Food, Wine and Giving Thanks

We’re all foodies today.  No matter how or where or what is served up, Thanksgiving marks the one day out of the year when we Americans collectively reflect on what we are grateful for and then feast on hearty helpings of mashed potatoes, turkey with cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.  When I lived in France, I can remember it being said that Thanksgiving was the day when Americans ate the best, even better than the French.  Although somewhat off-handed, that was quite the compliment, especially considering the chauvinistic attitude often exhibited in France toward fine cuisine.  

Warm Hokkaido Squash and White Bean Salad: Clotilde's Possible Choice for Her Thanksgiving Potluck

Thankfully we have super foodies out there blasting the blogosphere on a regular basis with food and wine information that tantalizes our taste buds year-round.  I invited two of them, Clotilde Dusoulier and Ronald Holden, to be guests on Travel Fun this week for a Food and Wine special.  Both live with one fork (or should I say, one glass raised?) in France and America, a not-so insignificant fact that in my opinion lends more credo to their gastronomic perspectives.  

Paris-based food writer, Clotilde Dusoulier, took center stage first, largely chatting about her blog, ChocolateandZucchini.com, that she founded five years ago.  (It started off in  English, but after much pressure from her countrymen, she finally began to post a French version a year and a half ago.)  “I wanted to create a space where I could document food adventures in general,”  she said.  A cornucopia of recipes are posted on her site, most of which come with a story.  Not surprisingly Clotilde cooks a lot with vegetables and loves to bake (I’m sure with copious amounts of chocolate).  Veggies, however, dominated our interview, talk that made me yearn for the glorious produce of France where virtually everything you buy tastes twice as flavorful as in the U.S.  “I find myself designing meals around the vegetable part and then adding protein.  I get inspired by the season and the offerings at the green market,” Clotilde said.  If only I could beam myself into France on occasion to do my marketing!

Clotilde from ChocolateandZucchini.com

Clotilde planned to join some American friends in Paris today for a Thanksgiving potluck.  When she told me this I didn’t comment on it, but in the eleven years I lived in France I neither attended nor hosted a potluck—a very American tradition that’s terribly un-French.  Perhaps the country is becoming even more Americanized than I realized.

The ever-so entertaining Ronald Holden had me practically clinking glasses with him over the airwaves.  Ronald, who created Cornichon.org, is a terrific food and wine enthusiast, however, we focused mainly on wine in our segment.  (I was fortunate though to extract from him his special cabbage side dish recipe—a Thanksgiving tradition in his family—which I’ve posted below.)

This being the season of Beaujolais Nouveau, we began our interview chatting about the first release of the new year from Burgundy, a fun French institution of sorts that Ronald recommends you drink with turkey or other fowl.  “It’s a wine that ferments very quickly, so everything explodes with flavor.  You have to drink it within the first few months,” he said.  “It’s a party.”

Ronald Holden

I suppose a lot of wine appreciation is about how you approach the nectar.  Ronald feels it’s unfortunate that most Americans are still drinking “Coca Cola flavors” such as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.   “The more adventuresome might go for Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Syrah or Sauvignon Blanc,” Ronald said.  Instead he advocates selecting more international flavors such as wines from the regions of Emilio Romagna in northern Italy, Provence in southern France and Navarra in Spain.  For Provence, Ronald enjoys the various Côtes de Provence that come in a palette of pale pink shades.  “They’re wonderfully refreshing,” he said.  “They’re a far cry from the more heady rosés that I’d refer to as wines for tanning.  People would drink a lot of those wines, fall down in the sand and get sunburned.”

We wrapped up our interview with talk of other more affordable, super tasty wines.  “I’d recommend the wines of the southern Rhône and the Languedoc,” Ronald said, forever true to his apparent predilection toward French libations.  And what does he buy in his native Seattle?  “Right now I have a bottle of Red Beret on the kitchen counter.  It cost under $10. and it’s perfectly acceptable.  I also recommend Steakhouse Red and Fishhouse White, both from Washington state.”

Ronald is also the Global Gourmet for Examiner.com and the Director of Wine Tours for The International Kitchen.

I wish both Clotilde and Ronald and all you other foodies (as well as everyone else!) a Happy Thanksgiving.  May the spirit of the holiday and its sweet and savory flavors remain with you throughout the year.

Ronald’s Cabbage 

A side dish, not a salad. Make several days ahead.

Chop 1 medium onion, sauté in olive oil (or, if doing kosher-style, in goose fat). Before the onion browns, add 1 big head red cabbage, chopped & rinsed.  Don’t bother draining.

Once cabbage begins to wilt, add 1 cup red wine and 1/2 red wine vinegar, 1 tsp salt, a bay leaf, and, if desired, a ham hock and a peeled & chopped apple or pear.  Cover & simmer gently up to 2 hours, allow to cool.

Next day: stir in 1 cup red currant jelly.  Reheat to dissolve the jelly.  Taste & adjust seasonings.  You’re looking for a sweet-sour flavor. 

Allow to cool again. Reheat before serving.

Book Picks

“Chocolate and Zucchini,” by Clotilde Dusoulier

“Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris,” also by Clotilde

Ronald’s Book Picks

“He Said Beer, She Said Wine,” by Sam Calagione and Marnie Old

“Wine Politics,” by Tyler Colman

“I’ll Drink to That:  Beaujolais and the French Peasant Who Made It the World’s Most Popular Wine,”  by Rudolph Chelminski.  This tells the story of Georges Duboeuf, the greatest marketer of French wine.