November 28, 2013 Lunch – Turkey and Cranberry Sauce Sandwiches, Dinner – A Taste of Alsace: Chicken with Riesling Wine Sauce, Braised Red Cabbage and Spätzel and Salad

November 28, 2013 Lunch – Turkey and Cranberry Sauce Sandwiches, Dinner – A Taste of Alsace: Chicken with Riesling Wine Sauce, Braised Red Cabbage and Spätzel and Salad

This is re-written because I inadvertently overwrote the original description. 

We spent the morning getting packed and then we made turkey and cranberry sauce sandwiches on sliced of mayonnaise smeared whole wheat bread.  Suzette’s Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery had taken orders for 35 Thanksgiving Turkey dinners and had given her two or three slices of turkey white meat and a small container of cranberry sauce. 

We also packed a small zip lock bag with organic greens and put the sandwiches and greens into a carrying bag with an apple.

Once we were airborne we ordered a Bloody Mary for Suzette and a Heinekins beer for me and nibbled on our sandwiches in flight to Dallas.

When we arrived Billy picked us up and took us to his house where we were greeted by his wife Elaine and their daughter and my niece, Rebecca, who now is working for Goldman Sachs in NYC.

After the greetings we opened the wine box we had brought and gave them the bottle of Green Tomato Chutney we had made and a bottle of Los Cuates Green Chili Sauce and the small bottle of black truffles we had bought in Soria, Spain (16.20 Euros) during the same trip we had taken with them two years ago and two bottles of Trimbach 2000 Hommage a Jeanne Pinot Gris. 

After dropping our suitcases in our room we went back to the kitchen and Billy poured Suzette a glass of scotch and me a glass of apple juice and we watched and talked while Billy, Elaine and Rebecca prepared an Alsatian meal. 

Billy had already prepared the Braised Red Cabbage, so he started making the Chicken with Riesling Wine by sauteing 8 chicken thighs in butter in one large deep skillet and chopping shallots and mushrooms and sauteing them in another skillet.  Here is the entire recipe:

Rebecca then started making the spätzel by mixing the ingredients (2 cups flour, 7 fl. oz. milk, 1 tsp. salt and 3 eggs) and letting them sit for thirty minutes.  After they had sat she processed them by using a spätzel tool exactly like the one shown in the pictures below.  The dough was dripped and cut into a large pot of boiling water and the cooked spätzel were scooped out of the boiling water and dropped into a sieve resting in a bowl of ice and water that immediately cooled the spätzel and kept them from sticking together. 

 

 

While Rebecca made the spätzel, Elaine made a fresh salad with locally hydroponically grown butter lettuce, with yellow and red cherry tomatoes, sliced pitted kalamata olives and one large cubed avocado and dressed it with a light vinaigrette dressing.

In about two hours the chicken dish and spätzel and salad were finished and Billy did one more thing to enhance the meal, he opened the small jar of truffles we had brought, sliced off a large slice from one of the truffles and chopped it finely.  Then I chopped it some more and put 1/3 in the spätzel and 2/3 in the chicken dish and we stirred them to mix the flavor of the truffles into the sauce and noodles and we were ready to eat.  Billy opened the Pinot Gris and I poured glasses of it and we served the chicken, spätzel and cabbage at their lovely dining room table in their remodeled dining room set with our parents’ blue damask table clothe and napkins at the dining room table set with the Florentine pattern of Wedgwood china our parents bought on our 1960 European trip.  Billy inherited the items in the dining room in the residence we grew up in on Manderly Pl. in Fort Worth.  I felt at home and very comfortable in their elegantly appointed dining room.

I laid a mound of spätzel on each plate and Billy scooped chicken and mushroom cream sauce over it and we each served ourselves red cabbage and ate it with sips of the beautifully balanced fruity with a hint of citrus 2000 Hommage a Jeanne that complemented and cut right through the creamy buttery sauce accented by the earthy flavor of truffle.  This was the best Alsatian meal I have ever had.  The meal could not have been better if we had been sitting in a great restaurant in Alsace.  

Here is the information on the wine:

• "The 2000 Pinot Gris Hommage a Jeanne was produced from a selection of Trimbach's best Pinot Gris parcels (all harvested at over 15% natural potential alcohol). It sports 25 grams per liter of dry extract and 20 grams per liter of residual sugar. While at most firms this wine would merit a Vendanges Tardives bottling, the Trimbachs chose to pay homage to Jeanne Trimbach, the mother of Bernard and Hubert, who turned 100 in May 2000 and continues to drink Alsace's lovely nectars to this day. This gorgeous wine has mineral and smoke-imbued white peach aromas. On the palate, it is medium to full-bodied, dense, and rich. Layer after layer of apricot, poached pear, white peach, and spices can be found in its highly expressive, velvety-textured personality. It is an intensely concentrated, wonderfully balanced, fresh, and structured wine. Drink it between 2005 and 2018." - 93 Pts Pierre Rovani - The Wine Advocate

