Winter Break: The Food Edition

Although I did a fair amount of cooking over winter break, much of it were old standbys or something that I have posted here before. One of the highlights was the Greek Deliciousness that I posted a few weeks back (as I forgot to take pictures, I felt I could post it after consuming waaay too much).
Here are a few other good ones from break:


First, salad for Christmas dinner. Emma and I tasted an Irish cheddar at Wild Oats and decided it had to be incorporated into dinner, so we added it to the salad.
Lettuce
1 pear, sliced finely
1 cucumber finely sliced
1 handful of dried cherries (add more if you wish)
Kerrygold brand Ivernia cheese, shred it, add as much as you would like. it was delicious
Raspberry salad dressing:
2/3 small container of fresh raspberries
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
a few tablespoons EVOO
pulse in food processor and serve on side of above salad.

The other wonderful dish we had with Christmas dinner was Roast Lamb with Lamb Sausage Crust and Fresh Grape Pan Sauce.
This sauce was perfect and you don't have to serve it with lamb if you would rather have pork or chicken.
Adapted from Bon Appetit:
2 cups halved seeedless red grapes
2 cups tawny port (I used the brand Cockburn)
2 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

boil everything except 1/2 cup of the chicken broth in large saucepan until reduced to ~ 2 1/2 cups (about 20 minutes). Let cool and then puree in blender. restrain yourself from drinking the sauce at this point. Cover and refrigerate. You can do this up to 5 days ahead of time (I did it the day before).
When you cook your meat of choice (lamb, pork, etc) first brown it in a pan on the stove before putting it in the oven. When you switch the meat from the pan to the oven, use the 1/2 cup of chicken broth and glaze - scrapping the pan drippings into the sauce. Cover and return to fridge.
After the meat is done cooking, take out of pan and let sit for 10 minutes or so - pour the juices from the baking vessel into the sauce and simmer until about 1 1/3 cups (about 10 minutes).
Then it is ready! It's totally worth the work. The sweetness and the rosemary is a great combination.


For Christmas Eve, we went over to the Sobel's and I made (again from Bon Appetit) a Dark Chocolate Tart with Gingersnap Crust:
Crust:
8 ounces gingersnap cookies (about 32 cookies) coarsely broken
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
pinch of salt
Filling:
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 large eggs yolks
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped crystallized ginger.

Crust:
Preheat the over to 325 F. Finely grind the gingersnap cookies in processor, add butter and salt and continue to process until moistened. Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom and up sides of a 9 inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom, place pan on rimmed baking sheet.
Filling:
Combine chocolate and whipping cream in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk over low heat until chocolate is melted and smooth.
In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, yolks, sugar, flour, pepper and salt until blended. Gradually, whisk in chocolate mixture (not too fast or the eggs will cook). Mix until well blended, then pour into crust.
cook until filling puffs slightly at the edges and center is softly set (about 30 minutes). Transfer to rack to cool and spring crystallized ginger over top. Cook in tart pan for ~ 20 minutes then remove sides to cool completely.
Ours was still warm and gooey Christmas Eve. The leftovers on Christmas day were firmer as they had been in the fridge all night - you could make this the night before if you could resist digging in a little early :)