28 November 2007

Fun with Leftovers, plus Wine

A friend of mine had jokingly said that after Thanksgiving I would make a gourmet dish out of leftover turkey, pumpkin, and potato peels. I took that as a challenge.

I formed the cold turkey and some leftover homemade cranberry sauce in alternating layers into a ring mold and set it atop a pool of roast pumpkin puree (enhanced with chicken stock and various spices). I flash fried a few long strips of potato peel for some quick pommes frites, and the little black dots are a reduction of balsamic vinegar with honey and apple cider. Green onions provided a fun garnish.

I had two different wines with Thanksgiving dinner and its various leftover incarnations. First off was a white from a great producer of Petite Sirah. The pleasantly unoaked 2005 Concannon Chardonnay from the Central Coast of California has a sweet apple aroma with a touch of honeysuckle. It has a tart beginning with a short finish. Which makes it a really nice Thanksgiving wine.

For a red, I selected the 2005 Hedges CMS Red from Washington State. It's a blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot, and 4% Syrah. Raisin and eucalyptus nose. The flavor profile is a little bitter with elements of green bell pepper and grass.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

yer amazing. i like the idea of the potato peel frites.

Benito said...

I also had the bright idea had been to lightly fry a couple of segments of green onion. I had this idea of something that would be like an onion ring but lighter and more elegant. What I discovered is that the damned things are nearly all water, so when they hit hot oil they turn into a depressing, wilted shadow of their former beauty.

The frites were pretty good--I used the thicker edge on my zester to make the peels, though it would be just as easy to slice up long peels with a knife.