Happy Birthday to Me Bitches

So yours truly has just turned 26, and as a way of staving off the pending quarter-life crisis that one associates with turning 4 years shy of 30 I threw a party.

Now I know what you’re thinking (mostly because everyone I knew asked me this) if it’s your birthday why are you doing all the work? Well reader, I decided that my birthday is about more than just turning another year older: it’s about celebrating me and what better way to celebrate me and all I bring to the world then by letting me show off my mad-skillz in the kitchen.

The menu:
Apple, Rosemerry Beacon Braciole with Stout Gravy
Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts
Roasted potatoes
Devils food cake with 7-minute frosting.

Let’s start with the Braciole. I make it a habit of routinely breaking the “don’t make something new for a party” rule and this party was no exception. And I wanted to take it one step further and make up the recipe too. I have to say I was pleased as punch with the result though so as always my reckless party planning went without a hitch.

Stout Braciole
2 lb flank steak
1 cup bread crumbs
4 pieces beacon
1 green apple
2 sprigs rosemary
I bottle of Guinness
2 carrots
1 onion
2 stalks of celery
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and whole
Beef stock
- Pre-heat oven to 350
- In a Dutch Oven, cook the beacon on med-low until the beacon is crispy and to render out the fat. Remove beacon and add to a bowl with diced apple, breadcrumbs and 1 sprig of chopped rosemary. (remove Dutch Oven from meat until you use it so it doesn’t smoke).
- Butterfly the flank steak (ie split in half, leaving an inch at the end of the steak so you can open it like a book.

- Stuff the barciole with the stuffing, and roll like a jelly role. Tie with cotton kitchen twine.
- Heat the Dutch Oven over med, and add a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil to the pan along with the reserved beacon fat. (this is to give the meat a little more of that beacon taste but it certainly could be skipped if you wanted to prepare the braciole up to this point a day ahead. Then just brown in olive oil) Brown the braciole on all sides (between a minute or two per side). Remove
- In the same oven, cook the onion, carrots and celery till softened and onions are translucent (4 mins) then add garlic and cook 1 more minute.
- Add the bottle of Stout and about a cup of beef stock, season with salt and pepper, and boil briefly (5 mins). Add the braciole and cover.
- Place in oven for 1 hour, basting half way. Then uncover, baste and cook 30 minutes more.
- Remove and slice steak. Cook down sauce over high for 5-10 minutes and then puree.
- Serve.
Side note: my future husband Josh Groban was on Live! With Kelly Ripa and they made braised short ribs in Stout. Copycats….marriage is off Mr. Groban

Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts
- So this recipe was sortof a Bobby Flay recipe in that I saw a recipe by Bobby Flay that sounded delicious decided to make it, and then when it presented me with two substantial problems I made it completely different. First it asked for a pomegranate molasses which I had no idea how to locate nor did I care to so I opted to make a vinaigrette instead. Then I went to roast the Brussels and found I had no more room so I cooked them in a pan. The result is nothing like the original but was pretty tasty. My only grip with it was I went to Fitzies to get the Brussels and I could only get them in small containers. The result was unnecessarily priced and I had no control over the size of the sprouts which ranged from the size of a normal Brussels sprout to the size of a small cabbage so they were not cooked as evenly as I wanted.
Vinaigrette: Halve a pomegranate and remove seeds. Reserve juice from this process and whisk into it Champagne Vinegar and salt and pepper. Then add EVOO until you have a vinaigrette.
Take Brussels sprouts and slice in half. Brown lightly in a large pan, and then add a cup or so of water and cover, steaming until cooked through and soft. Remove from heat and toss with vinaigrette, pomegranate seeds and hazelnuts.

All and all the party was quite a success: god food, good friends and four bottles of wine….the Niezabitowski recipe for success