12 Weeks of Christmas: Week 6-France and Belgium

The 12 Weeks of Christmas: Week 6-France and Belgium

(Source: Britannica.com)

So, this project hasn't gone the way I wanted it to. I haven't been able to keep up with it on a weekly basis, as I had originally planned, due to an unplanned illness that is done being contagious, but has lingering symptoms that are requiring me to slow down my life to deal with. So, my choices are to cut out weeks of this project, or to continue it well past Christmas. Since I started this in October, I suppose it doesn't make much difference if I keep it going into January. So, I will see this project through, but at a pace that works for my current condition. 

This week was Thanksgiving, and my sister and I were looking at a day alone, without family. We decided to rebel a bit from a traditional Thanksgiving meal on the day, and opted for a Christmas dinner instead. I made two recipes for this project, and two recipes not for this project. They varied in their success, but it was fun to make, and that's what matters the most!

This year's Thanksgiving meal was Belgian Braised Pork and Pommes Duchesse. 

It felt like a fancy menu, but it was pretty easy to make. Even not at full strength, I was able to handle this meal pretty well.

You have to start this the day before. Carrots, onions, and celery in a bowl. Aromatics, herbs, and spices in cheesecloth. I didn't have any fresh herbs so I just used dried and it worked out just fine.

Add the herbs and spices to the veggies, and salt and pepper.

For some reason I overlooked entirely the fact that I needed red wine for this recipe, and had none on hand. Thankfully, I had about 2/3 of a bottle of Port on hand that I used instead and it turned out to be just the right amount. Add the pork, and marinate overnight. I turned the meat over a few times to help make sure that it absorbed on all sides.

Butter and oil melt in the Dutch oven. Pat the meat dry, and keep the marinade.

Sear the meat on all sides and remove from the pan. I poured the brandy over the meat but did not flambe it. Since I didn't flambe it, this felt like a useless step. I would just add the brandy to the marinade in the next step, if I make this again.

Add the marinade to the pan and place the meat in it. Like a proper braise, you bring it to a boil before reducing the heat and placing the lid on top to slowly cook on the stove.

After the meat is cooked, remove it from the pan and puree the marinade. It's not the prettiest sauce, I will admit, but it's pretty tasty. You add the currant jam at this point and heat it till it's well mixed in. I was unable to find red currant jam, so I used black currant and I'm sure it's just as good.

The meat was perfectly cooked!

For the side were the Pommes Duchesse, which are basically mashed potatoes piped into pretty shapes and baked in the oven. 

You start off like making normal mashed potatoes except when you mash them, you don't add milk, just butter.

Then you mix in 4 egg yolks.

I bought some piping bags at the store and used them, but they didn't work well. I ended up just making dollops to bake. They took longer to brown than it said it would, but they eventually started browning on the tops.

Here is the finished, plated meal. The meat and sauce were really good. The potatoes, not so much. They were dry and not very flavorful and I don't really see what the big deal about them is. Maybe I made them wrong, who knows. They were not creamy and delicious like mashed potatoes. Next time I'd just make mashed potatoes the traditional way and call it all good. It was like a Thanksgiving meal, but different enough that it felt right to make it on a different year like this one! It definitely is a festive, Christmas-sy meal! And it's nice that the entree cook on the stove because it opens up the oven for other things, which as we all know, can be really difficult on Thanksgiving!

I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving this year, even though it was different. I enjoyed infusing more Christmas into the day!