11/26/09 Thanksgiving at the Stoecker/Landy house

Thanksgiving is matt's favourite holiday. "it's all about sloth and gluttony" - 2 of the 7 deadly sins for those of you not in the know. actually, the sloth bit comes after the gluttony, which actually only comes after a lot of long hard work!

matt got most of his prep work done that wednesday, and i managed to do 2/3 of the dessert.

[1st row: G'ma's apple pie in the making; 2nd row: pie crust cookies! left: matt's ice cream being blended under the mixer cozy (that thing is loud!)]

[above: matt prepping something; notice food and dishes and laptops everywhere]

  [on the left is sauce for matt's prawns, pasta and pepper dish, and on the right is lots of butter!]

[above: mangalitsa pork shoulder. look at that lovely slab of fat!]

[mangalitsa searing pre-braising]

 

[elk sirloins. what a lovely shade of red]

 [top left burner clockwise: lobster bisque, scallops, sea beans, and something perhaps a now empty stack of pans]

  

 [above: plates prepped; left: table set]

 and we're ready for the meal to begin...

[4 types of cheese: brie, stilton, a hard cheese and a goat cheese; figs, marcona and roasted almonds, salmon pate, and bread. (hot hors d'ourves to follow)]

 [washed down with pink prosecco from spago argento]  

[we started with this...]

 [and ended like this. pork cracklins'!]

 [above: christopher waiting impatiently for food; left: christopher and christa at the dining table]

 [sweet potato gnocchi in brown sage butter with mascarpone] i think these were the best matt's made. they were so light!

 [scallop and sea beans in lobster bisque] thank you chef thierry of rover's for the inspiration and tips. don't worry; while matt did a good job with the dish, (yours was much better).

 [milk-braised mangalitsa pork shoulder and semolina cake] thank you chef holly of cafe juanita for the inspiration, but your braised pork cheeks are still better.  but matt gave you a run for your money with the semolina cake! :-)

 and now for a slight pause in the food. we'll catch up on the wines.

we started with the pink prosecco with the appys

vueve clicquot ponsardin rose champagne followed

quenett 2007 viognier with the gnocchi

mark ryan 2008 chardonnay with the scallops

carobbio chianti classico with the pork

grammercy cellars 2006 tempranillo with the bomboloni

quilceda creek 2006 cabernet sauvignon with the elk

and many, many forms of other liquors for after dinner

now, on to the next course!

[la tur bomboloni (bomobolo singular) on beet salad.] thanks again to chef holly for publishing this recipe. matt used la tour and they were fab!

 [elk sirloin steaks oil poached with red wine reduction and au gratin potatos] thank you to friend matt who hunted and brought down the elk.

[baked apple pie and spiced pound cake]