Thanksgiving

My menu for Thanksgiving

Turkey
Chestnut stuffing
Spinach "souffle"
sweet potatoes
Baked potatos
Sauteed kale --new this year. I have discovered kale. Using Toscano and Red Russian.
Cranberry/apple/orange relish
Pecan pie
Apple torte
Chocolate mousse

I keep things simple. I am still deciding on the wines. See my next post for what I chose. Recipes on request.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite meals.It is not a difficult meal but one needs to cook everything carefully. Use an instant read thermometer for the turkey. This helps a  great deal. I have tried every type of roasting method. I use my regular convection oven. Start the turkey upside down for the first 2 hours and then turn it over to finish. I bake at 350 degrees but start at 375 for  the first 30 minutes. Remember that a turkey continues to cook when it comes out of the oven. I take it out when the thermometer reads about 165 degrees in the breast. The problem with cooking turkeys is that they cook unevenly so it is difficult to get all parts of the bird cooked just right. These days my concern is cooking breast meat correctly since the birds now have alot of breast meat. You may need to cover the top loosely with aluminum foil so the skin does not get too dark. Total cooking time is dependent on your oven but I usually finish a 20 pound fully stuffed bird in under 4 hours.

Wines of the week

Made an interesting meal last week emphasizing  Piemonte, Italy food. Onions stuffed with ground veal and cheese, cheeses from the area(blends of goat, sheep and cow), and a fish stew, definitely not from the area.
Wines:
Rendola Brunello di Montalcino 2004 sangiovese grape; excellent wine, smooth and balanced, good fruit
Paitin Barbaresco Serra 2007 Piemonte, nebbiolo grape, I liked this more than the Brunello but my friend disagreed; fruiter than the Brunello but it could use some more time in the bottle.
Piper Sonoma California sparkling wine, $14 - always a good reasonably price sparkling wine.
Nouveau Beaujolais 2011 Duboeuf ; $8- Actually drinkable this year. It had some and decent color. Try a bottle.
Fleurie 2009 Henry Fessy; $12, good cru beaujolais, fruity with some body. I am liking beaujolais's these days. The 09 year was great.
The meal dessert was chocolate pound cake and citrus sorbet. The cake is a Maida Heatter recipe. Her dessert books are great.

Random November Thoughts

We had a terrible October snowstorm in NJ and we had to take down our beautiful 60 foot maple tree in our back yard. We will miss it this summer when the shade is appreciated.

Traveling last week allowed me to taste some interesting wines.
Schramsberg blanc de blanc 2007 sparkling wine. Nice flavor and balance. Tasted like Champagne.
Taittanger Brut Francaise - decent Champagne.
Vina Cobos Malbec Lujan de Cuyo Bramare 2008 Argentina $30 retail; $80 in a restaurant ; fruity, balance malbec that we enjoyed.
I also had a glass of Chablis and a glass of Sancerre. These are 2 of my favorite white wines.
Chateau Greysac, St Emillion; mostly merlot based wine. Enjoyed. Nice balance with expected bouquet of a St Emillion wine. Not sure of the vintage of the last 3 wines since they were by the glass and the restaurant did not specify the year. Annoying.

At home we had a Provenance 2010 sauvignon blanc. California. Another favorite. $13.
Also Domaine Andezon; Cote de Rhone 2007. Terroir with some fruit. Enjoyed.

I am into kale these days. Toscano kale and red russian kale. Chop up and saute with some olive oil in a non stick pan. Surprisingly sweet. My kale farmer says that frost makes the kale sweeter.
Dinner tonight-- kale with shitake mushrooms, lightly seared NJ tuna, rice and some Thai shrimp gyoza from Trader Joes. Healthy and delicious meal.

Yesterday I used a 7 inch tarte pan and made some pie crust. Rolled out the crust and lined the pan. Peeled and cored 3 apples and 2 pears. The pears were Comice (try them, let them ripen, the best pears). The apples were a mac, macoun and mitsu. I love to blend different flavored apples. I  sliced the the fruit added lemon juice, cinnamon, and brown sugar. I piled the fruit very high and then covered with some more rolled out pie crust. Baked at 350 for about 40 minutes. We really enjoyed. The pears gave it a nice flavor.

The 2007 Barolos and Barberescos are coming out. They are wonderful but cost in the $25 to $40 range. Try one and see. They need more time in the bottle but even now you can taste the quality.

Thanksgiving is approaching. It is my favorite holiday. I will discuss my menu next week. Wines to drink with the Thanksgiving meal is an interesting topic. Let me know of any favorite recipes.

Enjoy.