Issue Date: December 14, 2008
An inspired holiday dinner
This elegant three-course meal yields enough leftovers to make a delicious and hearty dish for later in the week.
Even though the economy is squeezing everybody's wallets, no one wants to skimp on the holiday meal. So what to do? Make a splash with a beautiful roast, then turn to less luxe side dishes.
Start with Creamy Tomato Soup made from pantry staples. Like a little black dress, this soup is refined yet simple. It can lead an important meal or accompany a lunchtime grilled cheese sandwich.
The main course requires two pans. Barley pilaf cooks directly under the meat in the roasting pan, absorbing tasty meat juices. And the cookie sheet with Brussels sprouts gets popped in the oven as the meat comes out.
End the meal with Gingersnap-Caramel Pear Parfaits, a do-ahead yet impressive seasonal dessert. Once the pears have roasted, the dessert is easy to assemble -- a task that you can delegate to older children and teens. Omit the brandy, if you'd like: The moisture from the cream will soften the cookies.
And because there likely will be plenty of leftovers, go ahead and splurge on the beef tenderloin, knowing you also can make a big pot of delicious beef-barley soup later (see Bonus Recipe, below).
Contributing Editor Pam Anderson is the author of five cookbooks. Her latest is "The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight & Eating Great" (Houghton Mifflin, $27).
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Creamy Tomato Soup
1 Tb. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 Tbs. Italian seasoning
2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chicken broth
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk (whole or 2%)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in Italian seasoning; cook until fragrant, less than a minute. Add tomatoes and baking soda, then chicken broth; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, to blend flavors, about 10 minutes.
Working in batches, pour soup into a blender; purée (be sure to vent blender by removing pop-out center and draping a kitchen towel over the top) until creamy smooth, 30 seconds to a minute. Return soup to pot, stir in milk and heat to simmer, seasoning with salt and pepper. (Soup can be refrigerated up to 3 days before serving.)
Ladle warm soup into bowls and serve.
Makes 10 cups, serving 8
Per serving: 136 calories, 8g protein, 21g carbohydrates, 3g fat (0.8g saturated), 4mg cholesterol, 4g fiber, 536mg sodium
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Blue Cheese-Stuffed Beef Tenderloin With Port Sauce & Mushroom-Spinach Barley Pilaf
The beef and pilaf cook in one pan.
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1 4-pound trimmed beef tenderloin
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. black pepper
3/4 tsp. dried thyme
2 cups crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup bread crumbs
Butcher's twine or string
1 Tb. olive oil
1 cup ruby port wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1 tsp. water
For the barley pilaf:
1 cup dried mushrooms
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 pound pearled barley
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken broth
7 ounces rinsed baby spinach
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Prepare beef and sauce: Slit tenderloin lengthwise, almost but not all the way through. Sprinkle with salt and 1/2 tsp. each pepper and thyme. Mix cheese, bread crumbs and 1/4 tsp. each pepper and thyme; stuff pocket with cheese mixture. Tie tenderloin crosswise at 1 1/2-inch intervals. Coat with oil and sprinkle with more salt and pepper; set aside.
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Heat a large, heavy-bottomed roasting pan over two burners on medium-high heat. When pan is very hot, turn on exhaust fan and sear roast until well browned, about 2 minutes on all 4 sides; transfer to a cookie sheet. Reduce heat to low; add port, scraping roasting pan to loosen brown bits. Pour port into a saucepan with 1 cup broth. Simmer until reduced to 1 cup; whisk in cornstarch to thicken. Set aside.
Prepare pilaf: Place mushrooms in a bowl, cover with3 cups of water and agitate to loosen dirt. Let sit 30 minutes. Put mushrooms in a fine mesh strainer; reserve liquid in bowl. Wash mushrooms under running water. Set aside. Pour mushroom liquid through strainer into another bowl.
Add 2 Tbs. oil to the roasting pan. Sauté onion until well browned, 5 minutes. Add barley. Sauté; stir constantly,1 to 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, then wine. Simmer until nearly evaporated; add reserved mushroom liquid and4 cups broth, and bring to a simmer.
