Christmas Wine

We had a fantastic wine on Christmas:  Baronne Nadine de Rothschild 2006 Chateau Malmaison Moulis.  My favorite wines are French reds, so my Christmas had to include at least one.  We almost always select wine based on what we are eating.  For Christmas I planned Chateaubriand with mushrooms (so good!), and Caroline at my lovely local wine store, Rick's Wine and Gourmet, recommended this wine.  I learned later it was ranked #84 on Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2009.  The tasting notes recommend holding this wine until after 2012. If what we had was not at its peak then holy smokes I need to get some more of this wine.  I better get a few bottles because I'm not sure I can let it sit for a whole year without touching at least one.

New Year's Eve Menu

I don't like to go out on New Year's Eve.  There are too many variables I can't control.  Sometimes we go to the neighbor's, but this year we decided on a quiet dinner at home.  Being New Year's Eve, I wanted something nice, but I didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen all day and night, particularly since I was recovering from a cold that had me in bed most of the week after Christmas.  I "appropriated" a menu from a local restaurant and made a few small changes and alterations.  Here's the menu and then our adaptions:

FIRST

Bruschetta

 Grilled Italian bread rubbed with garlic and olive oil, served with a diced tomato, basil, and garlic medley

SECOND

Salade d 'Endives

Belgian endive tossed with walnuts, raisins, and gorgonzola cheese

THIRD

Raviolis au Quatre Fromage

Four cheese ravioli baked in creamy white Alfredo sauce

FOURTH

Soupe à l'Oignon

Traditional French Onion soup of beef broth with caramelized onions and croutons finished with cheese gratinee topping

FIFTH

Poulet Provencale

Breast of chicken sautéed with mushrooms and brandy cream sauce

SIXTH

Bomba de crème glacée

Classic vanilla and chocolate gelato separated by cherries and sliced almonds tossed in cinnamon, finished with a chocolate coating

The Bruschetta was easy.  I made it as an appetizer for Christmas and made another small batch for New Year's Eve.  It took just a few minutes to make.  We picked up a baguette at the grocery store and topped the Bruschetta with some Greek feta.  It was hard to limit ourselves to just a few pieces.

For the salad, I chopped some endive, topped with walnuts, craisins, and Gorgonzola, and dressed it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  The sweet craisins were a nice contrast to the bitterness of the endive.  I think it would have been better with a light vinaigrette.

Here, I screwed up and served the soup instead of the ravioli.  We ended up having two cream sauces in a row, but it was okay since neither of the sauces was overly rich.  Soup is easy since you can make it ahead of time.  I found the French Onion Soup recipe on my beloved Epicurious.  I followed some of the suggestions in the comments and used red wine instead of white, beef broth solely instead of beef and chicken, and added a dash of balsamic vinegar, thyme, and a bay leaf.  I should have used white wine and some chicken broth like the recipe said.  The substitutions made the soup heavier than I would have wished.  Another thing that marred it was the fact that we didn't serve it with bread or broiled cheese in the soup.  I know:  can you even call it French Onion Soup without doing that?  This was the low point of the meal, but still not bad.

I took the easy route and bought refrigerated four-cheese agnolotti and Alfredo sauce.  I felt a little guilty since Alfredo is SO easy to make, but I blame it on still being a little sick.  It actually tasted quite good.  The sauce was reminiscent of Stouffer's boil-in-a-bag Fettuccine Alfredo that I used to love back in the day, so I had pleasant associations with the taste (should old acquaintance be forgot?) even as I recognized its shortcomings.

We were starting to get full around this point.  Although we'd been careful about portion sizes, it was a lot of food.  We each had a full bowl of soup, which was a mistake.  Half as much would have better.  We still had a little room left for our main course.

I wanted Veal for the main course but couldn't find any in the grocery store at 3PM on New Year's Eve (poor planning on my part).  Chicken doesn't scream "special occasion" to me, but I really wasn't in the mood for a fillet or seafood so chicken it was.  The recipe I used was Chicken with Mustard and Tarragon Cream Sauce.  I used boneless chicken breasts and added mushrooms to the sauce.  We should have pounded or filleted the chicken, but that's a quibble.  I substituted whole milk for half of the whipping cream and used dried tarragon (again, being lazy).  The sauce was fantastic!  We will definitely make this again but with fresh tarragon next time.

Luckily, ice cream was for dessert because ice cream's not even like eating.  It just slides down your throat, so even if you're full it's okay.  I combined sliced almonds and cherry-soaked Craisins (a mistake--I meant to pick up dried cherries) in a jar, sprinkled cinnamon on top, covered, and shook well.  I tested an almond to see if I had enough cinnamon.  I served the mixture alongside a scoop each of Breyer's Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream and drizzled it all with Hershey's Chocolate Syrup.  So delicious we had the same dessert every night for the next week.

We started the night with a white Burgunday, which paired well with the first courses, and then opened a vintage Champagne we bought at a wine dinner a few years ago.

All that food helped temper the effects of two bottles of wine.  It was an enjoyable way to end the year.  I think we've started a new tradition, too.

