The holidays always have the potential to be pretty sticky, not just because of the virus. Families, travel, relationships - all complicated things heightened in their complexity this time of year. I’ve been thinking a lot about what feels out of the ordinary, fun and special when you can’t see other people. How to make your own treat. One of the things we love about the wines we sell is that they can make a meal, make a night, make a year, really, in the joy they bring us. So there’s that right away, there’s wine, to make things feel nice. Then you can add to that - you can add food, and you can add media, even if you can’t be with others in person.
movies & wine
I recommend the following wine and christmas movie pairings, I have tested all of them-
Die Hard + Anything from Le Petit Domaine de Gimios
For some reason the sunset stays with me a lot in Die Hard, that peach pink and blue light of the setting sun on the corporate park as the office christmas gets rolling. The first act is my favorite, lots of tension building, lots of story bones being built. Gimios is a beautiful sunset of wine, like looking up at the sky, they make me feel like just a speck in the universe, which relieves a lot of my holiday stress.
Gremlins + Collecapreta Buscaia
Em has said this wine tastes like sugar cookie (but without a sweet finish) that delightful biscuity quality of his wine, the butteriness of the cookie a delicious pastry thing that makes a dry finish. A sweet but not sweet wine, one that is quaffable and fresh- tasting but also kind of mellow and bass-toned, keeps your energy up during this film, maybe the most ironic movie ever made? Gremlins also love to drink and watch movies.
Scrooged + Jean-Yves Peron Cote Pelée
The peppery Mondeuse reflects the wild black late 80s cocaine aesthetic of the IBC corp headquarters, and the leanness of the wine reflects the dark heart of our Ebenezer stand-in. But…can his heart, and this wine, be softened with time and affection? Why, yes! It’s a Christmas miracle - a stern but deliciously drinkable wine, a pleasure to watch unfold.
Metropolitan + Sete Nfrascato
The effete of upper Manhattan on their christmas break from prestigious colleges would be drinking orange wine now (actually they do, in the new Gossip Girl). But what really makes this pairing is how the wine has as much to say as the film - a dialogue-dense text as only Whit Stillman could write. There’s layers and layers of delight to unpeel.
food & wine
My sister who lives on the west coast might not be able to make it to her plans, and so I was kind of thinking of what she could cook on her own for christmas.
This is what I imagined for her -
Making Em’s Brandade to have as a snack before dinner but also anytime over the days ahead as a substantial snack. We like to have the brandade cold against warm, crusty toast. If you’re in Chicago you could also buy tinned fish from us - the ones we sell are nice gently heated up before eating, they feel substantial.
Eating olives and drinking white wine like while cooking the quail. Again, if you’re in Chicago, the Giambotta pack also supplies you with a vision of this scenario. I would like my sister to drink Terre Silvate or Les Annees Folles.
For dinner, having the quail and some bitter greens first steamed in a little water (put your greens in about an inch of water, bring to a boil, cover with a lid, turn down the height to medium low for about 5 minutes - it’s easy if you have a sautee pan with a lid, but anything you can cover with a lid will work) then finished with garlic and good olive oil. For this part of the evening, I recommend Les Petites Fleurs or Rouge Fruit
Cutting up some fruit for dessert with rhum.
Last year at christmas Em and I both made guinea hen for our small households, and I think it’s nice to have a small bird for this holiday. The meat goes so well with fruit and nut flavors, which I like to have at this time, it feels feast-like. If you’re in Chicago, Paulina Market has frozen birds of many kinds, and Eataly, upon writing, had some fresh. In general small birds like quail, guinea hen, squab and pheasant, are not so expensive, and come in many sizes that feed one or two people well. We made 2 small quail per person. I got 4 from Eataly for $10.40. Imagine that!
The best way to make special food is to put time into it, I believe, as the more time and touch you give food the more love it absorbs. Even though there’s lots of flashy food items around at christmas to spend some coin on, it’s the time that makes something really good.
I like that you cook this twice, sort of, to make the stuffing and then make the bird. More love. All kinds of grains are common stuffings around the world for stuffing birds, pork sausage is also common in the south. I didn’t find any stuffing recipes with orzo, the rice-shaped pasta from the Mediterranean, on the internet, and it seemed interesting. It’s very piecey, when oil is applied to it, and when it’s in a mixture with other things, it doesn’t clump very much. I like how this integrates with the meat. We also had it in the pantry already, that’s the main thing.
It’s extra intimate, food that comes in a size for 1 or maybe 2 people, and I would definitely make it again beyond the holidays.
Roasted Quail with fruit and nuts
This would be good to serve with some garlicky greens.
4 Quail, semi boneless if you can find them that way
2 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced (any kind will do)
Splash white wine
1 sprigs of thyme, chopped
½ c Prunes (dried cherries or raisins would also be good)
1/2 c Madeira, Port or Red wine
½ toasted and roughly chopped Pecans (chestnuts, almonds or hazelnuts would also be good)
½ c par-boiled Orzo (boil the orzo for about 6 minutes. You could also use - cooked rice, breadcrumbs or another grain like farro or barley)
Spatchcock your bird, that is, remove it’s torso bones. You can get semi boneless quails which means this work is already done. This makes it easier to carve and stuff. Pat your bird dry and salt generously. Let sit in the fridge a few hours, if you have a wire rack sit them on there. You want dry skin so the bird will crisp.
Take your prunes or dried fruit and pour your red wine, madeira or port over it to let it soak and rehydrate a bit.
Melt butter in the biggest pan you have, then add shallots and cook on medium heat to soften, 5 - 8 minutes, stirring here and there. Add mushrooms, trying not to overfill the pan, so that they get a little browned. Don’t stir them too much for this reason as well, to get some browning. Season with salt. Splash the wine in the pan and cook 2 minutes, before adding prunes, thyme, pecans. Reduce any remaining liquid until you have a moist but fairly dry mixture. Season again with salt and taste. Set aside.
Take your birds from the fridge and let come to room temp 30 minutes - 1 hour before roasting. Two things I learned about roast chicken from Thomas Keller - use lots of salt, and make sure the bird isn’t going into the oven cold.
Heat your oven to 500 degrees F. Put an oven-proof skillet (cast iron if you can) sautee pan or roasting pan (skillet is preferable) in the oven.
Fill your birds with about ½ c - ¾ c stuffing.
Carefully remove the skillet from the oven (careful it’s really hot!) and place your birds breast side up. Roast for 10 minutes.
Serve up two quail per person. I hope you enjoy eating this small boned dinner.
Fruit salad
My Grandfather said all his four brothers and sisters got an orange in their stocking at christmas, which he absolutely adored. They did not have fruit any other time, except for some reason, strawberries in june. Winter fruit is so special. If you’re in Chicago - they have persimmons from California at Jewel Osco for a buck a piece. Eataly has them too, but they are 2.60 dollars each.
Recently we went to someone’s house for dinner and they poured rum on top of a plate of cut persimmons, and it was shockingly good.
Asian pear
Persimmons
Orange
Lime
Dark (but not black) R(h)um
It’s honestly delicious to cut up these fruits and eat them without anything on top, if you want to step it up and out, squeeze the juice of one lime on top and pour a little rhum over the cut pieces.
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