- Hi, guys. Welcome back to my channel.
So today, I'm gonna show you a really fabulous
main course idea for Christmas dinner or New Year's dinner.
I love this recipe because it's super easy to put together.
Most of it can be prepped in advance.
And if you are a newcomer to cooking and entertaining,
this is the meal for you.
Okay, so this dinner is meant to serve six people.
So roughly you'll wanna gauge
about a half a pound of beef per person.
And I am working with the chateaubriand cut,
which is the center cut.
I like the chateaubriand cut
because it's all the same size, you get beautiful slices,
and it's all done at the same time.
This is a perfect cut for those
who all like it the same temperature.
So medium well, medium rare, whatever you like,
it'll basically all be the same.
So the day before you plan to serve it,
you wanna season it well with salt and pepper.
And then the other thing you wanna do is tie it up.
Now sometimes your butcher will do that.
You could ask him to cut it and tie it,
but if you're left having to do it on your own,
I wanted to make sure you knew how to do it.
Now there's a lot of ways to do this.
This is the way that I find to be easiest.
So take one end
and put it under the cut,
and then bring it over to the side and tie it up.
Then here's the fun part.
Take two fingers and give yourself a little loop there.
You're going to go under,
and then you're gonna go through this little loop here.
So we have our loop and now we're going through it.
And once you go through the twine,
you can pull it so that it's taut.
And if you want, you can gather the twine up
into a little ball so it's easier to move it under.
So you're just gonna do that all the way down the cut.
And then once you get down to the end,
you can just snip it off
and tie it to the last rung.
It's one of those things that at first
might feel a little bit intimidating,
but once you try it and maybe rewind the video
and watch me do it twice,
you'll feel very accomplished once you get it done.
So I'm going to pop my filet into this Pyrex dish.
And then the next thing we wanna do is just season it
with a little whole grain mustard.
What this is gonna do is add terrific flavor
to our beef once it's done.
You can either spread it with a spoon,
like what I am doing,
or you can use a little brush like that to brush it on.
You wanna do this after you tie it up
just so that it doesn't become a big mess
because if you try to tie it
after you put all that mustard on top,
it might be a little bit more difficult
and make a huge mess.
And it's all ready to go.
And this will just sit in the fridge overnight
and it'll develop that beautiful flavor
of the mustard and the salt and pepper,
and you are ready to go for Christmas Day.
Then on Christmas Day, get out your roasting pan,
and then you can also set out your beef.
Allow it to come to room temperature,
so 30, 45 minutes or so.
That'll just help it cook at a more even rate
once you put it in the oven.
Then I have three pounds of these beautiful
Yukon gold potatoes that I've peeled.
And this is another reason why I love this recipe
is one of our side dishes is going to bake with our roast,
so they're going to be done at the same time.
Okay, so once you've got your potatoes peeled,
go ahead and cut them in half.
And I do this because they'll cook quicker that way.
And also when you have a cut end,
that's going to allow it to kind of get all nice and brown
and crispy when it roasts in the oven.
And then we're gonna drizzle
with a little bit of olive oil,
just so that they get nice and crispy as they roast.
And then you're going to season with a little salt.
Potatoes just drink up the salt so you can be liberal.
And then a little bit of freshly ground pepper.
Then some fresh Rosemary, about a teaspoon or so.
For something like this, I just think it's easier
to go in with your hands.
And make sure that everything is well coated
because if the potatoes are not well coated with the oil,
they will stick to the bottom of the pan.
Okay, we're gonna get our roast back here,
and then you're just gonna add your potatoes to your beef.
I do like to start cut side down
just so that they get a nice headstart
and you're assured that they're gonna get
nice and crispy on the bottom.
And what's so nice about this
is as the meat starts to roast and release its juices,
it'll start to flavor the potatoes
and it creates such a yummy flavor combination.
All right, we're gonna put this
in a 450 degree Fahrenheit oven
for just 15 minutes to begin.
Then you can reduce the heat to 375.
And once an internal thermometer comes out
about 125 for rare, 130 for medium,
I actually take it all the way to like 145, 150
just for like a really pink, medium, not too rare.
But it's up to you.
It should take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes.
Okay, so my beef is just out of the oven
and allow it to rest for at least 15, 20 minutes, okay?
It's gonna keep warm because it's such a big piece of beef.
It'll take a while for that to cool down,
and we're gonna keep some foil over it.
We wanna use this roasting pan to make our gravy in,
but our potatoes are still in here.
So what I like to do is just pop them on a sheet pan,
and then we are going to place them back in the oven.
Now, if they're done to your liking,
you can just keep them warm.
I like to get them a little bit crispy,
so I keep them at the 375 temperature
while the meat is resting,
and it actually times out perfectly
because once the gravy and the beef are ready to go,
the potatoes are ready to go.
And if you find that they're getting too done,
just put them at a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven
and they'll keep nice and warm.
Okay, now for the gravy.
So remember, this thing is hot,
so you might wanna have a little hot pot standing by
just so you don't burn yourself.
