Thanksgiving 2010

The last three years we've gotten together with friends and created a tasting menu.  Small plates of lovely things paired with some wines that we love or want to try out.  This year we probably went over board with the wine.  Actually one of these we didn't drink but that is ok.  There was plenty of good food and interesting wine.   We started with a decent Spanish cava from Cristalino, moved to the lovely Bell 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, up next was the sake, then the deep rich Bell 2006 Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Then we had the duel between the Peterson 2006 Syrah and the Peterson Bradford mountain 2004 zin.  Drunk yet?  Because we still had the kung fu girl Riesling and some Eric Ross port before we were done.  How much wine can 5 people drink?

The better question is what did we eat with all this wine?

 First up was the amuse.  I tried making soupless french onion soup.  Something that came up on Top Chef this season so I gave it a try.  Worked pretty well.  Made an onion marmalade with demi glaze, toasted a baguette and melted gruyere cheese on it.  Served with the Cava on the porch.  As you ate it, you got the beefy stock, the chewiness of the bread and then a hit of the cheese as that came through.

 Next was tacos three ways.  Just little taco bits, trying to keep things small.  One was a traditional style carnitas taco with onion and cilantro.  Number two was five spiced grilled chicken taco, and finally number three was Korean style with kim chi.  Always a winner.  But on re-order I ended up making mostly the carnitas ones.  How about that?  I guess I might have to do a post on making them.  The Bell Sauvignon Blanc went well with this course and paired really well with the korean taco.

 One of our guests made this lovely soup.  A miso based soup with seared scallop, some mussels, tofu and little bits of chorizo to make it extra yummy.  We had Sho Chiku Bai Nigori sake with this course.  Simple and supper tasty.

With this great blood orange and roasted beet salad we had the Bell Clone 6 Cab.   The hint of argualla our friend put into this gave it a nice bite, plus there was some mint hidden throughout that really gave it a fresh feel.

 We paused to make some surprises.  One, which was the sambal banana fritters featured in one of the Singapore episodes of top chef turned out great.  but the picture didn't turn out so well, so you'll have to imagine it.  But this little palette cleanser made by a guest was so perfect.  Just a little bit of strawberry, basil, pepper and a little sugar.  So yummy.  I want more for my pancakes.

The next course was handled by another guest.  These lovely lamb chops, creamed carrots, and roasted potatoes were served with a smack down duel between two Peterson wines.  Not really a loser in the bunch.  We ended up with two wines here because Mr. Choppy's wife wanted this great peterson zin and the chef who was creating this dish thought a Syrah would work as well.  So we had both.  No losers and more wine!

This course was supposed to go earlier but it ended up near the end and it worked out really nice after the lamb.  It is inspired by the shrimp and grits at SOMA diner.  My reinterpretation of their wonderful version of the dish.  The base is polenta, some wilted Gai-lan, and then velvet fried shrimp with a spicy-sweet sauce on top.  The kung fu girl riesling worked wonderfully with this.  Plates were licked before we moved onto dessert.

 I don't have a good picture of dessert.  I have to see if any of the guests got a better one than I did.  Of course by this point we had been cooking and eating for hours, never mind the drinking part.  But dessert was a great berry and fruit tart with creme fresh.  Yummy.

Another great Thanksgiving and it couldn't have happened without our wonderful friends who make so many great things.