The BostonBrunchers Land a KO with KO Catering & Pies

I was one of the lucky winners of 7 spots for brunch at KO Catering & Pies this past Saturday. There were several exciting aspects to this occasion for me including meeting new-to-me Boston food bloggers and getting to eat food from KO again.

KO has a small space designed for take-out on A street in South Boston. The kitchen space also functions as their base for catering and a truck that will be opening in 2011.

Our host Kara greeted us all as we arrived. KO had prepared a table for us to enjoy our brunch at with favors (Tim Tams!) for each of us to take home. We are invited to order anything off of the “Brekky” menu, which was complimentary for our event, with several special treats planned as well. We’ll get back to the food in a moment.

( these plastic Oragami-looking birds above our head was a nice decorating element )

This week I met my first Boston-area food bloggers. Only being in the city three days a week for work affords fewer opportunities than I would like. Connecting with a community of folks dedicating their time to food and beverage topics like I do is a key step in broadening my experiences, sharing my own and keeping the blog rolling. At this event I met Katie, Athena, Daisy, Rachel, Elizabeth, Kimmy, and our BostonBrunchers host Renee.

You can’t go wrong with a gang like this! The conversation ranged from what Vegemite is to whether you would trade a dishwasher for a washer & dryer in a typically small Boston apartment to dogs snoring at night to where to get a great burger in town. That’s a lot of ground to cover. Thank you to Renee for organizing and it was so exciting to meet everyone, something that seemed to be shared by all.

Kara indicated that our first special treat would be Vegemite on sourdough toast. I knew of Vegemite, a yeast extract spread, but had never had it. Some research ahead of time yielded the knowledge that Vegemite was originally made from spent brewer’s yeast and blended with spices to produce what has become a staple of Australians. I was prepared that it would be very salty and that stereotypically Americans don’t like it. Interesting.

( looks can be deceiving, but not this time. )

( I forgot to buy some, but I'll be heading back! )

The most straigtforward way I can describe it is that it tastes like very salty beef gravy. With some butter on sourdough toast it is excellent, and I can’t really see where any dislike would come from; except maybe the saltiness.

Elizabeth ordered the granola and passed it around to share. Kara indicated that they make it on site. It was very sweet and crunchy with what looked like dried cranberries, apples and bananas in it. I could see eating this for breakfast with some vanilla yogurt.

( you can almost taste it... )

I was last to order and at that point the menu had been covered pretty well, except for the Croque Monsieur. Feeling like we shouldn’t leave a man behind I ordered it. Smoked ham and provolone on sourdough bread grilled to a golden brown. The ham was very flavorful and the cheese was melted all over the place ensuring everything in one bite. As some of my readers well know I have a weakness for cheese and bread so getting some more of the sourdough bread was alright by me!!

( looks great doesn't it? )

I took some pics of a few other dishes as they came around. The cold food after photo shoot food blogger joke created some good laughs.

( sweet corn fritter with bacon & avocado )

The final special treat was the sausage rolls. When Margot and I had the KO pies at the Wine Riot in October I don’t recall seeing the sausage rolls on the menu. When I first took a look at the shop menu in anticipation of the brunch I knew I had to try some one way or another. First the photo.

( that will keep you coming back! )

Kara explained that they source the sausage from a local polish butcher and add their own secret blend of herbs and spices wrapping it all in their flaky crust. I hadn’t yet heard anything that would change my mind. The texture of the sausage was wonderful, so soft and yielding. The spice blend was balanced nicely and the finish with the crust surely made me happy.

A final act of sampling was set in motion with the order (Elizabeth again who has a self-professed sweet tooth) of one serving of the Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream. I had one small bit of this and it was amazing. I might come back for just this sometime! It had lots of flavors going on and was warm and sweet. A great way to finish a fantastic meal.

( it looks so good and it follows through! )

Australians definitely have a sense of humor. As evidence I offer the caption below the clock showing the local time hanging on the wall. Pie time!!

There was a flurry of activity at the register before we all headed off to our respective next destinations. I ordered four pies and two sausage rolls to bring home for future enjoyment. I felt like I need a security guard to keep my treasures safe!

I took a few shots of treats waiting in the warmer. If this doesn’t make you hungry you might want to check your pulse.

I am looking forward to future opportunities to go out with the Boston Brunchers. Monthly events are being planned and the mix of faces at each event will likely change so there should be something new for everyone in the coming months. You can follow the group on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with what is going on and when the next chance to win a spot will be.

A huge thank you is must for KO Catering & Pies. Both Kara and Sam took great care of us on Saturday morning. Much thanks also goes out to Renee for organizing the event. She was talking about logos and the web site for the group during brunch. Hardcore!

( the BostonBrunchers at KO. photo thanks to Kimmy. )

You see lots of smiles and from the wrap-up above I am confident this should be no surprise. I enjoyed my time with the Boston Brunchers and hope some of my readers will check out KO Catering & Pies when they have the chance.

Cheers!