Product Info

• Rating
  93 Pts Pierre Rovani - The Wine Advocate
• Size
  750ML
• Sub Region
  Alsace
• Region
  Alsace
• Country
  France
• Varietal(s)
  Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio

• ABV
  13.0%
• Vintage
  2000
• Color
  White

• Closure Type
  Cork
• Collectable
  N/A
• Kosher
  No
• Sparkling
  No
• Dessert
  N/A

• Taste
  lemon, apple, and pear
• Nose
  floral, butter, cream, almond, and citrus

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Here are the recipes for each of the dishes and pictures of the dishes and plates of food:

Chicken in Riesling Wine sauce

Voila

Elaine and Rebecca

The Wine

 

Chicken with Riesling Wine

Braised Red Cabbage

After dinner Billy made decaffeinated coffee and we moved to the table in the den beside the fireplace where Elaine had made a fire and in the semi-darkness Rebecca showed us the pictures she took on her trip to Israel and Switzerland last year.  Billy’s family is friends with the family of the Swiss exchange student they hosted several years ago who live in Zurich while we sipped a wide selection of liquors collected by Billy, including most of the ones listed in the description of the November 30, 2011 meal below and several new ones like Deau cognac from France, Ditta Bortalo Nardini Grappa Riserva from Italy, and Fidelitas William Birne (Pear Brandy) from Germany.  I enjoyed the pear brandy the best because it had a slightly sweet flavor.  Billy also served Lindt chocolate bars.  We all liked the pieces of dark chocolate filled with cranberry paste.  I sipped several glasses of Franagelico and felt like I was in heaven.  

 

It is wonderful how well organized Billy and Elaine are in designing and executing and presenting elegant celebratory meals such as this sumptuous Alsatian feast.  It makes me realize that Suzette and I have a very different approach that is decidedly less elegant and emphasizes simple dishes cooked quickly with fresh ingredients from our garden and PPIs.  We are either lazy or pressed for time or lack the level of creativity and organization of Billy and Elaine. 

Rebecca said Billy had changed the menu slightly when I told him what wine we were bringing.   So everything was orchestrated into a great Alsatian dining experience.  We could have just as easily have been at one of the best Alsatian restaurants in France tonight.

Bon Appétit

       

Here is the review of the great Thanksgiving meal Billy and Elaine prepared for us in 2011, which I believe further confirms my theory that they have a real skill for menu and meal design and execution.

November 30, 2011 – Extravagant Continental Thanksgiving Dinner and Italian pasta lunch

If I had to describe how I feel about the last day’s food and activities in an anthropomorphic simile, I would say I feel like a happily overstuffed sausage.

I started the day getting packed in the Teak wood house in the jungle south of Sayulita.

I then fixed breakfast of left over fish stew on a toasted tortilla with a fried egg on it and a cup of peppermint tea.

After packing and a near disaster backing out of the driveway of our rental house, it was on to Puerto Vallarta to meet Harold Lott, Suzette’s ex-husband for lunch.  We suggested meeting him at a small Italian Restaurant named Moka Caffe located at Plaza Marina just south of the airport.  He arrived a bit after 11:00 am with a friend from Lake Chapala named Lupe.  Suzette and I split a Cesar Salad and a fresh made linguine with butter and sage and we opened our bottle of French champagne that Billy and Elaine gave us. Luke and Harold ate fresh gnocchi in a tomato sauce and Lupe had the special of the day Lasagna.  I loved the lightly sauced fresh pasta, although the Cesar salad was dressed with a mayonnaise and Worcestershire dressing that as goopy and there were no whole anchovies as I had requested. Total bill 530 pesos.

After lunch Harold invited us to visit his boat at the marina about one mile south of the restaurant.  Harold owns a 38 foot Juneau that has four rooms that sleep two comfortably  or three uncomfortably and a space for crew with a large galley and bathroom and shower.

We sat on banquettes on either side of a table under the main sail on the deck behind the galley and in front of the steering wheels and drank beer for about an hour in the sun and shaded by a rigged bimini utilizing the tarpaulin cover for the lifeboat.  There is not a lot of room on a sailboat but it was comfortable.   We met Harold’s other sailing mates, Mary Ann and Tom and Rick, who had accompanied him from PV to San Diego and back on the fourteen day sail from which he had just arrived back.  In fact on November 29, 2011 we had seen them motor into the Banderas Bay from the seafood restaurant at Punta Mita at around 1:30 p.m.

Harold has a home at Lake Chapala that he is developing into lots and condominiums that we discussed among other things, like old friends; as we caught up on the last few years of individual histories.      

