candy for Christmas. I have not joined them yet in this tradition, because they always gathered up in the mountains at the vacation home. So this year I decided to just do something here at home. My girlfriend and I went to the store and went nuts buying this ingredient and that ingredient. We spent way too much time and money at the store! I had all these great plans of making 3D sugar cookies and a whole list of other things. We ran out of time and ended up using Pillsbury’s sheets of sugar cookies. We made mini chocolate cupcakes and decorated them with vanilla frosting Christmas sprinkles. Okay, so we didn’t get to be super pastry chefs but we had sooo much fun! After all, that was the point of this experience. To spend time together and have fun, talk, and share time in the kitchen. We definitely had several tastings to make sure that our cookies and cupcakes were good enough to give as gifts. Oh and they were so delicious.

Once we were done I put them in two big boxes. One for my girlfriend to take to work the next day and one for my mom to take to her work. I also made a little box to share with my other girlfriend and her husband.

Here is the recipe for Christmas Sugar Cookies which I was going to use, but ended up having to pass on.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. milk

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract.
2. Add flour, baking powder, salt and milk; mix until blended.
3. Gather dough into a ball and wrap wit plastic wrap.
4. Chill dough for 1 hour. Heat oven to 400 degree F.
5. Divide dough into fourths. On lightly floured surface, roll dough portion to 1/4-inch thickness.
6. Dip cookie cutter in flour; cut dough with cutter.
7. Place 1inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F for 6-7 minutes, until edges are lightly browned.
8. Cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
9. Frost and decorate as desired. Allow frosting to dry before assembling.

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp water

food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine egg white and powdered sugar, and beat on low until well blended.
2. Add water, and mix until well blended.
3. If icing is too think, add water, drop by drop.
4. If too thin, add a small amount of powdered sugar.
5. Add food coloring, if desired. Icing will harden on cookies.

This is the only 3D cookie which was made. My girlfriend was determined to at least make one.

I bought a 3D cookie cutter set from Plow & Hearth over the Summer to try out.

Boxed mini chocolate cupcakes.

An assortment of sugar cookies. YUM!

Planning my Christmas dinner menu has been harder than I anticipated. Now I’m down to planning just the big Christmas Eve dinner. My family, being of Asian decent and having lived in Europe, we make a bigger deal about Christmas Eve than Christmas morning. We would eat and go to midnight mass and then come home and open presents. Luckily, my husband’s family and he follow the Christmas Day tradition. So it’ll work out just wonderfully! We’ll spend Christmas Eve at our house, have my parents and siblings come over. We’ll head out to midnight mass and then come home and open presents. Christmas Day we’ll head up to the mountains to spend time with his family. Sounds pretty simple, but it isn’t. Some of you probably can relate to how I feel. Unless we have access to and can afford a personal shopper, a maid, a chauffeur, and a chef, things just get away from us. My ambitions of throwing a get-together for our friends and then Christmas Eve dinner for my family was great, but now looking at our work schedule and some of the things we have to do (not food related at all), it just doesn’t seem realistic anymore.

If I find time to have a small gathering with friends, I’ll go with hors d’oeuvres only and drinks. I have a few drink recipes up my sleeve as well. I can always whip up a pretty mean Long Island Iced Tea that’s really yummy and of course my wide array of martinis. (I learned these from my days of working my part-time job at Tabouleh Mediterranean Restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD) I think that would be fun!

I am planning on something really scrumptious for a main course for my Christmas Eve dinner. I’m going to prepare a Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding. Here’s a recipe:

Roast Beef
Serves 8

1 Prime Rib of Beef Joint (6 lbs / 2.7 k)

2 Tsp Dry English Mustard

3 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour

1 1/4 Cups Red Wine

1 1/4 Cups Beef Stock

2 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce (Optional)

Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F / 230 degrees C.
2. Season the meat to taste with salt and pepper. Rub in the mustard and 1 tablespoon of the flour.
3. Place te meat in a roasting pan large enough to hold it comfortably and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F / 190 degrees C and cook for 15 minutes per 1 lb / 450 g, plus 15 minutes (1 3/4 hours for this joint) for rare beef or 20 minutes per 1 lb / 450 g, plus 20 minutes (2 hours 20 minutes) for medium beef. Baste the meat from time to time to keep it moist, and if the pan becomes too dry, add a little stock or red wine.
4. Remove the meat from the oven and place on a warmed serving plate, cover with foil, and let stand in a warm for 10-15 minutes.
5. To make the gravy, pour off most of the fat from the pan (reserve it for cooking the Yorkshire pudding), leaving behind the meat juices and the sediment. Place the pan on the stove over medium heat and scrape all the sediment from the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle in the remaining flour and quickly mix it into the juices with a small whisk. When you have a smooth paste, gradually add the wine and most of the stock, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil, then reduce to heat a gentle simmer and cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the remaining stock, if needed, and a little Worcestershire sauce, if you like.
6. When ready to serve, carve the meat into slices and serve on warmed plates. Pour the gravy into a warmed pitcher and take direct to the table. Serve wit Yorkshire pudding.

Yorkshire Pudding
Serves 4

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F / 220 degrees C.
2. Make a batter with 3 1/2 oz / 100 g plain flour, a pinch of salt, 1 beaten egg and 10 fl / 300 ml milk and water mixed. Allow to stand for half an hour.
3. Heat 2 Tbsp roast beef dripping or olive oil in an 8-inch square roasting tin in the top of the oven.
4. Remove the tin from the oven, pour in the batter and bake for 25-30 minutes until it is puffed up and golden brown.

***Recipe taken from ‘Steaks, Chops, Roasts, & Ribs’ by Parragon Publishing

As much as I love to cook, I must admit I sometimes dislike to do dishes. If it’s one or the other, I’m fine with washing dishes. It may sound silly but it’s soothing and allows me to have time to think or just not think. When I have to do both, I don’t enjoy washing dishes so much. Therefore, I welcome one-pot meals. Less pots to wash, maybe not so much the dishes.

Here’s a stew I put together tonight. I went with the “whatever-I-have-on-hand” concept and cooking without a recipe. That is really how I cook. I really don’t follow recipes and just do it by taste and my knowledge of what spices, sauces, and just flavors in general go together. Freestyle!

• 2 lbs of venison loin, cubed
• 5 stalks of celery, chopped
• 5 large carrots, chopped
• 8 medium sized Red Skinned potatoes, quartered or halved, depending on size
• 1 onion, quartered
• 5 bay leaves
• Ground Cumin
• Garlic Powder
• Salt & Pepper
• All Purpose flour
• Cooking oil
• 2 large cubes of beef bouillon ( 2 cups of beef broth)

1. In a large pot heat oil. Whisk in a 1/4 cup of all purpose flour until it turns a golden color to create a roux (usually done with butter and flour).
2. Add venison which has been coated with 1/4 cup of all purpose flour and brown meat.
3. Add chopped celery and carrots. Stir and cook for 3 - 5 minutes. Then add 4 boiling cups of water or enough to cover meat.
4. Add potatoes, quartered onion, bay leaves, and beef bouillon. Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat.
5. Add about 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper.
6. Simmer on low to medium heat for 20 - 25 minutes or until meat and potatoes are tender.
7. Serve with bread.