--Jason


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Making Holiday Cookies with Mom

The weekend before Thanksgiving my father found himself in the hospital and as a result my parents didn’t make it up to VT. My mother and I had planned to do some holiday baking during that trip, something we both look forward to and especially when we get the chance to team up. Margot and I went as planned and I cooked the pies for our holiday enjoyment.

Fast forward a few weeks later. Dad is quickly recovering from bypass surgery and I visited today to check in and spend some time with my parents. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my mother had planned to make cookies while I worked. I had my camera with me so this made for a great opportunity for an unexpected post.

My mother subscribes to the e-mail newsletter of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. The daily recipe sent to subscribers on December 4th was for Scotch Rosemary Biscuit Cookies created by Andrea Newberry of the Forkable blog.

The recipe is intriguing for a couple of reasons. First off, it contains scotch. I haven’t baked with scotch before so I didn’t really know how much or little of the smoky flavor from the scotch would come through. Secondly, rosemary. Our friend Amy made rosemary shortbread cookies earlier this year, something that was new for me. I have to admit I ate way too many of them, but the rosemary flavors wrapped in butter and sugar were just too much.

The cookies came out fantastically and I have a nice satchel of them to take home. They aren’t going to last long! I couldn't detect any remnants of the scotch, but the rosemary flavor can't be missed. The coarsely grated parmesan cheese creates a chewy texture that really brings these cookies together.

I am participating in the International Blogger Holiday Cookie Recipe Exchange this month. I’ll be posting the recipe I was assigned early next week. The recipient of my recipe, Lori from Fake Food Free, posted her recreation of the recipe and the story I sent along with it yesterday. As you can see there is a history with my mom, me and cookies!

Cheers!

--Jason

Celebrating Christmas 1912 at Hildene

( Hildene, restored and cared for by local volunteers )

A quick bit of background. I have been travelling to southern Vermont for summer and weekend trips since I was kid. More recently my family purchased a vacation home that draws family members up there year-round.

Hildene, the estate of Robert Todd Lincoln, is located in Manchester Center, Vermont.

Spending more time up in VT inevitably results in explorations of the surrounding areas to find outdoor activities, tourist attractions and cultural events. A few years back my mother visited Hildene, shared the history and related how beautiful the house (mansion) and grounds were. I figured we’d get there eventually.

We spent the past weekend up at the house again with some holiday baking on our To Do list. With some time to spare I got to looking for holiday themed activities that we could check out while we were there. As luck would have it the holiday celebration at Hildene was kicking off this weekend. This meant the house would be decorated and there would be music and activities at the welcome center.

When you arrive at the welcome center you are met with a couple of options for tours. We went with the self-guided house an grounds tour. You start with a short video that lays out the history of Hildene and a little bit about Robert Todd Lincoln, the only child of Abraham and Mary Lincoln to survive into adult-hood. The key point I took away from the video was that when visiting the Manchester area as a child Robert was taken by the natural beauty of the mountains and river valleys; making it known he wished to build a home there one day. Those are some big dreams.

As luck would have it his life, and all of its twists and turns, brought him into the association of a family who lived in Manchester, Vermont. This association helped him locate a 500 acre parcel of land he eventually purchased for what would become Hildene. Aside: the wealth required to take on this project came from several sources including his tenure as the president of the Pullman Rail Car company.

The house and grounds are absolutely beautiful. This time of year the outside is trimmed back and cleaned of leaf debris. If you close your eyes you can imagine what it might look like in the spring or summer. A return trip specifically to see the cutting and kitchen gardens is planned for next year.

( cutting and kitchen garden )

We entered the home through the main entrance right off the driveway. The smell of pine wreaths was a welcome aroma. We were greeted by one of the many energetic volunteers who invited us to explore the public spaces as we chose. He also explained the new exhibit available upstairs focused on the second inaugural of Abraham Lincoln. The joke about Robert Todd Lincoln’s father being of some minor import to American History was a good laugh.

Based on the way we decorate for holidays today Christmas in 1912 would seem rather spartan. The tree was plainly decorated, and the style of tree called back to a time before commercialized trees designed for visual appeal with dense clusters of needles on full branches. Less is more! Each of the rooms , except for the kitchen and pantry, had some form of holiday decorations presented including mantle-pieces, wreaths, candelabras and bows. It reminded me of my grandmother’s house during this time of year when I was a child.

I found the kitchen and pantry spaces intriguing. The large cast iron stove and cooktop looks like it would be a lot of fun to experiment with! Some of the gadgets look pretty high-tech for their era and were no doubt made possible by the family’s success.

The entire house was constructed in such a way to allow the staff to quietly and efficiently serve residents and guests. Right off of the foyer was a staircase, dumb-waiter and pantry space used by the butler and staff to hide some of the inner workings of the home.

( festive entryway )

( 1912 Christmas tree )

( the library )

( cast iron cooktop )

( the dining room with your patron looking over you )

( the desk of Mr. Lincoln's secretary )

( the parlor and some Christmas music )

The views from most of the rooms were incredible as expected. Knowing this area for as long as I have it is no surprise that its majesty made such an impression on Robert Todd Lincoln and his family. The last picture is a side view of the house and the new snow line on the Equinox mountain range.

