Christmas dinner, 2021
Maintaining the tradition (and also so I'll know next year what we had this year):
Octopus in olive oil
Mt. Tam triple cream (from Cowgirl Creamery via Whole Foods)
Somerdale "Cooper Hill"
Assorted crackers
Roast stuffed Cornish game hen
Roasted sweet potatoes with cranberries
Asparagus with hollandaise sauce
Dinner rolls from Whole Foods
Green salad with balsamic vinaigrette
Serie Terra B5 Malbec (2019)
Pear and blackberry tart
Gil's peach wine (2006)
Notes on the cheeses: The Mt. Tam is a soft cheese with a brie-like texture and rind, but rather milder in flavor. I think "Somerdale" is a brand name, and their "Cooper Hill" is what I've seen called "Cotswold" elsewhere, which is to say Double Gloucester with chives.
Notes on the main course: These were fairly small hens, with the consequence that I cooked them a little too long, but they were still good. I would not have attempted hollandaise as part of an elaborate meal, but jwg had made eggs Benedict for breakfast, and there was hollandaise left over, which paired very nicely with the asparagus.
Notes on the wines: The Malbec was smooth and pleasant. The dessert wine was made by a dance friend named Gil (since moved away from the Boston area), who always brought a couple of kinds of his home-made wine to our summer party, and as you can see we've had this one lying around for a long time, so we decided it was time to drink it. It's very nice, and went very well with the tart, which is a good thing, since we have a fair amount of both of them left over. (The tart is an old standby of ours, using a recipe we got from my mother many years ago.)
Octopus in olive oil
Mt. Tam triple cream (from Cowgirl Creamery via Whole Foods)
Somerdale "Cooper Hill"
Assorted crackers
Roast stuffed Cornish game hen
Roasted sweet potatoes with cranberries
Asparagus with hollandaise sauce
Dinner rolls from Whole Foods
Green salad with balsamic vinaigrette
Serie Terra B5 Malbec (2019)
Pear and blackberry tart
Gil's peach wine (2006)
Notes on the cheeses: The Mt. Tam is a soft cheese with a brie-like texture and rind, but rather milder in flavor. I think "Somerdale" is a brand name, and their "Cooper Hill" is what I've seen called "Cotswold" elsewhere, which is to say Double Gloucester with chives.
Notes on the main course: These were fairly small hens, with the consequence that I cooked them a little too long, but they were still good. I would not have attempted hollandaise as part of an elaborate meal, but jwg had made eggs Benedict for breakfast, and there was hollandaise left over, which paired very nicely with the asparagus.
Notes on the wines: The Malbec was smooth and pleasant. The dessert wine was made by a dance friend named Gil (since moved away from the Boston area), who always brought a couple of kinds of his home-made wine to our summer party, and as you can see we've had this one lying around for a long time, so we decided it was time to drink it. It's very nice, and went very well with the tart, which is a good thing, since we have a fair amount of both of them left over. (The tart is an old standby of ours, using a recipe we got from my mother many years ago.)