Thanksgiving, 2012

                     "It's not what's on the table that's important.  It's who's in the chairs."

                       
This post includes:

• Guide to cooking and baking hotlines
• Links to great Thanksgiving sites for tips, food, decoration, kids' activities
• My own favorite Thanksgiving photos, recipes, music, wine, and even a blessing or two  ... 

Enjoy!

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  I can't preach about giving thanks.  I'll just say I think it's healthy.  It's lovely in that it's a discipline folks of any religion or country can take part.  But of course, our fair "Rabbie" had it best:

Some Hae Meat

 Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.

~Robert Burns

 Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  You could have guessed.
My worlds all come together on that day.
Giving thanks-- being grateful--is a practice or discipline of many religions and cultures, including mine.
I need it.  I need that discipline. And:
Creating a meal to honor that...is my idea of a great day!
I wish you a day of totally beautiful, grateful life.


A grace could be very simply giving thanks for the hands that made the meal, for the workers in the stores, on the trucks, in the gardens and  the vineyards.  Even a toast to all who made it possible would work.  Mark the moment.

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.  
                                                    ~W.J. Cameron
.                          
Awareness.   Awakeness. Appreciation.  Peaceful breath.
A table that includes something you love.
Someone you love.

Some of the best new scripture these days is found on paper napkins.
I have some that say, "It's not what's on the table that's important.  It's who's in the chairs."
Ah, that we have to print that somewhere.

Deep breaths and a sense of warm wonder to you as you prepare to give thanks this year.


          If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. 

                                                                                                              ~Meister Eckhart
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Before the fun begins,  thanks for reading and responding:

           Bloggers Without Borders Post on Helping Victims of Sandy 

 

Beef, it's what's for New Year's Eve or Baby, it's cold outside....

Late afternoon, 12/30/2010

When it's nice and cold, 
I can hold my baby closer to me--
and collect the kisses that are due me.
I love the winter weather 
'cause I've got my love to keep me warm....

Today, Emi and I ran out to get a video game, hit Whole Foods and King Sooper's.  In the middle, we just had to have lunch together.  As we sat by the window of the restaurant, I looked outside and said, "We've got to get home."   There's just this look in the skies and about the air when all hell's about to break loose.  The snow began to fly as we drove south, but it let up by the time we got to the grocery store.  I ran in the liquor store to grab a little Cotes du Rhone to round off the bean soup and wienies for dinner, while she got started on the grocery list.  Five minutes later, I walked in to find no carts at all.  I knew we were in trouble.  It was us and everybody else in Colorado Springs.  All at King Sooper's.  Together.  The bread aisle was slim indeed and I was thanking God I got my bread earlier at Great Harvest.  Milk?  Same story, but thanks be I only needed heavy cream for a horseradish sauce for a friend's New Year's Eve tenderloin.   The lines were 6 deep, but all of registers were open.  Thanks for good planning, store manager.  Emi said, "This is how the store where I live is all the time... and people are not happy in line.  No one talks or smiles.  New Jersey, ugh."  I seldom wait for more than one or two people in front of me; often I'm first.  Wow.

By the time we got out to the car, visibility was zero.  Snow was flying in all directions, mostly sideways.  The wind had picked up to an amazing pitch and the temperature had dropped ten degrees.  Two inches of snow were on the ground and it was a freezing mess to just open the trunk door and throw the bags in.  We felt our way home behind a crawling car in front of us and were very grateful to see the little grey, wooden house coming up on the right...finally.   It was about 2pm and it was obvious it would be dark early, which it is.


Thanks, God, for a warm house, heat, hot water, loving family, a working stove (where the bean soup bubbles) and a lovely fireplace where we'll roast wienies tonight.  Why not?

If you don't cook in the fireplace, try it sometime.  Fun, fun.  This pic if one I took last spring when the menu was the same as tonight.


Meantime, I thought I'd leave you with a great New Year's Eve dinner that you might really like to make--either now or later.  But I think it'd be a wonderful celebration for 6-8.  Not a tenderloin and not the price, this time-taking (yes) prep is made with flank steak.  Cool thing is, it braises slowly in the oven while you share a bubbly or two with your friends and put your feet up on the coffee table.  Once the prep's done, the work is nearly done.  


Here's what it looks like from nearly the beginning to end....  I like some skinny green beans cooked in the microwave, a great baguette, and some fresh pasta with it.  You could make do with a salad and bread.