Cheers!

--Jason

Chocolate Chili Panna-tini

Last week Brian from A Thought For Food shared his recipe for Chocolate Chili Panna Cotta which is his entry in the A Chile & A Spoon Blogger Recipe Challenge sponsored by Marx Foods. Voting is no longer open. We got to sharing tweets about it and I mentioned a possible pairing with our homemade Jalapeno Dessert Wine. Brian was intrigued.

I got to thinking about it a bit more and wondered what adventure a recreation of the dish as a cocktail would take me on. The quest for the Chocolate Chili Panna-tini was on!

There are basic recipes for chocolate martini’s everywhere. Not being a favorite of mine I can’t recall ever actually making one. I opted not to consult any recipes to determine my starting ingredients/proportions as a test of my growing mixology intuition. I knew the challenge to create the richness of panna cotta was going to take a few tries which I’ll walk you through.

I started with the following for a base cocktail:

1 part dark Crème de Cacao
1 part hand-infused vanilla vodka
1 part Ancient Fire Jalapeno Dessert wine
1/2 part Kahlua Mocha
1/2 part fat free half and half
4 drops Bitterman’s Mole bitters

I chilled the ingredients down and shook them well before pouring into a rocks glass for testing.

The chocolate flavors were excellent, but I felt the drink was little thin. The heat from the wine didn’t come through as much as I wanted which was a suspicion I had when I started. I added ¼ tsp of hand-infused habanero vodka to create some heat and determined that would be a too much for some people, but spot on for folks expecting the cocktail to have heat.

For the next round I dropped the wine and added 1 egg white to the ingredients before shaking. I also extended the shaking time to encourage the egg to foam up.

This time the drink had more body and texture from the egg white and with the heat is definitely fun and a worthy homage to the dish that inspired it. You could use regular half & half or cream which would produce even more body in the drink. Both Margot and I feel that this cocktail isn’t a volume drinker. I would expect you would want to switch to something else after 1 or 2 of them, even without the chili vodka. As a novelty or celebratory drink however, it presents flavors sure to please!

The Jalapeno Dessert wine would definitely pair well with the panna cotta (we know because we have had it with chocolate cheesecake) because the heat is fairly low and it doesn’t build beyond a point that casual sipping is no longer possible. For that reason I think the wine will not likely be as worthy to cook with as we had hoped. Since it is drinkable though, nobody loses! In the end we didn’t use it but found other ingredients that functioned much like we expected the wine to.

I didn’t get any good pictures through the process and can only say that maybe this drink demands you enjoy it firsthand and shies away from the camera! The cocoa bean photo above is a Creative Commons Licensed photo that makes a nice rustic touch for a spicy chocolate cocktail kicked up with mole bitters.

Cheers!


--Jason


Photo Citations

1 - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cocoa_beans_P1410151.JPG

Pecan Pies Are Christmas For Me

( Ready to eat, nutty and sweet, a real Christmas treat! )

I don’t make them every year and some years I don’t even come across one to have during Christmas, but somehow one of the images I always think of around Christmas are pecan pies.

I used the same crust recipe from my earlier pie post, but after rolling out the crust and crimping it into the pan I refrigerate the shell before adding the filling and baking.

Pecan pies are very easy to make. One quick scan of the ingredient list for the filling and you can see why they taste so good. When you realize a whole pie has a 1000 calories in it from JUST the corn syrup you might starting debating whether you want to eat a slice though!

Pecan Pie

1 bag shelled pecans
8 oz light corn syrup
¼ cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
1 pie refrigerated pie shell (homemade or god forbid store bought!)

Dump the pecans into the prepared pie shell. I leave mine whole although some people will chop the pecans first. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour the mixture over the pecans. Place in a 350 oven and cook for 50-55 minutes or until set. Cool completely before serving. Pies can be frozen and warmed up for future service.

( Waiting for the filling... )

Luckily for us the pies we made were for a friend who would ordinarily buy their pies at the store but heard of my pie crust and asked if I would make them for here instead. It is an honor to make the pies that will be served on our friend’s holiday tables to be enjoyed by their guests this holiday season.

( To the oven with you! )

Because of the intense sweetness of pecan pie finding worthy beverage pairings can be a challenge. A maple liqueur on the rocks or coffee with Irish cream and/or Kahlua are two choices that come to mind from experience.

Keep an eye out this week for posts on a spicy chocolate martini (thanks to Brian at A Thought For Food), a holiday dinner we had with friends to end the week and a 1912 Christmas at Hildene in Manchester Center, VT.

Cheers!

--Jason

Chocolate Raspberry Port Wine

At the awards dinner during the WineMaker Magazine conference in Stevenson, WA earlier this year the WinExpert Chocolate Raspberry Port wine garnered a lot of attention. Numerous medals, made by the winemakers of the year winner and by several members of the club of the year as well. Firsthand experience with this wine was a must!

The kit ended up being a pre-order special edition this year. Too much of a good thing, perhaps? Constrict the supply to lock in the buyers at a high price, maybe? We bought.