And then we're going to begin by deglazing the pan
with a half a cup of red wine,
a dry red wine, nothing too sweet.
There we go.
And we're gonna use that to just scrape up
all of the brown bits at the bottom,
which is where all that delicious beef flavor is.
So go ahead and get that going.
And then you also just wanna simmer this
just until this wine starts to evaporate
and reduce by maybe about half.
Okay, next we are going to add two cups of beef stock.
So it's not the same as beef broth.
When you're at the market,
make sure you buy the beef stock,
and I'll leave you a link in the description
to the brand that I like best.
You're just gonna get a lot more flavor.
You can even see it's like a really dark, rich color
as opposed to the broth which would be a lot lighter.
So we want the full flavors.
Then we're gonna add
half a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
and half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.
Okay, here comes the secret ingredient: the curry powder.
My dad is famous for adding his curry powder in the gravy.
And I tell you, it is so delicious.
We're gonna add about a quarter of a teaspoon
of curry powder.
It's not gonna taste like Curry.
It's just gonna give it a really wonderful
depth of flavor that you don't really know
where it's coming from.
It's coming from this, the curry powder.
And then to give it a nice silky finish
and a little bit more flavor,
we're also gonna add a tablespoon of butter.
Wouldn't be the holidays without enough butter, right?
I like to add just some rosemary into this.
And in fact, I just pop it right in there, sprigs and all,
and let it sort of steep in the gravy.
And you're just gonna put this in there
for about like five minutes or so just to flavor the gravy
and then we're going to fish it out.
And now it's time to thicken this gravy.
I've really come a long way with my thickening philosophy.
I used to always turn to the corn starch,
and corn starch is good if that's all you have.
It'll totally work.
Just do two tablespoons of cornstarch
mixed in two tablespoons of very cold water.
But somebody in my TikTok community, believe it or not,
said "You must try Wondra."
This is not sponsored,
but I have to say I'm a believer.
I think Wondra is even better.
It makes it a little bit smoother, I think,
than the corn starch.
It's not as gelatinous. It's more velvety.
So I am now using Wondra in my gravies
and I think it's much better.
And then slowly add it to your gravy.
I do think the Wondra and the cornstarch
activate a little bit differently.
I think with corn starch, you see it right away.
As soon as you add it to hot boiling liquid, it'll thicken.
But with Wondra, it takes a little bit.
See, it's thickening now after I added it
and after the heat starts to continue with it.
So just keep that in mind if you're new to Wondra.
At this stage, you can go ahead and taste it.
You probably don't need that much salt.
Oh, that's perfect.
I wouldn't add any salt.
I would maybe add just a little pepper.
There we go.
And then the thing that I like to do
is to transfer this gravy to a small sauce pan like this.
And then if you want,
you can actually strain the gravy too.
I do like to strain it.
I think it makes it a little bit more fancy and smooth.
There you go.
Wow, this is a big roasting pan.
You can put your lid on.
Now just keep it at room temperature
until you're ready to serve.
Okay, now for a green vegetable
because the meat and the gravy
and the potatoes are so heavy,
I like to serve something that's green
and crunchy and crisp and a little bit refreshing
just to balance out all the flavors.
So while your meat is resting
and your gravy's at room temperature,
which you're gonna heat up right before you serve it,
you can get on with making these French green beans,
and it's super simple to do.
Add two tablespoons of unsalted butter.
There you go.
And then once that starts to look nice and foamy and melty,
you can add your shallots.
So I have one shallot that I've minced,
probably about a third of a cup.
And then you can also season with a little bit
of salt and pepper.
And now that these are looking good,
we're going to add our French green beans.
Look for the ones that are labeled French green beans.
They're a little bit skinnier and smaller,
and I think better for a meal like this.
I also go for the ones that are already trimmed,
already washed, and in the bag,
because at the holiday time you usually can find it
and it'll just save you a ton of time and stress.
They cost a little bit more this way,
but if you're the one preparing Christmas dinner,
consider it your Christmas present.
So for six people,
I'd probably add about a pound and a half.
If you're serving eight, I would do the full two pounds.
Then you just wanna toss them
in this butter shallot mixture,
making sure that they're getting nicely coated.
Then we are going to add some fresh lemon zest.
This is where the refreshing part comes in.
I would do about a half a teaspoon or so.
For a little fresh herbs, I like to do about a tablespoon
of freshly minced tarragon.
I love to cook with tarragon in the winter time,
especially around the holidays.
It's such a fresh, fancy flavor
that you're not really used to
kind of like an every night cooking.
So I think it just adds a little bit more festivity
to the occasion.
If you can't find tarragon, you could also use fresh thyme.
That would work too.
And then you are going to cover it
and let them sort of saute and steam at the same time
until they become nice and tender.
So this works out perfectly
because you can get this on low, carve your meat,
heat up the gravy, and then get it all arranged.
And then the last thing to bring to the table
would be the green beans,
and you will have one fabulous holiday dinner.
I hope you guys give this one a try
and let me know what you think.
Next week, I'll show you the super easy
and totally delicious dessert
that's going to go with this menu.
Until then, bye!