Saturday, December 13, 2008

Christmas Dinner - Texas Style

Christmas dinner, very much like Thanksgiving dinner, is a simple one. After a meal of tamales, Mexican hot chocolate and Polvorones (biscochos) on Christmas Eve, we take pleasure in feasting on a Texas style dish of Brisket with red chile- BBQ sauce and Borracho beans. An easy appetizer of guacamole, pico de gallo and sour cream topped with homemade tortilla chips is served in large margarita glasses so that you can take it with you from room to room and never stop munching while you’re waiting for the brisket to be done. It turns into a lovely day sitting around with our daughter and her better half while Bob blares Christmas music through the stereo and tunes into the football game with the sound turned down.

The phone rings constantly with calls from family members, this year including our son Michael and our daughter in law Jennifer. This is the very first time without my son with us for the holidays and I’m feeling a little sad. But he’s been calling and asking for confirmation on the ingredients for making tamales. Seems it’s a little difficult to find the ingredients they need in Dallas where they live. But they’ll manage. Those two are quite resourceful.

So, if you have a “hankering” for a Texas style Christmas, try our simple menu and enjoy. Love you guys.

Borracho Beans

1 pound pinto beans
1 medium onion, diced
5 to 6 cups water
3 fresh tomatoes
4 green chiles, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can beer
Salt to taste
sliced pickled jalapeños, optional

Wash and sort pinto beans. Add onion and water to beans and bring to boiling point. Remove from heat and cover for two hours. Peel tomatoes and chop into small chunks. Add tomatoes, chiles, garlic and beer to beans, bring to second boil. Reduce heat and simmer from 5 to 6 hours. Add salt half an hour before serving. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Brisket with Red Chile BBQ Sauce

1 (4 pound) brisket
1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce
1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
1 cup red chile* sauce

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.Lay brisket over a long piece of heavy duty aluminum foil. Brush completely with your favorite barbecue sauce. Wrap the brisket in the aluminum foil. Make sure it is wrapped tightly. Place on rack on a deep baking dish. Pour water to 2 inches in baking dish. Roast brisket for 8 hours until tender.

Thirty minutes before the brisket s done, combine the beef broth, 1 cup red chile sauce, and 1/2 cup barbecue sauce in saucepan. Whisk until well combined. Continue heating over low heat until ready to serve.When brisket is done roasting, remove from oven and allow to rest on counter while still wrapped in foil.Right before serving, slice brisket against the grain in thin slices. Serve with red chile BBQ sauce.*

Red Chile Sauce
9- (about 3 ounces) dried New Mexico or California red chiles, hot or mild or a combination of both
2- cups water, or more, to cover chiles completely with water in pan
1- small onion, chopped
2- cloves garlic, chopped

Toast chiles on a large baking pan for approximately 4 minutes. Let cool slightly and then remove seeds and stems.

IMPORTANT! Wear rubber gloves when handling chiles. If you accidentally rub your eyes when handling chiles without gloves, it will really sting.

In a 4-quart pan, combine chiles, water, onion, and garlic. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer (covered) until chiles are soft (about 30 minutes). Remove from heat and cool slightly. In blender, whirl chile mixture till smooth. Run through sieve (strainer) to discard residue and any unprocessed chile skins. Purée can be refrigerated (covered) up to 1 week. Makes 2 cups.

* If you want a hotter tasting chile sauce, try adding 1 or 2 "chile de arbol", stemmed and seeded, to the chile in the water simmering step.

17 comments:

Michele said...

I've been brainstorming about what to make for Christmas Day's dinner. I love your idea of brisket and beans. I've just written it down as a possible combination for our holiday dinner. I love hearing about other people's traditions. Thanks sweetie! :-)

Gloria Chadwick said...

Teresa, It's so nice to have you back. Hope you're feeling better. Love your Texas Christmas dinner. I'm still trying to convince my kids to do a traditional Mexican Christmas but they want turkey.

Finla said...

Wow i woudn't mind to join you for this delicious christmas dinner.
I still have not decided what to make.

Esi said...

This is an excellent feast, and I love the Texas spin on dinner.

Arlene Delloro said...

I love your Christmas menu, Teresa. While my mom used to make a rib roast, all other dishes were ethnic...read, Italian. I've always made antipasto and manicotti with meatballs, eggplant, and some kind of chicken. It's just Larry and me this year--I'm not in a celebratory mood--so I'm going to make penne a la vodka with lobster.

Kelly said...

Ooh. I love hearing about your traditions as always.

Kelly said...

Ooh. I love hearing about your traditions as always.

Ivy said...

It's lovely to see how Christmas is celebrated around the world. I'd love to be a guest at your table.

Joan said...

Wow, that all looks fantastic! Love the idea with the guacamole appetizer in a margarita glass. Have you tried the Abuelita mexican hot chocolate? My girlfriend brought me some over and it is like big tablets that you mix with warm milk. It tastes wonderful!

Reeni said...

I was missing you this week! All of your traditions sound great; from the tamales on Christmas eve to the margarita glasses you can take with you. That is such a cool idea!

Tina Butler said...

Those Borracho Beans sound so good. How neat is that "Real Texas Food" I feel right at home Teresa. My friend down the road has tamales on christmas eve. I wish i could you spread looks so inviting.

Nazarina A said...

Dear Teresa,
I love brisket but have never tried to cook it. I shall be coming back here for this extremely flavorful chile brisket. I wish I could have some with your homemade tortilla chips and guac! Mexican food is so flavorful and I bet you are terrific cook judging by your elaborate menu for Christmas and just all your past dishes!!!
I have been a little ill and weary too and I shall be visiting my dad in the Florida Keyes for three glorious weeks. I have not seen him for almost a year now so I shall be happy to spend Christmas with him!
I hope you and your family have a joyous Christmas and a very happy new year. I shall "see" you when I come back in the new year.
P/S it is minus 7 degrees here in Denver!!!!!!
Much love!!!!!

Jenn said...

We did manage to find everything we needed and M has proclaimed them good. I just never imagined I'd have such trouble finding masa and dried chiles in TEXAS. :P

Adam said...

With the way you describe everything, I feel like I'm practically there :) I would absolutely love BBQ flavors at Christmas! We've never done that before up here in the Northeast, but I can always make room for a little spice :)

And you're so right. Foodie friends indeed good buddy!

anudivya said...

That is quite the spread... hope you had fun.

Aggie said...

I would so love this meal!! I may have to treat the family to this one day! It all sounds great.

James said...

Wow this is delicious christmas dinner. I would like to make this dinner. Thanks for all recipes.