We started the batch in September and it fermented quickly producing an earthy light red wine base. There was oak in the initial fermentation and it was obvious in the stable wine. The chocolate and raspberry flavors come from the affectionately named F-Pack added in the final stage.

The completed wine was sweet and flavorful with a full nose that gets to you before you can get the glass to your face. We didn't specifically think it needed something more, but Margot had a brilliant idea. It's port style wine so why not fortify it with a little Chambord? Why not, hell of an idea! After a bit of settling we racked into a clean carboy and added the Chambord. Stopped it up and tucked it away again.

We let the wine rest until last night. The aroma is still huge and the flavors are rich and extended. Sweet chocolate, raspberries, some acid with a gooey Tootsie Roll texture. And it is warming to be sure. The closest thing we have made to date would be our Black Currant after dinner wine and/or the Cabernet blended with it. Totally different flavors, but similar core wine flavors.

This is going to debut next week at our annual holiday open house and I am sure there will loyalists by the end of the day!

This is also the cornerstone for our 2011 wine awards. We hope it is worthy.

Cheers!

--Jason

‘Tis The Season!

I work only a few blocks from Downtown Crossing in Boston and a walk through the carts and shops available there is always worth the time. Today I wandered up and happened upon a holiday market going through December 24th. It felt like Christmas with wreaths, trees, holiday music and treats.

The market doesn’t have to be about your long term shopping if you handle that online or elsewhere. Several vendors were familiar to me from the Dewey Square Farm Market including the Swiss Baker, Q’s Roasted Nuts and Pigs Can Fly Breads. I have brought food from all three back to office for everyone to try! I tasted three flavors of honey any of which would make a great pairing with some goat cheese and crusty bread for an afternoon snack.

All sorts of gift items including prints from local artists, hand knit winter hats & gloves, jewelry and other selections were represented. If you live or work nearby it works out to a nice way to support local businesses and have some fun.

( We go with a fake tree, and ours is up already! )

( The 411 on the market. )

Happy Holidays!

--Jason

Book Review: Cider: Hard and Sweet by Ben Watson

I picked up the second edition which includes new material on Perry, i.e. pear “cider” for most of us who would never have heard of this otherwise. This book ended up being a nice bump for me after my cider experiment in 2009 and all of the feedback I have received on the different styles.

The wonderful thing about books like this is the fact that you get information of all kinds. A good start is a history about the beverage and then add in process, customs & variations, DYI details and last but not least tasting, pairing and applications/cooking.

Cider has a long and storied history around the world. While production volumes have changed a lot over the years it stands to reason that some of the very best cider products are available right now, if you know where to get them. Today I enjoyed the section of the book on the departments of Normandy, France and their customs in the making and consumption of Calvados. A kiss of Calvados on the lips during baptism and we can’t love the French?

Ben Watson, the author of Cider: Hard and Sweet, succeeds in an impressive effort to present a breadth of information on a topic that isn’t familiar to most, and seems to point to a tradition in decline from its heights. That is certainly true, but the upside with reading Watson’s book is knowing where to get good cider, he readily tells you about all of them, how to serve them and what enjoyment awaits those that do. Our own home-state favorite, Farnum Hill Ciders at Poverty Lane Orchards and its owner/cider maker Steven Wood is quoted, described and toasted in the book.

I made cider for the first time in 2007 after a bad go of making an apple wine in the two years before. My initial attempt at cider including charging the bottles much like you would with beer (creating the bubbles through a closed fermentation) resulting in volcanic openings on a couple boxes. My 2008 batch was still (no carbonation) and worked much better. The sections of the book on basic cider making, upgrades and longer term projects represent a true hands-on experience and processes others could follow to a happy outcome.

I love cider, but my experience with it is pretty limited. Once I could make my own I didn’t end up tasting too many others. I remember buying Farnum Hill ciders right after college and drinking them with my now wife on our weekends away together while she finished school. At the recent Wine Riot in Boston I had a heritage varietal cider from Farnum Hill that blew my socks off. I’ve also had Woodchuck and Cider Jack, but they aren’t the same beverage.

Then came 2009.

In my cider post earlier in month I explained my approach to a 7 bucket project to produce a bunch of different cider types. I got good results from all of them and one just took First Place in Common Cider category of the Northeast Regional Homebrew Competition. I’m learning and trust me I coming on strong again next year with new ideas and new products.

Towards the end of the book Watson shares recipes and cooking tips. Braising meats with cider is a slam dunk. Marinades and salad dressings using cider are not a stretch. (Recipes below)

Making your own cider vinegar sounds easier than most people, including me, would have thought. I am hoping this extends to wine vinegar as well. Unfortunately I have some wine I could blend for vinegar (it isn’t good to drink), but I’d like to use cider to make vinegar on purpose. Allowing a finished wine/cider to aerate in a warm dark place and then stabilizing it like wine can net gallons of ready to use vinegar. The uses for it are well beyond cooking and a variety of health benefits have been observed in some daily consumers. Thanks Ben!

