Holiday Georging

Holidays mean one thing. Food. I don’t mean holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah where you get together with long lost family over copious amounts of alcohol and over cooked green beans. I mean holidays from work, time off where you can do absolutely nothing and be all the better for it. This year’s holidays translated to ten days of cooking, seeing friends and family, and eating. I was lucky this year, getting two Christmas meals… not bad for a Jew (Thanks Steph and the Strakas). Given the lazy nature of my week off, and my otherwise busy schedule, I have not posted here in a while. To come is a little summary of a few meals from Katz’s kitchen, the ones where I took pictures anyways.

Family dinner

Pickled brisket in veal jus

Caraway spaetlze

Squash and turnip mash

Apple butter

Brussel sprouts in a butter sauce

Coleslaw

Dinner at Devin and Nichole's new farmhouse

Charcuterie, cheese, pickles.

Thai curry and pierogis

Wine tasting

Nate, Sam, Lorn and Aliza came over to taste a pretty varied selection of wines. We hit the charcuterie, cheese and pickles like there was no tomorrow.

Charcuterie: duck prociuto, guanciale, sopresatta, pink pepper corn saussison sec, duck saussison sec, sage and roasted garlic genoa, gravlax hiramasa, smoked mackerel, smoked mackerel roe, rillettes, whipped lardo

Cheese: Niagara Gold, Cloth bound PEI cheddar, goats brie, Roaring Forties, Amsterdam Gouda, Brie de Meaux, Le Station de Compton

Pickles: olives, green means fennel, cauliflower, pearl onions, fiddle heads, ramps, garlic, artichoke, chive flowers, spruce tips

Preserved Fruit: sugar plums, german plums, cherries, all from Ontario

Wines:

Baron-Fuente Grand Millesime, Champagne, 1996

Legends Reserve Chardonnay, Niagara, 2003

Weingut Max Fern Richter Riesling, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, 1992

Sebastopol Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, 2001

Ridge Three Valleys Zinfandel, Sonoma, 2007

Rocca delle Macie, Chianti Classico. 2006

Ferraton Pere et Fils La Matiniere, Crozes-Hermitage, 2006

Chateau Suau Sauternes, 2005

Malivoire Gewurztrminer Ice wine, 2008