To cook: Set a wire rack over the barley; set beef on rack. Cook, uncovered, until a meat thermometer inserted in thickest portion registers 120 (medium-rare) or 125 (medium), 30 to 35 minutes. Remove roast from rack and rack from pan. Let roast rest for about 25 minutes. Return barley to oven; cook until liquid evaporates and barley is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; stir in spinach and Parmesan until spinach wilts.
To serve: Reheat port wine sauce. Cut roast into 1-inch-thick slices. Serve with sauce and barley pilaf.
Serves 8, with leftovers for soup
Per 4 ounces beef, 2 Tbs. sauce, 3/4 cup barley: 669 calories, 49g protein, 9g carbohydrates, 10g fat (4.2g saturated), 15mg cholesterol, 4g fiber, 205mg sodium
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Gingersnap-Caramel Pear Parfaits
4 Tbs. butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 large, firm (but ripe) Bartlett pears (about 2 pounds), halved and cored
2 cups heavy cream
2 Tbs. sugar
6 Tbs. brandy or cognac, divided
40 small gingersnap cookies
Candied or crystallized ginger
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 400 degrees.
Melt butter in a 9-by-13-inch pan in the preheating oven until nutty golden. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter in the pan, then place pears, cut sides down, over sugar.
Bake until pears are tender when poked with a sharp knife and sauce is thick and caramel colored, about 40 minutes. Remove pears from sauce to a plate with a slotted spoon. Pour sauce in a measuring cup. (You should have about 1 cup of sauce. If not, simmer to reduce, or add water to equal 1 cup.) Cool pears and sauce to room temperature. (At this point, you can remove skin from the pears with a knife, if you want.) Cut each pear half into 8 chunks.
When ready to assemble, whip cream into soft peaks, gradually adding sugar. Beat in 2 Tbs. of brandy. Set aside.
Place 24 gingersnaps on a cookie sheet and lightly brush with some of the brandy. Work quickly; the cookies will soften in places, making them difficult to transfer. Arrange 3 cookies in each of 8 goblets. Drizzle each with some of the caramel sauce (about 1/3 cup total), a dollop of whipped cream and 4 pieces of pear.
Lightly brush remaining 16 cookies with brandy and repeat layering with 2 cookies, 1/3 cup caramel sauce, whipped cream and 4 pieces of pear. Drizzle with remaining 1/3 cup caramel sauce, and cover each goblet with plastic wrap. Refrigerate parfaits and remaining whipped cream until serving time.
To serve, garnish each goblet with a dollop of whipped cream and top with a couple slivers of candied ginger.
Serves 8
Per serving: 593 calories, 3g protein, 69g carbohydrates, 33g fat (18.6g saturated), 97mg cholesterol, 3g fiber, 190mg sodium
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Bonus: Beef & barley soup!
Turn this tenderloin dinner's leftovers into a hearty beef-barley soup by following three easy steps:
1. Heat a little oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add 1 large chopped onion and sauté until tender.
2. Cut leftover cooked tenderloin into small pieces. Add the meat, any leftover sauce and barley pilaf to the pot.
3. Pour in enough chicken broth to cover solids; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 to 30 minutes. Soup's on!
Note: The beef-barley soup keeps for 5 days in the refrigerator and freezes well, too.
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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE RECIPE: Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Red Peppers
Slide these into the oven as the roast comes out.
1/2 cup roasted red peppers (freshly roasted or from a jar), cut into short, thin strips
4 Tbs. butter, cut into small pieces
3 Tbs. minced fresh dill
1 Tb. juice and 1 tsp. finely grated zest from a lemon
Vegetable cooking spray for pan
2 pounds frozen Brussels sprouts, separated
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Meanwhile, put the peppers, butter, dill, lemon juice and zest in a serving bowl, and set aside.
Coat a rimmed cookie or baking sheet with vegetable cooking spray. Toss frozen Brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt and pepper on the sheet. Roast about 17 minutes (shake the pan at the 10- and 15-minute marks), until all moisture has evaporated and Brussels sprouts start to brown.
Turn Brussels sprouts into the serving bowl and toss well to distribute the peppers and other flavorings. Serve warm.
Serves 8
Per serving: 128 calories, 4g protein, 9g carbohydrates, 10g fat (4g saturated), 15mg cholesterol, 4g fiber, 205mg sodium
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