Thanksgiving
Starters & Sips by Linnea Johansson
By FBWorld Team
In
an effort to balance out the heavy dishes served during
traditional holiday dinners, Linnea has taken the best
ingredients autumn has to offer and created delectable
light-bites to pair alongside her seasonal cocktail creations.
Going with this, Linnea recommends her pairings as great
way to start off a long day of Thanksgiving feasting.
Kale,
mushroom, hazelnut & cranberry salad
PAIRED W/ a sparkling cranberry Bellini
Why
this pairing works: The cranberry bellini picks up the
more subtle flavors presented in the salad. Linnea explains
that a sparking cocktail like this would be an ideal accompaniment
for the dish over a more spirit heavy drink because generally,
salads are too light for those types of cocktails.
Recipes:
Kale, mushroom, hazelnut & cranberry
salad
Ingredients:
1 head of kale
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 cup hard cheese, such as parmesan, cut into chunks
2 cups of mushrooms
2 tbsp of olive oil
Dressing:
Juice from 1/2 lemon
3 tbsp of olive oil
Salt/black pepper to taste
Handful of dried cranberries
Preparation
1. On the stove bring a large pot of
water to boil with 2 tbsp of salt in the water. Chop the
head of kale into thin slices and wash well in a colander.
Once the water is boiling, add the kale and let it boil
for 2 minutes. Pour into the colander and cool with ice
cold water, let dry. Add into a large salad bowl.
2.
Chop the hazelnuts roughly, and roast in a pan over the
stove on medium heat till golden about 5 minutes. Ad to
the salad bowl.
3.
In the pan, add the 2 tbsp of olive oil and sauté
the mushrooms for about 7 minutes over medium heat till
golden, salt and pepper lightly to taste. Ad to the salad
bowl.
4.
Mix the lemon juice and olive oil, salt and pepper to
taste. Pour over the salad and finish with the parmesan
chunks.
Thanksgiving
Bellini
Ingredients:
1 oz Russian Standard vodka
3 tables fresh cranberry sauce (with whole cranberries
inside)
Sparkling Wine or prosecco (on the dry side)
Preparation
BIn a shaker, combine the cranberry sauce and russian
standard vodka. Shake well till the cranberry sauce is
completely dissolved.
Pour
with cranberry's into a champagne flute, and fill up with
sparkling wine and let the cranberry's float as decor.
Linnea's Tips
For an all -American meal like a traditional thanksgiving
dinner, make sure to use regional ingredients such as
apple, cranberry, oranges in the cocktails you make to
go along side the meals.
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