It’s time for Christmas Dinner. While Thanksgiving is dominated by the Traditional Turkey Dinner, Christmas dinner tends to go for the more luxurious, a standard being the standing rib roast, or the beef Wellington. Luxury entrees, sides, appetizers, and what not seem to be the trend. Joshua Weissman, in fact, just did his own version of a luxurious dinner that not only featured a smoked rib roast, but a short rib Wellington that looked amazing, but also amazingly expensive. And that’s the problem with stuff like this. Even at $5.99 a pound on sale, a rib roast can run you like $40-$50 at least.
Enter Chef John. His recipe for Chicken Mushroom Strudel is a rich, decadent, and luxurious entree that is not only easy to make, but it will create a HUGE dinner for a small group, and a lovely meal for a group of like 8-10 people. Here’s the recipe and then let’s talk about how I did, and some money saving tips to go along.
So mine came out to about $40 with all the ingredients, but I splurged a bit on some. So I used:
1 Rotisserie chicken. They’re about $7 or so, and if the store has whole roaster/fryers for around that price, feel free to roast your own. Money saved is indirectly proportionate to time used for roasting and cooling
1 diced onion. I bought a 6oz pre chopped that the store sells. That added an extra $1-$1.50 to my cost, and you all probably have onions already at home.
1 pound sliced mushrooms. Certainly if they sell bulk mushrooms you can choose, that might be cheaper than buying a package of pre sliced. Also, you may find some mushrooms on clearance. They may be darker, but Jacques Pepin says that means more flavor.
¼ cup chopped tarragon. Certainly you can use dried if you have it, or even cheaper, if you grow your own.
1 cup heavy cream. This is one of the “luxury” ingredients that is already a bit expensive
1 lemon. Right now, where I am, lemons are two for a dollar.
1 package (two sheets) frozen puff pastry. Another of the “luxury” ingredients. I went for square sheets easily rolled to meet the sheet pan’s dimensions. Of course it’s WAY cheaper to make your own puff, but what you save is spent in the 2-3 days making it.
½ cup shredded Gruyere cheese. I splurged and bought a 6oz hunk of imported Swiss Gruyere. As Chef John says, you can use the cheese that suits you.
Butter, salt, pepper, spices.
So here’s what I did:
I took apart the chicken
Sauteed the mushrooms and onions
Added the cream and let it reduce and thicken
Added the tarragon and chicken and mixed it all up well
Then I added the lemon zest, lemon juice, and the cheese and let it cool. I then got the puff rolled and into the shape for braiding.
Filled the center with only HALF of the filling
I then braided alternating the sides.
Brushed it in egg wash and put it in a 425 F oven until it looked like THIS
So rich. So yummy. And there were some firsts. My first time making a real cream sauce. First time working with puff pastry.
AND—I have enough pastry and filling for ANOTHER one.
And of course nothing’s going to waste. The chicken bones and scraps—into a pot with an onion, a carrot, a rib of celery, peppercorns, bay leaves, and such, and box chicken stock. Simmer for an hour and you have an EXCELLENT base for a pan sauce. Just put some in a pan, reduce it a LOT, then mount with butter if desired. The leftover cheese and cream (I could only find pint cartons) I’m going to simmer the cream, then add the cheese and some spices to make a simple queso fundido and serve it with chips.
Not only is this wonderful strudel relatively inexpensive if you shop right, but it’s also inexpensive in TIME. You can shop the ingredients in the morning, and by evening, a luxurious and decadent meal will be ready for unexpected company.
So tonight’s WFD will probably be the other strudel waiting to be put together. Then on to my brother’s house for Christmas dinner, which may involve lamb and pastitsio as he married Greek.
What’s on the menu at YOUR places tonight AND tomorrow?