The details on how the author lined up and tasted many ciders, compiled scores and described the facets of the best ciders was very intriguing to me. Food pairing with any beverage is a lot of fun and some of the notable things we have tried with our ciders are grilled margherita pizzas, candied bacon and barbeque. Our cider party was a drunken barn dance a-la South Park, and the hangover a few of us had was pretty intense; but what a way to celebrate all the hard work!

The chapter on Perry contained information completely new to me. I made a pear wine in 2008 but found it off tasting and have used it mainly to create wine punches. Fine Perry can be made from specific heirloom pear varieties and is typically drier and sharper than that which we create from dessert pears, e.g. those that are directly edible. Pear and apple blends are noted here as well. I think an experiment with a pear dessert wine is worthy for 2011!

Cheers!

--Jason


Barnes & Noble info for the book

Recipes

Braising / Slow Cooking

I have changed the liquid ingredients using cider in place of ½ of any broth and water in an original recipe. If the recipe also calls for white wine I would continue as is, but recipes that call for too much red wine are a problem as the wine can overpower the apple flavors which are not typical in such wines.

Cider Salad Dressing

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ dry hard cider
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp crushed Mexican oregano
½ tsp crushed rosemary

Combine cider, vinegar and spices. Slowly mix in oil. Serve over greens with candied nuts, dried cranberries and Roquefort cheese.


Other NH Cider Products We Have Tried

Crooked Tree Winery – we had several great tastings at a public event
Farnum Hill Ciders – our favorite!
Silver Mountain Ciders – lots of different styles, found in NH & VT

Out-of-State Mention

Crispin Ciders – Crispin is active on Twitter organizing events and might be coming to NH next year.

Thanksgiving Highlights

Well, this week certainly turned out to be the adventure you are always anxious about. My Dad is becoming famous for needing to visit the hospital on Thanksgiving. This time it was serious, but he’s on the mend. Our family had Thanksgiving plans on multiple dates and in multiple locations before the detour. As much of that as could went on as scheduled. As a result, I’ve been low key this week and didn’t take a lot of pictures. I did very much have fun spending time with family and friends. We also decorated the house for our upcoming holiday events and shared some homemade wine with friends at an open house.

My Holiday Pies post from earlier in the week was executed at our place in VT. My parents were supposed to be there, I was responsible for pie ingredients and my Mom had some fantastic recipes to try for meals. Unfortunately my parents were at home with my Dad having some tests to see what was going on. With no specific worries afoot we went to VT and made all the pies.

A trip out to Dutton’s was necessary to pickup apples and snacks.

( Some of these are in our holiday pies! )

( Squash = Thanksgiving }

I made the pie crusts in the morning and we made the pies from early afternoon into the evening. Six apple, two pumpkin and two blueberry. Making pies all by hand is taxing but to worth it.

We also had a nice sunset walk up Adams road, a favorite of the whole family.

Early in the week I spent two days down in CT with my family. Everyone was nervous on Tuesday before surgery and relieved to hear my Dad crack a joke about how bad he felt after surgery. Yeah no kidding.

Dad was going to be rocking the hospital for the holiday and my brother and his wife were going to go to VT without my parents much like we did the weekend before. We were going to be with friends up in Croydon, NH as planned. My Mom took friends up on a prior offer and joined them on Thanksgiving in between visits with my Dad.

Our Thanksgiving with Missy & Steve was everything you would want in a holiday. Just for the record Missy and Steve might not agree on the count that they were moving the week of the holiday, but they will also read on to find out my take. Moving is so much fun that Margot and I have sworn it off for almost 10 years now. That day will come. Prior to the moving coming up we had planned a nice quiet “extended” family holiday at their home. We had worked out that they would do the turkey, stuffing, potatoes and squash and we would bring snacks, side dishes, bread, pies and wine/beer/cider. Despite being exhausted from moving, and being in a new place, Missy and Steve pulled it off. There were moments specifically noted as being very much like “a fun old-fashioned family Christmas” a-la National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, but we all had fun and the food was fantastic. I should have used a cart to get myself out of there.

Steve totally killed it with the turkey. Wrapped in bacon and baked until complete. That is just too damn easy for something that was as good as it was. Missy makes a mean stuffing using a combination of packaged and fresh ingredients. I didn’t get the recipe yet but I can say I really enjoyed it.

Margot and I brought three cheeses and opened three of our own dessert wines for a starter. All three wines, Cabernet Franc, Riesling and Peach are very sweet with a good balance of acid and paired best with the goat cheese for me. The sharp cheddar and horseradish cheeses are great in their own rights but did also pair well with the wines.

I then opened up a cherry flavored cider and a medium dry cider from 2009. Both had great clean flavors, not apparent re-fermentation (a problem being watched) and were smooth and refreshing. My cider project is developing a nice legend! We didn’t have the materials at the time but when I mentioned the following beer cocktail everyone’s ears perked up. Next time.

