- Hey guys! So a lot of
you have been asking me about the specials: the long form shows that have the full menu attached. I love that format, but it does take a lot of time to pull off, and hopefully one day, I will return to this format. But for now, I'm gonna keep
you guys hopefully happy with the mini-menu. It's
basically a main course and your side dishes for
pulling off the perfect meal for most major holidays, and
I can't think of a better holiday to kick this format
off than with Christmas! Today I'm gonna show you how to make one of my favorite Christmas dinners. It's a rosemary filet of beef,
served with a red wine gravy, mashed potatoes gratiné,
and a roasted ratatouille. (pleasant Christmas music) I love this menu, it is so delicious, and it is so festive,
and the best part is, most of it can be made the day before. My kind of menu! So the day before, you're going to prep your mashed potatoes. Anytime I'm preparing a big meal, like Christmas dinner, I always start with the most time-consuming recipe first. That way, as the day
wears on and we all get tired and cranky, it'll be smooth sailing, because you'll end up with the easiest menu items at the end of the day. Go ahead and peel three russet potatoes. You're gonna cut them in
half, and then quarter them, and throw them in a big pot
of salted water to boil. That's boiling, we're going to multitask, and we're going to
prepare our ratatouille. So on a large sheet pan,
you're going to just drizzle it with some olive oil, and then you're going to
add some sliced onions. I like the little yellow
onions because I think that they have a little bit more
flavor than the white onions. Go ahead and line the
onions all along the pan, and on top of that, you're going to add one eggplant that has been sliced. Then, on top of the
eggplant, you're going to add one yellow pepper, one red
pepper, and one orange pepper. You're just gonna lay them
all on top of the eggplant, making sure that the
entire tray is covered. Then we're gonna take one zucchini and slice it into small
coins, and throw those on top. Top of that, we're gonna add
two cups of cherry tomatoes. So this time of year, it
can really be hard to find fresh, ripe tomatoes, so
I really like to use the cherry tomatoes, because I find
out of season, they tend to be a little bit sweeter
than the regular tomatoes. And then we're going to add two shallots, that have been sliced and quartered. Now, at this point, you might be thinking, "Wow, this looks like
a lot of vegetables," and it is, but they will shrink down as they cook, so don't be concerned. And you're also gonna
add five garlic cloves. You can slice them in half
and just sprinkle them around. That garlic will become
so sweet and delicious, and it really adds a wonderful
flavor to this ratatouille. Next, we're gonna take some olive oil, about a quarter cup, and just drizzle it all over the vegetables, making sure we're getting into all the nooks and crannies. Then we're going to add
half a teaspoon of salt, sprinkling it all over the top, and one tablespoon of herbs de provence. If you can't find that, you could use some Italian seasoning, or a little dried basil or oregano would also be good. Finally, we're going
to add a little bit of fresh cracked pepper all over
the top of the vegetables. Then you're gonna take your tray, and you're gonna pop it in the oven at 450 degrees, for about 40-50 minutes. Now, the first 30 minutes, you
don't wanna touch that tray, you want those vegetables to kind of char on the bottom and get caramelized. Then, after the 30 minutes has passed, you can go in with your wooden spoon and just kind of give 'em a good toss, break them up, you'll
see that the tomatoes are probably bursting, the eggplant is wilting down, that's what you want. At this point, I'll tell
ya, it's gonna look like a bit of a mess, and you're gonna wonder, "Is this really gonna come together in a "beautiful, roasted ratatouille?" (laughs) Trust me, it is! So just stick with me, go ahead with that wooden spoon and just keep tossing them and turning them, and in 50 minutes, you're gonna end up with a fabulous looking
ratatouille, I promise. Now, at this point, we can
return to our potatoes, which are probably fork tender by now. So go ahead and lift them out of your pot, and you wanna transfer them into a bowl of an electric
mixer, or just a bowl with a hand mixer would also work. You're going to add four
tablespoons of butter, and then beat that up just
until all that butter is melted, and the potatoes are nice and fluffy. Add a cup of milk. And then season with
two teaspoons of salt. Basically, the mashed potato part is done. You're gonna transfer your mashed potatoes into that casserole dish,
and then cover it with a cup of grated gruyere cheese. And then I also like to finish it with just a little bit of salt
and pepper and paprika. There you have it, one dish is done! So you're gonna cover it
with aluminum foil and pop it in the fridge, it's
all ready to go for tomorrow! Okay, so now we can prep our beef filet. I love a filet of beef
for Christmas dinner, I think there's something so
elegant and festive about it, but I will say this: it
can be a little expensive. So one of the things that
we do at our house is, whoever's hosting
Christmas dinner buys all the side dishes and the
dessert and whatnot, and then whoever's coming
chips in for the main course, whether that be a big
turkey, or a filet of beef, and in that way, it's not
so burdensome on the person who's doing all the
work hosting the dinner. Seems to work out well at our house, you may try it this year at your house, and let me know how it goes! So to prep it, all we have to do is just season liberally
with some salt and pepper. Meat really likes to be well-salted, it actually really helps tenderize it and bring out the flavor, so don't be shy. And we're also gonna add two tablespoons of freshly chopped rosemary. Just rub the rosemary all along the beef, getting on all the sides and the ends, and then you're gonna transfer your beef, cover with some aluminum foil,