After a pleasant visit on the boat we drove to the airport and returned the rental car and departed PV at around 4:00 p.m.  We arrived in Dallas and made our way through customs and immigration by around 7:00 p.m. and were met by Elaine Simon, Bob’s sister in law.  She called Billy, Bob’s brother and told him we were on our way and Billy started the final prep of dinner.  When we arrived at Billy and Elaine’s house in north Dallas, dinner was prepped and the table set and wine decanted.  So as soon as we dropped our bags in our respective rooms, we re-assembled in the kitchen.  While Billy and Elaine did the final cooking, we nibbled duck pate on toasted slices of French bread and Leyden cheese (which we all love).  Elaine sautéed blanched broccoli in a pan with minced shallots, lemon, thyme, black pepper and garlic (America’s Test Kitchen Recipe for Pan-Roasted Broccoli with Lemon Browned Butter).  Billy heated up broad strips of Caramelized butternut squash garnished with a sage, ricotta salada, and crushed hazelnut Pesto (www.Food52.com Caramelized Butternut squash Wedges with Sage Hazelnut Pesto).  Billy also had made a lovely sweet potato casserole with sweet potatoes cooked in cream and sugar and garnished with a streusal of flour, cream, butter, brown sugar and pecans Sweet Potatoes with Streuseled Topping from Cook’s Illustrated).  The meat was slow cooked pork tenderloin (America’s Test Kitchen.com Pan Seared Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloins) served with a lovely sour cherry and white onion in port sauce (Americastestkitchen.com Dried Cherry-Port Sauce with Onions and marmalade) but without the marmalade.  Finally there was a bowl of brown rice risotto.  A real Thanksgiving feast. 

Let me discuss an issue that I noticed when both I and Billy cooked the slow cooked pork tender described above.  Billy has a fancy thermometer that has a long probe that he used to measure the internal temperature of the pork tenderloin.  The recipe says to cook the meat until it reaches an internal temperature of 135 to 140°F, which we did.  Unfortunately, the meat does not appear cooked because the center of the meat is not fully coagulated and still appears undercooked at this temperature, but I encourage you to fight your tendency to continue to cook the meat until it looses its color and turns pink or gray and try to eat the meat a little less cooked than you are used to because that is the way the Spanish and French eat it. Billy did what I usually do and that is to slice the meat and place it in the sauce to “finish cooking it”, but I do not think that is the intent of the recipe.  Billy left some pieces less well cooked and they were very tender to the point of melting in your mouth.  

To accompany this lovely array of foods, Billy opened two beautiful bottles of wine; a silky smooth and elegant Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru La Combe aux Moines 2000, Domaine Dominique Gallois and a Savigny-Les-Beune, veille vignes, 2006, Domaine Phillip Girard, fruity with a hearty finish.  We could not have had a better Thanksgiving meal.

After we ate our fill of these lovely dishes and the food cleared and talked for a few minutes, Billy said are you ready for coffee and a disgutive and brought several hands full of bottles to the table, including Mathilde Liquer Poire, Cognac Claude Chatelier XO, a Mercedes Eguren Aguardiente de Orujo, Licor Valvanera from the Hospederia (Monastery) of Valvanera in Rioja, a Pere Magliore Calvados and a Germain Robin brandy.  Then Billy served coffee and delicious Ghirardelli Ultimate Chocolate Cookies (allrecipes.com) and fresh pineapple.  Billy and Elaine had purchased the Aguadiente the day we had our lunch at Eguren Vineyard near Laguardia, Spain, in April 2011.  After lunch Billy, Elaine and Rebecca took the vineyard tour while Suzette went to the spa in Laguardia and I took the vineyard tour at Marques de Riscal at Elciego.  What a nice surprise!   The Aguardiente had a lovely, clean slightly fruity eau de vie, grappa taste; just the way you would want it to taste.  Then I tried a few sips of the Licor Valvanera.  We had thought hard about going to the Monastery when we were in Rioja, but we did not have time.  Billy said he found the Licor in Segovia.  I missed it.  What a nice treat and memory of our trip to Spain, reignited in my mouth.  Then after a few sips of coffee and a cookie, I poured a glass of the Chatelier XO and it was much softer and nicer than the VS cognac we buy at Trader Joe’s.  What a pleasant finish to a fabulous meal. 

It is interesting that Billy and Elaine use the same method for constructing dinners that we do of going to the internet to research dishes and construct menus.  It is also interesting that Billy and I seem to have inherited from our Mother and share the same Simon gene that constantly fires our passion for fine food. 

Although it is not often that one finds the type of meal described above, such a meal is out of the price range of almost every person, surely us, unless one buys the ingredients and makes the meal oneself.  The other reason to cook yourself is that you can adjust recipes to your specific taste as noted above with regard to the pork tender. When you love the above kind of foods, how and where are you going to find them, except perhaps in Paris, Madrid, or New York?  Otherwise, you can only assemble them and cook them yourself to achieve such a high quality of food and wine on any kind of regular basis. I hope everyone who reads this blog realizes that they too can stand at the top of the food chain and enjoy such wonderful food on a regular basis.  Perhaps not as grandly or in such plentitude, but at least sequentially and of the same quality and that is just as satisfying.  Only occasionally does one enjoy such a meal as the magnificent Thanksgiving table laden with so many wonderful dishes and wines presented to us by Billy and Elaine. 

Another reason to give thanks to God; that I have a brother and sister-in -law who have good food genes.

Bon Appétit