Ultimate Beef Braciole (Tyler Florence)---Alyce's altitude/seasoning adjustments in italics 
   Note:  do not try and get this tender in the amount of time allotted if you're at altitude
 Ingredients

For the Braciole:

• 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 anchovy fillets, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup buffalo mozzarella bocconcini balls, sliced in half if large size
• 1/2 cup store-bought, drained and roughly chopped roasted red peppers
• 3 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2-pound piece flank steak
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, quartered lengthwise
• 
  

For the Braising ingredients:

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 cloves garlic, gently smashed
• 2 small onions, sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 2 c red wine 
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes (recommended: San Marzano)
• 8 vine-ripened tomatoes, separated from vine
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons good-quality balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped for garnish

Directions

To make the Braciole: Toast the panko bread crumbs in a dry skillet with a little olive oil over low heat, until golden. Add to a large mixing bowl along with the anchovy, garlic, bocconcini, red peppers, parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper, to taste. Stir together until well combined.
Set the flank steak on a piece of plastic wrap. Make a deep horizontal slice along the steak almost all the way through and fan open like a book. Lay another piece of plastic wrap on top. Using the smooth side of a meat mallet, gently flatten the steak until about 1/2-inch thick; take care not to tear. Discard the top sheet of plastic wrap; rub the surface with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Spread the stuffing evenly over the meat, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Arrange the eggs lengthwise down the center of the meat and roll up like a jelly roll log, using the plastic wrap as support. Tie the roll with kitchen twine in 4 to 5 places to secure - this will help hold the shape and keep the filling from falling out.  Season outside of roll very well indeed with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put a roasting pan across 2 burners and heat over medium heat. Add a 3-count of olive oil and add the thyme and garlic. Cook for about a minute until fragrant. Carefully add the braciole and sear until evenly browned all over, approximately 2 minutes each side.
Add the sliced onions and bay leaves, then stir in the beef broth to deglaze. Add the canned tomatoes over the top, then nestle in the whole vine tomatoes around the braciole. Bring to a simmer, then cover with foil and put in the oven to braise for 45 to 60 minutes.   Add 20-30 minutes if at altitude...serve when tender. When done, remove the foil and remove the braciole to a carving board to rest. Carefully remove the whole vine tomatoes, with a slotted spoon, to a plate. Let the sauce cool for about 5 minutes. Discard the thyme stems and bay leaf, then add the sauce to a blender and puree. Pour the sauce back into the pan and set over medium heat to bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and add the balsamic vinegar. Remove the kitchen twine from the beef and cut into 1-inch thick "pin-wheel" slices. Arrange the slices on a platter and arrange the whole vine tomatoes around the beef. Pour the sauce over the top, garnish with
 chopped parsley and serve.

Haricots Verts with Lemon

1.5 # haricots verts
1 t freshly grated lemon rind 
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

In a large, microwave proof bowl, place beans with 1/4 cup water.  Cover tightly and cook in microwave at full power for about five minutes.  Test for doneness.  Drain and place in serving bowl.  Dust with lemon rind, salt and pepper to taste.

Fresh Pasta

Here in the Springs, I buy pasta (linguine for this) at Mollica's on Garden of the Gods.  Two pounds for 8 people is plenty and will cost you about $11.   Call ahead to make sure they have some; you can order some a few days ahead to make sure.  Bring 10 qts of water, well salted and peppered, to a boil and gently place raw pasta into the water... you'll need to carefully separate the strands of linguine. Cook until al dente...perhaps five or six minutes.  Remove from water  or drain and, after placing in a serving bowl, add 1T olive oil and  1/4 c chopped fresh parsley.

Wine

We liked a Barbera ($) or a Barolo ($$) with this. Vintages Wine on Tejon has some  lovely choices.

Baguette

Get your baguette at Marigold or La Baguette.

Starters

I like a little sparkler and some spiced nuts...not much more.  This is a big meal.  Gruet (New Mexico) makes a sweet sparkler that's not overly priced and is nearly local.   Otherwise, grab some prosecco and be glad. 

Stay warm,  be happy in 2011.  You will be if you eat this for New Year's Eve.
Alyce      
  
 

If you live in the Springs, I'm thinking you should have bought New Year's Eve dinner already.

I Hahd a Fahm een Ohreegahn...or..How I Fell in Love with Pinot Again

Every once in a while, God throws you a, no, not a hardball...  not a softball...  maybe just "a ball."  And folks go around saying things like,

"Life has loveliness to sell."   or

"Damn, I'm good."  or

"Ya gotta have frehhhhhhends.." or

"Do not be anxious."  (Sound familiar?)  or

"Is that stuffed French Toast for breakfast?" or

"What is duck confit anyway?" or

"Don't ask; just pour." or

"What is harrissa anyway?  or

"Do you know the way to ______________"  after one more u-turn. or

"Will you order me 6 of those to make a case?"