Oven-Fried Panko Chicken

Yesterday was hectic.  We were out of town, so we are behind in a lot of tasks.  Trying to catch up, we had a ton of chores and errands to complete before the Steelers game at 8:15.  I did not have the time or energy for an elaborate meal, but after such a busy and cold day, a good meal was in order.  We decided on one of our fall-back favorites, Oven-Fried Panko Chicken.  It's super-easy, juicy, and tasty:  chicken (I used boneless breasts) dipped in butter and coated in panko with salt, pepper, and cayenne and baked at 450 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  I chopped a few potatoes (left the peels on) and coated them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary and put that in the oven along with the chicken.  The potatoes came out crispy on the outside, tender on the inside.  The rosemary wasn't a great complement to the panko/cayenne chicken, but it was okay.  I also steamed a big bunch of fresh broccoli to offset some of that butter in the chicken.

I served a 2007 Cambria Katherine's Vineyard Chardonnay with dinner.  The prep was maybe fifteen minutes, and I was able to run to Wal-Mart while dinner was in the oven.  It was a satisfying meal leading to a satisfying Steelers win!

Happy Halloween and Braised Short Ribs

I'm not good at Halloween. I like it, theoretically and in moderation. In contrast, I LOVE Christmas. I know what to do for Christmas--tree, garlands, wreaths, presents, parties, etc. But Halloween? I'm burdened of memories of Halloweens past. There was the year that my mother pinned a few leaves to my multi-colored coat, told me to hold my arms out because I was now a tree, and marched me down main street in the community Halloween parade that way. That was one of the better years. I'm not good at costumes, either. Is it because of nature or nurture? I'm not sure. We are invited to an annual Halloween bash hostessed by friends who love Halloween. I'm always happy when we get the invitation, and then I stress for the next two weeks over what to wear. My ideas this year: Dora the Explorer (where do you find orange shorts in late October on the East Coast?), an American tourist (I hate to disrespect my fellow countrymen/ women), Amy Winehouse (or is it Cher? Snooki?).  Despite my extending worrying, I was still costume-less the afternoon before the party.  I found my inspiration this year in a satin dress I bought on clearance for $5:

I saw it as Audrey Hepburn-ish.  The scarf on my head was practical, too, because we were outside all night and it helped to keep the heat in.  (Apparently, scientists are hard at work debunking the myth that we lose so much heat that way.  Go Science!)

Sunday, of course, was the actual holiday, except where my parents live.  Their township had trick-or-treating on the 30th.  ????  Who does that?  Is this common in small towns?  Any why would you do that?  Is it only Halloween that gets this special rescheduling? Why again?

Anyway, the Steelers were playing at 8:15 so we had that to consider as well.  I needed something for dinner that I could put on early and didn't require much attention, what with all the trips to answer the door, but was hearty enough for a cold, football night.  We decided on Braised Short Ribs with Mashed Potatoes.  I love this recipe.  (I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture of how good it looked.  Sorry.)  You braise the short ribs, carmelize carrots/onions/celery/garlic/thyme, deglaze with broth, and then roast in the oven for 2.5 hours.  The recipe calls for 1.5 hours, but that's not long enough for the meat to get tender enough (this I have learned from experience).  You will have to skim the fat off of the surface before serving.  I have skimped on skimming in the past and sorely regretted it.  The ribs and gravy are fantastic over mashed potatoes.  I started with a salad (green! raw! fresh!) to balance the heavy meatiness and served it with some rolls to sop up the gravy (mmmmm).  We went with a Rhone (sigh):  Domaine Grand Veneur 2007 Clos de Sixte Lirac, a Robert Parker 93.  I did remember to take a picture of the wine (okay, the empty bottle):

So delicious.  It was good with dinner, but just as good on its own.  We bought three bottles but might go back for a case.

Fruit of the Vine

All this posting and redesigning has made me thirsty.  So, I made some grape juice from the Concord grapes we received the last two weeks in our CSA delivery.  The family gathered together to de-stem the grapes (good thing we don't own a vineyard--I never thought I'd say those words--as slow as my teen was working), and then I covered them with tap water and cooked them over a low boil for fifteen-ish minutes.  I forgot to mash them before we boiled, so we mashed after they were done with no apparent ill effects.  Luckily, I didn't listen to my husband who kept insisting we needed "like ten cups of sugar."  Easy to add later if necessary, I wisely counseled.  So we boiled, mashed, and then strained into pitchers and refrigerated.  (I forgot how much grape juice stains!)  Now it's chilled, I have to say that it's quite tasty.  And jam-packed with anti-oxidants.

Yes, yes, the grape juice was good.  But it's been a long day so I opened a 2009 Marlena Torrontés from Argentina.  It's fruity and crisp.  It would be a great wine for happy hour on the deck or at the pool.  Not so bad for sitting at my laptop on a Wednesday night either.  Apparently, and I did not know this, Torrontés is only produced in Argentina.  In case you're interested:  http://www.torrontes.com/.