and pop that in the fridge! Now we've got our second
course prepped and ready to go! At this point, I bet your
roasted ratatouille is ready. You can pull out your pan. You're going to transfer
it to your casserole dish, and then just spread that
ratatouille all along that dish, and that's all you have to do. You can cover it with foil
and pop it in the fridge. Okay, so all of our dishes are prepped, they're in the refrigerator,
we're ready to go! Here's how this is all gonna
work on Christmas dinner. So about an hour before
you're ready to eat, you're gonna go in your
fridge, pull out your beef, and let it get to room temperature. You can let it sit on your counter, just cover it in tin foil. Now when it comes to
choosing your roasting pan, you wanna make sure that
it's a heavy duty pan that can actually also go on a cooktop, because we are going to sear this beef before it goes into the oven. You just wanna make sure that that meat is nice and caramelized
before it starts to roast. If your roasting pan
does not go on a cooktop, and not all of them do, that's okay. You could actually use a large skillet to sear your meat beforehand, and then put it into your roasting pan. You're gonna add a little olive oil in the bottom of the pan,
and wait until that pan gets really, really hot,
you don't wanna put that beautiful piece of beef
in a pan that's cold, because it won't sear that
way, so just be patient, and once it looks like that
oil is nice and shimmery, you're going to then take your beef, put it in the pan, and
sear it on all sides. Now if you're using a
skillet to sear your beef, that's fine, but just
hold on to that skillet. Don't let somebody take that skillet and put it in the dishwasher
or try to wash it, because you want to retain
all those pan juices that that beef has actually created, because this is what we're
gonna use to create our gravy. So just put it on the cooktop and tell everybody, "Do not touch!" You're gonna take your roasting pan, you're gonna put it in the oven, with your mashed potato casserole. You can keep the casserole
covered for at least 20 minutes. At the 20 minute mark,
you wanna check your beef. Now, at this point, it really does pay to have a meat thermometer. You've spent a lot of money on this beef, you don't wanna undercook
it or overcook it. There's nothing that can
ruin a dinner faster! So, a meat thermometer is your best friend when it comes to knowing
when that meat is done. Once your meat is done, you
can go ahead and pull it out, transfer your filet onto a cutting board, and cover it with foil. Then, you're gonna take your ratatouille, and you're gonna pop that in the oven with your mashed potatoes. At this point, you want to remove the foil on the mashed potatoes,
so that that cheese can get nice and bubbly and gratiné. While our beef is resting,
and while our side dishes are heating up, we can make the pan gravy. First thing we're going
to do is heat our pan. Make sure it's nice and hot, and then we're going to deglaze
it with some red wine. You're gonna take a wooden
spoon, and just remove all those bits and brown
parts at the bottom, there's wonderful flavor in
that, and you wanna make sure that you get every little
inch of that up so that that can start to become
the basis of your gravy. Then you're going to add
two cups of beef broth, and a teaspoon of dijon mustard. I also like to add just a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, and
the secret ingredient, and I really have to give my
father credit for this one, because he adds curry
powder in all his gravies. It is the secret ingredient,
everybody loves it, they never know exactly what it is, and just recently, I wormed
it out of him, and he finally confessed, "Okay,
it's a little curry powder." (laughs) So it wouldn't
be Christmas dinner without a little curry
powder in the gravy. Then you're also gonna add
three sprigs of rosemary. This is a great thing
to add to any hot gravy, because as that gravy is
warmed up, it's going to release all the oils in
that rosemary, and create a beautiful, delicious
rosemary-scented gravy. And at this point, it's important to let that gravy reduce down a bit. You're looking for that gravy to kind of reduce in volume, about half. That way, all of the flavors will become really concentrated, and
very, very flavorful. I rarely will salt a gravy,
because there's a lot of sodium that's in the beef broth, and
the salt that was on the beef is now at the bottom of the pan, so rarely does it need salt, but taste it, and if you feel that it does, go ahead. But I will add some
freshly cracked pepper. That's a great thing to add
as a little finishing touch, as well as one tablespoon of butter. Wouldn't be the holidays
without the butter, right? Now, the butter is really going to create a wonderful, silky finish to our gravy. Then you can remove that rosemary sprig, transfer your gravy into a
gravy boat, and set it aside. At this point, you can
now carve your beef. So go ahead and slice it
into about half inch slices, arrange it beautifully on a platter, and then the final thing
I like to do is garnish my platter with a little
bit of fresh rosemary. And your main course is done! Serve it alongside with
your two side dishes, which, at this point, will also be done, and you will have one beautiful,
festive Christmas dinner! I love this menu because there is such a wonderful combination
of that elegant beef, those decadent mashed potatoes, and that sweet, caramelized ratatouille. It is really the perfect
Christmas dinner in my book. I hope you guys give this one a try, and let me know what you think, I think you'll be pretty impressed with how easy it is, and how
delicious it tastes. I'll see you guys back here next week, when we are going to tackle one elegant, delicious dessert to end
your Christmas dinner. I'll see you then! Bye! ("O Little Town of
Bethlehem" by Noel Singers)
