Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and now is the time to start planning your menu and selecting wines to complement your feast. The big question – which wine or wines pair best with Thanksgiving Dinner.
To help answer to this question, Airfield Estates conducted a Thanksgiving Day Dress Rehearsal with our winemaker, owner, and cellar crew — pairing a wide range of our wines with turkey & all the trimmings (see video clip for footage). There are so many different tastes, textures and aromas that uniquely present themselves on Thanksgiving day, and we concluded that there was no one single wine that paired best.
The Lightning (a Rhone style white blend) paired wonderfully with the turkey, while the Mustang (a Rhone style red blend) was excellent with the wild mushroom stuffing, the Foot-Stomped Syrah Rosé paired great with the spinach, pear, & pecan salad, and the crispness of the Unoaked Chardonnay cut through the buttery sweet potato biscuits quite nicely. Overall, the cellar crew selected the Lightning as their top choice.
For your Thanksgiving dinner, we recommend that you do the same. Try selecting a handful of different wines to complement the various components of your meal. By doing this, it also helps cater to the various palates of your dinner guests.
On a cold rainy day, chaotic & busy, full of demands on your time (when you didn’t get much sleep to start with), doesn’t the thought of a soaking in a nice hot, aromatic bath sound wonderful?Perhaps a broth perfumed with orange juice, hearty fall vegetables encircling beef short ribs?What kind of bath did you think I meant? I am talking about braising!
Braising is a busy cook’s bff—for those of you without a teenager in your life, that’s best friend forever.Braising is, at its heart, simmering tough—but flavorful and cheap!—cuts of meat in an even more flavorful liquid.Over time (about three hours) the meat soaks up the flavors from the broth and loosens up until its downright silky.Not that anyone you know has this problem, but hypothetically if you were trying to get someone to eat their vegetables, braising works for that too:the veggies soaking with the meat take on such a rich, luscious texture and flavor you’ll hardly recognize them as healthy.
Braising basics:Arrange large cuts of meat and even, bite sized pieces of vegetables in a pan or heavy pot, just big enough to snugly hold it all.Pour in the liquid so it covers 1/3 to ½ the meat.While the pan is braising keep the liquid at a simmer.If the liquid gets too low during the cooking process, add a little more.Allow it to cook until the meat is ridiculously tender, about three hours, until you can stick a fork into the thickest part with ease.
For a final hurrah, remove the liquid from the pot and reduce in a sauce pan to make a glaze, which you, host(ess) extraordinaire, will sanguinely spoon over generous servings of braised beef, truthfully demurring as you pass plates around, “It was nothing.”
Lightning Braised Beef, adapted from Spice, by Anna Sorton
Usually when you think of a wine for beef, you think red:bright and acidic to cut fat in steak, deep and velvety for a cozy stew.It may come as a surprise, then, that the secret ingredient in this rich and tangy fall braising liquid is none other than Airfield Estates Lightning (50% Viognier, 25% Roussanne, 20% Chardonnay, 5% Marsanne), a refreshing white with the most lovely floral notes.
1. Combine the following to make the braising liquid:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup Lightning
1 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons tamarind paste dissolved into ½ cup hot water
½ cup brown sugar
5 cloves garlic, crushed
2. Arrange in pan:
3-4 pounds beef seasoned with salt; preferred cuts include short ribs, chuck, brisket, bottom round or blade roast
1 large chopped onion
1 chopped onion
2 chopped potatoes
1 chopped apple
2 bay leaves
Optional:
Layer pan with kale, chard or another dark leafy green; these vegetables become amazingly silky and smooth during the braising process.
Feel free to substitute other vegetables in or out from the base as well; onions, carrots and potatoes are a classic, but the only real limit is your imagination (and what you happen to have laying around in the fridge in need of a second life).For example, I like the way sweet potatoes play off the sweet and tangy braising sauce.
3. Cover the pan tightly with foil and place in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.Braise 3-4 hours, removing when meat nearly falls apart when poked with a fork.
4. Remove the liquid-strain or use a baster.Chill until cool so fat rises to the top, then remove the fat.
5. Pour sauce into a shallow saute pan over medium heat, bringing to a boil and reducing until sauce forms a glaze.Serve over meat and vegetables.
Serving Notes:This makes such a rich sauce, I like to serve it with a mild grain that can really soak it up- couscous, quinoa, or rice, seasoned simply with salt, pepper, and lemon zest.
For a bright and eye-popping side dish that perfectly complements Lightning, try this simple dish:Boil cleaned, trimmed wax beans cut in 1 inch pieces in water until just tender, then immediately plunge into cold water.Strain water and toss with olive oil and lemon juice.Chop bacon and heat up in saute pan, adding frozen peas and beans.Season with salt, pepper, and lemon zest.Grate parmesan cheese over beans as they’re served.
I adopted this from an old Gourmet cooking magazine, which in turn adopted it from the house chef of a guest house in Marrakech, Morocco. It may sound exotic, but it is more or less a pot roast with a twist. It doesn’t really require any special ingredients and couldn’t be easier. It is especially perfect to make the day before and have ready when you get home; the flavor deepens overnight. North Africa, here we come!
Into a big stew pot toss:
Lamb shoulder chops (Shoulder chops are a cheap cut of lamb that tenderizes and falls off the bone as it cooks slowly; use one chop per person eating; the ingredients noted below are based on 6)
2 red onions, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 cinnamon sticks
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 Tsps ginger
2 Tsps tumeric
2 Tsps ground cloves (or 1 Tbsp whole cloves, smashed by putting in closed plastic baggie & pounding with the blunt end of a knife)
(The amount of spices is just a suggestion; if you prefer, or don’t, one of these spices, you can adjust the combination to suit your liking–or just experiment!)
Meanwhile, toast 1 pinch of saffron threads on a dry skillet for about a minute on low heat, until fragrant; remove heat and add 2/3 cup Airfields Gewurztraminer. Let stand for another minute, then add to pot. Add water until lamb is just covered. Let simmer for 1 1/2 hours, partially covered.
Stir in:
1/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cup prunes
1 1/4 cup apricots
1/2 cup raisins (I prefer golden)
Feel free to experiment by adding other dried fruit; for example, I have also enjoyed this with figs!
Let simmer another 45 minutes or so, until the sauce is thickened (but still saucy) and the meat is tender.
Meanwhile, toast 3 Tbsp sesame seeds in a dry skillet til golden. Repeat with a handful of blanched almond slivers (about 1/2 cup).
Serve over couscous, sprinkled with sesame seeds and almond slivers.