Cherry Stout
½ Dieu du Ciel Imperial Stout
½ Ancient Fire Cherry Cider

For a side dish Margot and I made glazed leeks and carrots. Steve’s admission pretty much sums this up. “I had never had a leek in my life until Jay made these earlier in the year, and now they are never not in my fridge.”

Glazed Leeks and Carrots

5 medium leeks, washed and cut (white part only)
5 medium carrots, washed, peeled and cut 3/8 inch
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 stick butter
¼ tsp ground ginger
Salt & pepper to taste

Boil the cut carrots until just tender. Drain. Melt butter in large sauté pan. Add leeks. Saute 3-5 minutes. Add carrots, sugar, ginger and mix well. Saute until sugar is thickened and leeks begin to caramelize.

We also made buttermilk biscuits that were great with some melted butter on them. The second bag was specifically requested to stay behind when we left. I didn’t make more when we got home and now I am missing them! We opened 2008 Viognier and 2009 Pinot Noir with dinner. Both were easy matches for all the food.

( Gracie, Missy, Steve and lots of food! )

( Gracie with a cameo, me and Margot. Again the food! )

On Saturday our friends Ed and Jim had their annual holiday open house. You go for the food and the decorations. We missed their Thanksgiving celebration the weekend we were making pies but sent a gift ahead to say we were sorry. Ten bottles of wine! Ed and Jim were so nice to us in appreciation of the wine. Their friends we saw yesterday couldn’t stop talking about how much they enjoyed it, how much they drank of it and asked why I didn’t do this for a job many times. For Thanksgiving we prepared a menu of wines for them to serve at their celebration.

Pacific Quartet – Cocktails & snacks; wine is light fruit and medium-dry
Symphony – Dinner white; subtle smoked fruits and medium to light body, dry
Cabernet Blend – Dinner red; presents good fruit flavors without much heft, dry
Pomegranate / Black Currant – After dinner; tart and sweet with rich red fruit flavors
Moscato – Dessert; sweet and fruity!

We heard the Pacific Quarter went like crazy during cocktail hour. That would have been fun to see. We have just started serving this wine, made earlier in the year, and it seems quite pleasing. We also heard the Pomegranate/Black Currant and Moscato were both a hit after dinner. Ed’s friend (and ours now!) Amy said she indulged in multiple glasses of everything we sent over. Other reports about the white and red with dinner suggested people found good pairings and were happy. Wow!

Yesterday we brought the Pacific Quartet again and added in Cabernet Sauvignon and Concord Rosé. The Concord Rosé is one of our newest wines made with a batch of wild Concord grapes that a friend had on his property. It is light pink in color, dry with delicate and fleeting fruit flavors. It is very pleasing but doesn’t linger. I bet it will do well despite those observations. I was the only one drinking the Cab (from 2008) yesterday and the magnum was almost full when I left so it came home with me.

Tonight I’ll be drinking some of that Cabernet cooking stuffed squash for lunches this week. I’ll also be pondering what new holiday adventures I can get into in the next month.

Check out all four holiday posts from earlier in the week.
Holiday Entertaining - Final Post
Holiday Beer Talk - Post 3 of 4
Holiday Pies - Post 2 of 4
Holiday Wine Advice - Post 1 of 4

Cheers!

--Jason

Holiday Entertaining

( This is just one of our families! )

Less is more. Less clutter and decorations creates spaces for guests to put plates and cups during the annual open house two weeks before Christmas. Less fussy foods take less time to prepare and are easier for guests to handle. Serving Thanksgiving dinner family style in one room and eating it in another room results in less stuff on the table

The holidays are supposed to be fun! All the parties, food and drinks are the gift to adults. When you are the one hosting you want to be able to make magic and pull it off. There are a couple of tips we have used over the last few years that have worked well:

• Dress up the food table. Make a centerpiece or accent the table with garland and confetti. Draw people’s attention to it.
• Small plates allow people to take just enough food and be able to be on the move.
• Self service beverages really help with the flow of your event. You’ll see later we ignore this tip for cocktails, when used together...

Everything else you do is going to depend on who is coming and whether guests are bringing food.

( Several years ago I hand washed and dusted each of these pieces of fruit.

Settled together on a platter with a vanilla scented candle it made our table stand out! ) 

Holiday food! Can’t beat it and thankfully we all get to carry some of it into the next year with us. Our holiday spreads are always a team effort with our guests. Our family and friends love to bring all kinds of dishes to our house depending on what we need. My mother is one of the best people to take up on the offer to make food for a family gathering. Guests are happy to contribute and find foods they like on the table. The host doesn’t have to be responsible for everything and can enjoy something different as well.

( Clean forks lining up for dessert! )

  

If you want to pick a food theme, like Southern influences, you want to make sure guests are aware of the theme and you know whether they are participating. We used this theme for Thanksgiving dinner one year and had some incredible side dishes like macaroni & cheese, greens and sweet potatoes. We also wanted a wider vegetarian selection for Christmas two years ago and asked our families about what they could make to help out. When Anuarg & Dhepeka arrived they were pleasantly surprised at all the vegetable dishes, including the Indian gobi (cauliflower ) I had made. Additionally the beans, salad, potatoes, squash, Indian dal and rice all went amazingly well with a glazed ham. The variety and a very new combination of flavors were the talk of the meal.

