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We had a fun Christmas Eve dinner. Roasted petite potato wedges with rosemary and garlic; Dungeness crab clusters served with a ho-made Hollandaise sauce with garlic and thyme; haricots vert with bleu cheese and marcona almonds; rack of lamb with garlic, EVOO, and rosemary; sauteed spinach with EVOO, garlic, and lemon; roasted Brussels sprouts with Balsamic vinegar, Parmagianno-Reggiano and Pecorino. Washed down with Mumm's Brut rose sparkling wine and Mockingbird Hill Reserve Zin.

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We had a fun Christmas Eve dinner. Roasted petite potato wedges with rosemary and garlic; Dungeness crab clusters served with a ho-made Hollandaise sauce with garlic and thyme; haricots vert with bleu cheese and marcona almonds; rack of lamb with garlic, EVOO, and rosemary; sauteed spinach with EVOO, garlic, and lemon; roasted Brussels sprouts with Balsamic vinegar, Parmagianno-Reggiano and Pecorino. Washed down with Mumm's Brut rose sparkling wine and Mockingbird Hill Reserve Zin.

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Well this begat a lovely brunch: a poached egg served upon sourdough toast, with Dungeness crabmeat, topped with garlic/thyme Hollandaise sauce, and a slice of warm ham on the side.

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Well this begat a lovely brunch: a poached egg served upon sourdough toast, with Dungeness crabmeat, topped with garlic/thyme Hollandaise sauce, and a slice of warm ham on the side.

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[/QUOTK=Hmmph! I had a slice of cold pizza for breakfast!
 
Christmas 2021: Bacon Blanketed Cornish Game Hen with homemade Mustard Vinaigrette mixed garden salad (mostly fresh-picked from our garden), roasted carrots, sliced potatoes and gravy, paired with a rested bottle of 2018 Clos du Roy Fronsac Bordeaux from the cellar. mmm... all credit for the food goes to my wife. It was so nice to have dinner with the house windows open and a 70-degree day!

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First attempt at oven roasted Pheasant! Stuffed with fresh shrooms and Italian snausage! Served with wild rice pilaf and haricot verts with lemon zest and pancetta.

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Mike, that is a really decent sized critter. Did you buy it or gun it down yourself? How did you season it? We used a lot of coarsely ground black pepper, olive oil and poultry seasoning when we roasted them. Never stuffed one. How was that? Lastly, older birds are usually a little gamy tasting. How was yours? Looks outstanding! Wine pairing?
 
Hey Rocky, thanks!

We received two frozen birds as an Xmas gift from some friends. The birds came from Macfarlane Pheasant located in MI and they claim to be the largest pheasant farm in the US. Thy are located here:

Buy Pheasant Meat Online | Free Wild Pheasant Recipes

It does appear that they are currently sold out of the whole birds (due to Xmas) but check back in the New Year.

Since the birds are farm raised I didn't notice any detectible gamey notes really plus no surprise "buckshot". They where basically almost the size of a small hen. I had never cooked a whole pheasant so did some research and it looked like roasting in a Dutch Oven was a good choice as it supposedly kept the bird moist and not dried out. My only real issue was that they were supposed to somehow cook to 160 in the breast in 60 min at 300F (low and slow cook was recommended). So I timed everything to be ready at 530PM and the temp probe kept coming back at 140 after an hour. Left in for another 30mins and still not done. I finally decided to reuse the CI pan the the beans were cooked in as they were already done so pulled out of the Dutch Oven and cranked up the oven and finished the bird off for another 30min at 350 this time. Breast probe was finally up to 160. This produced a nice crispy skin as well. As for seasoning I have been really liking this Kroger PS rub pictured below. Its got a little bit of everything. Salt, pepper, sugar, orange citrus, garlic, and even crushed red pepper flakes for a little kick. I "dry brined" the bird for about 8 hours in this rub before hand.

The stuffing was another attempt at keeping the bird moist and so I had fried up a pound of italian sausage and then placed a mixture of the sausage and some fresh mushrooms inside the cavity and I think that was a nice addition. I paired this with a nice bottle of grenache from WA State that worked really well with the meal.



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Mike, that is a really decent sized critter. Did you buy it or gun it down yourself? How did you season it? We used a lot of coarsely ground black pepper, olive oil and poultry seasoning when we roasted them. Never stuffed one. How was that? Lastly, older birds are usually a little gamy tasting. How was yours? Looks outstanding! Wine pairing?
 
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