If you had the time, the friends, and the money...  You might grab them and go to the Willamette Valley in Oregon.  Maybe at the end of the summer when the grapes were trying oh-so-very-hard to ripen.  Before harvest, before crush.  While the wineries were all spanking clean and winemakers still had time to talk to you a little (or a lot).

We had three full days to see -and taste at- a number of fine, fine wineries and had three top-flight dinners, two with winemakers and the other where the winemaker had had a word with and bestowed  a blessing on the owners of the restaurant.  (Hence the cassoulet with the duck confit.) We tasted somewhere around 120 wines.   And spit we did or we wouldn't be here to tell the tale.  Lord, it was hard to spit sometimes.  By dinner, we could actually REALLY drink a glass of wine.  And, sometimes it was hard to look at it.  Well, we suffered through the experience as best we could.

The winners?  For me, Tony Soter's Brut Rose. ($48)  For most everyone else, Scott Paul's Dom Denise...but, then again, I loved nearly EVERYTHING at Sineann (Thanks, Peter) and WillaKenzie had just a phenomeneal line-up over all.  WK's whites knocked me out of the ballpark.   My favorite 08 Pinot?  Really hard to say, but I might choose Prive's Nord.  Prive is a two-person vineyard and winery and is boutique in the best sense.  Tina and Mark... a very low bow.  My favorite older vintage Pinot?  Ah, I'd have to dither amongst the Ken Wright bottles.  No doubt.  Favorite zin?  Sineann.  Favorite table wine?  Ditto.  At $13 bucks a bottle; it rocked.  Syrah?  Cristom.

Every picture tells a story, don't it?  (For a full line-up of pics, go to my fb page; I'm still uploading, but lots are there.  Friend me if you haven't!)

Our B&B, Wine Country Farm.  Call Joan.  She'll set you up with a room & BREAKFAST. (with a "B")

A view from the B&B

Hazelnuts in the nearby grove and Gris, one of the farm's Australian shepherds, who herded us on our daily walks in the country.

Starting out the day in front of WillaKenzie...  wine for breakfast?   pic by Barb Alexander

  Pinot grapes--most weren't this ripe. And:  How much stuff is on top of the grapes in that vat?

Scott Paul Winery, where we tasted both Oregon Pinot Noir and some French Burgundies.  The pick here was a local wine, Dom Denise...  The pick of the trip for our resident geeks and somm.

Dog fix with Big Mac and tasting with Courtney at Tony Soter.  My fave of the trip was Soter's Brut Rose, and Courtney greeted us at the door with a glass.  Maybe that did it.

In Tony's garden...

At the Depot in Carlton, tasting 08 Ken Wrights (for the cellar) and Ken teaching us all about terroir in Oregon.

Tasting at Witness Tree and Bethel Heights

Great lunch for $12 available at Bethel Heights:  freshly-baked baguette, charcuterie et fromage avec vin--mais oui! 

 

(below)  I had hoped they'd leave me behind here, but no such luck.

This should be my obituary picture.  Oh, and this is how wine is stored at the winery (St. Innocent)

(above)   And just in case you forgot what black-eyed susans looked like.

I don't think there's anything that doesn't grow in Oregon.  Blueberries, a few, were still coming on.

(Above and Below)  In the tasting room

and barrel tasting at Christom

with Steve Doerner...who was the perfect host.

I hahd a fahm in Ohreegahn.

Loving Sineann.  (above and below)

Sineann produce and Dave and I in the parking lot at Sineann. (below)

(Below)In the Prive winery with Tina.

We were all convinced we'd like just a couple of acres of vines for ourselves..like Tina and Mark.

Sounded like fun when she talked about it.

Until the subject of weather came up.

And how it was going to affect the year's income.  EEk.  Well.

But, whatever.  They DO get to have pizza parties with their outdoor wood oven.  Maybe that was part of the draw?

At dinner with Sineann winemaker, Peter Rosbeck, and also another piece of duck we were forced to eat.

This time with a little risotto and a gorgeous carrot.

Wine talk over part of Sineann's lineup.  Note the vineyard maps behind. (above)

Last gasp:  stopped at the Ponzi wine bar (something like 150 OR wines to taste there) and had a tiny bit of breakfast wine on the way to the airport.  Arneis was LUUUHHHHvely.  Best buy?  Ponzi's Rosato, a dry rose good enough for any table at $15.  (above)

A final pic... my favorite.  Best wine dog= Poor old Big Mac. Relegated outdoors during tasting at Soter's.
I like you.  You'll like me.  Why can't I be in there?  I'll only kiss you one (or five times).
Hey, Hey, Heyheyheyhey heyhey  Hey!!!  (Are you gonna eat that?)

