Christmas with Lord Baltimore

**I'm just gonna throw this out there...if you are a vegetarian, you might want to go ahead and skip this one. You're bound to be apalled by the affection lavished on beef in this particular post. Carnivores, read on!**

Whew! Where has the year gone? I feel like I just got used to writing "08" on my checks and here we are with just days left before we hit 2009. While I do feel like Thanksgiving was yesterday, it seems I now have about 45 minutes to finish my Christmas shopping, so I guess it's time to go ahead and plan Christmas dinner.

Though I know many families do a repeat of Thanksgiving for their Christmas feast, my own dear mom tired of slogging her way through that whole shebang twice in one month well before I was born. The down side? Her lovely sausage & mushroom turkey stuffing comes but once a year. The up side? When the turkey went, she ushered in decades of sumptuous, unadulterated roasted beef. Truth be told, with turkey day only a memory to all of me but my distended waistline, Christmas dinner is my very favorite celebration meal of the year.

If you're thinking to yourself "Roast beef? So what?" I'd like you to hush your mouth right this instant, buster. I'm talking New York Strip roast. Yes, that's right...picture if you will, the cut of beef from whence comes my very favorite steak, the New York Strip. 5 or 6 pounds of it. Mmmmm. Seasoned simply and roasted, this cut makes the perfect - although I think underrated - holiday roast.

But the fun doesn't stop with the giant New York Strip. No. Mom took it the extra mile and, in a nod to my father's sliver of British heritage, she brought in the Yorkshire Pudding. If the word 'pudding' makes you think Jell-O, scrub your brain right now and embrace the Contintental understanding of the word. I'm referring to a delicious, savory bread-ish treat derived from popover batter and drippings from your roast. A brief history: It was invented in Yorkshire, England, the largest count of Great Britain, and it was intended to stretch the best part of the meal - beef - by carrying its flavor (read: fat & juices) into another vastly less-expensive component of the meal. Whenever I think of it, I can't help but assume that this is what the Queen Mum, Charles, Camilla, Wills and Harry are supping on every Christmas.

The thing is, we're totally not particularly British (I fully expect my mom to call me out on this...I might even be making up Dad's British roots), but Yorkshire Pudding is a really lovely holiday accompaniment and it just feels romantic and Old World to me...rustic and tradition-laden and well, scrumptious, like bread if it was made of equal parts flour and beef. Best part? Couldn't be easier. Plus, as a special bonus, it is yet another meal component destined for gravy which I also adore drizzled liberally over all of my holidays.

So, all we are saying is give Yorkshire Pudding a chance. Throw on your best cockney accent, have a gin, watch Sherlock Holmes or James Bond or Mr. Bean or some such nonsense on the telly, and make a lovely roast with some popovers. You'll like it so much that you'll leave the turkey at Thanksgiving and, if you're anything like my family, you'll bounce that ham right out of Easter dinner (no, not your brother...the big, spiral-cut Easter Ham, silly) and have the roast again.


Roasted New York Strip Roast with Yorkshire Pudding

Roast:
1 5-6 pound New York Strip Roast, fat trimmed (by your butcher) to about 1/4"
liberal doses of kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper for seasoning**

Yorkshire Pudding:
1/2 c. pan drippings from roast

1 c. sifted flour
3/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 c. milk
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450. Place roast in roasting pan fitted with a rack and season the top (fat side up) liberally with kosher salt and cracked pepper. Resist the urge to do any additonal seasoning. We're going old school on this one.

Typically, a roast of this sort and this size should be roasted for about 15 - 20 minutes at a higher initial temperature (450) and then the heat should be reduced by about 100 degrees to 350 to finish roasting for about another 35 minutes for medium rare. Roast should be allowed to rest, uncovered (it'll keep cooking) and unmolested (quit poking at it and slicing off little slivers for your own greedy purposes, you early-eater you) for at least 20 minutes.

While roast is resting, turn the heat back up to 425 and remove 1/2 cup of drippings and goodness from roasting pan and pour into an 8x8 pyrex dish, or spoon a generous tablespoon or so into 9 regular muffin tins. Place dish (or muffin tin) into 425 degree oven for about 2 minutes to heat drippings. Remove from oven and pour popover batter (flour through veg. oil, mixed until smooth) into dish (or equally into muffin tins) and return to oven to bake for 35 - 40 (less for muffins) minutes until pudding is gloriously puffed up and a bit golden. Cut into squares and serve along sliced roast with gravy and maybe some brussel sprouts or peas & mashed potatoes to your impressed and grateful guests.

Merry Christmas!