Open house style events are common this time of year and we always have one. We find there is a bit more work on the social aspects of gatherings like this. We use different activities to help our guests get to know each other and interact. We now find some of our friends come for the holidays and are interested in seeing other friends of ours, and more than us!

Last year I led a mixology demo at our open house, making three different cocktails. An Old Fashioned, a Street Pharmacist and a Cool Runnings. (recipes at the end) Cocktails capture people’s imagination. Trying different flavors and textures is a lot of fun, especially with a group and several drinks to try! After demonstrating each drink and letting my guests try them I asked if anyone wanted to try it for themselves. Several takers stepped up and they went to work, asking a few questions along the way. The drinks were good and everyone had fun. I walked away and came back 30 minutes later and there were still people mixing up the different drinks and talking about them.

Several years ago we took family photos on our stair case at several events. The photos weren’t pro and the lighting sucked, but everyone had a good time and loved having the photo to print out or put on the computer. All the holiday smiles were nice to look through on Christmas day. We have even assembled a collection of photos for Christmas showing the different events over the years.

I wrote posts on wine and beer for the holidays earlier in the week. How you decide to pair foods and beverages out for different functions comes down to the people. In those two posts I covered both family dinner and open house settings with simple beverage ideas. Two solid tips are as simple as having diverse selections and the self-service option for busy gatherings. Read the linked articles for more stories and specific recommendations for holiday food pairing.

 Be ready to have fun. I have a playlist of Nu-Jazz, Downtempo and lounge music playing softly in the main room. For Christmas we put cartoons on rotation in another room for the younger kids. We otherwise turn the TV off and put a photo slideshow on the computer. Moving from room to room we get many opportunities to talk to our family and friends and celebrate all we have to be thankful and happy for.

( This isn't the entryway to my house. It is the entrance of the Lobby at the

Sandals Ocho Rios in Jamaica. We experienced Christmas in Jamaica in 2005.

That was a whole other kind of party and not one I had to cook or cleanup from! )

Cleaning up from these types of events is always a pain. People are going to be hanging out in your kitchen so it makes sense to move most everything you don’t need out of it. Put your reserve supplies in another location and go get them when needed. We have used three specific things to make cleaning up less of a disaster:

• Start the day with an empty dishwasher and put stuff in it as you go
• Have separate trash and recycling and keep an eye on them during the party
• Use paper and plastic with large busy and more casual gatherings

Hopefully your holiday gatherings go off without a hitch this year. It’s about the people after all so don’t count out some twists and turns!

Check out the first three posts in this four-part series on holiday food, beverage and entertaining.

Holiday Beer Talk - Post 3 of 4
Holiday Pies - Post 2 of 4
Holiday Wine Advice - Post 1 of 4

Cheers!

--Jason

Mixology Demo Cocktail Recipes

Old Fashioned

2 oz bourbon whiskey
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 splash water
1 tsp sugar syrup (make ahead, more if sweeter is desired)
1 maraschino cherry
1 orange wedge

Mix first four ingredients in a rocks glass. Add ice. Squeeze the orange slightly to add some juice to the drink. Place orange and cherry in glass and serve.

Street Pharmacist

2 oz Appleton 12 year old rum
2 oz Rum Cream
1 oz Amaretto

Mix and serve over ice.

Cool Runnings

Gold rum
Coconut rum
Blue Curacao
Pineapple juice
Simple syrup

You make this in a pitcher like punch. Use whatever quantities you like! Mix and serve over ice

Holiday Beer Talk

In my post earlier in this series on holiday wines I alluded to some potential guests that might not be interested in your finely crafted wine program for the holiday meal. Beer is as food friendly as wine in the general sense. Lighter beers are often less aggressive with food and heavier beers tend to present considerable flavors that must mesh with the food to work well. Acidity and carbonation work together to present different finishes on beers, also significant.

If you have beer explorers around during the holidays you will definitely want to check out some of the holiday beers that come out in November and December every year. I updated my mix this year and have the following items ready for a tasting:

Sierra Nevada Celebration
Rogue Yellow Snow
Rogue Santa’s Reserve Ale
Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome

The easiest way to handle the need for beer at a holiday open house is to have a cooler containing a few different commercial lager/ale options for people to grab when they want one. You might have 3 or 4 rooms of different people doing different things and letting your guests decide when and what to grab makes things less stressful for you.

For dinner time pairings I have had great success with two styles of beer. Belgian/abbey ales and freshly hopped unfiltered pale American ales. I think both of these beers have different food pairing assets.

A Belgian white is creamy and has some spices to match with almost any food. A maltier Belgian beer with a thicker body can easily handle roasted meats, squash and stuffing. Some unique aromas from Belgian yeasts can liven up different pairings. The Brooklyn Local 1 is a food friendly Belgian-style from NY. Chimay makes several abbey and Trappist style beers that should be easy to find and great matches with an array of holiday dishes.