Sing a new song; sing of OHREEGAHN,
Alyce

Sole on Leeks with Salad

For six or seven months, I've been loving fish cooked in vegetables or with vegetables or as a part of a salad.  Maybe longer.  Just think of it.  Simple white (any color, really)  fish that absorbs the flavor of vegetables, is a complete dish (or almost) when it comes out of the pan,  and lets you eat your carbs at the other meals.  Or not.  To say nothing of getting your however many servings of vegetables.  Right there.  Right then.

I've done fish "tacos" this way,  fish salads with proscuitto, snapper in tomatoes, onions and olives, etc.  I even put sole in a spicy broth and felt naughty.  After all, sole is supposed to be...

Well, what is sole supposed to be?  I always think of meuniere when I think of sole.  And I make that fairly often.  Especially for just me.  What's easier?  While I link to Ina's recipe for it, really you can make it without a recipe, I'd think.   Very lightly  flour, salt and pepper up your sole, saute it in butter for a couple of minutes,  take it out of the pan onto a heated plate.  Add another tablespoon of butter into the pan, melt, and squeeze in a lemon.  Pour that over the fish on the plate and scatter some chopped parsley on top.  I like another dusting of salt and pepper.  If you have some greens on your plate, the sole and lemon butter will create your dressing.  Et voila, dinner is served in... how many minutes?  And how much sole do you need?  How hungry are you?  1/4 of a pound is ample.  If you buy a half pound, cook it all and eat the rest cold the next day with some green beans or tomatoes.

This sole, however, was a dream before I cooked it.  Fish cooked on leeks and just a smidge of garlic.  Nestled in some greens and a little tomato and yellow pepper for color.  No dressing that's made ahead  per se, but a dressing is definitely made, once again, by lemon and olive oil.  Quick and healthy and lovely for a hot night.  Add a little Sauvignon Blanc, maybe a bite of bread and butter or cheese,  and there you are!

Sole on Leeks with Salad  serves 2

1t butter
2T olive oil, divided
6 leeks, whites and light green only, trimmed, washed very well, and sliced thinly
1 garlic clove, minced finely
1/4 c fresh parsley, divided
2T fresh chives, chopped, divided
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 # sliced fresh Dover sole
1 lemon, halved
1/4 c white wine or chicken stock
3c salad greens
1 tomato, chopped finely
1/4 yellow sweet pepper, chopped medium

In a large skillet, heat butter and 1T of the olive oil over medium heat.  Add leeks and cook about 10 minutes, stirring often.  Add garlic, 2T of the parsley and 1T of the chives.  Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.  Cook another minute or so until vegetables are very wilted and beginning to brown.

Add sole in a single layer over the leek mixture.  Add a little more parsley and chives, along with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Add wine carefully.  Squeeze lemon over all and cover.  Cook for 3-4 minutes until fish is opaque, but still quite tender. 

 Meantime, on a large platter, scatter salad greens and top with chopped tomatoes and peppers.  Season with salt and pepper.  When fish is done, slowly, using a large flat spatula, remove vegetables and fish onto or in the middle of the greens.  Season with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, drizzled over the fish and salad.  Squeeze the other lemon half over the entire platter.  Finally, dust with a last pouf of fresh ground pepper.

Serve with a little seeded bread and salted butter, as well as a few slices of cheese.  A light white wine, particularly Sauvignon Blanc, would be the perfect accompaniment.  But I said that already.

Bon appetit!

Note:  the herbs are all from my garden...  Quite fun to wander around outside, hoping nothing burning on the stove, while I decide which herbs go in which part of what dish.  Some things I just love about summer.

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood

 

Thursday night dinner guests:  Froncie, Julie and Teresa for Grilled Chicken Caprese (another post.)

Froncie is an old college friend; Julie and Teresa are her sisters.  Wow.  What an evening outdoors.

How cool to see an old friend....

We babysit Moss.

He likes it.

Sunbird for brunch.

Someone else cooked!

Why I have goldens.

Summer in the front garden.

Russian sage...bees love it...

Still waiting...

What's on my counter and in the frig?

counter:

Sweet potatoes for a frittata

Fresh mint in a small watering can--for tea

Big gladiolas

Onions

Shallots

Garlic

Tomatoes

New potatoes

Apples

Sea salt

new Le Creuset pan; Dave burned up my old 3 qt one:):(

frig:

Big hunk of Gouda

Goat's Cheese

Ricotta

Lemons and Limes

Zucchini

Peppers

Jalapenos

Side of salmon (friends for dinner)

Chuck steak (testing chili for Cooks' Illustrated)

Oregon chardonnay

Blueberries (making blueberry frozen yogurt)

Melons

Pelligrino

3 qts of iced tea

Sing a new song; cook some fish,

Alyce