Canada - the land of ice and snow - probably does not come up on your radar when it comes to wine. But one thing we do do right is ice wine and ice cider. Although, I still argue that our small but budding wine industry in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec is quite acceptable.
Last year when I was in Quebec, I picked up some ice cider made by Domaine Pinnacle. I have been saving it for a special occasion, and Thanksgiving more than qualifies as a special occasion. What could be better than a whole day dedicated to the preparation and eating of food, shared with friends and family. In Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving (or as we say in French: Jour d'action de grâce) on the second Monday of October. Unlike our American counterparts, we often celebrate with the "big meal" on any day during the holiday weekend, and not necessarily on Monday.
The whole point of the holiday is to give thanks to the close of the harvest season, and celebrate your blessings. Unfortunately, this is sometimes forgotten. Just like Christmas was once about celebrating Jesus Christ's birth, has now been transformed into a month-long shopping-palooza, so too, has thanksgiving become all about mass consumerism. My point? Already two people died today in New York from the infamous "Black Friday". Trampling each other for cheap t.v's they can't afford anyways. The only kind of mass consumption I want to take part of, is our awesome brined and moist turkey.
Darien and I shared our holiday feast with three of our friends. Our poor guests had to endure TWO of my soups-I still had leftover butternut squash soup-in order to get a slab of my husbands delicious turkey.
I served the blueberry ice cider soup for dessert. My feedback from the guests was that it could have been a little sweeter, and that it tasted a bit like yogurt. I think they are right on both accounts, but I think it is worthwhile tinkering with because it is such a pretty soup.
Blueberry Ice Cider Soup
source: Krystal Ford, adapted from a recipe seen on About.com
1-1/2 cups of fresh blueberries (or frozen blueberries, thawed with juice)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup plus one table spoon of ice cider (or ice wine)
1-2 table spoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/3 cup of plain yogurt
1/3 cup of sour cream
mint sprigs, blueberries and sour cream for garnish
Place blueberries and water in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a small saucepan over medium heat and add ice cider, sugar, lemon juice, ginger, and cinnamon. Stir to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to low, cover an simmer blueberries about five minutes. Pour soup in a bowl and allow it to come to room temperature. Stir in one tablespoon of ice cider, yogurt and sour cream and whisk together. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment