Easter Dinner

Dan McQ

Dan McQuillen
We had a few friends over for Easter dinner today. A couple of nice wines and quite a few good things to eat. Turkey breast roulade, with figs, celery, cranberries, roasted pine nuts, bread stuffing, rosemary, shallots and cognac in the center had not killed mlawton previously so we tried it again. Post-assembly, pre-roast view (cooking temp handily displayed):

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Potatoes au gratin, green beans, and prep for Baked Shrimp Scampi ensued...

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Scampi assembly - topped with butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, shallots, rosemary, salt, pepper, hot pepper flakes, egg yolk, panko, and butter (also butter):

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(sorry about the orientation of the pic, even the preview function could not solve the 90 degree deficiency)

Far too many appetizers arrived:

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Oddly enough there was wine available:

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Dom. Ppire Muscadet de Svre-et-Maine Cuve Eden VV 2004 was hitting on all cylinders; citrus, stones, lemons with crisp acidity yet soft at the same time. A real crowd pleaser. Ready now but could still stand some age.

Dom. Ppire Muscadet de Svre-et-Maine Clos des Briords VV 2004 was pretty much as Fla Jim just described on day one - a much more reticent contrast to the eden and very tight even with a couple hours of air. Fortunately for me half the bottle went into the fridge for day 2. Agree with Jim that it is a hold > drink.

Olivier LeFlaive Puligny Montrachet 2004 never made it out of the bullpen - tomorrow perhaps.

Testarossa Sleepy Hollow Pinot Noir 2000 ready to drink; candied cherries and forest floor on the nose (this had a more forest fire nose several years ago); cherry, raspberry, and mineral on the palate. Pretty resolved and not exceedingly complex at present, this was a nice drink for a not very demanding audience. Drink up. The Testarossa went very well with the now-roasted Turkey Roulade:

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while the Briords was a very good match for the shrimp:

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...this wasn't a dessert wine crowd, but we had far too many desserts so I will have to crack something open tomorrow with the leftovers.
 
Love the photos, thanks. My Easter Dinner took place in Maine. There was "Sweet Potato Casserole" covered with mini marshmallows. I did not take any photos. I think it came as a kit from the Marden's down the street...
 
My stovetop would require photoshop to look so clean.

What is the little red-yellow-blue-green Dalek in the upper left corner of the stovetop photo?
 
Salt shaker, 1970s molded plastic style, that outlasted the companion pepper grinder whose gears stripped last year. IIRC it was a wedding gift.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:


Dan,

Here you go...

Thanks Peter! The odd thing is that the original photo is in proper orientation in iPhoto but uploaded to the database here 90 degrees off. Completely flummoxed me, but then I am a rube when it comes to computers.
 
originally posted by Ruben Ramos:
originally posted by Dan McQ:
Completely flummoxed me, but then I am a rube naif when it comes to computers.

Here we go again. . .

-Rube

Fixed.

Day Two - leftovers

originally posted by Florida Jim:

Whites:
2004 Dom. Pepire, Muscadet Clos des Briords VV:

Day two: so much better; clean, balanced and precise with crystalline flavors, a somewhat feminine delivery but great length. Hold.

As always, Mr. Cowan is on target. I agree completely. Night and day from day one to two.

Olivier LeFlaive Puligny Montrachet 2004 Pears, baked apples, butterscotch and slight oak on the nose; mostly apples with some citrus on the palate, mid-weight, long and could use a little more time to come together as it is a little disjointed now. Damn the dessert wine - this is going to be paired with leftover apple pie later.
 
originally posted by Ruben Ramos:
originally posted by Dan McQ:
Completely flummoxed me, but then I am a rube naif when it comes to computers.

Here we go again. . .

-Rube

Fixed.

Day Two - leftovers

originally posted by Florida Jim:

Whites:
2004 Dom. Pepire, Muscadet Clos des Briords VV:

Day two: so much better; clean, balanced and precise with crystalline flavors, a somewhat feminine delivery but great length. Hold.

As always, Mr. Cowan is on target. I agree completely. Night and day from day one to two.

Olivier LeFlaive Puligny Montrachet 2004 Pears, baked apples, butterscotch and slight oak on the nose; more apples and some citrus on the palate, mid-weight, long but could use a little time to come together as a more seamless package. The dessert wines are going to stay in the cellar and this is going to be paired with the leftover apple pie later.
 
...all I know is they are a set (no brand markings anywhere): the one on the left is the top (you can see a little lip overhang), they are stainless steel, and they are pretty light. They're big enough to fit a 25 pound turkey with room to spare and seem to distribute heat very evenly. One of the nice things is that the top and bottom are pretty much identical. Not sure where we bought them since we've had them about 10 years although it was likely at a cooking supply store. Of course, we could also have bought them at the Wisconsin State Fair 22 years ago - that's where we bought our hand-hammered steel wok (from a hyperkinetic Sham-Wow style pitch man). In fact, I think I've seen something similar in one of the shops in Chinatown in San Francisco (that's where I bought my $8 Chinese cleaver that was packaged in a 'Shanghai Sharp Weapons Factory' box).
 
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