AmericanWinery.com

Remember what the fridge looks like the day after thanksgiving? Packed with the remnants of previous night’s dinner, the leftover tidbits can be a snacker’s dream or a cook’s nightmare. But if you let the gastro-alchemist loose, you can come up with some fun ways to make new meals all week long. If you are anything like your mother – you’ll make Turkey Noodle soup!  Turkey Noodle soup is great, but if you are like me and would prefer to spend your time with your friends and family instead of slaving over homemade noodles and chopping vegetables: you’ll look for something a little easier.  I found this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens in 2007, and adapted it to make it a little heartier, without being any more difficult!

• 1 jar salsa
• 6 cups chicken/turkey stock (since it is likely that you have a turkey carcass you can use, I would make a stock yourself – see below for details)
• 2 cups turkey shredded or cubed
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can corn
• 1 zucchini chopped
• 3 corn tortillas cut into thin strips and fried
• sour cream & limes for garnish (optionally necessary)

It’s fall.  The weather is getting cooler and and you are starting to layer your clothing again.  In my mind, now is the perfect time for some comfort food.  Although this recipe takes a bit of time, I am sure you could probably chuck all the ingredients into a slow cooker on low and leave for work in the morning, to come home to a delicious meal that night.  This is one of my favorite recipes because it puts a tiny spin on a timeless classic.

Ingredients

• 4 TBS Olive Oil
• 4-5 lb bottom round roast
• 1⁄2 large sweet onion, diced
• 2 small shallot, diced
• 6 cloves of garlic – some mashed, some minced
• 3 TBS tomato paste
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1⁄4 cup Hoisin Sauce
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 2 large sweet potatoes – cut into eighths
• 4 or 5 white or yukon gold potatoes – cut into eighths
• 4 carrots – sliced
• Red Pepper flakes
• Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 300°

Start by heating oil in a dutch oven or large cast iron pot (with a fitted lid) over medium-hi heat. Season the roast well with salt and pepper, and place in the olive oil. Brown the meat – make sure to get all sides.  Remove and tent with aluminum foil. Lower the heat just a bit and add the diced onion and shallot stirring and cooking for approximately 5 minutes.  Add the mashed & minced garlic, and cook for another 5 minutes until fragrant, but not browned. Add the tomato paste and mix well, then slowly add the wine.  Cook for 5-10 minutes or until wine is reduced by 1⁄2.  Add the chicken stock and hoisin sauce and mix well.  Toss in a pinch of red pepper flakes. Add the roast back into the sauce/gravy and place in the oven for 2 hours.  Baste occasionally with the gravy and flip roast after 1 hour.  When the two hours is up add all of the potatoes, and the carrots, flip the roast again, baste, and cook for one more hour.

**If your gravy is too thin, extract a cup’s worth, whisk in some corn starch or flour, and mix it back into the gravy.

I loved this served with broccoli or asparagus!

In general, I prefer red wine. I have come to understand, appreciate, and respect the occasional white wine, but given the choice, I rarely go for white. Summer is a tough time for us red wine lovers, however. Partially because a lot of red wines are heavier than whites, but mostly because they are served at higher temperatures than whites. And when the thermometer outside is pushing 100, a chilled drink is preferable. The solution? Sangria of course! Here’s what you need:

• 2 bottles of cheap, medium-bodied red wine
• 2 oranges, a lemon, and a lime
• 1 small can of pineapple bits (with juice)
• 1-2 cans of ginger ale

Grab a pitcher. Slice one of the oranges, the lemon and the lime, and add to pitcher. Add pineapple bits (along with the juice, mind you), juice the second orange and add that as well. I occasionally also like to add a sliced apple, not as much for flavoring the sangria, but for munching on while drinking this yummy beverage. Crush the sliced fruits a little bit with a wooden spoon. Some people like to add some sugar at this point, but I think that I am sweet enough already.

Pour in the wine and let the mixture sit for several hours (4 is a solid minimum). Once the juices have blended with the wine, add at least 1 can of ginger ale, 2 if you like your sangria a bit more bubbly. Put a good amount of ice in a glass, pour sangria, drink the glass and pour again.

Please ensure that you are wearing shorts and flip-flops while drinking sangria (or some sort of summer-wear), as shoes and pants have been known to deter one’s body from fully appreciating the delicious, refreshing party of flavors.

How do you make sangria?

While I do not recommend imbibing whilst working on your taxes, once you’ve completed the arduous task you deserve a deduction-busting beverage. I invented this little Tax Toast wine-tail as the perfect remedy for your IRS headache.

1 oz. vodka
1/4 oz. Triple Sec
3/4 oz. pureed fruit (blueberries, raspberries, peaches, whatever tickles your fancy)
4 oz. sparkling wine (I recommend Midlife Crisis Winery’s “Maggie’s Magic”)

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake the vodka, triple sec and fruit puree, straining into a champagne flute. Top with the sparkling wine. Garnish with fresh fruit or a citrus twist. Cheers!
For those of you who choose not to imbibe you can make something similar with pureed fruit and sparkling water/soda. Fun and refreshing! Cheers!

I am a hopeless romantic.  I write poetry, I buy little gifts, I still make “mixed tapes,” but I’ve always felt that the way to a (good) man’s heart is through his stomach…  which is probably why I don’t mind forgoing the fancy restaurant and cooking for my man.

As nice as it is to be taken to a nice restaurant and showered with gifts, maybe it’s time to take the pressure off, and have a romantic evening in. My suggestions here are simple, irresistible, romance-inducing “bites”… because eating with your hands is a sensual experience!

Oysters are a great aphrodisiac and a simple course to prepare.  Just be careful with the shucker!  I serve them with a simple mignonette sauce and sparkling wine of course!

Then make up a small cheese plate.  Honey is known as an aphrodisiac and it pairs incredibly with blue cheese.  Right before serving, drizzle your wedge of Bleu with a little Orange Blossom Honey. Next select a softer cheese for spreading and adorning with figs.  Figs are great alone, but I love to cut them in half and soak them in a sweet dessert wine for a few days.  If you don’t have a few days, simply take 8-12 figs, cut them in half, and place in a small pot over low heat with 1 cup of your favorite dessert wine (any late harvest Riesling or Semillon will do) until the wine is reduced by at least half.  Add a little drizzle of honey and mix well.  Let cool before placing on the cheese plate.

Last but not least, you need a sweet for your sweet.  I suggest simply calling your local chocolatier and ordering up a few chocolate-covered strawberries.  If you have the time, they are fairly easy to make at home.  A delicious bittersweet baking chocolate will do – Scharffen Berger is nice.  Simply melt in a double boiler, dip your cleaned strawberries and set aside on wax paper to harden.

So light a few candles, pour the right wine, and pop in that Barry White CD you’ve been saving. You have a very amorous evening ahead.