Freshly hopped pale ales have lots of citrus and pine that can work well with vegetable side dishes, stuffing and dishes with a lot of herbal flavors. Try this style with aged and flavored cheddar cheeses as well. They are very cleansing with each sip and stay lively for a long time. Sebago Brewing from Portland ME, makes a Local Harvest Ale in this style using freshly picked hops. It is aromatic, very flavorful and very refreshing. The Rogue Captain Sig’s Northwestern Ale is a bit bigger, but still a hop monster just in a brown ale form. This will appeal to heavier beer drinkers, but still provide that sold pairing foundation.

If you are looking for an innovative way to get your beer drinkers involved in cocktail hour, consider making shandys. A shandy is a blend with ale that might contain lemonade, lemon/lime soda, ginger beer or other sweet and sparkling beverage. The results can vary. Generally it turns out to be a malty, bready drink with some more citrus and/or spice and a bit sweet. Your choice of beer should be something with a light body, unfiltered and some hop influence, but not too much. Try a 2/3 to 1/3 ratio for first timers. If they like the beer better this drink won’t be a huge shock.

The painting above was painted by a friend of ours Meredith Ingersoll. We were drinking homemade cider up in VT and she asked to take one of the bottles home. She turned that bottle into a beautful painting. We have another of hers depicting  a martini glass on its way.

Here are a couple of beers we tried recently that were fun with different foods:

• Fruili - imported from Belgium. It is a Belgian strawberry beer made with light malts, orange peel and spices. It is a light, sweet, berry flavored sour beer that matched flavors with Brie and Dubliner cheeses.
• Woodstock Inn & Brewery Wassail - I had to mention this beer because of my initial explanation of its flavors, bread pudding. We made pumpkin pies and that was similar in flavor to the beer, and enough to remember it! This beer would work with dessert even though it isn’t at all sweet; the spices should help integrate it a bit.

Check out the first two posts in a four-part series on holiday food, beverage and entertaining.

Holiday Pies - Post 2 of 4
Holiday Wine Advice - Post 1 of 4

Cheers!

Jason

Holiday Pies

( Apple pie makes the holidays for me! )

Every year I make apple and squash pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas. About ten years ago I took an online course on pie-making. The course used a Cook’s Illustrated pie-making text and ran for 8 weeks, with a different type of pie for each. I know, tough homework! But I learned how to make a pie dough by hand that can’t be beat!

My absolute favorite is apple pie, but I will gladly eat most others; especially squash/pumpkin and pecan during the holidays. I like my apple pies spicy and I never hear any complaints from my guests with the ones I put out every year!

Double Pie Crust Recipe

2 ½ cups of all purpose flour, sifted
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
11 Tbsp unsalted butter, cool
7 Tbsp vegetable shortening, cool
Ice water

I use a 100% manual process with a pastry blender, wooden spoon and a spatula. Cut the butter into the premixed flour, sugar and salt with the pastry blender.

Don’t blend down too much. Cut in the shortening working to a consistency of coarse crumbs.

Adding 1 to 2 Tbsp at a time use a wooden spoon mix in the water and bring the dough together into a ball.

Remove the dough ball from the bowl to a lightly floured sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Prepare a surface to roll the dough on with all-purpose flour.

Cut the dough ball in half and form one half into a disk. Roll from the center outward flipping several times to reach a size that will fit a pie plate.

My apple filling is really simple and can be made in double sized batches if you have the bowl for it. Take six apples of two different kinds and wash them. The ratio of apples you use is up to you. I used 2:1 Cortland and Zestar this year. Peel, core and slice the apples. Add ¾ cup of white sugar, 1 tsp lemon zest and 1 tsp orange zest. Add two Tbsp of lemon/orange juice, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp allspice, ½ tsp ginger and ¼ tsp nutmeg. Mix well. Pour into a prepared pie crust. Add 2 Tbsp butter before placing the top on the pie.

Fill and cover with a second crust rolled out the same as the first.

Crimp the edges, cut 4 slits in the top. . Place the pie in a 350 oven and cook for one hour or until crust begins to brown.

Pumpkin pies are made all over New England this time of year. We grow the vegetables so well around here and we eat them in many ways. I prefer to use a combination of butternut squash and pumpkin which can produce a more gold colored pie with a creamier texture.

Mix two cups of baked pumpkin and butternut squash in a bowl. Mash well. Add ¾ cup of dark brown sugar, 1 ½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp cloves, ½ tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp of salt and one can of evaporated milk. Mix well. Beat two eggs and add to the squash mixture. Mix well. Pour into a refrigerated pie shell. Bake at 350 for 65-75 minutes, or until filling is set.

After my pies cool and I wrap them in plastic wrap and foil and immediately freeze them so that I can serve them as fresh as possible in a few week’s time. From here the possibilities go off in many directions. I also made two blueberry pies today using berries that were picked fresh back in August and frozen. These will make a nice addition to the Thanksgiving table this year.

Check out our first post in a four-part series on holiday food, beverage and entertaining.

Holiday Wine Advice - Post 1 of 4

Cheers!

--Jason