Merry Christmas!
Ah, the celebrating is over (and the mess is almost all cleaned up). Because of the weather, we ended up staying here in the city instead of heading to the farm on Christmas Day – shucks. But we made the best of it by playing lots of Xbox 360 Rock Band 2, going to see Avatar (so cool), and eating…not boeuf bourguignon…but homemade pizza. Hey, we were all tired. And still full from our Christmas Eve’s feast of lobster tails.
Because I got sick yesterday, we still have a beautiful beef chuck roast sitting in the cooler. Not sure I yet have the stomach to cook it tonight – might be something I do tomorrow and freeze for a later treat. Or, I might use part of it tonight to make a brothy beef and barley soup, that sounds really good to me right about now. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I won’t do anything fancy, just brown some beef (I start with 4-inch cubes); add some chopped onion, minced garlic, and chopped carrots; stir in some dried thyme, a cup or so of red wine, and beef stock to cover by a couple of inches. When the beef is tender (2-3 hours), I’ll remove the beef and cut it into small pieces, then add 1/4 c. or so of pearled barley to the broth and cook for 20 minutes or so until the barley is tender. I’ll also saute mushrooms on the side (a nod to my son, who hates mushrooms, otherwise I’d cook them in the soup), stir the beef back into the broth, and ladle the soup over mushrooms (for John and me) and serve with toast. Sounds restorative, right? (For a healthy, lovely-looking crab soup, check out this recipe on the NYTimes Recipes for Health section.)
On a completely different note, check out this fascinating list of places to eat in New York City (from The Wednesday Chef blog). Looks completely amazing, I can’t wait to hit the city again soon and try out a few of these tasties.
I’ll be blogging my New Year’s Eve celebration from Wyoming – not sure of our specific plan, but I know we’ll be eating something delicious over the weekend.
It was indeed - thank you!
Sounds like a great holiday even though you couldn't get where you planned to be! :)