A Christmas Feast.

      We have never done a formal dinner from scratch before. So for Christmas 2011, we invited Mike and Kris and decided to go all out. Costco's sells a gorgeous rack of pork every year at the holidays, so I picked one of them up, to pair with it my famous (in my mind anyways), Pommes Anna. And, to really go out on a limb, homemade crescent rolls, (or as my recipe book calls them Butterhorn rolls, must be a copyright thing).

     This sounds like alot of work, but truthfully it all comes together really easily. Start with the Crown Roast of Pork. Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons garlic, 4 tablespoons chopped sage, and 2 tablespoons chopped thyme, (don't worry too much about the herbs, anything will work, in addition to the thyme and sage, we added 2 tablespoons rosemary and a big helping of garam masala), what ever you have will work, don't be afraid to make your own combo. When your done, you should have a nice paste, (if you need more olive oil go ahead and add until a thick paste forms). Rub the entire roast with the herb mixture and season generously with salt and pepper. Allow the roast to sit for 1-2 hours with the mixture and then roast at 450 for 15 minutes, turn down the oven to 350, and continue roasting until an instant read thermometer reads between 150-160. Remove roast and tent with aluminum foil for at least 20 minutes to allow juices to set. Carve and serve, I guarantee this will be one of the most tender, juicy pieces of pork you will ever eat.

      Pommes Anna is sort of a potato pancake and goes perfectly with any roast meat. I have made this version several times and everyone just loves it. To make this correctly you will need two very important pieces of equipment. A mandoline and a cast iron frying pan. I supposed this could be done without either, but it will be a lesson in frustration. First the mandoline, this is basically a potato slicer but you really need this unless you can slice potatoes really thin and evenly by hand, (I can't). Slice two pounds of potatoes, (depending on the size of your party and cast iron pan you may need more or less). Make sure you are using a well seasoned cast iron pan, (I used a brand new one, not so smart) and brush it liberally with melted butter. Now comes the fun part, first a layer of potatoes, now brush that layer with melted butter, sprinkle on a layer of parmigiana cheese  and salt and pepper the layer and continue in this way until you have a potato cake about 1 to 2 inches high (depends if you like a crisp cake or a more soft cake on the thickness, I like crisp so I stop at about 1 1/4 inches). Put a layer of aluminum foil over the potatoes and add a heavy weight (brick works good) to the top and push down to compact the cake. Place pan on stove top, over medium heat, until bottom layer turns golden brown, about 3-5 minutes. Put the pan in a 400 degree oven, pressing the potatoes down occasionally and shaking the pan to keep them from sticking. Cooked until caramelized and potatoes are soft when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Carefully drain off the excess butter, gently loosen bottom layer and flip onto plate for a beautiful presentation. Cut into slices and serve.

      For the Crescent (Butterhorn) rolls, I used a bread machine on dough cycle. But you could just as easily use a mixer or even by hand, if you so desire. Start with;

3/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

      Place all the ingredients into your bread machine and set to dough cycle. DON'T walk away, keep checking the dough to see if it is too dry or wet and add extra flour or milk as needed. You should end up with a solid ball of shiny dough, not sticking to the walls or falling apart. Once you achieve that dough ball, you can walk away and let the machine do its thing.

      When the dough cycle is done, remove dough and place on a lightly floured counter. Roll dough into a nice even log and divide in three.  Form each dough log into balls, and roll the balls out into a 9 inch circle. With a pizza cutter divide your circles into 8 pieces. Starting at the wide end , roll each slice to its point. Place on ungreased cookie sheets with the point down and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes until doubled. Preheat oven to 375, brush top of rolls with melted butter and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. DELICIOUS! WAY better than anything you will ever buy in a tube and they take very little effort.

      So there you have it, a perfect holiday (or any time) meal. Add some nice vegetables and something for dessert, (we had crepes that I bought at Costco's, heated up and topped with nutella and whipped cream, YUM), and you are good to go. And for wine a lighter red is perfect, nice Pinot Noir maybe, or a Malbec would be perfect, maybe even a Zinfandel.